Following the premiere of season five of ABC’s “The Middle,” episodes two and three had high expectations to live up to. Episode two, “Change In the Air,” aired on Wednesday, October 2 and episode three, “The Potato,” aired on October 9. Both episodes lived up to—if not exceeded—expectations, as both were hilarious.
In “Change In the Air,” Sue and Brick go back to school. With Axl away at college, Sue is in her prime with a new sense of freedom. Sue is thrilled because this year she can walk down the hallway where Axl’s locker was the year before; Axl did not allow Sue to enter “his” hallway and even made her go outside and climb in the window to get to one of her classes located in that hall. Brick is in middle school, and all is going well except for the fact that none of the sixth grade boys will use the bathroom due to a rumor that the eighth grade boys will give them a “swirlie.” Brick eventually caves and uses the bathroom, and when he returns unscathed he is considered a hero to the rest of the sixth grade class. Frankie is evidently upset because Axl has been texting Mike, but Axl does not respond to Frankie’s texts or answer her phone calls. The roles eventually reverse when Mike finds himself missing Axl when he watches a football game by himself, so Frankie texts Axl to call his dad and make him feel better. The Heck’s air conditioning is broken, and not wanting to spend a lot of money for it to be fixed, Mike calls Axl’s friend Darren—currently attending the Midwest Institute of Air Conditioning Repair—to help them out. Because Darren has only had two classes thus far, he is unable to fix the air conditioner, but he does reconnect with Sue. Sue and Darren had dated the year before, but broke up. Sue wants to give their relationship another shot, but is disappointed to find that Darren has a girlfriend.
“The Potato” presents major conflicts for Axl, Sue, and Brick. Axl thinks his roommate is a slob—which really says something considering how messy Axl is—and he cannot handle living with him anymore. Axl makes frequent visits home to avoid sleeping in his room at school, and he even gets his roommate a girlfriend to try to fix the problem, but that only results in Axl’s room getting more crowded. The Heck’s are forced to return the church van, which they had borrowed a while ago when the windshield broke on their car, so now Sue does not have a car to drive to school. Realizing that she is sixteen and therefore employable, Sue is ecstatic to enter the workforce and find herself a job so that she can earn money to help pay for a car. Sue is thrilled when she lands a job at a food stand at the local mall. This fast food job is not all rainbows and butterflies, however, as Sue has to wear a button that says “Try our new tuna and cheese potato. I love it!” but she does not love it at all; in fact, Sue hates the potato and struggles to inform customers about the potato because she hates lying. Brick has been loving middle school so far, but Frankie and Mike receive a phone call from the principal to inform them that Brick has not attended any of his classes since the start of the school year. Brick misinterpreted middle school advice from Sue and thought that he got to choose which teachers he wanted and which classes to attend. Full of conflict and chaos, “The Middle” has been hilarious so far in season five. The next new episode of “The Middle” airs Wednesday, October 16 at 8pm on ABC.
