'Last Man Standing' Fans Applaud First Season Finale on Fox

Last Man Standing fans gave a round of applause for Friday's moving Season 7 finale on Fox. The [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Last Man Standing fans gave a round of applause for Friday's moving Season 7 finale on Fox. The episode, featuring Mandy and Kyle finally moving out of the Baxter home, earned rave reviews from fans.

In the appropriately titled "A Moving Finale," the married couple was apprehensive about moving out because Kyle (Christoph Sanders) did not want to leave behind a loving home. Mike (Tim Allen) pulled the band-aid off, forcing Kyle to move into their apartment.

At first, Kyle thought Mike was rejecting him, but Eve (Kaitlyn Dever) helped him understand that Mike saw him as a son and also did not want to see him leave.

But Mike knew it was time for Kyle and Mandy (Molly McCook) to move out, and they eventually did. In the end, Mike gifted Kyle a family heirloom, showing Kyle he is still a member of the Baxter family, even if he lives physically outside the home.

Season 7 was the show's first on Fox. Last Man Standing ran for six seasons on ABC before it was cancelled in May 2017. After a year off the air, Fox brought the show back.

"This was just such a pleasant season," showrunner Kevin Abott told TVLine in a post-season interview. "Fox was marvelous. It was a real boost of energy to come back and feel like you were valued by the network. They were just so supportive and on top of things, and we couldn't have felt more wanted."

Aside from Molly McCook being cast as the "new" Mandy, the series also brought in Jen (Krista Marie Yu), a foreign exchange student from Hong Kong whom Vanessa (Nancy Travis) took home. The character was originally a replacement for Eve, since Kaitlyn Dever could only be in a handful of episodes. However, Abott noted that Jen became an integral part of the Baxter family quicker than they could have expected.

"Her energy is just different and her perspective is different… and when you're this late in the run of a series, it's just so marvelous to have new perspectives to tell stories from," Abott told TVLine. "The danger of bringing in an outside character is feeling like that person is somebody you just stuck in there and they don't really belong, but we feel like the Jen character has become a sister basically… and it has really helped us in terms of missing Eve, because we just don't have [Kaitlyn Dever] as much as we'd like."

Last Man Standing will be back for Season 8 in Fall 2019.

Photo credit: Fox

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