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'The Middleman' ain't afraid of no ghosts
Though my DVR mocked and tortured me, it could not rob me of the joy I derived from The Middleman when I finally got to watch it. The pop culture Easter Egg hunt is always good times, especially when it's centered around one of my favorite movies.
Spoilers below
While Ida is monitoring local police radio chatter, she gets a ping off of what is seemingly a prank call from a fraternity boy named Lewis who saw ghost at a soroity house he infiltrated as a pledge mission. When the Middleteam go to question him, his in drag...very obvious, comically terrible drag.
He recently had surgery that removed a piece of his brain, which they later discover makes him capable of both seeing and hearing spirits. As The Middleman is not able to go in, Wendy must go undercover at Omega Theta Nu to investigate. Lacey's mom, Dr. Barbara Thornfield PhD, was luckily an Omega so Lacey is able to teach Dubby the secret handshakes and songs.
Once in the house, she's greeted by Eleanor Draper (played wonderfully by Ashley Johnson) and Ali, a Omega that's less than friendly initially. Eleanor takes her on a tour of the house and, using special sunglasses that simulate the ability to see ghosts but not hear them, Wendy sees a host of beautifully dressed and frantic ghosts...one of which is standing next to her body. Her living, breathing body.
Wendy excuses herself to the bathroom and communicates with MM over the watch. Before she can take readings with her PKE meter, she sites one of the Moscow Rules (Always trust your gut) and signs off. Opening the door she finds Ali snooping. They bond when Dubby discusses the Secret Identity Issue of the Week with her and Ali is shocked that she knows the secret handshake. Ali is about to tell Wendy something big when Eleanor shows up and interrupts them.
Later, Wendy follows the ghosts and they frantically point at their house photo. The only person not listed Eleanor and every girl who's an officer has a ghost. Suddenly, someone throws a pillowcase over Dubby's head and drags her away, breaking her special sunglasses. She presses the panic button on her watch but soon discovers it wasn't needed. Ali had "kidnapped" her and brought her outside so the Omegas could welcome her with their special song. She takes this moment to tell Dubby about how the officers were acting weird and voted to let Eleanor in. It also illustrates how they don't know the dance or any of the other Omega traditions. When MM shows up in a tizzy, they pretend to be brother and sister and he whisks her away to deal with a "family emergency."
Doing some research on Eleanor at MiddleHQ, they discover she's a physics genius - essentially a mad scientist in training. They go back to campus and Wendy enlists Lewis' help to translate for her at the Omega house...in drag. The ghosts reveal the location of Eleanor's secret lab. When MM gets there, Eleanor is there to greet him. She was ticked that the Omegas wouldn't let her pledge so she built a machine that enabled her fellow physics outcasts to take over the bodies of the officers. She plans to throw a party so full of debauchery, it will get the Omegas dismantled and possibly even destroy the whole Greek system. It's a shame that MM's energy gun and MiddleWatch are blocked in her lab. It would've been nice to alert Dubby on what was going on before Eleanor hooked herself up to the machine and took over MM body.
Wendy runs into Faux MM outside of the lab. She/He tells Dubby that everything is taken care of and to go home. Not able to concentrate thanks to the Secret Identity Issue, she calls Ali and hears the party going on in the background. Ali also tells her that MM is there and living it up. With Lewis (in normal clothes) in tow translating for MM, they make it to the party and break it up using a B.U.M.M.E.R. bomb...which does exactly what it sounds like it does. Faux MM and Wendy then engage in fisticuffs, with Faux MM the eventual winner.
Faux MM escapes to MiddleHQ and rigs their computer system to explode, disabling the communicators in the process. Ida crawls through the vents with a tranquiler gun while Wendy and Lewis go to Eleanor's lab. They disable the machine and everyone returns to their proper bodies (though Ida tranqs MM anyway because she doesn't believe it's really him).
Assorted Bits & Pieces
- The aforementioned Secret Identity Crisis of the Week is all thanks to Tyler Ford, Wendy's soul mate who got two-day amnesia and didn't remember meeting her after getting pummeled by luchadors. He shows up at MiddleHQ trying to piece together the events of those lost days. Ida shoos him away before Dubby can talk to him. Fortunately for her, Tyler shows up outside her apartment building. He'd received a check from the Booty Chest (the pirate themed restaurant with scantily clad waitresses) and they told him he'd been flirting with a waitress there whom he believes to be his soul mate. The only problem is he thinks it's Lacey. Since she can't be with MM, Wendy decides to step aside and let them date. But the sparks are still there, something made super-evident over the topic of zombie movies. Before going to disable Eleanor's machine, Lacey calls Wendy and Ali grabs the phone. She tells Lacey that Dubby is still into Tyler much to Wendy's dismay. After all is said and done, Lacey confirms that she and Tyler didn't have a spark and that Wendy should go after him, which she successfully does.
- The only slight problem is that, since Tyler was a Middleman candidate like Wendy, he'll be harder to keep in the dark. MM had already told her to keep an eye on him when he was theoretically dating Lacey so I doubt this will make things any easier. That being said, I'm glad they brought him back. He's very likable and it's nice for Wendy to not be involved with a d-bag. My only worry is that they're subtly setting him up to be a bad guy. Like, the anti-Middleman.
- Not only were there the slew of Ghostbusters references (Reitman University, 55 Ray Parker Jr. Avenue, communication code names of "Gatekeeper" and "Key Master"), there were quite a few Animal House bits in the episode as well. Apropos not only because of the whole college/Greek system theme but because Harold Ramis (who played Egon) co-wrote both films.
- Okay, just two more references I couldn't keep to myself - whilst profiling Eleanor, Ida mentions that she won the "Egon Spangler Award for Excellence in Physics" and was on the list for the "Evoh Shandler Medal". I'm sure I spelled that second one wrong.
- Tyler and Wendy's conversations about zombie movies brought up the concept of a "Zombie Palette Cleanser" - a pre-Night of the Living Dead movie so bad that it makes Wendy appreciate NotLD that much more. I like the concept. It'd be like watching Fair Game before re-watching Die Hard.
- At one point MM exclaims (via Lewis), "Great Caesar's Ghost!" Didn't Adam West's Batman use this same exclamation from time to time?
- Speaking of exclamations, Wendy says "Holy Wachowski Brothers!" upon seeing Eleanor's body transfer machine in a very Boy Wonder manner. Not only does this continue the whole sidekick theme that been carried through the episodes, it also not-so-subtly alerts the people at home of a reference they might've missed - the machine, with everyone hooked up to it, has a very Matrix look to it.
- There were no beams to cross in this episode nor was there mood-altering slime.
Quotes of the Week
"It may all seem like light and magic at first, but the next thing you know the walls are bleeding and you've got 25 pregnant women running around screaming 'Mary! Mary! Mary!' and clawing their eyes out with knitting needles while your own hair grows to three times its length and tries to strangle you." - MM's increasingly fevered explanation to Wendy about the graveness of dealing with ghosts
"I hate those exclusive sluts!" - Eleanor to MM after he confirmed her motivations for revenge
"Omega Theta Nu. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." - Wendy, in a dramatic voice, upon arriving at the party
"Muscle memory, bitch." - Eleanor to Dubby before slapping her while inhabiting MM's body
"Holy Wachowski Brothers!" - Wendy, in a very Robin the Boy Wonder manner, upon seeing Eleanor's machine
"I think of you as...a brother. And, in return, you should feel comfortable speaking to me as if I was one of your woman-friends." - Middleman to Wendy about being able to talk to him about her problems
Did you catch any references I missed? Have any favorite moments from the episode? Are you as happy to see Tyler again as I am? Any other thoughts?
I believe "Great Caesar's ghost!" was a common exclamation used by Peter Parker's boss in the Spiderman comics (but I don't think it was used in the movies--if it was, I missed it).
This was the best episode of the season, so far. There was so much going on that I'll have to rewatch it to see how much I might have missed. While I initially cringed to see Ashley Johnson's name in the opening credits (I grew to despise her when they brought her annoying little self on Growing Pains), she did a good job as the potentially-evil scientist without going over the top. And that dress...oy. Kinda looks like the one she wore in an episode of CSI.
I think most of the flying-by references were mentioned, but again, they were coming so fast and often that I probably missed a few myself. Great and very funny episode!
Dark Disciple | Aug 5, 2008 12:43:28 PM | #"Great Caesar's ghost!" = a Perry White, ed. of the Daily Planet in _Superman_ exclamation.
brainylagirl | Aug 5, 2008 1:06:17 PM | #I loved all the ghostbusters references - one of my all time fave flicks. Did you miss the moment when MM and WW introduced themselves as Det. Zeddemore and Det. Stanz to the campus cop? Those were Winston's and Ray's last names in Ghostbusters. :)
I cracked up this whole episode. I was unsure of this show at first but have grown to look forward to it every week!
Another great Middle Man episode - I'm really getting fond of Ida - great character - MM was funny when he was talking while being possessed by Eleanor - the whole episode was funny and clever in so many ways.
Sadly I read somewhere else that ABC has already cut the episodes from 13 to 12 and that it's up in the air for the show's renewal.
I feel this is one of the best shows ABC has and that they are making a mistake by shortening the show's season and will totally blow it if they don't renew it!!!
DaisyRose | Aug 5, 2008 2:39:05 PM | #Thanks for the gentle correction. Had to look it up after I wrote my post, because I didn't think Spiderman looked right.
DaisyRose, it should be obvious, since ABC is in charge of the channel, that they wouldn't know a good show if it came up and bit them in the nose a dozen times while rearranging their nostril hairs in the process. Ever since they took it over, ABC Family has been pretty much a sludge pen of mediocre shows and reruns with a few gems coming to the surface from time to time (Kyle XY, Middleman, etc). I figured that since they were touting their homage to teenage pregnancy as THE show to see this summer that Middleman would get relegated to red-headed bastard step-child. But then, what is one to expect from a network where a retread of a retread of a Japanese gameshow is their number one program this summer? Hoping for quality from ABC is a bit like waiting for Elvis to start his comeback tour, and I mean the GI Blues version not the 1976 version of Elvis. Shame, really, because The Middleman is quite an awesome show.
Dark Disciple | Aug 5, 2008 2:58:33 PM | #brainylagirl is right. "Great Caesar's Ghost!" was a frequent exclamation by Perry White on the 50's "Superman" TV series.
My favorite dialogue exchange from this episode--and there were so many to choose from-- was
MM: Ghosts of the living!
WW: Is that one of your (something) exclamations or an attempt to define what we're up against?
MM: A little of both.
The only problem I had was that Noser was only on for a few minutes. He's fast becoming one of my favorite charaters.
johnd | Aug 5, 2008 8:51:05 PM | #I'm glad they brought Tyler back. I really like the chemistry between him and Wendy, but Wendy might end up having to sacrifice a relationship w/him for her job.
Darius | Aug 5, 2008 9:07:09 PM | #Absolutely - Perry White with the "Great Caesar's Ghost" but I also swear Adam West's Batman said it at some point. Unfortunately I couldn't find a reference to it online. :(
Drat!
Tamara B. | Aug 6, 2008 12:33:10 PM | #Also, they went from 13 to 12 in favor of a bigger budgeted, more in-depth episode 12. It involves Wendy getting taken to a parallel world...
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-story-themiddlemanoutin12orbackfortwo,0,2566870.story
Tamara B. | Aug 6, 2008 12:41:21 PM | #I also think this was one of the best episodes of the series thus far. I don't know exactly why, but I enjoyed it much more than the last few. Perhaps it’s because it had a slightly more grounded storyline and a really good balance of camp, plot, dialog and pop-culture references.
Not that there’s anything wrong with flying fish-based energy drink turning people into zombies, intergalactic dictators posing as a boy band, or a cursed tuba that could drown people on dry land.
Plus, having MM's body being possessed by a college age woman allowed for a lot of humorous sight gags, interaction and dialog. Matt Keeslar does a great acting job in this ep playing as Eleanor inhabiting his body.
A couple of highlights I liked:
In the Middlecar, Eleanor (in MM’s body) is given several destination options: church, the creamery, top-secret headquarters, or the duck pond.
The scene when Middleman’s ghost is at Wendy’s front door speaking through Louis. Wanting to be sure it’s her boss, Wendy asks for some piece of information only he would know and Louis repeats, “Dubby, I’m afraid I can’t divulge sensitive Middlesecrets though a civilian interpreter.”
Another good exchange:
Wendy: Hey what’s all that noise? Sounds like Caligula is raging in the living room.
Ali: I don’t know who Caligula is, but if she’s like a total drunken slut, then yeah.
It was the second reference to Caligula (Eleanor mentioned it in the physics lab)
One question:
Does ABC Family heavily promote "The Middleman" during their other series such as "The Secret Life of the American Teenager"?
While watching The Middleman, it felt like every commercial break had a promo for that other Teenager show and I wonder if the network reciprocates likewise for The Middleman???
Short answer, Michael:
Nope.
Dark Disciple | Aug 6, 2008 11:00:19 PM | #Well there goes another great, entertaining series.
:(
I doubt a cable show with little to no cross-promotion in a 10pm time slot that's struggling in the ratings will be granted a second season.
The Middleman will most likely join the ranks of Wonderfalls, Firefly and many, many other brilliant series that were not given an opportunity to find an audience. Very sad.
Well, the networks apparently have watched Forrest Gump too many times, because their collective dogma has become, "Stupid is as stupid does." It would be nice if Wonderfalls is out or will come out on DVD, because I never got to see it when it was on. At least Firefly got the second chance at life. Don't see the same fate for Middleman. Guess viewers of ABC Family prefer shows about knocked-up teenage girls to a smart and funny show that doesn't attempt to be overly-serious, yet is fun to watch all the same. Very sad indeed, Michael.
Dark Disciple | Aug 7, 2008 3:58:04 PM | #I believe now I know why I liked this episode so much and think is among the best of the series so far.
It just occurred to me while re-watching this ep that there were no weak links, especially in the acting department. All the guest actors involved, even the guy playing Louis, did a superb job in their respective roles.
I forgot to mention how good the guy who played Louis was - shame on me! He was great, as was Matt Kessler's performance as the Eleanor possessed version of himself. Kudos all around
Tamara B. | Aug 9, 2008 6:54:06 PM | #There were no streams crossed, but "total protonic reversal" was mentioned, which is what happens when streams do get crossed. . .
U | Aug 12, 2008 8:07:13 AM | #
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