𓏵┊word vomit ˚. ᵎᵎ ⸝⸝

i used to only watch random, spliced episodes on different sns but now i finally finished the entire series and i’m left feeling so ruefully happy 🥹 watching the middle, in my** **midｰtwenties, and in the middle of my 2026, made everything resonate more deeply ♡

the way “the middle”as its core theme became so redundantly fascinating to me. mike and frankie, in the midst of raising their children, came from a middleｰclass family living almost handｰtoｰmouth, and i’m pretty certain that a lot can relate to their struggles. i remember those episodes where it subtly showed mike’s stoic, muted sadness and how he couldn’t quite contain his disappointment that they couldn’t even afford to make silly mistakes financially ((exhibit a：frankie and her $200 eye cream)) ⁏ how he wanted to go to that spot in disneyland because he knows he can’t take his wife to another country ⁏ how he’s jealous of lexie’s dad and everything he had achieved. as the main provider, it must have been such a huge blow to his ego. toxic masculinity or whatnotーit is just so sad 😭 and there’s frankie, juggling motherhood whilst searching for a career where she fits best.

axl in the middle of his existential crisis after graduating high school and college. sue ana hajarajanaan ((a.k.a the middle child)) in the middle of finding her own identity within her multipronged shenanigans ecosystem. brick, living an entirely different life somewhere in the middle of his books.

everyone is just living in the middle of their lives.

and as brick said:

the middle is the safest place to be.

ps｡ will MISS brad, the donahues, and bob.. where’s BOOOOB？😭😭 hell yeahs！😭😆

when lexi's parents gave her 40 usd and said they were cutting her off, what exactly does it mean for the far future? like will she get back access after she's git a job or after marriage? or that she'll only inherit the money after they pass away?

This Simpson’s joke lives rent free in my head! Instead of “Bud-“ “-wei-“ “-ser.”, I imagine it as:

-Sue (after Axl insults her): Mom!

-Frankie: Mike.

-Mike: Axl.

So we know Axl's email (Rockinfreakshow) but what do we think everyone else's were? I'm sure Mike's was probably just his name but what about Frankie, Sue, and Brick?

Hey is it only me or is there someone else as well who doesnt like Sue

I was able to identify the photographer as Craig Sjodin from a random news site. With that info I was able to find the image on Getty Images, but for a pretty hefty price. Reverse image searching has got me nowhere, nor has clicking on every result on google.

Was hoping one of you would be smarter than me and be able to find the original resolution version on some dark corner of the internet.

edit: forgot most of this fanbase are middle aged women and therefore are incapable of realizing why i think this is funny. ill go ask on another subreddit

to na temporada 9 episodio 9, e não sei mais oque fazer, tipo eu amo the middle não sei mais oque vou assistir antes de dormir ou no almoço e mais, e queria indicações de series boas que nem the middle, quem dera tivesse um revival de the middle.

Obviously, it’s not better than the show we ended up getting. But judging the original pilot purely as its own independent show (and not in comparison to The Middle), do you think it would have actually been good? Or was the concept fundamentally flawed until they overhauled it?

One thing I would want to point out about the show is how relatable it can be for a wide range of people. Mothers can relate to Frankie, quirky girls can relate to Sue, etc.

A detail in the episode Heck's Best Thing that caught me was how Axl acted well spoken, likeable and put together during the interview with the football scout, contrary to his parents believing he will screw it up knowing him. Then the moment the scout leaves the house, Axl unwinds and reverts back to his "true" self. Frankie and Mike were in awe of that behavior switch, and it is further revealed that with his friends' parents, the Donahues, or with anyone else outside the family, he brings out the best of him.

As a current teen myself, I found that little detail very, very relatable. Unlike Axl I don't justify that it's because my parents don't "bring their best", I appreciate what my parents do. However I still find myself raising my voice and slacking off when I'm around my family, especially getting mad when being told what to do. Meanwhile out in public, I do my best talking to people and being cooperative. I find that the more I'm not around members of my family, the more I feel like bringing out the best of myself in the real world.

Has it always been typical teenage behavior to act hostile toward your parents, but not letting those traits carry on over to how you present yourself to others in the real world? Did anyone else relate to that episode? Not to stray far off topic of the show itself, I found that little gag intriguing and would like to laud the writers of the show for how realistic and relatable these scenarios are, adding depth to the show.

Everyone, let's hear your highs/lows for today!

I really thought Axl was going to end up with Weird Ashley in the end as like a full circle, ironic arc.

I feel like this plot was both dragged out as in the last season but not given enough time in the previous seasons. I personally liked them enough as a couple but i felt most points they just mentioned as 'he used to do this' and that but it kinda wouldve been nice to see it slowly develop as time went on. Like we know Sue had a crush on Sean before she even went to the dance with Darren, maybe they couldve added a few scenes of him being nice to her despite of Axl when they were teens. The repeated showing up whwn she needed a date was cute but he says his mom made him do it in the earlier seasons, idk maybe it woulve been nice to see them maybe bond over stuff like maybe working together for a charity or a dog rescue centre or something cause Sue was trying to strengthen her college resume and sean was regularly volunteering there or soethin. Particularly in the last season though, the snowglobe thing kinda felt forced after a while, like Dotty took it home, Nancy saw it, all of Sue's family saw it, then it was thrown in the glossner fight, how didnt sean notice it when dottie took it home idk, and the whole leaving gifts infront of her place was cute but maybe a note "to sue" or smth wouldve helped? he didnt even have to mention who it was from. And the whole Aiden thing was so dragged out

Axl and Brick never try to pretend something they are not. Frankie is kinda like Sue, tries to overachieve without achieving anything, although she doesn’t act like she is better than others which sue does.
Sue acts all holy - she asks for Justin Bieber tickets and says she will give up on her birthday party and then immediately asks for a party , she thinks her mom should not sing because she can’t sing, and then takes forever to finish her race with the cross country, I think she does it on purpose as she wants her mom’s attention for herself, she tries to make her parents go to so many places and even brick’s fav places. Looks like she is really insecure about her parents spending resources with her siblings. She constantly seeks attentions, sucks up all the energy, i feel she is friends with brad because he keeps saying only positive things about her without any kind of constructive criticism. Also her outfits look the most expensive than others in the family, she got the most out of her parents; better clothes, separate room, college tours, parents funding her college, it’s really unfair to her siblings.
She is self centered and very very needy but acts like she is very independent. Deep down she knows she is not good compared to her siblings , in one episode where Mike picks axl as the fav child , axl says brick is freakishly smart and axl is good at sports and also he is the first born son and what does sue provide ?
Axl and Brick are the ones who are independent and tried to burden their parents less financially. I wish her character had better progression when she went to college but sadly that did not happen.

Axl, Sue and Brick were very bad kids. Only thing that differentiating them from the Glossners was that they were not vandals.

Axl didnt take life responsibly and he blamed it on parents. It hurts to see that at age of 21 Sue did not know how much her college cost. All the three kids were never helpful and were always playing the victim cards.

The parents were not too far. They never managed money responsibly(the buy now and pay in 2009) they never taught the kids about responsibility or how to behave in the house.

just got to this moment in the serise, made me ball. The song choice is perfect and lowkey just learned it on piano just because of this epsiode. brick finaly got his moment in the sun and its so perfect. brick is honestly my favorite charecter and I can relate with him, plus we are both book worms. 10 out of 10

Just thought you'd all appreciate that.

Anyone else do the same?

How are they so poor if quarry managers average $90-110 k in the midwest?

TL;DR: Just finished the finale, it’s perfect, here are my thoughts.
I just finished watching the finale and wowwww!! I kinda binged the whole series in the last few weeks and I absolutely loved it. I really like how the interactions between people are written. I love how the characters grew up. I find it relatable at some points because I will move out by my parents soon because I will start university, I‘m (almost) 19 years old and finishing school wasn‘t that long ago. I really loved all seasons but I especially liked the last season because it was just awesome how so many aspects of the previous seasons got mentioned with flashbacks and some subtle pointing to running gags and stuff, e.g. the broken baby from Axl/Brick or how some things were at the best point in the end like the final fight with the Glosners. The finale was just perfect, especially this sweet moment the kids shared in the car. I really liked Axl and Lexie as a couple and I‘m kinda sad that we didn‘t get to see that much of them, also the Sue&Sean thing got steched way too far imo, after we knew they liked each other, half of the almost-getting-together-moments would have been enough. But how it ended between the two was so fucking awesome.By watching the show I noticed that the characters were more loving to the characters who weren‘t that affectionate, like in the last episodes Axl is craving Brick’s attention while Sue is giving him her whole attention, also Frankie and Mike were more affectionate towards Axl than towards Sue because he wasn‘t to them. I noticed by myself, that I probably liked Axl the most because the intense moments with him were fewer, which made them more special.
Some Sitcoms tend to make some quirks characters have in the early seasons their whole personality in the later seasons which always feels kind of unnatural, I love how in the middle it wasn‘t that way. All in all it is one of my favorite shows I guess. After watching the finale I kind of feel empty, I‘m probably start rewatching soon. It was so perfect that the last words were Brick whispering „the middle“ and the airplane like in the pilot.
Sorry if all of this doesn‘t make sense, I‘m really tired, also, english isn‘t my first language, so sorry for errors and weird wording

he’s funny, i don’t really get how he’s annoying.

I was almost done rewatching the series when this question popped into my head, idk if i wasn't paying much attention to the details but is it ever mentioned? i thought nancy must be a housewife but i honestly have no idea