Last Man Standing Season Finale Review: Kyle Moves In With The Baxters

We’ve finally reached it, friends. Another end to the season at last. Last Man Standing stands up to the standard (puns intended) that it’s created from its early seasons. It’s delivered solid Friday night numbers for several years, and it’s easy to see why. This week’s finale was packed with laughs, and still reminded us of the family oriented plots, and continued to show growth in its characters. I don’t ask much more of my favorite comedies, and this week’s finale delivered.

This week, on the season finale of Last Man Standing: Mandy gets a buyout offer on her company, and her parents try to talk her out of taking it. Instead of taking the buyout, Mandy decides that she and Kyle will live with them once they get married. They decide to let Kyle live there for a week as a trial, and it goes much differently than they anticipated. Meanwhile, Ed wants to give Mike a special gift for their 25th anniversary of working together, so he asks Joe (Jay Leno) and Chuck to help.

I thought this was a great finale. It was really appropriate for the rest of the series. It was funny, and it still taught important lessons about family and real life situations. The advice Mandy got to not take the buyout of her company was the smart move, for instance. I appreciated the rejection of the instant-gratification that today’s society seems to value. Last Man Standing almost always has great advice for people who will listen.

I was glad to see Jay Leno return, and that story was pretty funny. Chuck Larabee and Joe are both strong additions to this show, and I hope to see them remain. I thought their pretending not to like Mike was a little hokey, but it was also a fun, transparent story that said how much they appreciated Mike, without using words. Painting Mike in a positive light without trying too hard is really important for this show. It ties into the other story well, too, because it reinforces Mike’s advice to Mandy.

More than anything, though, I LOVED the story about Kyle. Too often, Kyle is under appreciated and painted as dumb. Christoph Sanders plays Kyle with such conviction, and he has such an adorable innocence about him, and I think it’s easy to forget how talented he can prove to be, or what an essential character Kyle really is. When the family came to appreciate and love Kyle living in their home, it was real validation for the character. Perhaps my favorite part of the whole episode was Mike coming to appreciate Kyle, and treating him like the son he never had. It was funny, but also heartwarming, and not a lot of shows can warm your heart like that.

As always, here are some of my favorite quotes/moments from the episode:

• “Thank you for letting me make you rich”- Mike
• “You’re saying I should pick years of hard work over lots of money now?”- Mandy
• “And from now on, you don’t touch a donut unless you’re going to eat it”- Ed, the all-seeing one
• “I know this might be too late to say, but I don’t think we should have children”- Mike
• “Nobody wants to go from living alone to having to wear pants at night!! That’s insane!!” – Mike
• “That’s my new nickname for Kyle. Come on, Waffles!”- Mike
• “Kyle leaves and Mandy stays? Where’s your God now, Moses?”- Eve
• “Now we know applesauce has no power”- Mike

Tim Allen and company did some great work on this season, and I’m hopeful we’ll get a few more to keep the positive spirit and smart family comedy alive and well on today’s ever-darkening TV landscape. Is it innovative? Perhaps not, but it’s important and most of all, it’s funny.

What did you guys think? Did you enjoy the episode? Are you hoping for a renewal? Let us know in the comments!