Is Frankie The Middle’s weak link?

When the show premiered I never would have imagined saying this, but here it is: is it possible that Frankie’s hurting The Middle? She just might be.

Let me be clear — I don’t mean that she’s harming the show, or doing anything that makes it bad. Because bad it isn’t. But whereas I tuned into the show in the first place for Patricia Heaton — and Neil Flynn, but less so — it’s Flynn and the kids who make this show hum week after week. For every story about Frankie’s obsession with the royal wedding there’s another about Brick and his socially awkward club.

But it’s not only when she has her own stories that Frankie falls short. Take, for example, Sue’s excitement about the public pool on last night’s episode. Don’t get me wrong: despite my wife’s ability to relate to Sue’s teenage angst, I’m finding her, um … personality quarks to be quite irksome. But man was Frankie annoying while dealing with her! Her meltdown at the store while sitting on the floor in the dressing room was not commensurate with how annoying Sue was being inside the stall. Frankie was a lot worse.

She is still Patricia Heaton … I loved when Frankie turned to the newly arriving mom and essentially warned her about the inevitable progression that a shopping trip with your teenage daughter takes. But the laughs aren’t enough to outweigh the annoying. And to make things worse, as soon as I finished the episode my DVR reverted to the last channel it had been on, which happened to be airing an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond; Heaton’s shine there just rubbed salt in the wound.

Brick’s story wasn’t explosive, but it was cute. At first I thought his fear was just about crossing the Shady Lake Bridge, maybe because of how rickety it is. But after he painted his vivid picture for Frankie, and we saw where his fear comes from — “When Bridges Collapse” — it became clear that Brick will never be much of a traveler. Good luck navigating New York City’s five boroughs without crossing any bridges!

Frankie and Mike both had their moments while trying to entice Brick across the bridge. I loved when Mike threw one of Brick’s books onto the bridge, while Brick’s warning to Mike that “I’ll never be able to trust you again” was priceless. And how did he escape out of the car like that?

Axl was okay going after the open pool lifeguard slot. I don’t quite remember Sean Donahue (Beau Wirick) being a nemesis — can he be if he always beats Axl? — but I loved how Axl’s victory ended up being so empty. He also had a couple of good lines while he was studying … he won’t quite be “practically a doctor” after studying to be a lifeguard, but it was great when he showed he was so committed that he skipped studying for a geometry test in order to prepare. Nice.

There’s nothing wrong with this great show, but how did Frankie take Sue’s place as the weakest Heck link? Maybe a summer off will help Heaton and the writers regroup … please?

“Guys, seriously, I’m trying to study. This is like, my entire career. It starts with lifeguard, then I graduate to beach lifeguard, then Hawaiian tropic judge, then rapper, so if you want a shout-out at the Grammys, keep it down!” – Axl to Mike and Frankie

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on May 19, 2011 @ 17:00 EST5EDT