Tuesday, January 10, 2017

The Middle: Hoosier Maid

Well, it finally happened. Frankie (Patricia Heaton) finally won something from all those contests she entered throughout the years. She wins free maid service twice a week for a month, but then her maid shows up. Esther (Mary Gillis) is old and Frankie feels guilty so she is sent another maid who tries but the Heck house is too far gone for her skills to handle. She now knows how hard it is to get good help, confirming what she has always heard from the rich.
Mike (Neil Flynn) has bigger problems: his father (John Cullum) is now using a cane to get around and won't say what happened. He's sleeping downstairs and Mike is super worried about him. So much so that he gets Rusty (Norm McDonald) involved which always makes the situation awkward. Rusty also can acknowledge that his father is getting old and believes that the perfect solution is to send him off to war so he can die with honor. If that can't work, then Big Mike should move in with the Hecks but they have no room, which is also true. But then a random person Rusty picked up to drive around told them about assisted living which Mike immediately jumps on board with while Rusty is still hesitant, and abandons ship when Big Mike turns it down instantly but Mike stands firm.
Now, Axl (Charlie McDermott) is having some housing issues as snow leaked through the hole in the roof of the Winnebago so they illegally move into Sue's (Eden Sher's) temporary housing and April (Greer Grammer) spoils it for them by running into the RA Dan (Aaron Hill) and spilling the beans so all five of them get kicked out and are forced to return to the Winnebago, which leads to some close quarters too close for Lexie's (Daniela Bodadilla's) comfort with Axl being so close. Remember when Axl foolishly thought that Lexie had a crush on him before and his beliefs continue even though he is still with April and then they share a barely special moment over some marshmallow fluff and then she trips and he catches her in that classic dip move in all those classic romantic films. Though a spark flies between them, Lexie immediately brushes it off and tells him to let her fall the next time. And then she gives in and takes up her father on his offer to pay for an apartment for them to live in and Sue is enjoying the luxury, while Lexie is only mildly upset that she is missing on the authentic college experience.
In the end, Frankie does finally get a good maid who waxes the kitchen floor only to have Brick immediately spill sticky orange juice all over, but that is her last free time so her house will soon go back to being a huge mess. But at least Big Mike is doing better and it only took one trip to the bathroom to solve his problems. He is fine again, so he doesn't have to take up Mike on his offer to have Big Mike move in because he felt guilty. Big Mike says that when death is near, he's just going to go out in the woods and lay down and die.
Thank goodness this episode was so much better than last week's and sort of even gave me a couple to ship though that is mostly because I don't like April at all and Axl needs someone better, and if that's Lexie so be it. But it was more important for Mike to realize how valuable his father truly is to him. I just Brick (Atticus Shaffer) had been given more to do as he is a great character. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Axl and his roommates can hide and pretend they don't live somewhere oddly quickly as  though they have done it before.
-He uses all of Hutch's (Alphonso McAuley's) intimate belongings, such as his boxers and toothbrush, which is just gross.
-Axl also thinks being divorced makes him extra hot.
-Lexie had the best lines in this episode: "I'm eating ramen out of tupperware." "You have a big ego for such a little house."
-Big Mike has fifteen vacuums but can't part with any of them.
-Brick's big moment is finding a spoon in the garbage disposal.
-Mike has no allusions about Axl's living arrangements, knowing that he will be back in that house after he graduates.

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