Best TV Show of the Week

  The Middle  on ABC

By catherine nailog

The honor of Best TV Show of the Week goes to ABC’s The Middle. The episode titled “Halloween,” first aired on October 27, 2010, was repeated on July 20 at 8:00 p.m. ET. The Hecks prepared for a fun-filled Halloween.  Frankie and Mike were invited to a neighbor’s Halloween party, but Mike detested dressing up.  Sue was excited that her school’s Halloween dance was changed to nighttime, and Axl and his friends planned to go to a haunted house.

Carly told Sue that she had a date to the Halloween dance. She also told Sue about a rumor that a boy named Wiley liked her and that he will be asking her to the dance and possibly giving her her first kiss.  The girls were excited about the dance and Sue realized she didn’t even know who Wiley was, but that didn’t matter to her.  Frankie tried to persuade Mike to dress up for the costume party by getting him a hippie fringe vest, but he wouldn’t change his mind.  Wiley told Sue that the rumor that he liked her wasn’t true, which made her miserable.  Axl told Michelle about the haunted house, which made her and a friend want to come along.  Axl told his friends that if they brought girls to the haunted house, the girls would get scared, and he and his friends would comfort them and win their affections.  Sue told her mom about her plan of no longer going to the dance.  Frankie saw Sue’s disappointment and suggested that she go to the church’s Halloween party and hayride.

On Halloween night Mike, in his “Mike” costume, instructed Aunt Edie and Aunt Ginny on the distribution of Halloween candy.  Frankie was dressed up in a hippie costume, and Brick was dressed as Sergeant Charles MacKenzie, the Scottish WWI hero.  Axl and his friends got lost while driving to the haunted house.  Brick’s trick-or-treating costume wasn’t recognized by the adults of the neighborhood until he came upon Mr. Johnson, which made Brick happy.

Frankie tried to understand why Mike wouldn’t dress up or have any Halloween fun. She asked if he ever dreamt or hoped for something in life.  And he responded that he was content.  Frankie was shocked to find that he was content with his life.  In fact, Mike stopped two boys who planned to toilet-paper a home.  Frankie was disappointed that he wouldn’t let the boys have a little fun, but she did remember to hold on to the rolls of toilet paper that the boys left behind.  Mike and Frankie were at the Halloween party, where Frankie bobbed for apples and danced with Mike on the dance floor.  Mike wouldn’t dance, and Frankie became frustrated. Frankie was upset with Mike that he wasn’t trying to have any fun.  Mike wasn’t trying to prevent Frankie from having fun, but Frankie wanted to have fun with Mike.  She told Mike, “You should be happy.  Seventeen years, I still wanna have fun with you.”  Mike then started to toilet paper a neighbor’s home, and Frankie became happy and joined him.

Sue went to the church’s Halloween party dressed up as a pink Crayola crayon.  She was happy to find that Reverend Tim Tom hosted the party.  Sue spoke to Reverend Tim Tom about her feeling left behind; getting her braces off, not having her first kiss.  She no longer wanted to go on the hayride.  Reverend Tim told her, “You never know what’s right around the corner.”  Sue decided to go along the hayride, and it was on this ride where she had her first kiss.

Michelle and her friend were scared that they were lost on an abandoned road.  Michelle told a scary story about teenagers in a car on their way to an abandoned drive-in.  A farmer discovered the teenagers’ chopped-up bodies; however an extra head without a body was discovered.  Everyone started to get even more fearful as Axl’s car got stuck in the mud.  While Axl and his friends tried to push the car out of the mud, a black plastic bag grazed Axl’s head making him and his friends panic in front of the girls.  The girls were shocked at the guys’ behaviors. Axl and his friends were able to get the car out of the mud, but they were not able to have a Halloween as planned.

Mike and Frankie returned to a toilet-papered home.  One aunt wondered why there weren’t any trick-or-treaters. The aunts weren’t adept at distributing the Halloween candy.  When the doorbell rang, an aunt picked up the telephone, or they fell asleep as kids pounded on the door or rang the doorbell for candy.

What made this episode appealing were Frankie’s numerous attempts to get Mike to have fun.  In realizing that his wife of seventeen years wanted to only have fun with him, Mike finally did so, even if it was to toilet-paper a neighbor’s home.  One’s idea of fun may not be another’s, but if it would make a loved one happy, why not join in? Through Reverend Tim Tom’s advice, Sue remained hopeful about her future and got her first kiss.  Brick found a friend in Mr. Johnson, and Axl would have to wait until next year for a romantic Halloween.  As depicted through the Hecks, families can enjoy a Halloween filled with candy, fun and hijinks, and maybe the occasional clean up of a toilet-papered home.         

Best TV Show of the Week

The Parents Television Council - www.parentstv.org