r/themiddle

Im new to the show and I've been absolutely loving every episode till now , i love every character and episodes are hilarious , but what's up with the hate I see everytime I scroll past a middle reel , a lot of people say it's a copy of "malcom in the middle" i have not seen it but is it true? also a lot of people call it unfunny and bad writing , ive never seen such hate for any other sitcom as they are all harmless but why this much hate for the middle

This is supposed to be a poor family. Struggling with most of their every basic needs. They obviously are not extremely poor, their house is full of shit lol but at no point, it’s the kind of family to have unlimited clothes.
Before you come at me with a different opinion, I’ve watched and written down every shirt/sweater/blouse Sue wears in every episode. And THE ONLY one she repeats is the Cross Country yellow sweater, for a few episodes.
She does repeat pants. And coats. But never ever the same shirt.
This is so unrealistic!!!!
lol just needed to get it out.

Could someone explain Axls’ university situation to me?
Like you go to uni to study the subject you picked, if he got into uni on a scholarship for sport, then surely his subject would be sport science or something.
Yet for season 5, we see him studying Spanish, history, maths and others. Also being told he had to “drop classes” so he had to drop 3/4 classes yet still manages to progress?

In the UK and I assume most of the world, you just need to pass 1st year to progress, it doesn’t count towards your final classification, 2nd and 3rd year count but again it’s all stuff related to your subject

(for the most part anyway, there was a coding subject for whatever reason in my 3rd year, absolutely horrendous)

Anyway, can someone explain it to me? I’m trying to wrap my head round it and it’s just making no sense. Just seems like he’s in school

I juist discovered the series on Netflix.

Randomly started with season six and god it’s good! Going to watch season two or five after this.

Is the series somehow related to Malcom in the middle?

This is one of two shows that I put on for background noise and easy watching. Which means I'm on my 30th or more rewatch -- literally. Right now it's on s3ep9, The Play, and this episode has my favorite scene from the entire series. When everyone is clapping after the play and Mike turns around and sees Rusty in the back with a program clapping along. It always seems to soften whatever mood I'm in at the moment. I really liked Uncle Rusty whenever he appeared. He just seems like a genuinely nice, albeit strange, guy. I'd hang out with him for sure

I remember in some episodes Mike and Axl would speak about having Chips for lunch! Is that normal?

Another thing I noticed is - Frankie would come from work and say “I made dinner”, when technically, she just bought take outs? So how is it that SHE made dinner?

For context - I’m from India and we definitely don’t eat Chips for lunch or any other meal. It’s just a snack.

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If you have not watched the full series, please, do not continue with this post. It contains A LOT of spoilers!!!

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This is going to be a bit of a longer post, so I apologize in advance. This post is also going to be a bit all over the place. I'm not 100% sure how to organize it, so I'm apologizing for that, too.

Let me start off by saying, I am about the same age as Axl, Sean, Darrin, and Sue. We all would have gone to high-school together, if I lived in Orson. While I am not from the Midwest, I am from a small, working class town, with about the same economic class as what the Heck family is. I also live in a place where the climate is similar, too. So, this is just my perspective of everything.

Different people on here, have thought that it was strange that Darrin proposed to Sue when she was 17, and he was 20. People also thought Darrin wasn't good enough for Sue. They thought he was stupid. I don't think any of that is true. I also don't think he should have been written off of the show. Here is why:

As I said, if I lived in Orson, I would have been at been classmates with the Axl, Sean, Darrin, and Sue. While Darrin was older than Sue, I knew different people were in the exact same relationship situation that they were in. Some people were even engaged with their older boyfriend or girlfriend, while in school, or they were seriously talking about marriage. So, it was very much something that would have happened in a small town, at that time. To this day, people do get married right out of high-school, in our town.

People thought Darrin isn't smart. I find that very untrue. While Darrin might have seemed a bit dull, he did have smarts that weren't "book smarts " if you will. Axl, Sean, and Darrin all founded Boss Co. While unorthodox, it was a pretty successful business for teenagers to be having. While returning home from air-conditioning school, Darrin realized people needed snow removal. Sean and Axl didn't want to do snow removal. They wanted to mess around. Darrin took it upon himself to hire more bosses for Boss Co. and remove snow. This is a practical move.

Yes, it can be argued that they didn't remove the snow pile that they should have for the business that they were hired to do, Axl did make a valid point saying about how a lot of the snow would have been melted come Sunday, as that was predicted innthr forecast. Axl was trying to work smarter, not harder. Together, the three of them came up with different ways to try to remove the snow. This situation shows a few things. One, he can think on his feet. Two, he is good at thinking outside of the box, as they used blow dryers and toaster ovens try to get it to melt. Three, he can take other people's ideas and work as a team.

Darrin is loyal to the Heck family. He respects them, respects Sue, and he is helpful to them. When Axl was making fun of Sue, Darrin stood up to him. That takes a lot of guts standing up to your friend about something you don't like that he is doing. That also takes guts standing up to your girlfriend's brother. Darrin did both, at the same time. After Darrin and Sue broke up for the first time, the Hecks called and asked if he could come fix their air conditioning. Darrin fully agreed to try to fix their air conditioning, during his first semester of air conditioning school. This farther proves my point he his loyal to the Heck famiky and trying to be helpful. Did he fix it? No. But do I think he tried his best with what knowledge be had? Yes. Darrin also went to the Heck house fully knowing he could run into Sue. But he put himself out on the line, not to see Sue, but because he is loyal to the Hecks. After the whole issue with Sue not having a date to prom when everyone backed out or she rejected them,

Darrin showed up to spend time with Axl at the Heck house. When Darrin found out what happened, his first thought was, "I need to get to Sue!" He actually ran to the school to find her. That was a pretty selfless thing. Darrin stays after one of the school dances to help Sue clean up. He didn't have to do that. Did he and Sue share a kiss at the end of the night, over a trash can? Yes. Do I think it was his goal to his kiss Sue that night? No. I think he wanted to help out.

He communicates, albeit, sometimes in weird ways. After Darrin and Sue shared their kiss, he writes her a song, to tell her how he feels. He sings it in front of her, and Axl, and Sean. That took a lot of courage to do in front of his friends, especially with his crush being his friend's sister. He always checks in with his friends, Sue, Frankie, Mike, and Brick to see how they are doing. He does this especially when he thinks he has done something wrong, because he wants to fix it.

He is interested in what Sue likes and interests. He gets Sue things from time to time, that pertain to her interests. Also, during his proposal, Darrin planned a full scavenger hunt. That is something Sue would enjoy. He gets her family involved in it, which is nice, seeing as Sue adores her family.

He plans for the future and is financially responsible. Darrin is able to save up money from his job to get Sue a ring. Also, he is able to buy a house. (I could be wrong, but it sounded like he owned the tiny house, and wasn't bought with a loan.) It's a tiny house, but it is still a house. People live in apartments that are smaller. This is something he owns. If he is able to save up for a tiny house, he is able to save up for a nice down payment on a larger house. He could use the tiny house as a rental.

Which brings why I dont think he shouldn't have been written off the show. As I said before, very similar background as the Hecks. It is common enough for people to date their friend's sibling, but still remain friends with them after the break up. It doesn't always happen, often people need a tight bond for it to happen. I feel like Darrin had that tight bond with Axl. Even if he didn't have it with Axl, he had it with Sean. So, it would have made sense for different points the three of them would have been together, even if it was because of Sean's friendship with Axl and Sean's friendship with Darrin, even if Axl and Darrin might not be friends anymore.

I’m still new to club so this might be a silly question but what’s frankie’s second job?
S3, it’s mentioned a couple times that the parents both work 2 jobs, mike has the quarry and the bob night runs, but what’s frankie’s second job, next to the car dealership?

In the whole Sean/Aiden situation? She was basically going to cheat on him with Sean on nye then kissed him in front of Sean and she didn't seem all that worried when talking about it with Brad.

She also was going to dump Aiden to go be with Sean but then she goes "Oh he is clumsy like me I love it" and it was weird specially considering she has an impossible moral compass for example when she barely scratched a car.

But she did seem to be two playing both of them without meaning to to a degree.

I hate it if this is just to prolong the will they won't be with Sean it seem so out of character from her