Thanksgiving never is the peaceful holiday that we all intend it to be, is it? It always involves a lot of running around, stressful visits with family, headaches, and scheduling mishaps. But never in my life have I experienced a Thanksgiving quite like the Hecks’.
Of course, Frankie’s obsession with Black Friday, and the pre-sale strategizing that comes with it, certainly didn’t help her cause. I’d actually never even heard of Black Friday until a few years ago, and I have still never participated in the ritual shopping day. I hear I’ve added years to my life as a result.
We had a number of good stories last night on The Middle. The always brilliant Brick was angling to go to his first corn maze, Sue got a boyfriend, and Frankie faced working on Thanksgiving. While the first and third plots were intertwined, Sue and her fancy new friend Brad (Brock Ciarlelli) stood on their own.
Okay, so I’m thinking that, contrary to Mike’s position, Brad is aware of the fact that he’s gay. Beside the fact that it would be hard to miss, I’m guessing that his parents’ concerns might have played a role in his asking Sue out (at a square dance in their school gym? Did they go back in time to the 1950s?). No offense to Sue — who said that? — but come on … that can’t be sincere.
Anyway, Frankie’s having to work on Thanksgiving led to a number of nimble scheduling swaps on her part. Yet somehow she still ended up not really being able to do anything that the family Thanksgiving called for. Thus the doomed trip by Axl and Brick to the corn maze. How did Axl manage to lose Brick so fast? The kid is tiny, but he’s a person amidst a cornfield! There wasn’t a ton to mine in that scene, save for Axl’s repeatedly telling Brick he loved him once they got home. But that was plenty.
Meanwhile back at home, Mike worked hard to put Thanksgiving together for Frankie. It was kind of ingenious for him to barbecue the turkey when he realized that he was short on time for cooking. I do wonder how that worked out, but I guess we weren’t meant to know. Okay. At least we got to see him use a power tool to cut it in half (what for?).
Frankie getting hammered didn’t really do it for me, and though I realize it’s not such a big deal, her ruining her familial holiday experience made me kind of disappointed in her as a mother and wife. Life sucks sometimes, but does she really want to arm everyone with the story of the Thanksgiving that Mom got drunk and passed out with her head in the toilet? That’s great for your college years, but not with three kids who would likely have much preferred eating dinner alongside — or fighting crazed shoppers with — their mom. I know we weren’t supposed to take a lesson out of that, but still.
Regardless, the Heck’s Thanksgiving was as memorable as many others in the annals of classic TV holiday episodes. I mean, how could 80% sales not get you there?
Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 26, 2009 @ 09:58 EST5EDT
I loved how the Black Friday “door buster” sales kept getting earlier and earlier (“Now they start at 6 PM Thursday!”). Axl lost Brick so quickly because Brick was “dressed like corn!” as the panicked Axl realized. I think cutting the frozen turkey in half was either so that it would fit on the grill (because even a half didn’t fit that well) or they thought it would cook faster. Made perfect sense to me! Frankie didn’t mean to get hammered and she also didn’t expect there to be a Thanksgiving dinner when she got home, so she can’t really be blamed for ruining the family’s holiday and shopping experience. And remember, the Heck’s live in Middle America, farm country, so they probably still do have square dancing there! And I never did Black Friday until a couple of years ago (I did have to deal with it when I worked in retail), and it actually turned out to be a pretty fun experience and I got some great bargains (just avoid Walmart or you may get trampled to death).
*POST AUTHOR*
You’ve worked the other side of the counter on Black Friday? What was that like?
I worked in a mall record store and a bookstore during part of my retail career and it wasn’t that bad. Working the early shift was better than the late shift because of parking! You were always busy, which was a good thing. Down time is the worst because then you have to find things to do (or for others to do). Another high point – the complimentary Black Bottom Muffins from the MMMMuffins store! And now I’m getting ready to go out and be part of the crowd for a couple of hours! The first year I did that I was out from 5 AM to 10 PM! It was fun, and I have respect for the people who are working from my past experience.
*POST AUTHOR*
I did not partake, but I live in a city, no malls, so maybe the experience would’t be quite as bad if there’s the chance to go outdoors between stores. Maybe next year. ;)
I don’t go for the doorbusters, but always find some good deals on other items throughout the day and the Thanksgiving weekend. I also enjoy getting out of the house and walking the entire time.
Remember that the major online shopping sites also have price wars at the same time, so it’s possible to save a lot of money on your Holiday shopping without leaving your computer.
If Brad is aware, then it’s just mean of him to lead Sue on like that, so I prefer to believe that he isn’t. Didn’t Will Truman not realize he was gay until he went to college? Anyway, fashion sense, show tunes, rhythm, transvestitism—none of those are guaranteed indicators of homosexuality.
*POST AUTHOR*
You’re right – I think I was going the “how could he not know when it’s so obvious to us” route.
Although, while I’m sure they’re not going to go this deep with it, it could be a lot more innocent than Brad using Sue. He could be trying to be what his parents want him to be, he could be trying to avoid a tough school life by using a beard, or Sue may have misinterpreted his interest in befriending her with his asking her out. I’m not sure that’s so farfetched with her….
I find your latter scenario disturbingly plausible, and hope that the “romantic” relationship just fizzles out normally and spares Sue the heartbreak.
*POST AUTHOR*
On that I’m very much with you. I think she’s far too emotionally unstable to be able to absorb a blow to the ego like that. Hopefully I am dead wrong.