‘Last Man Standing’ Addresses Bud Baxter’s Death

Last Man Standing said goodbye to Mike Baxter’s father Bud during Friday’s all-new episode, signaling a change in leadership to his controversial pot dispensary.

During the episode, Mike (Tim Allen) is forced to face his father’s passing four months later as his business, a pot dispensary called Bud’s Buds, is having problems.

“When I agreed to look after your dad’s pot dispensary, I didn’t think there’d be quite this much business stuff,” Ryan (Jordan Masterson) says, showing a folder filled with the new lease, insurance documents and a request for a meeting to discuss the building’s structural issues.

“This is insane!” Mike exclaims. “I hate this shop… You know what? That’s it, he’s gone. Let’s get rid of it all. I’ll sell Bud’s Buds and if you act now, I’ll throw in a lumpy chair and 20 boxes of mystery crap.”

Ryan panics at the thought of Mike selling, as it is his place of employment, but he seems to have made up his mind.

Kristin (Amanda Fuller) approaches her dad to see if she and Ryan could take over the shop without him. He refuses at first, despite Kristin’s insistence that he can’t just walk away from her grandfather’s legacy.

“I can’t believe I care more about your father than you do,” she says as she walks away from her stubborn father.

Later, Mike talks to his friends about his dad and how he resents him for some of the things he did during his childhood. Vanessa (Nancy Travis) later tells Mike that she is worried that he hasn’t grieved yet — in a conversation that later reveals that Bud died in a bowling alley — and as he walks away, the ghost of Bud (Robert Forster) appears.

“I can’t wait to hear the truth about me,” he tells Mike.

Mike and Bud have an emotional conversation where the father tries to take credit for Mike’s success.

“You just weren’t involved in my life,” Mike said, with his father saying he was busy and that’s why he couldn’t. The conversation led Mike to the realization he is worried about his own relationship with his daughters.

Later, however, Kristin arrives and apologizes, but Mike decides to give the couple a chance to run Bud’s Buds and keep his legacy intact.

Fox first announced that Bud would be killed off-screen ahead of the seventh season in early September. The character, who appeared on nine episodes of the ABC-turned-Fox sitcom famously opened Bud’s Buds, which led to some serious tension with Mike at the time.

His last appearance on the show was back in March 2015, in the season four episode “Mandy’s Party.”

Last Man Standing airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on Fox.