(S01E06) "Bring it, Marvin." -- Wendy Watson

It seems that the writers of The Middleman have decided to stop opening the show with sexy scenes featuring Natalie Morales and start also including sexy scenes featuring Brit Morgan. Watching her do those dance moves more than made for the ham-handed way the writers attempted to get me to care about Varsity Fanclub. Clearly my taste in music is tragically unhip, since I thought the band was fictional until about three hours before the episode aired.

I know Pip is supposed to be the unlikable douchebag of the show, but his character isn't interesting enough for me to care about. His dialogue reminds me of a non-animated Cartman. Someone who thinks they're better than everyone he knows and yet he still seeks approval from those people. The difference is Drew Tyler Bell is no Eric Cartman.

The character notwithstanding, I loved how the two plots meshed in this episode. Middleman's reaction to Wendy's situation was priceless. I guess I should have seen it coming though. Taking credit for the work of someone else seems to be just the kind of thing that flies in the face of what a Middleman stands for.

As soon as young Cindy appeared onscreen, there was something about her I didn't like. It wasn't her filthy mouth, because I find that hilarious. It was more that I could tell how poorly thought out her character would turn out to be. It became clear that, even though the show was trying it's hardest to make light of the Varsity Fanclub thing, it was all just a way for Disney to get some of their younger viewers to stay up and watch the show.

At the risk of belaboring the point, I think the show missed a great opportunity for satire. By casting a real boy band in the role of themselves, they missed the chance to seriously spoof all of the things that are wrong about that kind of "music." The other problem is that when the boys in Varsity Fanclub made even the slightest attempt at humor, it was a dismal failure. Didn't we learn anything from Dudez A Plenti?

I, pretty much, saw the reveal about the boys being the evil aliens that Cindy was trying to stop, but I was still looking forward to a cool explanation as to what their plan was. Sadly, that explanation was so long and convoluted that I eventually stopped paying attention and instead started downloading old NKOTB songs.

By the time Cindy died and MM and Wendy were about to flip the switch on the black box, I had completely checked out. Usually this is the point in the show where the villain reveals some alternate plan or shows what he was really up to all along. That clearly was not the case in this episode. Even the special effect of the band getting sucked through the hole wasn't interesting, and I've seen enough TV shows with robots to know that they never really die.

Pip's comeuppance was very nice to see. Not only did he reveal his evil deed but the gang's illegal sublet is still intact. Using the truth bomb was kind of obvious but I never tire of all the Middle gear and how it works. This particular offering could have used a lot more of that.

While this week's episode was not my favorite, I guess it makes sense that they can't all be winners and to be fair there were a few things that I enjoyed, especially Ida's new dress.