Middlegirl Bonding
Middlegirl Bonding
Jul 21So I’m enjoying the hell out of The Middleman. The combination of oddness and earnestness, of clever quips and trout-happy zombies and twentysomething drama…it all hits me exactly the right way. I need to check out the comics, but I’m waiting ’til the show goes into reruns — that way (by my screwy math, anyway), I’ll be Middleman-less for a shorter period of time.
One of my favorite parts of the show, though, is an element I wasn’t expecting: the relationship between Wendy Watson and her performance artist roomie, Lacey. As initially presented in the pilot, Lacey seemed like a fairly predictable character construct: kinda flaky, kinda annoying, easily distracted by the square jaw and pillow lips of The Middleman. I was anticipating lots of over-the-top performance art moments and eyeroll-provoking antics. What’s been developed in subsequent episodes is a lot deeper and loads more interesting. She’s a little wacky, but she’s not just wacky. She cares about Wendy, she misses her neglectful mom, and she’s more observant than people give her credit for. She has a soul. And the friendship between her and Wendy is really great — I think it would have been easy to make Wendy constantly fed up with her or just kind of above her various hijinx, but instead, they have a real bond. They feel like real friends, like Buffy and Willow — different people, but with a core of sameness that bonds them.
It’s tough to find a girl friendship on TV that feels that way. It’s nice to see on this show. Keep it up (and please, please don’t have a guy come between them).
