The Middleman recap: "The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation"

Tonight sees the return of Tyler, Wendy Watson‘s soulmate from “The Sino-Mexican Revelation”. He’s been getting some fuzzy memories back slowly, then received a paycheck for $14.73 from his 90 minutes working at The Booty Chest, the pirate-themed sports bar with the scantily-clad waitresses. He went by and found out he’d been flirting with a waitress…

…Lacey Thornfield.

Things aren’t shiny for Wendy.

Who You Gonna Call?

While scanning various frequencies, Ida picks up a call from nearby Reitman University. Seems a call came in from a sorority regarding ghosts.

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.

Louis, a frat pledge, had dressed as a girl to sneak into the third floor of Omega Theta Nu, but when he got there he saw a ghost. As it turns out, he had his pineal gland removed during surgery, and as *everyone* knows, that lets you see and hear ghosts.

Going undercover as an ΩΘΝ from State, Wendy wears a pair of glasses especially crafted by Ida to duplicate the pineal gland-ectomy. Wendy won’t be able to hear the ghosts, but she will be able to see them.

That turns out to be a mixed blessing.

See, these aren’t your run of the mill ghosts. No, these run of the sorority house ghosts are actually alive.

Oh Chrissy Seaver, You Sure Did Grow Up Purty

I’m old enough to have been freaked out when Punky Brewster grew up all hot and bothersome, so I wasn’t quite as shocked by Ashley Johnson‘s appearance on tonight’s episode. But it’s still disconcerting. (Hold on. I’ve got to yell at some kids to turn down their music and get off my lawn. Okay, I’m back.) Makes me feel old, you know?

Wendy went to all the trouble, and it was trouble, learning the official ΩΘΝ handshake and cheer from Lacey – Barbara Thornfield, MD, PhD was a sister – and then when she showed up no one used the handshake. Eleanor Drake said they only use hugs.

When Wendy gets a moment of privacy and calls Middleman on the Middlewatch, she tells him the ghosts she’s seen are still alive.

Middleman: Ghosts of the Living!
Wendy: Is that one of your snappy exclamations or are you just defining what we’re up against?
Middleman: A little of both I suppose.

Ali, one of the non-spectrally displaced sisters, doesn’t trust Wendy at first, but comes around when Wendy gives her the handshake. When she gets an opportunity – with the sorority cheering for Wendy – Ali dishes. Eleanor had been brought in as an “emergency pledge” a few weeks earlier at the same time the executive board began acting strange. Now, it seems the officers are doing the bidding of Eleanor.

Middleman rushes to Wendy’s aid and pulls her out. Back at Middleman HQ they pull Eleanor Jean Draper’s records. She’s a genius. An evil genius. Hell, she even won the Egon Spengler award for Physics!

Bosom Buddy

With her glasses broken, Wendy can neither see nor hear the ghost girls, so she brings Louis back to ΩΘΝ with her. In drag. He looks nothing like Jennifer Love Hewitt in that dress, but he repeats what the ghosts say to Wendy. She discovers that Eleanor kicked them out of their bodies and replaced them with her friends. Middleman heads to the physics lab.

Using a Quantum Processor, Eleanor has taken over the bodies of the sorority’s alpha females. Because they rejected her! As Middleman tries to take out the equipment, he discovers his weapon won’t fire. Eleanor’s tech knocks out radio communication and his gun. She jumps onto a slab and plugs herself in, knocking Middleman’s ethereal spirit out of his body!

Right now, I just want to say how great a job I think Matt Keeslar does in this episode playing as Eleanor inhabiting his body. Sure, he might get a little too high pitched some of the time, but the way he turns his upright, square jawed body into that of a 20-year-old girl is spot on.

Especially when he and Dubby fight. We’ll get to that.

Oda Mae Brown, Meet Louis Tully

When Eleanor-in-Middleman meets back up with Wendy, s/he tells her that all is well. Head home. Job well done. Wendy does just that, only to discover Lacey and Tyler still enjoying their daylong first date. Opting not to be a third wheel for at Vegan Palace, Wendy hangs all alone. Finally too bummed to take it any longer (because even her beloved bad-zombie movie reminds her of Tyler) she calls Ali. She hears a bacchanalia in the background.

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.
Then Ali tells Wendy that her “brother”, Middleman, is there.

Ali hangs up and heads for the door. As she opens it, she sees Louis outside. Middleman’s ghost is there, and speaking through Louis. Wanting to be sure, Wendy asks for some piece of information only he would know. She’s positive it’s her boss when Louis repeats, “Dubby, I’m afraid I can’t divulge sensitive Middlesecrets though a civilian interpreter.”

They head for the sorority house where Middleman has her use a grenade that bums everyone out. That does it. Now Eleanor’s plan of having the house shut down for throwing a rager is shot down.

Which brings us to the aforementioned fight between Eleanor-in-Middleman and Wendy. A weird girl-on-almost-girl fight. Wendy’s got Sensei Ping’s training, but Middleman’s body has muscle memory. A shot to the jewels gets Eleanor-in-Middleman’s attention, but Wendy celebrates too soon as Eleanor-in-Middleman knocks her out and runs to the Middlemobile.

Curses, Foiled Again!

In the Middlecar, Eleanor is given several destination options: church, the creamery, top-secret headquarters, or the duck pond. Eleanor chooses Middleman HQ.

When she comes to, Wendy lets Ida know this isn’t the real Middleman, but Eleanor has hacked Middlecomms and locks HQ down. She sets the self-destruct sequence, knowing she’ll end up back in her own body safe and sound while Middleman will be permanently unmoored. Unfortunately for Eleanor and fortunately for Middlefans, Wendy, Louis, and Middleghost get to the physics lab and shut down the Quantum Processor.

That’s it for Eleanor. Except of course for that trip to Greenland to use her scientific knowledge for good instead of evil ends.

Oh Yeah, Tyler

During the party, Ali takes Wendy’s phone and tells Lacey quite clearly that Wendy likes Tyler. Lacey’s confused, because Wendy had said she didn’t care, but gets it. She and Tyler break up. Freeing Tyler to wander over to the Booty Chest for wings and clarity. While he was there, one of the busboys and he get to talking and Tyler discovers it was not Lacey with whom he’d flirted during his two-day bout of amnesia, but Wendy.

Wendy and Tyler decide to watch Zombies of Mora Tau – the perfect zombie palette cleanser – and eat wings together.

Shout-outs

This week’s “hidden” popculture theme was Ghost Busters. Sort of interesting considering what Jason reported the other day about a possible Ghost Busters reunion.

• 55 Ray Parker Jr. Ave
• Stantz and Zeddemore
• Reitman uni
• Louis (obviously Tully)
• Keymaster and Gatekeeper
• Egon Spengler award

In addition to the GB themed references, there were a few other references of note. First off, Wendy compares Omega Theta Nu to Mos Eisley. Then when she gets to the physics lab to shut down Eleanor’s Quantum Processor, she proclaims, “holy Wachowski brothers!”

What did everyone else think?

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.