Five-Legged Iguana

THE MIDDLEMAN
Season 1 Episode 6
“The Boy-Band Superfan Interrogation”
Written by Jordan Rosenberg
Directed by Norman Buckley


“Wow, there really is a hole in space.”
“With a duck caught inside.”

Ah, now this is my favourite episode thus far.
Yes, the Dub Dub personal life subplot (Pip copies Wendy’s paintings and passes them off as his own) doesn’t mesh very well with the main MiddlePlot, but this one’s got some killer lines, hilarious moments, the fate of the world—and Ida—in the balance, and, oh yes, boy bands…


“How could you be alive and not know Varsity Fanclub, Dub Dub?”
“How can you know Varsity Fanclub and not want to end it all?”

Varsity Fanclub (“… only the most popular boy band in the world!”), comprised of “Jake the crooner, Thomas the heartthrob, Bobby the street tough, Drew the charmer, and the requisite man of mystery, David,” are at the heart of this episode’s MiddlePlot, and it’s a hoot and a half.
I won’t get into the deets (as Pip would put it), but suffice it to say that not only does the episode maybe-reference SF TV series V, it also most definitely references A New Hope and George Lucas.


“But I’ve always been fascinated by the ability of pre-assembled sets of sub-masculine archetypes to tug at the heartstrings of a 12- to 17-year-old fan base.”
“Funny, I’ve always been fascinated by their ability to bring up my lunch.”

Granted, the subplot does seem rather removed from the MiddlePlot, but it does contain some thoughts on art and artists, which racks up some more points for this one.
Still and all, the star here is Jordan Rosenberg’s sinisterly laughable take on pre-packaged popular music, and how the fate of the world may very well lie in the hands of the tween set.
Be afraid.
Be very afraid.

“Only tween-age screams of ecstasy have the strength to cut a hole in space itself! How could I not see it before?”

Parting shot: Just as Ali Damji owned his scene in “The Flying Fish Zombification,” Alan Smyth’s High Aldwin, Supreme Commander of the Clotharian Rebel Fleet just slays…


Parting shot 2: Jordan Rosenberg is, like the mighty monster that is Gree-Joe Marks-Watch, also a Lost alum; Rosenberg co-wrote Season 3’s “Par Avion” with Christina M. Kim.

(Images courtesy of abcfamily.go.com and themiddleblog.livejournal.com.)