The latest episode of Last Man Standing has Mike reluctantly supporting Carol Larabee for school board, while Eve receives dating advice from Kristin and Mandy.
Eve enters the kitchen saying, “Hello, my beautiful sister,” to Mandy. Mandy, rarely hearing compliments from Eve, sarcastically asks if this can become Eve’s standard greeting. Eve tells Mandy that a boy named Wyatt asked to Eve if he could copy her homework. Mandy immediately tells Eve not to let Wyatt do it. Eve thinks Wyatt really likes her so she doesn’t understand why she shouldn’t let him copy her work. Mandy says he’ll like her more if she turns him down. She sarcastically questions why she should say no to a boy when Mandy never does. Kristin enters and also tells Eve to say no because then Wyatt will respect her. Eve goes with Kristin’s advice, which happens to be the same advice Mandy gave her. However, she credits Kristin with giving her the good advice. Mandy says that no one ever listens to the pretty girl. She comments that Miss America contestants and winners always say we should end world hunger, but she’s pretty sure that it’s still a problem.
Chuck and Carol Larabee stop by to ask Vanessa and Mike to place a sign in their yard in support of Carol running for school board. Mike is reluctant to do so, as he and Chuck throw hilarious insults at one another. Mike says, “I can’t support her. She has bad judgment, look who she married.”
At Outdoor Man, Kyle is giving Ryan pointers on working there. He explains that he’s held a bunch of different positions at outdoor man and Ryan calls him a “Jack of all trades.” Kyle confusedly replies, “I’m Kyle, dude.” Mike enters and Kyle tells him he’s showing Ryan the ropes. Mike sarcastically suggests Kyle show Ryan where the crossbows are, stuff an apple in Ryan’s mouth, and then Mike will be down. Ryan ignores him and thanks Mike for the job saying that he knows Mike probably doesn’t like having him around at work. Mike replies, “Not just here.” Ryan makes coffee for Ed. He puts some salt in the coffee grounds to help with the acidity of the coffee. He then points out Ed’s roses, knowing them by name, and suggests using the old coffee grounds for fertilizer. Ed is amazed that Ryan knew the name of his flowers. Ryan explains that he spent some time working at a nursery. Mike comments on how Ryan spent time in the wrong nursery, referring to Ryan’s absence when Boyd was first born. Kyle feel a bit left out.
Vanessa arrives home saying, “You’ve gotta be kidding me.” Mike replies, “Nope, I’m still this handsome.” Vanessa is really talking about how Carol’s sign is missing from the front yard. Mike comments, “Maybe it’s moving on up to the East side.” Vanessa says she wants to support Carol because they are friends, just like Mike and Chuck are friends. Mike claims he and Chuck aren’t friends. He says there’s only one person that he considers to be his best friend. Vanessa thinks he is talking about her, but then he says it’s Rick Wallace. Vanessa comments that it’s been ten years since he’s seen Rick. Mike says that’s why they’re best friends. Vanessa questions whether or not he thinks she and Mike are friends. Mike replies, “How can we be friends? We’re married.” Vanessa looks at him unimpressed by his answer. Mike adds that the have a legally binding contract, which is better than a friendship. Vanessa asks if that’s the only thing keeping them together. Mike tells her, “No, it’s an incentive.” Mandy walks in. Vanessa asks her if Kyle is her best friend and boyfriend. Mandy goes through how her friends are grouped, including frenemies, guy friends, and bitches. She says Kyle fits in there somewhere. Chuck Larabee comes over because he noticed the sign missing. Mike tells him to put the replacement in the backyard for safety reasons. Vanessa tells Chuck about her theory that Mike stole it so he could see Chuck. Chuck says, “I go out of my way to avoid him.” Mike comments, “Well, you suck at it. I can see you.”
Back at Outdoor Man, Mike asks Ed if he has Rick Wallace’s number. Ed doesn’t have it because he stopped talking to him. Mike says that happens when people move away. Ed corrects him, informing him that Rick Wallace had moved back a while ago. Kyle walks in with a mix of songs all about roses to impress Ed. Ed and Mike pick on Kyle for the mix CD. Ed then asks Ryan to lunch, leaving Kyle out again.
Mandy comes in to Eve and Kristin discussing Wyatt. Eve tells her that Wyatt asked her to a group hang out. Mandy tells her not to go. She tells Eve that if he liked her, then he would ask her out alone. Kristin tells her to go and thinks Mandy is just disagreeing because she’s competitive. Eve decides to go with Kristin’s advice, since she was right last time. Mandy tries to remind her she gave her the same advice as Kristin last time.
On her way out to lunch with Carol, Vanessa notices that the sign is missing again. Vanessa tells Mike to go to the Larabees to get another. As he’s walking out, Mike says, “From now on, let’s leave the manger up all year long. No one’s going to pull this crap in front of a plastic Jesus.” There’s no answer at the Larabees, so Mike starts to take one of the signs from their lawn. Chuck walks out and asks him if he wants help with it.
Vanessa and Carol are out to lunch. Vanessa comments that it’s been a long time since they’ve had lunch together. Carol corrects her saying that they’ve never had lunch together. Vanessa tells Carol she likes her earrings. Carol says the earrings were an anniversary present from Chuck. Vanessa said her present from Mike was a lecture on how anniversaries are Fascist. The two talk about husbands and wives being friends. They then discuss how they both think that Chuck and Mike are friends even though they fight it. Vanessa says, “It’s like if they admit they like each other, they’re on the trail to Brokeback Mountain. Carol says she wishes more men could be like the two men across from them having lunch, which just so happens to be Ed and Ryan.
Ed notices that something is bothering Kyle. Kyle tells him he’s trying to work up the courage to talk to him about something. He finally tells him how he feels hurt that Ed has never asked him to lunch. Ed says he asks him to lunch all of the time. Kyle corrects him, “You ask me to get your lunch.” Realizing how badly Kyle feels, Ed asks Kyle to get lunch. Kyle asks, “What do you want me to get you?” Ed tells him that he means the two of them will get lunch together next week.
To avoid another sign being stolen, Mike makes a large wooden sign and chains it to the tree. Chuck walks over and says he hopes Carol wins because it would be a shame to go through all of this and not have the house to himself. The two of them sit down and enjoy a beer as they discuss how their wives think a husband and wife should be best friends. Chuck says, “How can we be friends? We’re married.” Mike says he said the same thing to Vanessa. Chuck informs him that you don’t tell your wife that. Mike says, “Such a white lie.” Chuck jokingly replies, “You co-opted so much of our culture, we can borrow from yours.” Chuck adds that he hasn’t seen his best friend in ten years and for all he knows he is dead. Mike replies, “Mine, too. Rick Wallace?” Vanessa shows up and tells Mike to take down the sign because she doesn’t support Carol. Carol is trying to cut spending, including an art program that Vanessa worked hard to get funding for. Mike is willing to support her now that he knows she is conservative. She can’t believe that Carol isn’t liberal. Chuck asks why, hinting that it’s because she is black. Vanessa says it’s not because she’s black. It’s because Carol is nice and smart. Mike sarcastically adds, “Whoa, whoa. Carol’s black?” Vanessa says they’re still friends, but she can’t support her. Chuck, because of the conversation he and Mike just had, says that Carol is his best friend and he supports her. As he walks away he says, “Good luck, Baxter,” to Mike. Vanessa can’t believe Mike would support Carol since he helped Vanessa with the art program because it was a good idea. Mike tells her the art program was a dumb idea. She asks why he helped her so much if he thought it was dumb. He explains, “I wouldn’t do it for my friend, but I would do it for my wife. And Rick Wallace if he asked, but he wouldn’t because that’s what kind of friend he is.”
Eve comes home from the group hang unhappy. She tells Mandy and Kristin the date was terrible. Wyatt made out with another girl. Kristin tells Eve to drop Wyatt. Mandy says no because she’s going to want him around to see Eve making out with his best friend. Eve is intrigued. She follows Mandy into the kitchen to get advice. As they’re walking out, Mandy tells her not to listen to Kristin because she always played it safe with boys. Kristin points out that she wasn’t too safe, considering she ended up pregnant. Mandy replies, “Yeah, and who told you not to go out with Ryan? This girl.”
image: ABC
