The Middle

The kids are all ready to start school, but Frankie forgets to check the website, and the kids end up starting school a week late. Meanwhile, Sue finally gets her braces off.

Frankie and Mike look for second jobs in order to afford a good college for Sue next year. Sue and Brad write, direct, and star in the senior play, entitled The Loneliest Locker. Frankie unfortunately missed the play because she was too caught up with her second job. Without asking permission, Axl removes as many household items as he can to furnish his and Hutch’s new rented house. Brick finds and plays with his noisy and annoying childhood toys, purposely stowed away by Frankie.

Brick informs Frankie and Mike that he would like to go to his middle school’s Fall Fantasy Dance. Having no idea what to pursue, Axl panics after discovering he needs to declare a college major by the end of the week. Sue becomes edgy after drinking a lot of coffee in order to appear as a more mature and sophisticated high school senior.

Frankie and Mike approach their 22nd wedding anniversary. Axl decides that he and Hutch need to renovate their house and find another roommate to help with expenses. Frankie gives the boys the family dining set after she finds a full dining set online for $50, but it ends up being doll furniture. After Darrin presents Sue with a special necklace to proclaim his love, she discovers that he had also given the same gift to his former girlfriend. Brick begins a podcast about fonts.

Frankie and Mike are stunned to learn that Brick has invited a girl over to the house just to hang with him. Meanwhile, to help supplement her college fund, Sue arranges a pumpkin-patch screening of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Axl reluctantly goes to the library to write a history paper, only to get locked inside when it closes.

Frankie is forced to wash the dishes with the hose after the kitchen sink falls into a sinkhole. Meanwhile, Sue has to master tinikling to receive credit for gym class, upon being told by her guidance counselor (Phyllis Smith) that wrestlerettes does not qualify for physical education credit. After Brick accidentally breaks Mike’s lawn mower, Axl advises him to take his father’s wallet then act like he found it later, thinking this will divert Mike’s attention away from the broken mower.

Due to their kitchen sink still being in disrepair, the Hecks decide to eat out for Thanksgiving. Brick invites his girlfriend Cindy for Thanksgiving and desperately tries to win her a stuffed toy in a claw machine. Sue tries to help Darrin be approved by Mike, but Darrin accidentally makes things worse when he tells the restaurant it’s Mike’s birthday. Axl is forced by Frankie to invite her hairdresser’s relative, Devin Levin.

Mike attends Sue’s college-tour weekend, forcing him to miss the first college football game that Axl gets to play in. In order to watch Axl play, Frankie leaves Brick with several different babysitters who all try to help him complete a school project. Axl has a forgettable game, fumbling on his only possession, causing him to try and avoid Devin Levin who was also watching the game.

Feeling unappreciated, Frankie decides on minimalist Christmas decorations this year. Meanwhile, thinking of Sue’s allergies, Mike tries to purchase an artificial tree, but doesn’t get what he paid for. Axl revives Boss Co. for the holidays, but when he and Sean argue about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Sean, Axl and Darrin’s friendship is at stake. Brick attempts to write a Heck family Christmas letter detailing their past year, after seeing the same kind of letter in a card from a family the Hecks hardly know.

Pam Staggs (Kirstie Alley), a popular former classmate of Frankie’s who moved to St. Louis after winning a million dollars on Wheel of Fortune, looks up Frankie upon returning to town. Frankie is overjoyed at first, but it turns out to be an annoying journey, especially when a drunk Pam tells Frankie she only contacted her because all her "real" friends left Orson. Sue attempts to do many things, like playing the oboe and rowing, hoping to work something into a college scholarship. Axl keeps pestering and annoying Devin Levin, then faces off with her in some sports in hopes of "winning" another date with her.

Having had her hours cut back at Spudsy’s, Sue gets a janitorial job at the quarry, but inadvertently starts a party with a picture posted online. When the party turns chaotic and the people nearly die due to explosives, Mike finds out about it and yells at Sue when they get home, causing her to cry. He then grounds her for six weeks after she broke his trust. Brick quizzes the Hecks with scenarios from various game shows. Big Mike supplies a new sink, which he recruits Axl to help install. Frankie finds an expired check from the car dealership, which Mr. Ehlert won’t pay unless she provides him a day’s work. Frankie’s uncaring attitude during her mandatory work day surprisingly nets her two commissions.

After learning that Aunt Edie has died, the Hecks board a train with the body to take her to her final resting place in South Dakota. But along the way, Frankie accuses Mike of not being very caring or nurturing after she trips in the dining car and is helped up by another man. Axl believes he caused Aunt Edie’s death because he had used the excuse of her dying numerous times to get extensions on school assignments. Brick makes a questionable new friend on the journey. Sue worries she won’t get accepted at any colleges due to accidentally sending out a draft of her personal essay, only for Axl to become furious when he discovers she applied to East Indiana State.

Frankie encourages Brick to ask Cindy out for ice cream on Valentine’s Day, which Brick does, but he then panics when Cindy suggests that he should kiss her at the end of the date. Devin Levin forbids Axl from getting her anything on Valentine’s Day, a holiday she claims to hate, but Axl isn’t sure if she really wants something. He compromises by planning a special day for the two of them to celebrate "National Radio Day" on February 13. Meanwhile, Darrin has planned a special Valentine’s scavenger hunt for Sue. The hunt ends at a tiny house which Darrin says he bought for the two of them. He then shocks Sue with a marriage proposal, complete with a ring.

Boasting of his new relationship status with Cindy, Brick vows to end his "whoops" and "whispers". Axl returns from his date with Devin and claims he can fix Brick’s quirks, based on what he’s learned in his psychology class. During dinner, Sue reveals she panicked and said "sure" to marrying Darrin. Mike angrily says he is going to kill Darrin, but Sue intervenes and says she needs to handle it. Meanwhile, Axl tries out several different methods to cure Brick, and ultimately isolates the issues to the lawn chair Brick was forced to sit in at the dinner table. After several failed attempts, Sue finally tells Darrin she has many other things she wants to do before getting married, and breaks off their engagement.

Frankie and Mike realize they forgot Brick’s birthday...in November! Frankie tries to make it up to Brick by giving him a day to do anything he wants, but she and the other family members regret that decision. Sue tries desperately to win a "Best" something award for the Orson High yearbook. Axl learns that Weird Ashley has transferred to East Indiana State. When Devin sees how Axl has nicknamed Ashley, herself, and other women in his cell phone contacts, she breaks up with him. But the two later reconcile.

Axl brings his friend Finn to the house, and Finn compliments Frankie’s outfit. Frankie flirts back and later talks to a friend on her cell phone about Axl’s "hot friend" hitting on her, when she realizes Axl and Finn may be hearing her conversation over the Bluetooth device Mike had just installed in the car. Sue reluctantly takes Brick to a Planet Nowhere convention in Indianapolis when there is no one else to drive him, but by the end of the day she is glad she did. Elsewhere, Mike is helping Tag prepare for a road test to keep his driver’s license when he realizes that Tag should not be driving anymore.

Sue is regularly checking her email to see if any colleges have accepted her, and is getting nervous because most of her friends have gotten acceptance letters already. She tries to distract herself by making potpourri sachets to give to her classmates, but Frankie remains on pins and needles. Meanwhile, Brick has decided he wants to write a novel. After taking days to write the perfect opening sentence, he gives up, feeling like any follow-up sentences will never measure up.

Frankie helps chaperone a school field trip that Brick is taking, mainly to try and force some of his classmates to be friends with him. Meanwhile, Mike and his brother Rusty are trying to clean out some of their hoarder-father’s junk while he is out of town. While reminiscing in their old bedroom, Mike realizes he picked on Rusty quite a bit when they were younger, and he thinks this may be the reason that Rusty has no ambition in life.

Sue lashes out at Axl when he forgets to bring home a sombrero that she wants to wear in a yearbook photo with Brad, and Axl lashes back about Sue constantly harassing him. Frankie gets between them, confiding in Axl that Sue can be "relentless" and telling Sue that Axl can be a "jackass". When the two children find out about Frankie’s meddling, they turn their frustration to their mother and actually bond over it. Elsewhere, Mike is shocked when Brick wins an Athlete of the Month award at school, and thinks he still has a chance to develop Brick’s skills at a sport. But it turns out another kid was mistaken for Brick because the two exchanged shorts.

When Axl is celebrating his milestone 21st birthday at college, he is forced by Mike to come home and help him move a freezer. Axl keeps refusing every time until Mike uses the parent force. It turns out Mike wanted Axl to have beer with him and used the freezer as an excuse to get him home, but after an argument, he refuses to take Axl to the bar. Axl goes to the bar by himself, where the clerk starts giving him a hard time until Mike arrives to defend him, and they finally have a beer together. Brick starts turning into a mini-Axl and cops a bad attitude towards Frankie, getting him punished multiple times by Frankie and Mike. Elsewhere, Sue is tempted by a rival food court chain to leave Spudsy’s, until Brad convinces her to take a job at his food stand.

Frankie’s father, Tag, and his brother, her Uncle Dutch (Dick Van Dyke), get into a feud and it’s her up to her and Mike to resolve it. Meanwhile, a fearful Sue gets detention for the first time for sneaking off school grounds during lunch, and she enlists Axl’s help on how to survive detention.

Sue is depressed that she won’t be going to prom, now that Darrin is no longer her boyfriend. A handsome man from another school who works in the same mall as Sue offers to take her, but she can’t find anyone to cover her shift at Spudsy’s. They try to make it work but nothing seems to go right, until the young man says he wasn’t just being nice, he really likes Sue. Elsewhere, Axl and Brick start a business together, while Mike and Frankie try renting movies for their "date night" but they keep falling asleep during the movies.

After years of lousy Mother’s Day gifts, Frankie tells Mike she wants to go to "high tea" for Mother’s Day. Mike demands that Axl, Sue and Brick put some effort into choosing a great Mother’s Day gift for Frankie. When Frankie asks each of the kids what things they would do differently than she did when they become parents, the answers aren’t what she’s expecting.

In the sixth-season finale, Sue prepares for her graduation and worries the day won’t go perfectly. Meanwhile, Brick gets the opportunity to skip a year in school; and Axl grows concerned about the fun summer pictures Devin posted on social media.