The Middle – At least Mr. Ehlert wasn’t naked

I know it’s nearly impossible for a TV show to stay so current that its Super Bowl episode — or NCAA Final Four episode, for that matter — features the correct teams, but consider the reality here: Mike’s a huge Indianapolis Colts fan, and they were eliminated in the Wild Card round of this year’s playoffs … by the Jets, of all teams. In reality Mike would be fuming on a Colt-less Super Bowl Sunday. Probably not enough to skip watching the game altogether, but … anyway, all of the “this team” and “that team” stuff was amusingly vague.

Even a few weeks early I enjoyed the NFL-centric episode. I loved that reading — specifically three syllable words — is what got Brick into the sport. Axl’s jealousy at the time that Brick and Mike were spending together was priceless. And despite how foreseeable it was, I loved how all Brick had was trivia knowledge; could you really see him enjoying just sitting back and watching some football?

Frankie really has pathetically low self-esteem. She’s so eager to be liked that, in the face of all evidence screaming otherwise, she was able to convince herself that Mr. Ehlert saw some potential in her and was inviting her to a management seminar — I assumed he wanted to bring his own assistant to show off his importance — and then she didn’t turn around as soon as she discovered just what it was that they were doing. I still thought it was really funny that Mr. Ehlert was dragging her to his colonoscopy, but it made Frankie look even more pathetic.

For one of the first times I really enjoyed how sad Sue’s life is. I’ve loved the entire cross country story, but Brad the gay boyfriend who doesn’t know he’s gay and who Sue doesn’t realize is gay has always been a bit much. Nevertheless, “Square Dancing with the Stars” was awesome. Random question, though: who were the “stars” mentioned in the title?

Where I didn’t so much like Sue and Carly’s (Blaine Saunders) ninja dancing against those bullies last season, I loved the training montage as Brad tried to prepare Sue for the competition … and for the basic ability of telling her left from her right. And how funny was it that some of Mike’s Super Bowl guests used the competition as an excuse to escape Brick and his all useless knowledge? I hope public schools in Indiana are wary of strangers at school events.

Anyway, the best part was the country cover of “Eye of the Tiger” during training. Very creative, and very enjoyable. Nice one whoever thought of that!

Despite the fact that he’s gay — and assuming he has no plans to deal with his sexuality in grade school — I actually think Brad might be good for Sue. Anyone else who believes that winning a square dancing competition would be “peaking in eighth grade” could be just what Sue needs to soar.

“It was the moment Mike had waited for his whole life — the day Brick said something he was actually interested in.” – Frankie’s voice-over when Brick learns about football

“It’s not you, it’s me … for thinking you could do it.” – Brad to Sue, on her dancing

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jan 20, 2011 @ 16:00 EST5EDT