The Middle: Solving Problems

Have you guys seen the video, "It's Not About the Nail" ?? This episode of The Middle reminded me of that - Frankie just wants to tell Mike about what's bothering her, and Mike just wants to go out and solve all of his wife's problems. This is a video my husband and I reference often when venting, so the other one knows whether to come up with a solution, or just listen and nod, LoL. But, I digress. Back on The Middle, Axl needs someone to solve his problems for him - as his best ideas are still riddled with holes and require multiple strokes of luck to pan out. I mean, what if it had rained during the several days that the couch was in the woods? And that's just for starters!

The Middle "The Wind Chimes" (S05E19): It's the day after Prom, and Sue tells her family that she loves Darrin. [no surprise, really.] Frankie worries because Darrin has a friend with a one-year-old, so she gets Mike to forbid Sue to go to a party with him. Sue doesn't go, and Darrin asks Mike what the deal is. [I don't think this issue will keep popping up, do you?]

ABC/Michael Ansell

The Glossners have put up wind chimes, and they get on Frankie's nerves pretty quickly. The first night, Frankie yells out the window, which prompts. Rita Glossner to come over and yell, so Frankie apologizes. [still not a good sign, though!] Frankie then writes Rita a letter to ask if she'll take down the chimes, and drops them off with a box of chocolates. Instead, Rita throws the chocolates at the Heck's house, and calls Frankie a bully. [whoa!] Then, Rita puts up more chimes. [ha! should've seen that coming!] Mike brings home headphones to block the noise, and the family decides to sleep in the basement, but Mike winds up heading to the Glossners' to take down those chimes. However, Rita physically assaults Mike, who then retreats home to say Frankie makes him do too many things. [what?] But, she argues that he tries to be a hero all on his own. [see Nail comparison above!] Fortunately, the Glossner children end up smashing all of the chimes, so this won't be an ongoing problem!

Meanwhile, Brick calls a pretzel company to complain about the decrease in salt on their pretzels. The automated message asks if he has an idea for a product, so he leaves his name and number. But, each of Brick's ideas have already been done, or are terrible. He makes it his responsibility to come up with something - and he goes from product development to advertising to come up with a creative concept to share. [the cutest part was that he saw a ten-cent coupon as his first paycheck!]

Elsewhere, Axl and Hutch find a couch on the street and want to use it in their apartment next year, even though it is beat-up and missing a cushion. [I'm all for more Hutch on this show, but I wonder if Axl could handle living on his own without the construct of a residence hall...] They begin to carry it back, but it's heavy so Hutch winds up having to stay with it overnight while Axl goes to class, then gets a truck. [why didn't Axl just return after class to stay with Hutch and the couch?] But, Axl can't seem to borrow a truck for a few more days, so they decide to just bring the couch to some nearby woods in the meantime. [did I miss finding out where the coffee table came from?] They start hanging out there, but Hutch brings a girl over, making Axl wonder what it'll be like when they live together the next year. Fortunately, Hutch makes it up to him. [nice 80s throwback.]