It’s pop quiz day for Middle-trainee Wendy Watson, and it starts with an emergency call to meet at the Rendevous Point. Five minutes distracted by Lacey and 15 to travel and Dubby made it to the Rendevous Point Diner out by Lyon Estates. She didn’t even need a Delorean to do it.
Middleman is concerned that Dubby’s been thrust into the thick of it without proper grounding and training in all things Middle, so he’s tickled pink to help bring her into the fold. It’s not just about training her mind and body, but building l’esprit de corps. Unfortunately, DubDub’s a bit distracted this week. Turns out Ben, her über-douche boyfriend from the pilot who filmed their breakup for class, put it up on the DubDubDub. In one day, it’s attracted 750,000 hits. It’s a viral hit, for sure.
Let it All Out
Everyone – Lacey, Moser, even Middleman himself – thinks DubDub needs to express herself and release her pain. Lacey even tries to make her watch Dr. Gil. Then, just because she decapitates a training droid, Middleman even thinks she’s got pent up rage. Hey, she found out where the training bomb was from the training droid by going Jack Bauer on his shiny metal ass. That should be good enough!
Scotty, Beam me Up
A red ball comes in the Middle HQ: a woman disappeared from an upscale shopping center in an upscale part of town. Middleman and DubDub show up to investigate the strange goings on as Doc Emmett Brown and his assistant to discover with the BTRS (Beyond the Realm of Science) Device that she’d been transported away. She returns while they investigate…without her head!
At her family’s home, they find out this is not the first attack. Middleman doesn’t spill to his trusty sidekick, but he already knows they’re not of this Earth.
Manicoids are peaceful aliens who live among us. With faces like Joan Rivers and a taste for exotic jewels, they congregate in rich neighborhoods where they’ll go unnoticed. Unfortunately, someone has noticed them.
Heading to the plastic surgery clinic of Dr. Newleaf, Dubby plays it tough while Middleman is smooth as silk. He warns the good doctor that someone is hunting his people while Dubby stews outside. That’s the price of pulling a gun, even one the boss has put training wheels on, on the good guys.
Sly as a fox, Middleman gives Dr. Newleaf a gift of a Middlewatch. The better to track him with. Dubby’s upset at the tracking notion – a wearer of a Middlewatch herself – until MM explains it just always means he has her back.
Oprah’s an Alien Too, I Bet
Late that night, Dubby gets the signal. Dr. Newleaf has been transported away from his office. She and Middleman follow the tracer to Dr. Gil’s television studio. I knew there was something untrustworthy about that guy!
Dr. Gil has been hunting Manicoids for years, every since they killed his father. The fact that they killed his father by crashing on him in a ball of fire when his father opened fire unprovoked seems to have escaped the portly psychobabbler. Regardless, he’s got appearances to keep, so he long ago stopped hunting animals. Now, he just transports Manicoids to his private hunting preserve where he kills them.
Oh yeah. His transporter. He stole it from the ship that crashed. D-bag.
Arena
This episode is, like all episodes of the Middleman, a treasure-trove of geek references. This week’s are probably the most accessible to date, since most of them are Back to the Future shout-outs. I caught
- Lyon Estates
- Twin Pines Mall
- Emmett Brown
- Bufford Tannen
- Agent Strickland
I’m sure I missed a few others. However, the best geek shoutout was not to Marty McFly. Dr. Gil’s private hunting reserve is at Vasquez Rocks in LA County. Sure, lots of shows have shot there, but tonight’s is a specific reference to the ST:TOS episode “Arena”. Which is why it pained me that Wendy Watson didn’t just find some sulphur, salt peter, and gemstones and build herself a gun.
Thoughts? The show growing on you or gnawing at you? Personally, I’m a definite fan.
R.A. Porter is an aspiring television writer who currently toils away in the software mines. He can be found at his personal blog and stalked on Twitter.
The show is definitely growing on me. The episode last night was heavy on Wendy's character development and I'm glad I got to see a more feminine side to Wendy as she dealt with her bf issues. Excellent job on the character designs and makeup, those plastic faces were pretty realistic and very creepy.
I didn't notice all those Back to the Future references, its a little out of my age range. Whats amazing is that I was still able to enjoy the show even with these references flying straight over my head.
One part I didn't get was when they first brought up the green diamond, Wendy was thinking about something they could do with it that was not G-rated. What was she referring to?
Oh wouldn't YOU like to know!
But this is a family site.
what were the songs on this episode, there were three, but i didnt get any of them and they were all really great. so if you could e-mail me the title and artist that would be super. thanks
btw srry my email is crusilton@yahoo.com
I'm thinking it had something to do with where Middleman could put the thing, and exactly how far up there he could put it.
No idea, Courtney. Although I'm sure ABC-Family said who the performers were at the end of the episode. I don't really pay any attention to the pop music sprinkled into episodes anymore. It's usually a little too mellow or my palette.
YES! Its actually bugging me quite a bit.
Tracey, that was the closest thing I came to but didn't think it was that bad nor did it really fit with the flow of conversation. I wonder if its in the comic…
I'm excited for the next episode, “the flying fish zombification”. I'm a zombie horror film fan, I love the flexibility of this show. They've gone from kung fu lucadores to fish eating zombies in 2 episodes. Gotta love it!
LOL! Speaking of, loved the swearing by Dubby towards the end, with the blackouts. Hilarious.
Another great episode, this show is really fun.
Also, pretty sure he says “I'm Emmett Brown from Hill Valley something”….
Another BttF reference…
Yep, Hill Valley is another reference. So's the TV studio where Gil has his secret room – BTTF.
This is a pretty good article. It is very hard to look good these days,if you don’t look one way you cannot be accepted, well you can just not like everyone else. Thanx for the article it was very nice!!!!