The Middleman

The Sino-Mexican Revelation

Season 1, Episode 3, Aired 6/30/08

Episode Summary

The martial arts master Sensei Ping arrives in town to train Wendy. Now Wendy must get the temperamental teacher back to base—despite a beat up car and hordes of lucha libre wrestlers—while The Middleman is otherwise engaged.

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Cast & Crew

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Matt Keeslar

The Middleman
Natalie Morales (II)

Wendy Watson
Brit Morgan

Lacey Thornfield

Fan Episode Reviews (2)

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Very strange, but very entertaining.

8.5

"Great"

By VGFreak8, Jul 05, 2008 Report Abuse

Sensai Ping is coming to train Wendy. They are stopped by Mexican wrestlers in masks. They kidnap Sensai Ping because of a blood feud. Lacey resorts to working at a restuarant that diminishes the respect for women, but quits after a couple of hours. Wendy meets a potential boyfriend, but after he saves her, he gets two-day amnesia. Wendy's job and life may be in danger. After Wendy saves him and Sensai Ping, The Middleman gives her her first check. Sensai Ping kills all the Mexicans. Wendy is now safe and everything is good.

This episode was the weirdest so far. The Mexican wrestlers and stuff totally threw me off. I loved the part where the subtitles changed when they started speaking English and it showed it in Spanish or whatever. This episode gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me!moreless

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Who comes up with this stuff?

8.8

"Great"

By SWERJ321, Jul 02, 2008 Report Abuse

As fun as the first two eps were, this is where the series hits its totally off-the-wall stride. I haven't laughed this hard at a sci-fi show in a long time as this ep was just brilliant. There was the constant shifting of the time zone labels. Wendy speaking English while subtitles in Spanish appeared below her. The Middleman's Hewbrew commentary. Mark Dacastos having an obvious blast as Master Ping. The "great battle" with that other masked man. We even get some character development with Wendy's dad and her ability to fly jets and her brief flirtiation with that other guy. We also get her in a Robin costume, Lacey in a teddy bear (which apparantly means something but we're not allowed to see what, which makes it more fun), wild kung fu battles and more of the Middleman's crazy lines. Please, please, ABC Family, do not cancel this show, this is fun TV hasn't seen since the heyday of "The Tick."moreless

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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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Trivia
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Notes
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- Director Jeremiah S. Chechik worked on The Avengers (1999) and the inclusion of Lacey's teddy bear costume was asked for by series creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach. It references the scene where Sean Connery meets with his henchmen and they're all dressed in teddy bear costumes. Edit
- Featured Music "Lucha Libre Lovers" by Senior Flavio "Beautiful Night" by The Go Find Edit
- As of this episode, ABC Family rescheduled the show from 8/7c to 10/9c. Edit
Quotes
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- Wendy: When we graduated art school, we swore two things. No more underwear-stealing boyfriends… Lacey: What was it with those guys, we were like magnets. Wendy: …and no more waitressing. Edit
- Ida: It's worth more bread than the two of you meatsocks put together. Wendy: See, that's why I'm an artist and you're a soulless android from outer space masquerading as a cranky librarian. Edit
- Israeli Museum Curator: (in Hebrew) Are you a product of the Kibbutz movement like me? The Middleman: A man asked me that question once. I kicked his male reproductive organs into his watch pocket. Now he must check the time whenever he wishes to copulate. Edit
Allusions
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- The J.R. "Bob" Dobbs International Airport: References the Church of the SubGenius. Dobbs' image is based on a piece of 1950s pop art, and Dobbs (a salesman) is supposedly the founder of the Church. According to their philosophy statement, "The Church Of The SubGenius is an order of Scoffers and Blasphemers, dedicated to Total Slack, delving into Mockery Science, Sadofuturistics, Megaphysics, Scatalography, Schizophreniatrics, Morealism, Sarcastrophy, Cynisacreligion, Apocolyptionomy, ESPectorationalism, Hypno-Pediatrics, Subliminalism, Satyriology, Disto-Utopianity, Sardonicology, Fascetiouism, Ridiculophagy, and Miscellatheistic Theology." Edit
- Tyler: Like you know how El Santo and Blue Demon are like the Superman and Batman of lucha libre. Referencing two wrestling superheroes of comics and movies. Santo the Silver Masked Man appeared in dozens of movies and had his own comic book, and was played by El Santo (Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta), who also carved out a 50-year history as a real-life luchadore. Blue Demon (Alejandro Muñoz Moreno) was the superhero protagonist in 25 luchadore movies and led a wrestling superhero organization, Los Campeones Justicieros, in three others. The characters (as well as the actors) never removed their masks or revealed their identities to the general public. Edit
- Wendy: You don't seem like the Daisy Duke type. Referencing Daisy Mae Duke, the main female character on The Dukes of Hazzard (1979-85). Played by Catherine Bach, she often bailed her cousins Bo and Luke out of trouble. She became best known as a poster girl thanks to her costume of revealing cut-off shorts, which came to be nicknamed "Daisy Dukes". Edit