Well, this is probably the worst episode for Valentine's Day ever. In the past, we have had Sue (Eden Sher) and Darrin's (John Gammon's) first kiss over the trash can and then he proposed to her and everything but now we have the Hecks fighting, nothing going right, with water leaking through an open pipe in the basement and Brick (Atticus Shaffer) missing the deadline to turn in his paper online because the computer wasn't working properly.
This leads to a huge argument between Mike (Neil Flynn) and Frankie (Patricia Heaton) over the division of household chores and which one has the harder job, leading Brick to contacting Sue and Axl (Charlie McDermott) for an intervention. Which does happen and Mike and Frankie feel guilty over all the yelling which distressed Brick, however, then they realize that half or more of their arguments are because of the kids. They would be far happier without them. Taking back their apology, they force the kids to help, which leads Brick to trip down the steps so badly, he sprains his ankle. Which once again leads them to feeling guilty. But they decide to take different approaches, Frankie wants to let the kids come to them, and Sue does come down but she's the easy one. Mike goes up to force Axl to come down, but he was out getting the family burgers and a wet-vac, to make things easier and yes, he did realize that he should have come down to help. And then he throws back that Mike never apologizes while his exist even if they aren't great or often sincere.
Meanwhile, Sue has a heart-to-heart with Frankie, saying that Frankie likes the drama and needs to take care of herself first.
The Hecks realize that their children are growing up and even use the word mature to describe Axl, going where they have not gone before. And Mike actually apologizes for not picking up soap, which makes Frankie's mouth drop open. But she takes Sue's advice to heart and doesn't make a big deal out of it, which would probably lead to more yelling.
While this wasn't a bad episode, I feel that they attempted to do something similar in both seasons one and three, and I wanted a sappy Valentine's Day episode, but important points were made and Frankie was right, the kids were watching their actions the whole time, just as we were. And this episode also didn't need any guest stars, but they didn't need them. The Heck family is strong enough to carry the show themselves. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Frankie won't let stand for hose spaghetti, but hose coffee is okay.
-Brick doesn't want to let the state know how late they are feeding him as they still probably have a file open.
-Mike never wants to go down into the basement again.
-Brick had to write a paper on the Louisiana Purchase on a computer without an 'l'.
-Mike changes the oil in the car and shovels snow off the driveway, while Frankie buys the family dinner and knows everyone's schedules.
-Mike hates that everything is on a cloud these days.
-When Frankie starts crying, Mike tells her not to, as the house is wet enough.
-Also, Brick is in high school now, he can help himself to snacks on his own.
-I guess the Hecks will never have an actual vacation to Florida.
-Sue crawls through a hole in the wall to get into her brothers' room.
-Axl does his laundry at Sue's place now.
-Axl attended about half of his classes. Yikes.
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