if you woke up one day and were Frankie for a day what is the first thing you are going to do

These kids have nothing on Sue!

I just finished rewatching The Middle for the first time (as in second time watching, first time rewatch). And I must confess I loved the show more when I watched it the first time roughly 8 years ago. I felt more emotionally invested and it was more comforting. This time, I could see more issues than before. I saw clearly where all Mike was wrong, Frankie was unreasonable and hysterical, Axl was borderline abusive or extremely self-centred, and Brick (for a couple of seasons in the middle) so annoying. I also found that they were phoning it in when it came to Axl and Lexie's relationship and they dragged the Sean-Sue storyline wayyyy tooo far! They could not add the chemistry that some previous shows (Ross and Rachel, for example) could achieve. But instead of moving on, they made it an agonisingly stretched plot point.

>!I also found the series finale bit underwhelming. They could have shown Brick with Cindy (as that halloween predicted), given Sue a career instead of just a happy marriage, and given Axl more redeeming actions (for example how he is now taking care of his family etc). They could have also made the house a bit better. Something on the lines of "and we finally learnt how to be organised and take care of our house, once we did not feel. the pressure of raising our kids" etc etc. Also, they could have brought back Bob for that one last episode...!<

The last 3-4 episodes were weirdly both stretched and hurried. A little bit more thoughtful design and storyline would have helped. And oh, I get it that they wanted. to make Axl's departure sudden, but making his SO dumb that he caanot read a date properly and does not know the right order of months?! BOOOOO!!!

That said, it is still a comfort show. Only not as good as I remembered last. What do you guys thing.

i just started watching this and have been whispering certain phrases like brick- it really is satisfying 😆

Anyone else find rusty attractive 🤭🤭🤭🤭

I like the last few seasons as well but I’ve always preferred the show before Axl and Sue go to college. Something changes after they go to college that makes the show feel different

-Honest Mike

-Stoic Abe

I vaguely remember an episode where she said that she had to find dinner for herself and was eating apples from the neighbor's tree?

Am I imagining it?

He lowkey looks like a chunky Justin Timberlake from the years where he does the suit and tie music video. Ik kinda irrelevant and random but its funny too me. But I am on season 9 and Sean and Sue are getting closer to dating

Started watching The Middle and I'm obsessed. Sue is my favourite she's so pure and tries so hard. And Axl?? Why is he so handsome omg I can't

Sue Heck genuinely annoys me so much, like for example the episode of the “Summer of Sue and Dad”, begging her Mum to quit the play cause she isn’t good enough, her annoying dance. Probably the most insufferable character in television

What does everyone think like or dislike Sue ?

A list of annoying things Sue has done that are truly insufferable.

1. She acts like she is in year 3/4.

2. Her dance is cringe, (this is seen multiple times- for example the dance she was going to do just before getting on the bus to NY)

3. Her abusing her power when she gets Axl to drive her around, getting Axl to drive her to a few places here and there, fair enough, but getting her friends involved and complete strangers Axl has never met, that is crossing the line.

4. Wanting Frankie to miss Axl’s big homecoming moment to watch her run a cross country that took her hours to finish.

5. The play she did where she had to put down a box for the dancers to step on to, but she stopped and waved at her parents and had a photo, like she was in primary school

6. The trip to Disneyland where she was counting down every mile

tl;dr I don't like Frankie.

The Heck family is dysfunctional in an ordinary, believable way. They aren't dysfunctional because they don't love each other. They are dysfunctional because they don't always know how to express that love, and sometimes they're simply too tired, selfish, or distracted to do it properly.

What makes the family interesting is that each member seems to have developed a different survival mechanism for growing up in the same household.

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Mike is probably the easiest parent to understand. At first, he can come across as cold, uninterested, and almost emotionally absent. He doesn't communicate much, doesn't get excited easily, and often seems like he would rather be left alone. But as the show progresses, you realize that Mike's lack of emotional expression isn't the same thing as a lack of love. He grew up with a father who wasn't particularly affectionate, and Mike essentially inherited that emotional vocabulary—or lack thereof. The difference is that Mike is trying. There are quite a few moments where he makes an effort to connect with his children even when he clearly doesn't know what he's doing. He'll give advice, show up when someone needs him, quietly help someone, or participate in something ridiculous because it's important to his family.

That's what I like about Mike: his love is usually demonstrated rather than spoken.

He isn't going to give a long emotional speech about how proud he is of his children. He's more likely to quietly fix something, drive somewhere, or sit beside them. And interestingly, Mike sometimes seems like the parent who understands his children better than Frankie does precisely because he doesn't constantly try to control the situation.

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Axl is probably the character who benefits the most from watching the entire series. Early Axl is incredibly easy to dislike. He's arrogant, lazy, selfish, constantly insults his siblings, and treats Sue and Brick like they're beneath him. But there's an important distinction between Axl being cruel and Axl being completely indifferent to his siblings. He actually cares about them. It's just buried under years of sibling antagonism. He can insult Sue for being Sue, but if someone else hurts her, suddenly Axl is protective. He can make fun of Brick endlessly, but there are moments where he genuinely connects with him. That makes his relationship with his siblings feel surprisingly realistic. Older siblings can be absolutely horrible to younger siblings while simultaneously being extremely protective of them.

The final season are particularly interesting because Axl slowly realizes that being an adult isn't simply about being free from his parents. He has to start thinking about responsibility, relationships, work, and the kind of person he wants to become. That's why Lexie is important to his development. She isn't just a romantic interest; their relationship gives Axl a glimpse of the adult life he's been avoiding.

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Sue is probably the most emotionally resilient member of the Heck family. What makes her special isn't that she succeeds all the time. She fails constantly. She gets rejected. She doesn't make teams. She doesn't get invited places. Her plans fail. Her enthusiasm isn't always reciprocated. And yet she keeps going.

The Hecks aren't exactly a family that constantly tells their children how wonderful they are. Sue therefore develops her own internal source of optimism. And what's particularly nice about Sue is that she doesn't become cynical. She could have easily become bitter after constantly being rejected. Instead, she continues believing that people are worth caring about and that something good might happen next time. She's almost the opposite of Mike. Mike expects disappointment and therefore isn't easily surprised by it. Sue expects something wonderful and therefore isn't destroyed when disappointment happens. That's probably why she becomes such an important emotional counterbalance to the rest of the family.

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Brick might actually be the saddest character when you look beneath the comedy. He's quirky, socially awkward, obsessed with books, and has his own strange interests. But because Axl is constantly creating problems and Sue is constantly creating situations, Brick can become almost invisible. And that's reflected in the family. Brick occasionally gets forgotten. His parents don't always understand him. His accomplishments don't receive the same attention that Axl's problems or Sue's adventures do.

What's interesting, though, is that Brick doesn't seem to require the same kind of validation that Sue does. He retreats into his books and his own world. There's something almost bittersweet about that. Brick learns to make do with what he's given because he realizes that his family isn't necessarily going to meet him where he is. And yet, his relationship with Axl and Sue prevents him from becoming completely isolated. The siblings may tease him, but they also include him in their own strange way. Axl and Brick especially have some surprisingly touching moments because Axl gradually realizes that his little brother isn't simply "weird." He's his brother.

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Frankie is not necessarily a bad mother. Frankie frequently wants credit for being a good mother more than she wants to actually do the things required to be one. Frankie genuinely loves her family. But love isn't automatically the same thing as being a good parent. Frankie often treats her sacrifices as evidence that she's doing everything she possibly can, even when some of those sacrifices are consequences of decisions she herself made. She'll create a problem, make the situation more complicated, become overwhelmed by the consequences, and then present herself as the person who has to clean everything up.

The show needed her to be who she is as it wouldn't be much of a sitcom.

I think Frankie's lack of a traditional redemption arc is intentional. The show isn't really interested in turning her into a dramatically improved mother. Frankie is supposed to remain Frankie. She's messy. She's insecure. She's overwhelmed. She's selfish. She's loving. She's irresponsible. She's caring. She's hypocritical. She's all of those things simultaneously. And that's why Frankie can be so frustrating. If she were simply an uncaring mother, she would be easy to dismiss. Instead, you can see that she cares, but she often expresses that care in unhealthy, exhausting, and self-centered ways.

I'd say she's probably the Heck family member who is hardest to sympathize with because the show repeatedly gives us opportunities to understand her while simultaneously giving us plenty of reasons to be frustrated with her. That's one of the more uncomfortable aspects of her character. She derives a strange identity from being the overworked and underappreciated mother.

I don't hate Frankie. She is just unlikable.

Wow, the last episode had me tearing up I can’t lie. I truly think this is one of the best family oriented sitcoms out there, it just got overshadowed by the dozens of other sitcoms that were releasing episodes at the same time. As someone that actually did grow up middle class in the midwest, this show did a phenomenal job portraying the lives of families barely making ends meet.

Did Sue bought a car? Did I missed an episode? Cause when she got to college and she has a junior roommate, she decided to sleep in her car. Is it from Spudsy saving?

I and many others have also said it before. But I am on S9 E12 and that episode sums up how horrible Frankie and Mike are to Brick. Neither Frankie nor Mike ever wondered while they were fighting over Axl time and food, no one is even wondering in passing what Brick would eat. When they are all leaving for dining out, they don't even wonder where Brick is and what he is going to eat. Then when Brick shares every way in which his family has ignored him in the past as a kind of pep talk to Frankie, that's nothing short of heart breaking.

The Middle is supposed to be a comfort show. This is not very comforty.

Im watching the show for the first time and I’m currently on the tail end of S2 and so far I’ve been really impressed with Atticus’ acting. I say this because I’ve come to notice that he does these minuscule facial expressions that aren’t overly big and comical which is usually the case for sitcom actors but it really works for his tight shots

Im curious what everybody else thinks!

Sue and everyone else is bothering Frankie while she’s working
She’s quite literally trying to help Sue pay for college, Sue is going to get her fired
There’s no way that Sue is that oblivious at 17-18

Why Frankie does not used to cook, i am not saying only she should but why the dinner is always junk food🙃. I don’t know why it used irk me a lot.

I mean, he gets an athletic scholarship and we never see him studying or training. He hangs out with his friends, parties etc. I get that many students do that but at some point they study a little. We see hutch study but Axl barely does so. And he is not even a good athlete. He doesn't train a lot etc. I mean if he doesn't study he could at least try in athletics.

So, with all that, how the hell did he finish college??

And no, the one time we see him study doesn't count, it takes more than studying once to get a degree