‘Last Man Standing’: Mandy and Kyle Finally Move out in Heartwarming Season Finale

Last Man Standing‘s first season on Fox came to a heartwarming conclusion in the appropriately titled “A Moving Finale,” as Kyle and Mandy finally moved out of the Baxter family home.

At the start of the episode, Kyle (Christoph Sanders) and Mandy (Molly McCook) were still not packed to move into their apartment, even with a moving truck scheduled to pick them up. Vanessa (Nancy Travis) theorized this was because Kyle did not want to leave the warmth and comfort of the Baxter family behind because he had a rough childhood.

Mike (Tim Allen) understood this… to a degree. He really wanted to see Kyle and Mandy finally move out on their own. So, he decided to “pull off the band-aid” and just kick them out.

This finally got Mandy and Kyle to move, but it made Kyle feel terrible. Did Mike no longer see Kyle as a member of the family? Eve (Kaitlyn Dever), who took a break from the Air Force Academy to help with the move, told Kyle he just needed to read her father a little better.

“Dad thinks of you as a son,” Eve told him.

“Oh yeah? He has a funny way of showing it,” Kyle replied.

“No, he has a funny way of showing most things,” Eve said. “You kinda have to learn how to read him.”

Kyle reminded her that Mike kicked him out, leaving him wondering what he did wrong. Eve said he didn’t do anything wrong, which is actually why he was kicked out.

“OK, this might have been a little late in the game to ask this since I’ve married into the family at all, but are you people insane?”

Eve explained that Mike knew Kyle was ready to move out. So when Kyle would not pull the trigger, Mike did it for him.

“You think you moving out is hard on you? Trust me, it’s way harder on dad,” Eve said.

“You think so?”

“I do. That’s why I know how to read him,” Eve said.

“You’re a good brother, Eve,” Kyle said. “You think you can teach me how to read?”

“Sure,” she said before a pause. “You mean my dad, right?”

In the end, after Kyle and Mandy made their apartment look more like a home, Mike finally showed up to give Kyle a family heirloom – a waffle make that has been passed down from one Baxter man to another. At first, Kyle thought it was for Mandy, but Mike insisted it was for him because he is really a member of the family now.

During Mike’s Outdoor Man Vlog, Mike talked about how important it is for millennials to finally move out of their parents’ homes. In his speech, Mike said his family had a goat who folded in with his puppies, referring to Kyle.

“He thought he was one of us… thought he was one of us,” Mike said. “And I hope that he knows he is and always will be.”

The camera pulled out to show Kyle and Mandy watching the vlog and smiling in the last scene of the season.

Last Man Standing will return in the fall on Fox.

Photo credit: Fox