Welcome to a new Sitcom Tuesday! This week, I’m continuing my coverage of The Middle (2009-2018, ABC), which is currently available on DVD and streaming!
The Middle stars PATRICIA HEATON as Frankie, NEIL FLYNN as Mike, CHARLIE McDERMOTT as Axl, EDEN SHER as Sue, and ATTICUS SHAFFER as Brick.
This is what constitutes a weak season of The Middle. Although I personally think the show was at its best in its third year, it still remained basically good by its own standards through Five. Even after Axl went to college and stories struggled to concoct excuses to keep the entire cast together. The first major dip in quality came in Six, and even then, both Six and Seven were okay, all things considered. Eight, however, is finally not. I now have to be generous when finding reasons to highlight ten entries because nothing is exemplary. The characterizations have all diluted; while the parents are peripheral and caricatured, the kids (particularly Axl and Sue) endure terribly lame rom-com maneuvers that could be done on any sitcom with teen/college leads. It’s especially shocking with Sue, who is no longer a lovable loser, but a fairly typical college girl, with lots of romantic prospects! There’s little of who they were designed to be evident anymore within story. And with two of the three kids at school and dating, there’s also very little of the original premised notion that this was a nuclear family living in “the middle” — with a middle-class, middle-western, and middle, that is “average,” life. Accordingly, nothing here feels like The Middle. It’s also tired — having run out of new ideas and lost the fortitude to use its characters to compensate. Unfortunately, no improvement is coming. But at least Season Nine will quite obviously be crusading to an ending, meaning it consciously implants greater emotional stakes and self-aware identity markers in each half-hour sample. In that sense, it’s more steeped in The Middle and its trappings, thus leaving Season Eight to be the least enjoyable. Sitcom lovers, you can skip this one. Middle fans, I’ve done my level best.
01) Episode 169: “The Core Group” (Aired: 10/11/16)
Frankie feels that the kids’ partners are coming between their familial bonds.
Written by Ilana Wernick | Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel
Season Eight opens with an ensemble show where Frankie is at the center — a throwback that’s nevertheless about new conflicts. Namely, all the kids are in relationships, and those relationships threaten the closeness of the tight-knit family. That’s a relatable, understandable concern, especially because Frankie really doesn’t like some of her kids’ chosen partners — particularly Axl’s idiotic girlfriend April (Greer Grammer). This will be an arc throughout the first half of this season, set up in this entry that uses the show’s premised familial design for a story that’s actually about the regulars and their bonds. It’s not stellar, but it’s a lot better than most here.
02) Episode 173: “Roadkill” (Aired: 11/15/16)
Brick accidentally knocks down an important town landmark while driving Axl’s RV.
Written by Roy Brown | Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel
What I most appreciate about this installment is that there’s a sense of community that involves the small Midwestern town in which the Hecks live. That’s a premised attribute distinguishing The Middle from its contemporaries. So, it’s identity-specific when Brick, while driving Axl’s RV, accidentally knocks over the town’s cow statue — a bit of physical comedy with stakes that are accented because of the setting, thus emphasizing this key tenet of the series’ situation.
03) Episode 177: “A Very Marry Christmas” (Aired: 12/13/16)
Axl returns for Christmas, keeping a secret from Frankie about his recent marriage.
Written by Jana Hunter & Mitch Hunter | Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel
Frankie’s disdain for April finally exploded on Thanksgiving when April was taking Axl away from the rest of the family, and there’s been strife with the Hecks ever since, as Axl has refused to communicate with his mom. Well, Eight’s Christmas entry puts things back on a more optimistic track — as Axl comes home, and the comic tension emerges from something Sue (and the audience) knows that Frankie doesn’t: Axl has married April. Fortunately, it’s the kind of thing that Frankie and Mike can get annulled quickly — making this family segment not too terribly bogged down by its trite rom-com machinations, as it’s indeed more about the regulars. (And, what’s more, there are decent subplots for both Brick and Mike as well.)
04) Episode 178: “Escape Orson” (Aired: 01/03/17)
The Heck family does an Escape Room.
Written by Roy Brown | Directed by Jaffar Mahmood
This half hour is notable because of its gimmicky setting, as the Hecks participate in the Escape Room trend. That’s something we won’t see anywhere else in the run, making it stand out, especially in the context of a season otherwise starved of original ideas. Also, its very design traps people together in a small place where they’re forced to interact to achieve a common goal, and those are conditions that will always be conducive to sitcommery. (Barry Livingston guests.)
05) Episode 182: “Sorry Not Sorry” (Aired: 02/14/17)
Frankie and Mike apologize to the kids for their behavior and then regret it.
Written by Tim Hobert | Directed by Phil Traill
My choice for this season’s Most Valuable Episode (MVE), “Sorry Not Sorry” is a favorable sample because it’s the one that most feels like it could have existed in a prior era. Back when the series was more reliable. For starters, it’s just a simple bottle show with the core ensemble on the primary set. Which means it’s all about character. And like several early classics, it sees the Heck household temporarily changing their status quo. Here, a flooded basement yields an argument between Frankie and Mike and an intervention from the kids, after which the couple apologizes and promises to change. Then the power dynamic flips again when the parents decide it’s the kids who actually need an intervention, before more apologies are required. It’s an amusing reversal, rooted in familiar and somewhat “average” nuclear family scenarios, now comedically heightened to a moderate degree. And it’s all within the bounds of the premise, with support from these characters, who seem to grow a bit in the process also. It’s Eight’s best.
06) Episode 185: “Exes And Ohhhs” (Aired: 03/14/17)
Axl is confronted by all his past girlfriends while Brick purchases an old library microfiche.
Written by Rich Dahm | Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel
Axl extricates himself from April in this rom-com-heavy outing that sees him running into his old girlfriends — all of whom collectively force Axl to reevaluate his current relationship. It’s nothing exceptional, but it’s a play to The Middle‘s long continuity and therefore individualized to the series in a memorable way. Additionally, there’s some long-term arc stuff set up with Sue, Sean, and a snow globe that will continue to rise in prominence during the final season. However, what I enjoy best of all here is the simple Brick subplot, as he buys the library’s old microfiche and geeks out in the archives — even finding material about Frankie.
07) Episode 186: “The Par-Tay” (Aired: 04/04/17)
Brick joins Axl for a college party while Frankie tries to break into Sue’s phone.
Written by Ilana Wernick | Directed by Jaffar Mahmood
Frankie’s overprotective helicopter style of parenting, despite the chaos that she brings as a result of all her personal and professional obligations, is a well-established aspect of her characterization. And it’s been helpful for story, like in this entry, where she’s saddened that Sue no longer confides in her. So, she attempts to break into her daughter’s phone — an impulse that I’m sure is relatable to so many parents, and a great reflection of the Frankie character.
08) Episode 187: “The Confirmation” (Aired: 04/11/17)
Brick meets the boy with whom he was temporarily switched at birth.
Written by Tim Hobert | Directed by Charlie McDermott
Back in Season Two when The Middle first revealed that Brick spent the first month of his life in another household due to a switched-at-birth mix-up, I hated the idea because I thought it was not reflective of the average type of family this show was supposed to represent. I maintain that opinion, but since it’s now a known part of the series’ continuity, I don’t begrudge it being revisited in this episode, which therefore stands out. (Also, Charlie McDermott directs and Everybody Loves Raymond’s Monica Horan guests as the mother of Brick’s swapped friend.)
09) Episode 190: “The Final Final” (Aired: 05/09/17)
Axl panics after missing his last final exam.
Written by Rich Dahm | Directed by Lee Shallat Chemel
Season Eight’s penultimate showing finds Axl accidentally missing his final exam and then trying to make it up so that he can graduate. It’s the kind of high-stakes scrambling that we nevertheless expect to work out — as it always does on The Middle — and so it only goes so far in terms of comedy. More enjoyable, thankfully, is the Hecks’ sudden-good-luck subplot, which they attribute to a mix-up with the Donahues (as their addresses are switched). It’s another fun reversal of the norm. Also, I just have to note that although the gimmicky Sue and Brad musical number at the end of the half hour is a self-indulgent stunt that’s usually beneath this series, it actually does succeed in helping “The Final Final” be memorable. And that’s valuable this year.
10) Episode 191: “Fight Or Flight” (Aired: 05/16/17)
Axl wants to spend the summer traveling Europe.
Written by Ilana Wernick | Directed by Eileen Heisler
There are a couple of interesting character-based ideas in Eight’s finale. One is about Mike not wanting to let the recently graduated Axl spend his summer in Europe with a pal. It turns out that Mike hopes to spend one more summer with his son — a sweet notion that also plays well because of Mike’s difficulty in expressing those kinds of feelings. The other subplot I like has Sue leaving a series of notes on a car that she barely dented, and then panicking when she doesn’t hear back — it’s a revealing idea for someone (once) defined as a try-hard, making it a funny and surprisingly fresh display of her character here in the mostly stale Eight.
Other notable episodes that merit mention include: “A Tough Pill To Swallow,” where Frankie and Mike both have to help Brick and Sue (just like the old days), “Thanksgiving VIII,” where Frankie’s dislike of April comes to a proverbial head, “Look Who’s Not Talking,” where Dave Foley guests as Brick’s tics flare up again, and “Clear And Present Danger,” which has a decent (if overdone) story about Mike hurting Sue’s feelings because of his lack of sensitivity.
*** The MVE Award for the Best Episode from Season Eight of The Middle goes to…
“Sorry Not Sorry”
Come back next week for Season Nine! And stay tuned tomorrow for a new Wildcard!