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(More customer reviews)Precis of the show: An art major working as a temp on the reception desk of a genetics lab is caught up in a mishap that leads to her being recruited as an agent-in-training by a uniformed man (no, not officially uniformed like a cop or a mountie, and not spandexed and/or masked like Batman or the Lone Ranger; think 1950's Army knock-off, starting with the Eisenhower jacket) who introduces himself as "The Middleman", a secret agent working for a secret agency with a secret agenda to save the world and to fight evil no matter where it is found (so that we "don't have to").
Before she knows it, our temp receptionist, Wendy Watson, is in the middle of the adventure of a life-time, fighting evil right along-side the Middleman (aka MM). And what adventures they are: fighting aliens from space disguised as the members of a boy band, collaborating -- or not -- with vampires who run a fashion company, entering Hades to prevent world destruction, dealing with evil alter-egos in an alternative universe, etc, etc, etc... and many of these adventures are handled before breakfast. Figuratively speaking, that is.
"The Middleman" is a loving parody/spoof of just about every genre any fan has ever been deeply, madly, eternally in love with... and I should know, 'cause I'm that way about all of them: most obviously, of course, is the general SF category -- but within this genre there are also the "robots are our friends -- or are they?" genre, the "invaders from space walk amongst us" genre, the "secret masters of the universe" genre, the "alternate universe" genre, the "Batman&Robin" genre, the... but why go on? If you're an SF fan, chances are you'll immediately recognize one or more of your favorite "what ifs" in every episode of "The Middleman."
And that's NOT to say that this show is derivative or recycled. On the contrary, Javier Grillo-Maxauch, the creator of "The Middleman", (who quite obviously is the SF Fan Supreme) has given every "what-if", every "do you suppose", every "could it be" that form the basis of all good SF tales those special little JG-M twists that raise his premises from "gosh darn good" (to paraphrase MM himself) to truly outstanding.
So. You start with a great concept; add exceptional writing (and, may I say, writing that was much too adult for ABC Family, the cable station that aired the episodes and dropped them after only twelve episodes); follow with casting that is absolutely spot-on for each character (I mean, even with the great writing, many actors would fail to make the Middleman anything other than a Dudley Do-right caricature, but Matt Keesler makes his nameless MM a three dimensional person -- even if he *does* drink milk and eschew any language more colorful than "heck" or "darn"); and finally, have directors who know how to handle parody and satire without making it so "over-the-top" that it fails to connect. The result will be that you have a timeless series.
I was hooked right from the start of the first episode, when Wendy Watson (Natalie Morales), our soon-to-be Middleman-in-training (Middlewoman? Middleperson? Middlebeing?), was completely unflappable in the midst of being attacked by a composite monster created in a genetics experiment gone wrong: "Andromeda Strain" sub-genre, of course. And I was *really* hooked the first time we met Wendy's roommate, Lacey Thornfield (Brit Morgan), and realized that in these two young women Grillo-Maxauch had given us two strong female roles unlike any others on TV.
And yes, with gorgeous guys and beautiful women on display, the romance genre is definitely on view here, in all its permutations: true love, unrequited love, love denied, love willingly embraced, etc, etc, etc. Interestingly, the requisite UST (unresolved sexual tension, for those who don't recognize the initials) in this show is not between MM and Wendy, but rather between MM and Lacey (who would really much rather NOT have her love be unrequited, thank you very kindly -- and I agree, which is why I adore the twist in the final episode which does, and yet doesn't, resolve the unresolvable).
So, we have both the SF and the romantic fiction genres in this show. What else? There's enough action-adventure to please any fan of the genre, enough friendship to satisfy any buddy-movie fan (the relationship between Wendy and MM and between Wendy and Lacey both qualify in this category), and enough "secret shadow government/agency" shticks to grab the Bourne audience -- provided they're willing to accept humor in the plots to take over the world.
I loved the show so much, I paid $1.99 per episode from i-tunes "just in case" the show never made it to DVD. But even with all the episodes sitting on my computer, I'm *still* gonna shell out the money to pick this set up as soon as it's released. The Middleman needs his fans.
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The Middleman: The Complete Series (2008)
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