Middleman Continues to Improve and Amaze with Sorority Ghosts and Mad Scientists

by Josh Roth @ 7:59 pm August 6th, 2008

I had the pleasure of meeting Javi (the creator of Middleman) on the Comic-Con show floor. He gave and fellow Nerdgasmic blogger Sam Siskind some tidbits on upcoming episodes, and just from those quick one line synopsis I was amazed at how the show was evolving. This week brings us “The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation” where Wendy must infiltrate a haunted sorority and the Middleman is possessed by a sorority sister mad scientist. Javi and crew continue to impress me, every week brings another brilliant mix of sci-fi and comic book action/adventure on a shoestring budget. Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales are brilliant as always, and Natalie really got to flush out Wendy’s character (like Matt got to do in last week’s Titanic tuba episode). But some of the real charm this week comes from Brendan Hines as Tyler (back from the Luciador episode) and Louis the ghost interpreter. They help give the episode an added level of charm and cleverness.

Like all Middleman episodes there is a geeky sub-theme expressed in cleverly placed references. This week’s references were all about Ghostbusters, for obvious reasons.There are numerous references to Ivan Reitman, Egon Speckler, Keymaster and the Gatekeeper, and even a few quotes pulled directly from the script. Ghostbusters and The Middleman are very similar, they both play with science fiction conventions and genres, combining them with a very quick witted sense of humor.

Since the beginning of the series, The Middleman has shifted focus onto the characters more than the playing with sci-fi conventions. Characters should always be the center of storytelling, duh, so it’s great that Javi and company are developing their characters into three dimensional people. Now Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales get to really explore the world of the Middle-verse. The show still has the same quirky humor and sci-fi goodness, but now it also has more interesting and relatable characters.

The Middleman only continues to impress me, now the characters are relatable and are having intertwining relationships (I’m looking forward to seeing how Tyler and Wendy’s relationship turn out). ABC Family may not be the optimal venue for it, but the administration is very supportive of it. We can only hope it gets renewed for another glorious season. If you haven’t seen the show yet, now is the time, go watch the first half of the season and catch up for the second half.