Season 3 - Episode 11
Sky 1 (UK)
The Christmas episode can be a good thing or a very bad thing. Community have done two absolutely fantastic ones, The Simpsons have done some classics, and Frasier used to churn out a cracker every year, among many others (not even including the many Christmas Specials around - more on them next week). But there those at the other extreme. The first Family Guy Christmas episode was pretty shocking, Malcolm in the Middle always struggled and despite the classics, The Simpsons have done their share of stinkers.
"A Christmas Gift" is a pretty decent effort from The Middle, better than their pervious two attempts, but still not perfect. The essence of the show is that Mike and Frankie, despite being skint and with some questionable parenting methods, are good people. This is seen when Mike buys Frankie the exact thing that she wants for Christmas, a new dishwasher. But he wants to keep it a secret. So cue Frankie complaining for the entire episode, and slagging Mike off to the entire neighbourhood at their Christmas Eve party. The moment when Mike (finally able to see him as Mike now and not just The Janitor from Scrubs!) wheels the dishwasher into the living room is stunningly heartbreaking, the sadness and disappointment on his face just speaks volumes. They make up, and Mike does forgive her, but Frankie isn't supposed to be like that. It was poor characterisation and brought the episode down.
Elsewhere, Sue recruits Reverend Tim Tom (my absolute favourite character on the show, and one of my favourite recurring characters on TV) to teach Brick the meaning of Christmas, and Axl accidentally befriends one of the awkward neighbours. And while I had reservations about Frankie this week, Axl showed his heart big time.
This is a good, but ultimately flawed episode of The Middle. Thankfully Sue and Rev Tim Tom's scenes saved the day, and Brick was back to his quirky loveable best. This show is back very soon after the New Year, and I'm looking forward to it.
*** 1/2
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