The Middle
on ABC
By
Ally Matteodo
Now in its second season,
ABC's sitcom The Middle follows the trials and tribulations of the
Midwestern Heck family, composed of mother Frankie, father Mike, oldest brother
Axl, daughter Sue, and youngest brother Brick. A generally clean and warm
family comedy, the October 6th episode of The Middle (8:00
p.m. ET) has been chosen as the Best TV Show of the Week. In this
episode, Frankie urges Mike to go to the doctor for a physical. He normally
takes care of his ailments himself, and Frankie puts the pressure on by
describing how well she takes care of herself. Later on, much to her chagrin, a
salesclerk at a store mistakenly brings her adult diapers when she’s looking to
pick up some baby diapers for Sue, who’s babysitting and called her mother in an
emergency. Offended that someone would think her old enough to need adult
diapers, Frankie is mortified when she reaches to plug an appliance into a
socket and throws her back out. Even worse, Mike returns from the doctor the
picture of perfect health and insists on taking her out for a nice dinner on
their anniversary. Backed into a corner, a downtrodden Frankie tells Mike the
truth—her back gave out and she’s aged much worse than he has. However, it turns
out that Mike suffers from high cholesterol, an ailment he didn’t initially tell
Frankie about because he didn’t want to worry her. Content that they are
growing old together, the two enjoy one of their best anniversaries lying in bed
and watching When Harry Met Sally. Another story line revolves around
Brick, who discovers that eating candy really isn’t against the law for children
under ten – contrary to a fib his mother told him as a deterrent. Brick quickly
begins to piece together all the fibs his mother told him throughout the years
to stop him from dangerous behavior, like “if you make that face it will freeze
that way,” or “if you swallow watermelon seeds a watermelon will grow in your
stomach.” Another plot explores a crush Sue has on Axl’s friend Sean. She
writes Sean a poem and places it in Axl’s car, but Axl covers for Sue when he
realizes that Sean doesn’t reciprocate her feelings, telling him that he wrote
the poem instead in an effort to work out some lyrics for a song.
This sitcom provides a
refreshing look at a close-knit nuclear family unit whose members always have
the best of intentions. The central theme of this episode focuses on honesty.
As Frankie tells Brick, lying is wrong and honesty is almost always the best
policy. However, when we see Frankie frazzled at the checkout and Brick
repeatedly asking why she won’t buy him a candy bar, we understand her plight
and how it might be easier to make up a white lie rather than argue with him
indeterminately and hold other people up in line. Axl makes up a story about
the poem to save his sister from humiliation, and Mike keeps his maladies from
Frankie because he doesn’t want to worry her. Yet when both husband and wife
reveal their health problems, it brings them closer together, creaky joints and
all. When you love someone, you may be inclined to lie to them to protect their
feelings, but as The Middle shows us, when someone loves you back, they
love you always, no matter what, warts and all.
Best TV Show
of the Week
The Parents
Television Council -
www.parentstv.org
