The Baxter Family, Settled and Growing
Season 6 of “Last Man Standing” is now airing on ABC and streaming on Hulu, for the many fans of the comedy of Tim Allen, a natural at TV comedy.
In Season 6, we find that Mike Baxter and his family dynamics have settled since his oldest daughter, Kristen Baxter (Amanda Fuller), has now made a home with her hard-to-love husband, Ryan Vogelson (Jordan Masterson). We’ve also seen that Kyle (Christoph Sanders) and Mandy (Molly Ephraim) are now engaged and working on figuring out their new lives together toward marriage. Eve (Kaitlyn Dever) is now on a quest for her purpose after being declined entrance to her school of choice. Boyd (Flynn Morrison), Mike’s beloved grandson, is growing up, as is the rest of the cast, and with each episode that passes, the Baxter family grows closer to each other but more independent.
Brunch, Bear Cats, and a Premiere to Remember
In the first episode of the season, the whole cast comes together, excluding Eve, to help out with a brunch that Kristen was responsible for at Outdoor Man Grill. While Kristen is consumed with her event, Ryan, her husband, feels abandoned by her attention to the brunch. At the same time, Kyle is working at Outdoor Man, not realizing that while he was feeding cats downstairs, he may have attracted other animals to the store.
It’s nice to see the cast together again, each with their own set of issues- who, when faced with an emergency, will all quickly drop their personal problems to unite as a family and get through whatever comes their way.
In the first episode, everyone comes to the Grill for Kristen’s brunch, and over conversation, Mike meets with Chuck Larabee (Jonathan Adams) to look over the security cameras, where they catch Kyle feeding cats and get a view of the brunch.
A Bear in Outdoor Man
Mike is pleased that brunch is ready to go and releases the control he wanted over it, then reviews the other cameras and realizes there’s a bear in Outdoor Man’s storage. Together, the Baxters figure out a way to keep each other safe while making sure the bear leaves Outdoor Man without being injured.
During the chaos, Mike has Vanessa (Nancy Travis) and Boyd go upstairs while he searches for Kyle, who has already met the bear. Right as Kyle prepares to shoot the bear with what he thinks is a tranquilizer gun, Mike catches him just in time to let him know he has the wrong gun — and then they get chased into a utility closet by the bear.
It’s in that utility closet where they find a bear cub and realize they’re dealing with a mother bear protecting her cub. I won’t spoil the end of this episode, but I will say that at the start of each season, “Last Man Standing” writers love bringing the family together through a crisis that reminds its audience of each character and establishes where everyone stands in their relationships with one another.
What’s Ahead for the Baxters
This season, we can expect a shift in relationships among the Baxter children, a wedding from Mandy and Kyle, possibly a big career move from Eve, and the looming question of what happens to the Baxter family home once it starts to empty out. Until we know the answer, we’ll enjoy great TV laughs and interesting stories along the way.
You can view Season 6 on Hulu today.