‘Last Man Standing’ Series Finale: Vanessa Complains to Mike About Missing Kristin in Exclusive Sneak Peek Clip

The Last Man Standing series finale is happening on Thursday night, and in an exclusive sneak peek clip for PopCulture readers, Vanessa complains to Mike about missing her quality time with their daughter Kristin. In the teaser, Mike (Tim Allen) comes into the kitchen on his way out the door for work, finding his wife, Vanessa (Nancy Travis), and the foreign-exchange student who lives with them, Jen (Krista Marie Yu), sitting at the kitchen table. As Mike is leaving, Vanessa stops him and asks him to “remind” their daughter Kristen (Amanda Fuller) “that she still has a mother.”

Vanessa explains that they stopped having their “morning coffee” together because Kristen “goes to work early,” and they stopped having their “evening wine” time because Kristen “stays late” at work. Mike quips, “You know, if you started the morning with wine, you wouldn’t even notice that she’s gone.” Vanessa smirks, but gets back to her point, which is that it feels like Kristen “lives at work.” Mike says he too has “noticed that,” and that slowly, and ominously, turns toward Jen while saying he notices “everything.” Finally, Mike heads out, saying goodbye to the women, wh say goodbye back.

The series finale of Last Man Standing airs Thursday, May 20, at 9 p.m. ET and will be an hour-long farewell to the Baxter family titled, “Baxter Boot Camp / Keep On Truckin.” A synopsis of the episode reads: “Mike teaches Kristin about work/life balance, as Vanessa and Mandy school Jen on camping. Meanwhile, Ed asks Kyle how to get into heaven. Then, after Mike’s beloved truck is stolen, just as he completes his 10-year renovation on it, the Baxter family and friends gather together for an emotional good-bye.”

Allen recently spoke with TV Line about ending the show, which began on ABC before finding new life at Fox, saying that he feels strongly that fans will love the finale. “I believe we knocked it out of the park,” Allen told the outlet. “Rather than have one where it’s sad, it wasn’t about sad. It wasn’t turning the light out at the end of the scene. We didn’t want to do any of that. We wanted to go out kind of naturally.”

Notably, the second half of the finale, “Keep on Truckin” is the only episode of the show ever written by Allen himself. He says that the plot of Mike losing his truck, something he’s worked hard on for years, was an important focal point, as it leaves fans with a message of learning to let go. “And he’s OK with it,” Allen explained.

“That was something I had to say to myself and to the audience that we had for that last show,” he continued. “I did have to say it to them and to myself. I’m OK with it. Really it was the process of getting it to the finish line. It was mission accomplished. We did it. We got here.”