This episode of The Middle picks up where last week left off: Axl is still not speaking to Frankie. I was really hoping that these two would patch things up, but it looks like it may take a little longer for that to happen. The fighting was the main focus this week, and it affected all of the Hecks differently.
Frankie channels her energy into shopping at Orson's new discount store called Yesterday's Bounty. The store sells leftover food like preopened pasta, Chinese cereal and misshapen fruits. She even finds one piece of fruit that looks like a tumor! After focusing on the food and discussing Axl with Mike, she decides to send her son an email. I loved that she couldn't decide the tone of the email. She went back and forth between being overly sweet and super mean. On one of her attempts she states that she's not the only one that hates April- the entire family hates April. Mike vetoes that email as well.
Frankie finds a carrot that has legs (which is later referred to as the "dirty carrot") and thinks Axl would love it. She sends him a picture of it, but he doesn't respond. She gets really upset so Mike ends up paying Axl a visit at his RV. Axl thought the carrot was hilarious, but refuses to text his mother. I loved this conversation. First, it was over a dirty carrot. Second, Mike completely blows his attempt at peacemaker and ends up telling Axl that he thinks April is dumb as a bag of hammers. He returns home and informs a disappointed Frankie that he messed up.
"Well, he's not talking to me anymore. And I took Sue and Brick down with me."
Sue was also a little down about her family, but her bestie, Brad, came to visit and made things better. I had forgotten how much I missed Brad and Sue's friendship until he showed up. His entrance wasn't exactly happy as he pretends to mug Sue. "Give me your purse because it's fabulous!" Lexie doesn't realize that the guy "mugging" her is Brad and she ends up kicking him. Luckily, the rest of the visit turns out much better. Brad cheers Sue up about the situation with Axl, and he helps decorate her temporary housing. They put snowflakes and streamers all over the room and make breakfast for everyone.
Sue is much happier now, but then she learns about Brad leaving NYU. He thought New York was too depressing and he doubts his acting skills. Sue gives him an awesome pep talk and tells him that East Indy has a great acting program. I really hope Brad joins Sue at college. I always enjoy their scenes together.
We also had Brick developing a new tick this week. He walked around singing "You're gonna love our pizza!" for the entire episode and gets sent to the principal's office after singing the slogan in class. His therapist talks to him and realizes that Brick is stressed because of the problems at home. He tells Brick that he needs to have more fun to relieve the stress. Frankie comes up with a great idea, and Frankie, Mike, and Brick head outside and play baseball with the rotten fruit. The three of them look like they are having so much fun hitting and destroying that awful fruit.
Overall I enjoyed this episode because it was less depressing than last week's. Sue's story line was by far my favorite, and I hope that Axl forgives his family soon. I do give credit to the writers for sticking to this story and not patching everything up after one episode. I'm interested to see what happens next week.
Favorite Quotes:
Frankie: "Sometimes life gives you lemons. And sometimes it gives you freaky looking lemons. It's what you do with them that makes a difference."
Brad: "Telling Sue Heck not to decorate her room is like telling Michael Phelps not to get wet."
Axl: "There are two Axl's now. One before April and one after April." Mike: "Is there a third one I can talk to?"
Brad: "I guess I'll just listen to my dad and become a cop or a construction worker. I've already got the outfits."
What did you think about this episode? Are you sad that Axl is still fighting with the family? Were you happy to see Brad again? Let me know in the comments section!
