Well, it has come, the series finale. It wasn't that funny and there were some moments that weren't great but overall, it was so touching and tied up all the loose ends.
Axl (Charlie McDermott) has just announced that he's decided to take the job in Denver and Frankie (Patricia Heaton) is devastated and reaches into her nightstand for her cookies. But by morning, all is fine. She wishes him congratulations but there is a catch; he still needs to tell his siblings. Sue (Eden Sher) is devastated while Brick (Atticus Shaffer) immediately starts measuring out the room so he can create a reading nook. And then he misjudges the space and shoves a book shelf in the door frame and there it stays.
So they leave. Sue finally gets her moment with Axl in the back of the car. Brick is determined not to have the middle seat so he camps out in a window seat for the whole night, reading. While Sue has been crying a lot, Brick is showing no emotion. But he is devastated as the whole room has always reeked of Axl's smelly socks. He doesn't know what his room without Axl in it. Goodbyes are hard for Axl and it is probably hardest to say goodbye to Sue so they finally have their moment. And Sue states that she loves being the middle child; she is both an older sister and a younger sister. Three is the perfect number.
There is also the touching moment when Axl has a trivia contest between Sue and Brick over who will get his car as out in Denver he will have a fancy company car. When asked what he got Sue for her twenty-first birthday, she proclaims nothing but he corrects her, she gets his car and she is thrilled. It was probably the nicest thing he ever did for Sue. Brick is not left empty-handed; he gets Brick's palm tree. And Mike gets in on this, giving Axl Big Mike's (John Cullen's) old watch with the longitude and latitude engraved on the back so he can always find his way home.
And then it is time to leave and many are there to see him off, neighbors mostly and Lexie (Daniela Bobadilla) who promises to visit him in July.
The car ride is typical Heck family tradition, using up too much data and deciding what sort of body Sue's dead head will go on. Axl is fine with having his head attached to a horse's body after his death. And Mike (Neil Flynn) has started a new death napkin though Frankie didn't know anything about it.
Now to the plot line that was super sweet but I also had problems with it. Sean (Beau Wirick) is going through security as he is flying off to Ghana for the summer but he is stopped as the snowglobe is discovered with a touching note from Sue so he leaves and starts pounding on the Heck house door only to find out that they left for Denver. I don't know how he catches up to them when they were more than a hour ahead of him but he does and he and Sue have their moment. Their relationship has been full of misunderstandings. Sean loves that Sue is watching sunshine as she is always happy. They make out and declare their love for each other. Which is sweet and inevitable and I knew that it would be the finding of the snow globe that would make him realize but I just don't buy that he was able to catch up with the Heck family car.
Frankie finally gets emotional when Axl says that it will be fine to just take him off the family plan and forces Mike to pull over and starts to cry and Sue brings out the blue bag. That's right the blue bag finally made it into the car and then Sue just leaves it on the side of the road. Frankie declares that she will not be a part of taking her son thousands of miles away as she's not okay with it. The cell phone company has a family plan for a reason so they are all tied together. They need to make the moments count. But this how things are supposed to be, eras are supposed to end.
Then, everything ties up. Axl does return to Orson and Mike and Frankie get their just rewards when he and Lexie have three boys all exactly like him, leaving their dirty socks all around the house. Brick also becomes famous, writing a series of books that involve a bookish boy who gets sucked into a microfiche machine and travels through time and he's also married and we can assume that it's Cindy (Casey Burke). Sue and Sean break-up, get back together and break-up again before getting married with Reverend Tim Tom (Paul Hipp) officiating. So Sue finally becomes a Donohue. As for the Heck house, tons of things never get fixed but for all the things they didn't have, they also had a lot. And it ends with Brick whispering the middle, how touching.
Overall, this was a solid episode and I liked how it was both epic and intimate and did glimpse into the children's futures as I have always been interested in seeing what sort of people they would become. They all became amazing people and hopefully happy people.
It was truly so touching to see Axl finally give Sue a present she deserved and karma really can be a bitch. And Frankie appreciated all the little things her house had to offer.
Throughout its run, this show has always shown light on the little people in the world, the ones who are overshadowed by the talented and proves that niceness just isn't a trait that gets the credit it deserved. But at least the Hecks were nice. It may not have always come from the right place or been given willingly but it was there. And that should not be forgotten. I will forever miss the Hecks. Grade: A- (episode); A- (season) and A- (series)
Side Notes:
-For a special Axl breakfast, Frankie says that she will pop whatever he wants into the microwave.
-Axl also puts cheese up Sue's nose while she's asleep.
-I wonder if Axl ever learns how to tie a tie.
-Axl still needs to learn his month order and learn how to count to ten in Spanish.
-Mike and Frankie are such good members of Frugal Hoosiers Miser status that they are almost at tightwad status.
-Vaseline on teeth sounds disgusting.
-Brick was embraced despite being a happy accident.
-Axl's favorite sandwich is cereal on white bread, gross.
-Weird Ashely (Katlin Mastrandrea) also makes an appearance, declaring that it is not goodbye but see you soon.
-Frankie is offended that Mike didn't include her on the watch gift to Axl as they are a unit.
-The street peaches have bees in it and they end up throwing out onto the street.
-Mike really should get his hearing checked.
-Brick is hating watching the Planet Nowhere movie while Sue prefers videos are dogs surfing backwards.
-While Sue and Sean make out, Axl covers his eyes.
-The snow globe breaks, but it served its purpose as it got Sue and Sean together.
-There was an accident at the quarry last month and Mike didn't tell Frankie about it and she's not happy.
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