Hello everyone! I hope you're having a very happy holiday season! Your holiday is probably better than Axl's because he decided to go and marry April. At the beginning of this episode, Axl panics and tells Sue all about his marriage and how he did it to make Frankie mad. As Sue points out, marrying someone to make your mom mad isn't a very good idea.
Sue freaks out and starts complaining that she was supposed to be a bridesmaid. Now she'll just have to settle for being a bridesmaid for Cindy, and that will require wearing a formal dress and a safari hat. Then Axl freaks out because he has a wife, and he currently doesn't know where April is. I loved that Axl went to Sue with this secret. I love all of the Hecks, but I've always had a soft spot for Axl and Sue's relationship. When Axl hugged Sue, my heart almost exploded. Sue was completely taken aback. She tells him that he needs to talk to Mike and Frankie.
Axl comes home and Frankie is beyond excited. He pretends to be the best son ever; he helps Frankie decorate the house for Christmas and he drinks hot cocoa with her. Sue begs Axl to tell their parents the truth because it's stressing her out. She says she won't get to enjoy Christmas until Mike and Frankie know about the marriage. He keeps acting like everything is great which stresses Sue out even more.
While Sue is stressing and Axl is busy hiding his marriage, Brick gets roped into babysitting the neighbor's kids. Despite this being his first time babysitting, the kids love him. In fact, all they want to do is spend time with him. He tries to hide from them, but they all find a way to get into his house. By the end of the episode, he doesn't have to worry about these kids anymore. More on that later.
That night the Hecks all gather in their car and head over to look at the lights and Christmas displays in town. Frankie is still loving life, and Sue is still desperately trying to get Axl to tell the truth. She plays games to get Axl to spill his secret, but he doesn't buy into it. Eventually Frankie's phone rings, and it was April's mother. She tells Frankie about the marriage, and Frankie goes ballistic. She starts screaming, and then Axl jumps out of the car and runs away. This was my favorite part of the episode hands down.
Mike briefly stops chasing Axl and asks if he had to marry her. When he says no, Mike says, "That's even worse!" and the chasing continues. Axl trips over the reindeer, and the entire family fights. Axl says he didn't want to ruin Christmas, and Brick sarcastically comments that "that ship has sailed." As the family fights, the mom of the kids that Brick was babysitting drives by, and she tells the kids that they are never allowed to go over to his house ever again! I laughed so hard at this whole scene.
Eventually Axl and his parents stop fighting and they have a discussion on what to do. Axl isn't sure if he wants to be married. "If you need to ask your parents if you should be married you probably shouldn't be married." Sound advice, Mike. Luckily Axl listens to his dad, and Brick researches ways to get an annulment in Indiana. I cracked up that everyone agreed on the "one of more parties are mentally unstable" choice.
So Mike, Frankie, and April's parents all go to the courthouse and get Axl an annulment for Christmas. What a great present. Hopefully this will be the end of Axl's issues and he and his family can stop fighting.
The episode ends on a happy note with Mike finally enjoying his Christmas present, a pair of sunglasses from Bill, Axl is now single, and Sue finally gets to enjoy Christmas now that there are no more secrets. I absolutely loved the Christmas card at the end of the episode. It was the one with the dog plastered over April's face. That was so creative!
Other Thoughts:
- Mike kind of irritated me this week by not just accepting Bill's gift. I know he doesn't ever really get excited, but he could have just said thank you. I hated how he tried to get a gift in equal price to those sunglasses. It's a present. But luckily Mike ended up liking them, and more importantly, Frankie did, too.
- I wasn't crazy about Brick's story line this week, either. I thought it was just filler and wasn't needed. Like I said above, I did think the ending was funny when the mom drove by. So at least it ended on a good note.
Besides those two minor complaints, I thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and I think The Middle always has wonderful holiday episodes. This one was no exception. I can't wait until January for new episodes to come back. Season 8 of The Middle has been excellent so far. The writing, directing, and acting has been top notch. I don't know of any other show that has kept the quality up for eight seasons.
What did everyone else think about this episode? Are you glad that Axl got an annulment and made up with his family? Don't forget to check back on January 3 for all new episodes!
I hope that everyone has a very happy and safe holiday!
