The Middle – Frankie and Axl sitting in a tree

Of last night’s comedy block on ABC I was most looking forward to the premiere of Mr. Sunshine; the return of Clive and Juliana on Modern Family was the most hyped; and Valentine’s Day take two on The Middle was the most awesome (full disclosure: I haven’t seen Mr. Sunshine yet, but I’m guessing it takes more than a pilot to get things perfect. Also, Better With You? I’m better without you.) Last night’s episode of The Middle was comedy done exactly right.

From worst to best, it was kind of cute watching Sue attempt to locate the guy she kissed on the Halloween hayride. I loved when Carly suggested that Sue had made him up, to which a confused Sue replied, “I’m usually not that creative.” But even knowing Sue I couldn’t believe that she wouldn’t at least attempt to tell Joe (Nicholas McDonald) who she was, and more importantly who she thought he was. But I loved that she showed up at the school Valentine’s Day dance in her pink crayon costume. Seriously, what in the world did she expect? I’d say she’s lucky Joe followed her out of the auditorium.

When Brick started rambling about the candies with words I thought his plot would go in an entirely different direction, with him sending a wholly inappropriate message to someone. Instead we got to see Brick’s first crush … and potentially his second relationship? Mike was great in Brick’s classroom completely out of his element, and I loved it every time one of the kids called him “Brick’s dad.” I would have loved it if we’d gotten to see Brick with Autumn (Isabella Acres) a bit more, but it was all really cute.

The assembly line process that Brick was screwing up by reading the candies — Brick, stick, lick, done — was awesome. I also really loved it when Mike tried to do a handwriting analysis on Jake’s supposed note to Autumn. I used to think Brick was best when paired with Frankie, but the last few episodes are showing a lot of strength in the Brick/Mike team.

Meanwhile, Frankie and Axl’s day (which turned into two) was amazing. I don’t know that it needed to be turned into “I’m dating my son,” because it had plenty of legs as just a mother wanting to connect with her teenage son, but I loved the entire thing. I wasn’t sure what to expect of Alison Sieke’s Vanessa — I did not expect that, despite Axl’s description — but the episode owes her a debt of gratitude for giving us moments like Axl telling Frankie that he’d like to come in because they both lived in the house, and Frankie’s face when Axl started describing the flock of butterflies tattooed down the front of Vanessa’s body.

Also worth a shout was Mike and Frankie’s Reservoir Dogs plot. I love that Mike partially married Frankie because she said she’d liked the movie on their first date. Great ending by having them watch it again, Frankie cringing the entire time.

If Mr. Sunshine is even half as good….

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Feb 10, 2011 @ 18:00 EST5EDT