Last Man Standing: Mandy Is Bound for College!

I had so many problems with this episode. Let's start with the guest star, Jonathan Taylor Thomas. Now, you absolutely could have classified me as a fan in the 90s (remember my crushes list?), and it was great to see him again, but his character did only one thing - provide Kristin with a better waitressing opportunity. Otherwise, he existed purely for old Home Improvement jokes once again. [though, I'll admit, I laughed at the "more power" grunt!] Next, starting with older kids does make it difficult to keep a family comedy running, so the prospect of two children being out of the house kills that quite quickly. Keeping Kristin nearby but out of the house is fine, but having Mandy decide to go to a local college for a year to keep her around seems forced. I mean, how much do you want to bet that Mandy will end up on academic probation (as a fashion major, let's not forget) and not be able to transfer, thus keeping her around another year? Of course, that's only if the series lives that long, and I'm not sure it should. The second season has been markedly inferior to the first, even if they have added some fun characters like Chuck. Speaking of whom, Ryan trying to not be racist around him was pretty funny! If the series gets renewed, I'll tune in - but I don't know if I'll last another season.

Last Man Standing "College Girl" (S02E18): Mandy gets accepted to Laguna Beach University in California and University of Colorado - Denver.

ABC/Craig Sjodin

The price of LBU is $30k/semester, and Mike is upset that Ed helped her get into such an expensive place. However, Mike doesn't want to be the one to crush his daughter's dreams, so he tries to make Kyle jealous and convince her not to go so far away. [OF COURSE that's how he'd handle the situation... ::eye roll::] Kyle and Mandy decide that he'll move to California with her, leading Vanessa and Mike to talk to Mandy about college preparation. After a while, she begins to change her mind about going at all, but eventually decides to go to UC - Denver for a year to prove that she can handle college, then transfer for LBU. [aside from the fact that I think this is a contrived solution, I would have liked more from Mandy about why LBU.]

Kristin meets Ryan for dinner at a nice restaurant, which turned out to be owned by an old coworker of hers, John. [ouch! but, my husband and I both immediately knew this meant she'd be working there now.] Ryan invites her to move in, but she wants to think about it... right up until Mandy tells her how lousy her life is because she still lives at home. [if the show hadn't aged Kristin between seasons, it wouldn't seem so extreme.] Kristin quits her job and decides to waitress for John's restaurant, which means she'll be able to afford a place in LoDo. AND, although she initially wanted to be on her own, she asks Ryan to move in with her and Boyd. [I think those two are really rushing things...]

Mini-stories: Mike teaches Boyd the old diner trick of unscrewing the sugar, but Eve is wise to the prank and doesn't fall for it. Vanessa, however, falls for it on the salt container. [haha!] Mike later pulls the bucket-of-water-over-the-door one on Boyd. And, Chuck comes over to act like a stereotypical drill sergeant to help Eve with her rifle-handling skills.