Men Of A Certain Age 1.07 “Father’s Fraternity” Recap

Fathers. You can’t live with them, but you can’t deal with them either. Oh nor can you live without them. Forgot about that one. Tonight’s Men of a Certain Age focused on the notions of fathers as they inspire us, embarrass us, or make the transition into manhood somewhat easier for us. The episode that I have been waiting was delivered, because I simply don’t know how to deal with my dad at times, so did I learn anything tonight? Let’s find out…

Set Up

Norm’s Diner is where we lay our scene this week. Owen opens up about having his sex life interrupted by a Thoreau Chevorlet commercial that upset Melissa, because in it Owen Sr. made it seem like Marcus was his son, instead of Owen, who was nowhere in the commercial. We then move onto Joe, who mentions that he will be visiting his father Artie that weekend. Then we get to Terry, who happily announces that he signed up for the Big Brother/Little Brother program. Joe and Owen immediately get the jokes popping, which ticks Terry off, because he feels that no matter if he’s responsible or not, they won’t give him any slack whatsoever. Do I sense an intense Terry storyline this week? Do tell!

Terry

Annie brings Terry his mail while he cooks a nice dinner. The two flirt, grope, and kiss (not in that order) until Terry lays the ground rules for when his “little brother” charge is over, but as he opens the letter, he is dejected to find that he was denied access to the program. Awwww….

Terry tries to figure out what could have possibly been considered a red flag that could’ve had his application denied. Annie asks was he high at all that day, which Terry vehemently denies. He claims that he didn’t even hit on the woman who was interviewing him. Really? Annie is a trooper, I tell ya.

He goes to the Big Brother/Little Brother place to find out what went wrong. The lady who interviewed him claims that they can’t reveal why they denied his application, but Terry continues to make a huge ass out of himself. He goes on about if it washim being flirtatious (which he claimed he wasn’t) or if it is because he took her pen. It was a painful (yet funny) scene for everyone involved, especially Terry,

Later at work, Terry finds out that Dave gave him a recommendation for the BB program and he freaks out, accusing Dave of elaborating about Terry’s womanizing ways on the recommendation. In defense, Dave shows Terry his copy of the recommendation, which gave Terry a clean bill of praise. Terry apologizes and Dave suggests that Terry mellow out, with a joint nonetheless.

While having lunch with Owen, Terry reveals that he was rejected from the program. Owen suggests the bud again, and Terry slightly blows a gasket. He asks Owen to explain to him what is it that people see that he doesn’t for them to not want him around kids. He wonders if he is a bad guy. Owen tells Terry that he is a great person and even sees Terry as a great father one day. Owen offers him to be a “mentor” to his kids, which is a great start for Terry.

Terry has a day with Owen’s kids and takes them by the BB office to help return the pen to his interviewer. She still looks kind of perturbed…

Owen

At work, Owen asks Lawrence what he thought about the commercial and the little guy says that if Owen Sr. considered thm a family then everyone in the dealership should have been in the commercial. Good point, but Owen asks him about the son angle of the commercial and Lawrence understands what Owen is suggesting. But Owen Sr. doesn’t, and goes on saying that anyone who thinks that the small gesture means he was trying to swindle in Marcus as his son are complete idiots. Smash cut to Sharon, Owen’s mother, trying to calm down callers who thought Owens Sr. was disowning Owen. She is not happy and Owen Sr. looks even more stupid than ever…

So the next day at work, Owen Sr. demands that they reshoot the commercial with Owen in place of Marcus so the “idiots” would stop harassing him. The only idiots I see are Owen Sr. and Marcus, who is none too happy that he will be replaced by Owen. Get a life, you smug… Owen finds out from Owen Sr. that it was Melissa who hipped Sharon on the commercial and the angle of Owen Sr. disowning Owen. Uh oh…

Owen confronts his wife about starting trouble with Owen Sr., but Melissa can tell that it’s mostly fear that is coming out of Owen’s mouth. He confirms this and adds that he didn’t have one iota of trouble with the commercial, because he hates them. Melissa reasons that if Owen was to take over the business then commercials will have to become his thing. That’s a second good point tonight…

Owen gets advice from Terry on acting, and that advice is to act like he’s selling cars. Hmm… Well, Owen did NOT take that advice and flubbed through the entire shoot, which irks the hell out of Owen Sr. and the crew of the commercial shoot. After the shoot, father and son decide to come to a truce, because it was their wives who started the whole thing. Then they decide to fix the entire mess together. So what do they do? They reshoot the commercial with EVERYONE from the dealership in it and in the process, they give Owen what he wants. No lines. Bravo…

Joe

Joe takes Albert and Lucy to visit his father Artie (special guest star Robert Loggia). When they get there it is a cruelly awkward situation of old vs. middle age vs. young. When Joe suggests that they watch TV, the kids immediately pull out their respectable electronic devices, because that’s the only way you can identify them on the show now. When that doesn’t work, Joe suggests a walk for them while he and Artie discuss Artie’s retirement and the fact that Artie, who used to own his own hardware store, has someone else doing repairs for him. In Joe’s eyes, his dad is still capable of doing whatever and just needs a little push. While they walk, Artie mentions to a neighbor that he is building or installing something wrong. From what Artie says, it seems like he knows what the hell he is talking about. Joe thinks his Dad could use a new job, so he has his dad come work for him for a day. The employees and customers love Artie, but Artie doesn’t like the job. He feels that it is geared for teenagers and the like, which Joe think is ludicrous. Joe then suggests that Artie work for a popular hardware store in the area. But Artie says that he’s too old according to that store’s manager, which pisses Joe off. Artie tells him not to worry about it, which is like telling a kid to go on a toy shopping spree with a Visa Black Card. The sad thing is that Artie really thinks he’s out of the game and is the last of a dying breed.

The next day (or a couple of days later), Joe and Artie stop by the same hardware store, which is called Reservation (I believe). Joe makes up an excuse about needing a part to something, but didn’t think that Artie will want to come in and see if Joe messes up getting the right tools for the job. While in the store, Joe spots the manager and gives him the third degree on not hiring his father at the store. The manager, the punk that he is, can’t even tell decent lies right, which is something he should have learned in Management 101. A customer suddenly screams that he needs help, because the idiot that is helping him (a teen employee) is of no use. But who saves the customer’s day? Artie. He gives the man top notch advise on all his hardware needs, making the manager and the teen (who could have cared less) look completely and utterly incompetent as hell…

In the end, Artie gets a job working at the place, putting him back on top of the game.

The Mid Age Crisis Newsletter

– Did I get my answer? Yes and no. Joe reminded me of how I am when I feel as if someone is trying to get over my dad. I get indignant and belligerent to the point that I see red, so I highly enjoyed that scene. Terry reminds me of myself, because I wonder too if I would be a good dad one day. Owen reminded me more of how I can’t stand Owen Sr. and how I feel when people used to run over me and plead the 5th when I call them out on it.

– Terry’s storyline was great. It was Bakula at his best, in my opinon, and I think he truly delivered here. As I said before, it was painful to see him wig out not only on the BB interviewer, but also on Dave as well. Even though Dave needs someone to calm him down a few times, this wasn’t one of them. I wonder if we are seeing an inner struggle in Terry, where one part of him wants what Owen and Joe has and another screaming, “NO! That requires a ball and a chain! Not in our system, dude!” It could’ve started with acting as if he was married and wanting kids in the episode, “Mind’s Eye”. Maybe it awakened something in him that he never thought was there? I hope to see this story arc develop more soon.

– Joe and Artie. My favorite storyline of the night. The scene between the two in Joe’s office was great, especially when Artie picked up the ’78 Yankees group photo. The parallels between the good ole days of the Yankees and Artie’s life now of uselessness spoke volumes. After hearing that the hardware store manager claimed he was too old, Artie’s handyman personality must’ve took a paralysis to the psyche. Then when he said that everybody has their time and that everyone gets a turn, then almost under the same breath, mentions that no makes them the same no more. One could have thought Artie meant only the Yankees, but he also meant himself and others like him. Hard working men who know their craft because they love it, not just because it pays the bills every month. It pained Joe to see his dad in this state and it pains me to see my dad beat himself up as well. It is not a good feeling, because it’s like seeing your hero get defeated by the villain known as “life”. So to see both Joe and Artie tag team at the hardware store was a breath of fresh air and a resounding “YES!!!!!” in my soul. Bravo to Romano and Loggia for great scenes tonight. I hope to see more of Artie soon, as well.

– Owen Sr. He doesn’t realize how much of a dumbass he is. Maybe that’s because his head is so far up his own ass that the vessels that lead blood flow to the brain are cut off because of the pressure from said uptight ass. While Owen Sr. might not have intended for the wrong message to get across, it was institutionalized in his head, because Owen is, for a fact, an embarrassment to him. Owen Sr. probably does want a son like Marcus, which shows how brain dead he is to want such a pompous ass to carry his family name. In the end, I was upset that while I do know where Owen was coming from, I still wanted him to address the issue. People always tell me that when someone puts you down and say they don’t mean it immediately afterwards, or continually worries if they offended you, then nine times out of ten they either meant it; or thought about what they said afterwards and realize that they were in the wrong and try to correct themselves. Owen Sr. knew he was in the wrong in the end, but didn’t own up to it fully. That pissed me off. But Owen slightly calling him out on it and not putting it forward pissed me off even further.

-All in all, I loved all three storylines equally this week, each had great points and symbolism, especially the scene between Joe and Artie, which was a bonafide homerun. This is by far one of the best out of the seven and it gave everyone great material to work with.

See you guys next week!!!!