The Middle – Season 2, Episode 17

G Frankie and Mike try to be pre-emptive and explain Brick's eccentricities to his new teacher, but they end up getting accused by her of being over protective. Guest starring Dorris Roberts.

G Frankie and Mike must choose who is going to proudly walk Axl onto the field at Homecoming, or wait for Sue to stagger over the finish line at her first cross-country meet.

G Frankie is humiliated when a store clerk mistakenly assumes that she's shopping for adult diapers when she's actually looking for baby diapers for Sue's babysitting job.

G When Axl is suspended from school, Mike forces him to go to work at the quarry to teach him a lesson, and Frankie blames herself when Sue's cross-country team is cut by the school.

G Frankie convinces Mike and the kids that the Heck family should host a foreign-exchange student from Japan to expose him to life in an average American family.

G Frankie wants Mike to wear a costume to the neighbourhood Halloween party, and Sue's spirits are lifted when Reverend TimTom returns to host a Halloween church event.

G For his birthday present, Brick demands that Frankie and Mike tell him the true story about the day he was born - which has always remained a Heck family secret.

G Brick wants his independence from being Frankie's weekend errand boy and pleads with her to let him stay home alone. Meanwhile, Axl tries to grow a beard - with mixed results.

G Frankie wants the macho Heck men to share their feelings with each other when Mike's father and brother join the family for their annual Thanksgiving feast.

G Frankie's plans to have a simple holiday are threatened when her parents come to town to spend the 12 days of Christmas with the family.