The Middle: No More Dog

I'm a little sad for Sue and Axl. Sure, little sisters are bothersome (ask mine about the time she was bothering me and I slammed the door, nearly severing her finger), but Axl and Sue being fairly close in age likely meant they were constant playmates when they were younger. I think that Sue's reaction to Axl's "I don't have a sister" was a bit extreme, but he should have seen that coming from his sibling, who somehow couldn't come up with anything more comparable to burning a jersey than tearing apart a plush toy. My brother and I have a similar age gap, and when I went off to college, we didn't communicate again until winter break (this was pre-cell phones for teenagers, people!), when I was hardly home because I was off hanging with friends I hadn't seen in four months... and I never really thought about how that probably made him feel. I'm looking forward to Sue visiting Axl at school - something my brother was never able to do (though I was a six-hour drive away, not 45 minutes).

Also, Frankie's boss is the same guy who did the voice of Fix It Felix in Wreck-It Ralph! Jack McBrayer has such a unique way of saying "amazing" and "ma'am" that you cannot mistake it! Ahhh, I thought that was so cool, and I'm bothered that I didn't notice it before now!

ABC/Michael Ansell

The Middle "War of the Hecks" (S05E11): Axl is still home from winter break, and when Frankie makes him clean his room, he tries to trick Sue and Brick into doing it for him. [though Brick would rather be reading Unsinkable by Debbie Reynolds.] This actually works pretty well until Brick finds the school mascot costume's head in the closet, deeply angering Sue. [how did the writers come up with this storyline??] A prank war incites, and Sue eventually winds up accidentally burning a priceless autographed jersey of Axl's, right after he apologizes for taking the hen head initially. [awww!] She apologizes endlessly and tries to barter some teasing, but Axl doesn't respond. She then attempts to make it up to him by destroying a stuffed dog that's very precious to her, and they reconcile. [I've never tried to pull apart a stuffed animal, but it can't be easy...]

Frankie's boss invites her to a burger after work, and although she fights it, she winds up going. They hang out until 9pm, and then go shoe shopping another night. [not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous. I haven't really had "coworker friends" since like 2007.] When he invites her to see his (terrible) amateur comedy act, she's dying for a way to get out of going, so when she learns that he lost his dog a few months ago, she is ready to prey on that. Unfortunately, it seems that "Toffee" is "Colin Firth," with whom Mike has finally bonded. [that was kinda cute.] Frankie brings him to Dr. Goodwin, and although they take to one another, it wasn't even the same dog... Toffee only had three legs! [haha that Frankie offered to hang out with the dog and her boss turns her down! like on Frasier when Roz gets a dog for Alice and Martin wants to help out constantly.]