Last Man Standing: Ryan Sucks as a Father. And as a Person.

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Finally! An episode that has a large store component. But, it still wasn't quite enough to save it. Last Man Standing has really been tanking this season, in my opinion. I've been complaining about the recasting of Kristin and Boyd, the repetitive nature of this show to Tim Allen's earlier hit, Home Improvement, and how political this second season has become. In addition to those nitpicks, I have a new one: Ryan should have never become such a central character. He's made up of so many qualities that I loathe, and as much as I'm glad that Boyd has a father figure in his life again, Ryan is bringing down the entire show. I mean, clearly he wasn't meant to stick around - otherwise there's no way that he would have initially been cast with one of the Jonas brothers! I'm going to bow out of recapping this show if Ryan sticks around much longer... you've been warned. Do I have any readers who are Ryan fans? 

Last Man Standing "Circle of Life" (S02E06): Mike comes home from hunting with five ducks, which Vanessa will be preparing for dinner. Kristin doesn't want Boyd to know that food was once alive, but Ryan wants Boyd to know so that he might decide to become a vegan, or at least vegetarian. [Ryan also doesn't want Boyd having lollipops because of the high fructose corn syrup.] Mike explains hamburger, ham, hot dogs, and duck, and Boyd thinks it's cool. [surprising! though I found it funny that Vanessa finds vegans a "pain in the @$$ to cook for."]

ABC/CARIN BAER

When the duck is served, however, Ryan quacks as the family eats, causing Boyd to freak out. [what is WRONG with Ryan??!? he's also extremely disrespectful to Mike - who throws a fit when you say grace??] Mike tries to help Boyd eat meat by teaching him the circle of life, which includes death... freaking out the five-year-old. [oops.] He won't sleep, so when Mike tries to explain it in a better way, Boyd can't wait to die. [even funnier!] Not to worry... Ryan comes over to ruin that by claiming that heaven isn't real. [HATE him!]

While that's all going on at home, there are different problems at the store. Someone stole a kayak, and when Ed looks at all of the recent shoplifting situations, it seems the vast majority happens in Kyle's sections. Ed wants to fire him, but Eve realizes that Mandy just steals things from the store, so she confronts her sister. [how did Eve realize that but nobody else put it together? and haha that Mandy's logic is that the Baxters get a 20% discount, so she just only takes 20% of what she normally would want.] Mandy returns a jacket and sunglasses, telling Kyle about how a pretty girl sometimes distracts an employee so her friends can take things. [haha on the logic that teenagers steal because their parents lower their allowances due to poor grades.] But, he doesn't pick up on it, so she even has to stop a customer to demonstrate that Kyle needs to be firm.