The Middle: Frankie and Mike Spend Time with the Kids

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Please tell me I'm not the only one who felt incredibly bad for Brick. I was baffled at how little Mike and Frankie cared about spending time with their third-born. ESPECIALLY for an episode that's built around them spending a day with each child, however that offspring desires. They tried too hard with Axl but not enough with Brick. My heart goes out to the poor boy, but at least he practically expected it. Sue acted exactly as I would have expected - planning way too much and putting her foot down to make sure her goals were accomplished. The matching shirts were the cherry on top of that sundae! Axl telling his parents about Cassidy was cute, but a bit unnecessary. His relationships don't have a great history and I don't see this one lasting beyond graduation. Maybe she'll play a bigger role during his final semester of high school, but the Hecks aren't overly hospitable so it's not like she's going to start coming by much... right?

The Middle "One Kid at a Time" (S04E12): The family drives around to get errands done but argues over where to go to dinner. When they can't agree, they wind up going home to have cereal. After the kids move toward bed, Frankie and Mike talk about how nice it would be to only have one child, and, after some imagining, they decide to use the holiday weekend to spend one day with each kid. [poor Brick, just wanting to go to the library!]

Axl is first, and though he sleeps until noon, he does get excited to play paintball with his parents. He sneaks off of the course, though, to make out with Cassidy, where Mike finds him.

Sue wakes up her parents at 4:45am because she's afraid they won't be able to fit in all of her activities if they don't start now, with the sunrise. [whoa.] Then, they pet puppies at the shelter, paint mugs, get donuts, look for animal shapes in the clouds, visit the butter museum, play DDR at the arcade, and even get shirts made of the three of them. [Mike as Sue's left foot in the game was cute.]

ABC/MICHAEL ANSELL

After Chinese food, Sue wants to see Frankie's old prom dresses, trying on her Cinderella senior dress as she flips through old yearbooks. Problems arise, however, when she learns that Frankie was a cheerleader and on Prom court. After some initial upset feelings, Sue decides that she has two more years for her "cheerleader blood" to come out. [hahaha!]

At 10:15am, Brick starts his special day by asking his parents drive him to Indianapolis for a sci-fi convention. [Frankie and Mike are tired and forgot that they had another day to go.] Frankie and Mike try to convince him to do something else, and when it starts snowing, they go to a shoe store instead. Brick gets shorted in the end, but Frankie hardly cares that he makes a scene in public. [boo.]