Few sitcoms on TV today capture life's little embarrassments
with as much humor and cringe-worthy accuracy as ABC's "The Middle."
Featuring the down-to-earth and often
down-and-out Heck family, the heartwarming half-hour show serves up a slice of
middle class Middle Americana that undoubtedly has viewers from coast to coast
nodding in recognition.
Most often at
the heart of the Heck family's upheaval is middle child Sue (Eden Sher).
Constantly forgotten and overlooked, sweetly awkward Sue is the poster child
for being last picked.
Nevertheless,
this season has marked many milestones for the high school freshman (or as Sue
likes to say, "frosh").
She
got her first period, founded a motley crew of wrestling team cheerleaders
called the wrestlerettes, and landed her first real boyfriend (not surprisingly,
an intense and pint-sized wrestler.)
Of
course, being Sue, she lost said boyfriend when his family moved.
Then she was nearly left out of the school
yearbook, an injustice that sent her knocking on the unsympathetic door of
every school official only to land her in the guidance counselor's office (or
rather basement, a la "Office Space's" red stapler guy) of Whoopi
Goldberg, a crazy sweater-wearing fellow misunderstood soul with a mutual
fondness for inspirational posters ("Do you have the Believe in Yourself
one with the rainbow? Me too!).
Whoopi
managed to score Sue a full-page yearbook photograph - albeit beneath an
"in memoriam" banner.
No
stranger to adversity, Sue kept on smiling and was duly rewarded just one
episode later with a prom invitation from older brother Axl's doofy but
kind-hearted friend, Darrin.
"She
has a sunny disposition," Darrin explained to the horrified and
dumbfounded Axl, adding,
"You
should get to know her."
Well said, Darrin, well said.