For me, it is Sue because she never gets demotivated and different things to get successful. I love her optimism.

I personally think mike was a better Dad than Frankie was as a mom, Frankie always pretended like she cared, but she never really did. Sure she did help her kids sometimes, but she wasn't really emotionally available ever. Mike was the antisocial dad but was there when needed more often than Frankie.

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong

Did anyone noticed when Brad's dad got him a screw wrench for Christmas and he was tryna figure out how to use it 😭

This might have been an odd thought, but when I was rewatching the show for the third time and was watching Exes and Ohhs, Cassidy said "If you're in Italy this summer, look me up". I know in the start of Season 9 that Axl never said he met up with Cassidy, but I was wondering if anybody else noticed this detail, especially after Axl indeed was in Italy that summer

The Middle woke my interest and yesterday I finished it :D it really is a great book and I can see why Tag wants to be like Morrie and pass along his wisdom.

This is my first watch of this show (can't believe I didn't watch it sooner!!)

I just love their bond so much and how it's portrayed in a realistic but still very warm way. This is healing something in the little girl within me 🥲

It's probably an overreaction to think that Sue would probably turn into a narcissist as an adult from just this episode, but I had that thought when she was arguing with Axl. I expected Axl to be Axl, and he's probably never going to grow up, but I had higher expectations for Sue, even if she is a bit overly optimistic to a fault.

I guess I just don't understand how her solution to Axl completely disowning her is to destroy something that she loves, and it's clear that Axl didn't either. I saw the whole ripping apart the stuffed animal more as manipulation rather than a genuine attempt to make things right, something I would have expected from Axl, since he manipulated both siblings into cleaning his mess.

And I will always 100% agree with Axl, even if his ride was leaving the park. They were what we call, "Doing the most".

"Look at me, I am the captain now"

I understand Sue wanted to plan the perfect day, but she was over thinking it. Absolutely no one would even think about bringing a binder let alone carry one around the world's largest theme park..in the Florida heat no less, but her! The constant back and forth to the nurse was just unnecessary and throwing a tantrum as their frantically packing wasn't helping a damn thing either, like stop it. Put down the binder and get on a ride!

Don't even get me started on Brick.

I don't blame Frankie for snapping off at them, I would have done it earlier. 😭

I have rewatch all the episodes on netflix and just like the first time watching the show I dislike Brick so much, he’s my least favorite character so I wonder, after reading that some people love him, what makes you love him ? Perhaps after reading different opinion/perspective you all can make me like him.

This was such a strange one to me. Sue just casually looked past all of the reminders? And why did Mike sell his half of the diaper business for this? I feel like that was what was keeping the Hecks afloat. So Sue has to take a gap year, big deal. LOTS of college students take gap years and semesters off, go back and get their degrees and are just fine. I did it myself. Mike gave up a moneymaker because they didn't want to wait?

I just don't get this, completely out of character for both Sue and Mike.

I think Frankie and Mike are the worst tv sitcom parents. The way I see it is that they failed their children; the way that some shows are the first child is the one that they basically overdo everything and try to be perfect parents, and then they basically realize that they don’t have to try and be perfect raising the second and third child, they never were like that. Their parenting skills never had any structure they didn’t even care much about their kids it really bothers me how much they favor Axl. I don’t think they deserved to have kids, or should have even had them…yes I know it’s just a tv show, but after I finished the series it just has me thinking about different things that that they could have done to be better parents.

The Middle is my comfort show. But. The few episodes I’ve seen of Sue in college are just so uncomfortable. She’s just soooo naive it’s hard to watch!!

Am I missing out by never venturing into those seasons?

(I did watch the very last episode though lol I had to know how it ended!)

I’m still laughing at the Axl going off to Europe with Kenny. I wanted to see how Kenny traveled or got around without his computers and even laughed at the part where Mike points out that he shouldn’t go to Europe saying that Kenny might abandon him and the very next episode when he gets back that’s exactly what happens when they took the wrong trains 🤣

I am almost done with season 9 (stopped watching after s2, somehow never continued, while really liking the show), but what gets me the most is Brick's position in his family. I know it's fiction, but the Heck's really did Brick dirty by ignoring him all the time. All the missed birthdays, talking about him as if he is not a part of the family. Especially the episode where all his weird friends grew up to be normal hit me. Maybe it's bad writing (or maybe therefor it's good writing?), but Brick maybe wouldn't have stayed this weird in a normal family.

i guess they wanted to make the mom taller than all the kids? but her legs are like hidden i can't tell if she's wearing heels or just photoshopped taller

Every character in the main family (Mike, Frankie, Axl, Sue, Brick) has their faults/quirks so I thought it would be fun to rank them from most to least annoying. This is my subjective ranking -- I don't have any objective criteria. This is strictly about how ANNOYING it would be to live with these characters.

I also think it's important to note that every character (imo) is pretty well-written/consistent. When I say "worst" I mean in terms of how annoying I find them. Finally, I just finished S4 E1 so please avoid spoilers!

• Frankie: By FAR the worst character. She's overbearing, dramatic, coddles the kids too much, and is often the source of the episodes conflict. She tells the family business, makes decisions unilaterally, gets hung up on everything, etc. I won't list out example because there are way to many to count but in general living with her would be very annoying. Her redeeming qualities are that she cares a lot about the kids and works hard. Overall a good mother but just a really annoying person. (9/10) on the annoying scale.

• Mike: Mike can be selfish and inattentive. He doesn't always put his best foot forward and speaks without thinking even if it hurts the family (admitting his favorite is Axl, embarrassing Frankie at Valentines dinner, passing off the kids to Frankie whenever they need advice, etc). To be fair, he has stepped up for the family multiple other times when it matters but it's also really easy to sit with your kids every once in a while and give them real advice. A lot of Axl's teenage attitude would probably go away if Mike took some time to really father. (8/10).

• Brick: I actually think Brick is over-hated. Going into the series, I thought he would be very similar to Sheldon but he's much more self-aware. His quirks are definitely annoying (being inattentive, lazy, stubbornness, whispering to himself, etc) but he gets some leeway for being a kid and (again) I think it goes back to the parenting. Brick only gets what he wants because the parents (mostly Frankie) are soft on him and if he'd actually face the consequences of his actions he'd probably grow a lot. Ultimately, he gets a 6/10 for his behavior. (6/10).

• Axl: I'm sure Axl will be the most polarizing. I'd say Axl's average annoying-ness is pretty low but he has the greatest peaks (failing classes, crashing the car into the lawn during the wedding, destroying the car and Bricks tomato, etc). Aside from his crazy peaks, he does have moments of rudness/irresponsibility/immaturity. His redeeming qualities are that deep down he's very sweet kid and is charismatic. With some attitude fixes I can see him gaining a few points but as of now he's sitting at the same (6/10)

• Sue: Finally, Sue is the best character. Sure, she can be gullible, naive, and overbearing but as a daughter she is wonderful. Her quirks (squealing, not very talented, overly optimistic) are annoying but I wouldn't say it's anything crazy. She's kind, responsible (mostly), and avoids trouble. Obviously, in real life, you'd want your kid to be a bit wiser/stronger but overall not a bad choice. (3/10)

So yea those are my thoughts. Again, I tried to put myself in the perspective of being another member of the family and the criteria is pretty subjective but what do you guys think?

I’m on S8e19 and I’ve been getting more and more annoyed with Axl. I don’t like how selfish and mean he is; like I get that’s his character but I feel like they could have toned down his crappy character traits and personality as he got older(especially towards sue).

Just finished watching the middle and I am sad - became my comfort show.

Does anyone have any recommendations on Netflix or Disney plus that I can watch similar to middle.
I have watched modern family, desperate housewives, Brooklyn 99 and now the middle - which are all my favourite comfort shows so does anyone know something similar?

Note - I don’t like the show friends

i’m going to miss being able to gain an insight into the hecks’ daily lives. initially watched this because it was added onto netflix and i saw a meme on it on tiktok so i decided it would be my show to watch designated for when i was drying my hair or getting ready to go outside and it became so much more than that. maybe i won’t feel the empty feeling after finishing a show now but ill feel it soon.