Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The Middle: The Final Four

Well, it was all a simple mistake. The Prairie Scouts accidentally painted the wrong number on the Heck's sidewalk, citing some slightly lame reason of the emergency officials needing a fresh paint job so they can find the proper house. At first, the Hecks weren't pleased, but miraclously now their luck has changed. Their microwave is working again without having the hairdryer blow on it and Brick's (Atticus Shaffer's) girlfriend has finally stopped growing. The Hecks have more cable TV stations and Mike (Neil Flynn) is thrilled. They accidentally get free pizza and the school has a radon leak so Brick doesn't have to climb the rope in gym class. Frankie (Patricia Heaton) believes that it is solely because the number is wrong but Mike isn't so sure. And then the Prairie Scouts realize their mistake so they repaint the number for free and instantly all the good luck evaporates, just as they expected.
However, their good fortune doesn't transfer to either Sue (Eden Sher) and Axl (Charlie McDermott). Axl actually studies for the first time in his life, saying no to chilling with his friends and making out with his girlfriend but gets the time of the final wrong, totally missing it. And his professor (Dan O'Connor) doesn't care what his excuse is; Axl is not taking that final. So he literally stakes out in front of his professor's house, persevering for once in his life. And it works. His professor lets him take the test and for once, Axl actually knows the material so he passes with flying colors.
Sue's in a slump because she feels that she hasn't accomplished much, other than passing her classes effortlessly. Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) tries to perk her up and then when you think Sue's luck is changing as she gets invited to speak at her old high school, it doesn't. She learns that though she thought she was hot stuff in high school, she was actually just a nerd. While she is upset about this, Brad cheers her up with an original musical number, which ruins the realistic authenticity of the show, with a magical realism moment but I didn't care. The number was brilliantly done, all in one shot and it was clever and original.
Despite the excellent musical number at the end, and Axl finally putting in some real effort, this episode still could have been better. It was a vast improvement over last week, however. Sue needs to realize that her life isn't that bad. Sure, she did end two relationships, but that's still two more than I had when I was her age. That's right, people, I was twenty-five when I finally got my first kiss. She might be a nerd, but she's a TV nerd, which is nothing like real life nerds. I just wish that this episode had more Lexie in it. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-Only one girl got cut from Dragonettes and that's because she's a Nazi sympathizer.
-Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla) is going on a yacht cruise this summer and her family is on their own for breakfast, so Axl lovingly shows her how to tilt a cereal box.
-Brad's roommate is in the ROTC and he's both scared and mildly attracted to him. He also got food poisoning three times.
-In Mike's world, everyone gets a crap sandwich, albeit of a different size, and you eat it through life and then you die.
-Axl went to kindergarten twice.
-Sue and Brad need to check if Beyonce released another secret album.

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