The Middle: Everyday Orson Life!

The latest three episodes of The Middle are excellent examples of what this show is, for those who have not discovered the mundane yet humorous world that is Orson, Indiana. The Heck family has their ups and downs, but they still live like everyone else, with the same sorts of disappointments and conflicts as everyone else. Sure, things get out of hand from time to time (arrested for library late fees, going from avoiding hygiene to overdoing it), but the family takes life in stride and makes the best lemonade they can out of fallen lemons. With Sue, this tends to be her attitude in every aspect of her life, but each of the others experiences it in this batch of episodes as well. Frankie desperately wants to have more friends and be more social, but she learns to accept the more private life that she and Mike share. Axl wants to be the cool football player but still gets his heart broken. Mike does the good-father thing and volunteers to help coach his daughter's soccer team, only to learn that it's no Little League team. What else will happen on The Middle this season?

The Middle "Stormy Moon" (S05E16): Sue is upset that Reverend TimTom has a girlfriend, Reverend Tammy. [ha - "What Would Jesus Tweet?"] Sue tries to talk to him twice about it, but winds up being forced to accept it, at least to a certain degree. [meh. I forget about TimTom whenever he's not around, so no big deal.]

Axl is excited to see Cassidy again, and they jump to making out. He's not sure what to make of their relationship, though, and she paints him a picture that he doesn't understand, though he claims he does. ["Happy Trails" ??]

Two policeman show up with a warrant for Frankie's arrest... for overdue library books. [LoL, remember when something similar happened on Seinfeld?] Brick forgets to tell Mike, so Frankie has to make bail on her own. [holy cow!] She forces the entire family to search the house for the book, Brady Bunch-style, but they are unable to find it. Frankie continues to blame Brick until the judge informs her that the missing book is more in a genre she would read, though Brick winds up devouring the novel when it is found anyway. [what an embarrassment in the courtroom!]

The Middle "The Walk" (S05E17): Sue is sad that she's the only one without a date to the Prom, but that's only the beginning. Her boss, Edwin, asks her to go with him, then Sean shows up from Notre Dame to take her, and Brad also assumes that they're going together. [haha, Brad will do her makeup! what was with Sue's multi-colored pants?] But, it gets so much more complicated when the Glossner also asks her, and then Darrin does, too. She dumps Sean, then Brad, but the Glossner kid is easy because he gets thrown into juvie. Edwin dumps her after hearing about Brad, but then Shaun tells Darrin about Sue having multiple dates, and he also pulls out, leaving Sue to go alone. She meets up with WeirdAshley, who has also gone stag. [LOVED Frankie's voiceover joke!]

ABC/Michael Ansell

When Darrin goes to see Axl, the eldest Heck pulls out the big brother muscle and chews out his friend for leaving Sue standing there, so the lughead heads to Prom and makes up with her. [what was that theme?? "Lost in Time" or something?]

Frankie and Mike go for a walk and run into another couple, hitting it off. They host a dinner party for the neighbors, but everyone talks to each other and leaves Frankie and Mike out of the fun. [haha.] 

Axl helps Brick with an out-of-the-box book report, but when they go to watch the video of a book-themed domino rally across the house, they realize that Axl had the front-facing camera on. [that sucks. also, why is Axl still home??]

The Middle "The Smell" (S05E18): Mike is asked to be the assistant coach of a girls' soccer team, which he only agrees to because it will give Sue a chance to play. [yay, Sue!] However, then the coach has a big work project and has to leave Mike in charge. He's not really ready to deal with the drama that is teen girls, but he tries. [hard, for Mike!] However, then the parents start bothering Mike for various reasons, so he does the same thing that happened to him and gets someone to become the assistant, then leaves him alone with the crazy. [ha!] Mike even joins the original coach in stalking the games from a van! [this was a little bit over-the-top!]

There's a stench in the house that the family cannot locate, and it turns out to be Brick. Frankie takes him to the drugstore to let him pick out some hygienic products, but he overdoes it and Mike has to show him what's appropriate usage. [this was a random storyline, I thought.]

Axl and Hutch try to figure out what the painting from Cassidy means, and decide to ask girls on the floor what they think. The disagree on the interpretation, but it also gets them interested in Axl, who winds up calling Cassidy to figure out if he's about to cheat on her... only to sadly realize that she has moved on from him. [:(]