>>Beyond helping her with the tarp, we haven’t seen any interaction from them to this point.

Tom is such a wonderful character; kudos for bringing him up.

I have some thoughts about Sawyer, Libby, and “dropping in a load:”

>>Maybe I’m missing something, but I’m wondering why it would freak out Claire to see those three coming back with her.

>>Kate sure doesn’t seem to have a problem with the hatch or taking over Desmond’s job.

Happy day-after-the-LOST-finale day! I know where I was eight years ago: reading all the salt streaming from people’s keyboards about “The End,” how elated or disappointed they were, how their ships did or didn’t sail, etc.

Eden Sher should have been nominated for awards for this show. Sue Sue Heck was an all-time great sitcom character. Looking forward to what she does next (it will be weird seeing her in a more grow-up part, but she can certainly pull it off).

I liked him with Devin Levin, since she didn’t tolerate his BS and liked sports like he did.

This season was a series of finales, and all the pieces fell into place, and we had nine years of solid television. The Middle never wanted to be anything more than it was, and was a great reflection of not so much the times we live in, but the lives people live in every era of American TV.

True, he was. You could also look at it as a very realistic situation where they just drifted apart naturally after high school, Darren went off to trade school and didn’t do the typical college route and didn’t keep in contact with them. I understand how people find it odd tho.

Thank you, Will, for this. The finale was all I hoped for and then some. I feel like I’ve been part of the Heck family for 9 years and I’m going to miss them terribly. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone involved in creating such a fantastic show.

> Needed a little Cindy, but that’s my only complaint.

Sitcoms tend to get wackier and stupider as their runs continue, all in an effort to continually outdo themselves. Think Modern Family. The Goldbergs. Characters that tend to take single character affects and grow them out to extreme proportions.

But The Middle always remained reasonably grounded. Sue’s goofiness never…

So glad you got to review the finale.

I always have mixed feelings about flash forwards in finales. I like them because I want to know what happens to everybody, but it’s also kind of disappointing to have the suggestion of so much story I’ll never get to see. Or maybe I will. Sign me up for The Middle reboot in 15 years.

I started watching this show several years ago because of the AV Club reviews and I’m so glad I did. Glad the death napkin got a final nod and that scene with the three kids in the backseat at night was perfect.

>>Locke, re: Walt: “As long as we’re here, I think he should be allowed to realize his full potential.”

No, I was too devastated to watch the Jimmy Kimmel thing after “The End.” Never got around to it. Later, I watched the filmed segment that was a send-up of The Sopranos finale; chuckled at Hurley & Claire as the married couple.

>>”Don’t tell me what I can’t do!”

>> does [Locke] have a reason to get off the Island, or is he content to stay there and hunt, explore, live in the caves with the rest?