The Middle: Axl's Charming, Brick & Sue Scheme

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

The opening mentions that there are three ways to go to college... study hard, be a leader, or get in through a sports scholarship. Maybe it's not a popular thing, but you can also get into college by being big into charity work. I knew a few people in HS who were REALLY into volunteering and earned several thousands of dollars in scholarship funds doing so. I was pretty interested to see how Axl would do with talking to the recruiter, and was surprised that he was so eloquent. And then Frankie mentioned that other adults say fabulous things about Axl, though she never sees him behave that way at home. And then it hit me. I did the same thing. During my teen years, I got yelled at many a time for treating other people better than I treated her. And I retorted with things like "treat others as you want to be treated," which of course threw her into a bad mood... much like Frankie flipped out when Axl pointed out that she doesn't always give her best around the house, either. I guess that's why I liked this episode so much... I related to it quite well. That Sue and Brick, though... never saw their story playing out like that! 

abc.com

The Middle "Heck's Best Thing" (S03E07): Axl, the MVP of the most recent football game, is approached by a recruiter from East Indiana State. He tells his parents that the guy is going to come over for dinner, and they're ecstatic that someone might help pay for Axl's college. Then they immediately worry about Axl screwing up the interview. So, they tell Axl what not to do/say when the recruiter is over. On Wednesday night the recruiter comes for dinner, and Axl is well-dressed and polite. Frankie and Mike try to answer for Axl, but he ends up with better responses. The interview goes astoundingly well, and the parents are so shocked that Axl is charming and polite to other people but not them. Axl says that Frankie isn't at her best every day, either. So, she does a nice dinner and dresses up and tries to talk to everyone at dinner, but the kids just want to get up and leave, and Mike has nothing to say.

Sue and Brick go over to the aunts' house on an errand and it's gross over there. [They deal with the one actress being dead by saying that aunt is in the bathroom. Wonder how long they're gonna go with that...] Aunt Edy gives Sue and Brick a bunch of stuff from her house, including her cell phone, which still works. Sue really wants it, but ends up sharing it with Brick. To test if it texts, Sue tells Brick to text Frankie's phone, which is in the kitchen. He texts "help" and Frankie gets to it before Sue does, so Frankie heads right over to the aunts'. [I really thought that this would be funnier than it was.] Brick just calls every number he can find on telephone poles and whatnot. [random... but very "Brick."] Brick and Sue soon find out that they've racked up $68.30 in texting charges on Edy's phone, so they go to try and pay in cash. They only have $48, and Brick tries to throw in a bauble to make up the rest. Sue also wants to turn in the phone, but the employee mentions that he could upgrade her for a free phone on a second line for $5/month. [How did he find the account with just "Edy"?] Brick tries to talk her out of it, but when free stuff gets thrown in, he's hooked, too. [hahahahaha!] At the "nice dinner," Frankie mentions that she heard about Edy's charges, and thinks that it's almost time for Edy to be put in a home, which worries Sue and Brick. It's not long before Frankie figures it out and takes the phones away from Brick and Sue. Their punishment is to go over every weekend to help out Aunt Edy. [figures. I'm surprised that they thought they could get away with it at all, really. But Sue helping Edy in the end was cute.]