‘Last Man Standing’: Ed’s Retirement Allows Mike to Keep Outdoor Man

This week’s new episode of Last Man Standing handled the subject of a corporate takeover when Mike’s Outdoor Man is threatened by a corporation buying up small sporting good stores. Mike got to keep the store, but not without his best friend, Ed, retiring.

In “Giving Mike The Business,” conglomerate Arbo Industries bought Ted’s Tackle Box, a small business similar to Outdoor Man. This made Mike Baxter (Tim Allen) very nervous about the future of the business he spent so much of his life building up with his friend Ed (Hector Elizondo). Mike proposed expanding, but knew Ed might not be interested in the idea.

Ed believed they should sell the company. He even suggested to Mike that there might be nothing wrong with letting Arbo taking it over. The Arbo executives made a great pitch, and Ed thinks it might be time to retire and fish for the rest of his life. On the other hand, Mike is not so easily convinced he should give up Outdoor Man.

The real reason Ed was looking to sell Outdoor Man was for a reason to retire. But he came up with a better idea: giving Mike complete control of Outdoor Man. Mike had a hard time swallowing this pill because of all the changes he’s faced in his life. However, Ed made his decision.

“I’m going to miss you, man,” Ed told Mike.

“Okay, I’ll miss you too,” Mike said as they shook hands.

At the end of the episode, Mike told the Outdoor Man crew they were going to have to work harder as the store expands. This did not go over well, but then Mike suggested he might hire other out-of-work people to replace them, which certainly got everyone else organized.

The threat of a corporate takeover, pitting the underdog against a faceless organization, also gave the writers an opportunity to bring in Joe, Jay Leno‘s character from the series’ original run. Joe, an employee at Outdoor Man, helped make everyone else more anxious, even as Mike tried to put on a brave face.

This is just the latest major change Mike has had to think about since Last Man Standing started its seventh season after a year off the air. During the premiere, his daughter Mandy looked noticeably different, thanks to new actress Molly McCook taking over. Although the change happened on the other side of the fourth wall, it was referenced in the show when Mandy asked her husband Kyle (Christoph Sanders) what he thought of her new look.

In the second episode, Mike finally came to terms with the death of his father, Bud Baxter, who died between the sixth and seventh seasons. Robert Forster made a brief appearance as a vision, to give Mike one last chance to tell his father how important he was in his life.

New episodes of Last Man Standing air on Fox at 8 p.m. ET on Fridays.

Photo credit: Michael Becker/Fox