Happy Halloween! Nobody does this holiday better than the ABC comedies, and The Middle didn't disappoint this year. This episode was hilarious although I doubt the Hecks had much fun this Halloween.
Sue is home for the holiday to escape her horrible dorm room, but things aren't great for her at home, either. All the progress that Axl made being nice to Sue is now gone, and he's back to being the mean older brother. I honestly don't like that he's mean again. I feel like he's progressed to season one and season two. I don't understand why being nice to April means he has to be snarky to everyone else.
Axl and April decide to carve pumpkins much to Frankie's dismay. Axl's never wanted to carve pumpkins before, but now since April is into it, he is too. I hate to say it, but I definitely laughed when April ran into the glass door. Frankie grabs all of her favorite magazines from the table so they don't get pumpkin all over them. This leads to Frankie, Sue, and Brick having a pop culture discussion. I found it kind of odd that Sue didn't know that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were married. She's not that young. Oh well. Sue then brings up the idea of their parents getting divorced, and all the kids immediately say they would want to live with Mike.
Needless to say this hurts Frankie's feelings, and she becomes obsessed with figuring out why the kids don't want to live with her. She's literally freaking out and wants to know what's so great about Mike. "Well he's not yelling at us at 9:30 in the morning." I agree with Axl here. I love Frankie, but she reminds me of my own mother who is definitely a morning person. I spent several mornings during high school telling my mom that we don't talk in the mornings.
Sue and Brick also agree with Axl. "You're a strong cup of coffee," Brick tells her. Frankie gets more and more hysterical, but Mike tries to stop this conversation because it's fictional. There's no way the Hecks will ever get a divorce.
Sue's day keeps getting worse as Brick refuses to give her the room back. Not only do they argue about who the room belongs to, they argue about the name of the room. Who names a room? Tired of studying in the living room and being treated like dirt by her brothers, Sue notices that Brick is dressed up as a bowling pin and assumes he will be trick-or-treating. I absolutely loved that costume AND I loved Cindy dressed up like a bowling ball. Best costume idea ever. He immediately knows what Sue's thinking: she wants to take her room back. He says no he's not going out. He's just dressed up like that because his other clothes are in the laundry.
Sue takes this opportunity to steal her room from Brick. She says she's taking out the trash, but drops the trash, cuts across their yard, and runs in the side door. She sees Brick trying to get to the room first and takes him out with a basketball. She's in! Victory! But not for long. He's standing at the window staring her down. Then she starts removing all of his posters and hears a banging. Brick is using his costume and his head to make a hole in the wall!
This was the best scene in the episode hands down. I could not stop laughing. Brick usually isn't my favorite Heck, but this was gold. His Halloween costume, him standing at the window, Sue hitting him with the basketball: I loved all of it. Mike did not. He's fed up and tells everyone to go back to their original room. The problem is that Brick doesn't have a room. He doesn't really have anything. I'm glad that the show is addressing this: it always bothered me that Brick was always the forgotten kid.
At first Frankie doesn't care about Brick's issues because she's still hurt the kids chose Mike. "You'll only see me on weekends and every other Christmas." She storms out of the house and wanders the neighborhood for a while. As she's going home, she has a small talk with April. April said that she told Axl to be nicer to Frankie. We only get one mother. I'm really glad April said this because I hated how mean Axl was to his family. This also showed us a different side of April.
Mike talks to Frankie when she gets home and they make up. Mike says that he wouldn't take the kids anyway, and Frankie says they are stuck with each other: They don't have enough money to break up. And they love each other, of course.
The episode ends with the Hecks showing Brick that they do care about him by giving him his own chair at the table! And it's the same as everyone elses! That is because Mike found it in the basement under a bunch of junk (but don't tell Brick that!) I really liked this ending. As quirky and dysfunctional as this family is they always manage to make up and we know the Hecks love each other.
Favorite Quotes:
- April: "This is my favorite time of year. The end of fall right before autumn begins."
- Mike: "No more naming things that shouldn't have names. The name of this room is 'room'."
- Brick: "I'd go with Axl and April. She smells really nice." April: "I just finished a life saver."
What did you all think of "The Heckoning"? Did you love Brick's costume as much as I did? Did you like Brick getting his own chair? Leave a comment and let me know!
