As Tim Allen promised, Last Man Standing didn’t end on a sad note. It was a quiet goodbye, and it was one shared with the entire Baxter family.
The Last Man Standing Twitter account released one of the final scenes of the show. Mike (Allen) is enjoying a moment with his wife, Vanessa, and daughter Eve. Eve, who is attending the U.S. Air Force Academy in the show, video calls in to tell her parents she’d broken the sound barrier during a training flight.
But after she says goodbye, Mike and Vanessa are left outside for a quiet moment alone.
Earlier in the show, the Ford 1956 F-100 truck Mike’s worked on for years is stolen only days after he finished rebuilding it. The truck was a thinly veiled metaphor for the show itself as the cast talked about how much they’ll miss it throughout the finale.
Vanessa asks Mike if he’ll look for another car to work on.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe not,” he says. “Right now, I just want to enjoy this moment with all of you.”
Last Man Standing episodes generally end with a video blog from Mike for his Outdoor Man store. But in the finale, Allen breaks the fourth wall for a moment to say how much he’ll miss the show.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about makers and takers because I had something very valuable taken from me. Somebody took my truck. Ten years of attention to detail. Poof! Gone,” he said.
“I loved every moment of that show — I mean truck. It was a classic from a simpler, happier time, you know, the truck,” he continued. “And that’s something that can’t be stolen from me.”
‘Last Man Standing’ Had To Make A Change For Eve
Kaitlyn Dever, who plays Eve, had hoped to appear in the finale of Last Man Standing in person, but COVID-19 protocols kept her on the sidelines. She only appears in the episode via video chat because the show couldn’t get her through the proper quarantine protocols in time.
“Obviously, we wanted to get Kaitlyn whenever we could,” showrunner Kevin Abbott told CinemaBlend. “She’s just an enormous part of the show and our family over there. Before COVID, what we had working against us is that she’s a phenomenal actress and gets a lot of work.”
Dever hasn’t been a series regular since ABC canceled the show after season six. Fox picked it up for the final three seasons, but Dever was, by then, an in-demand actress and chose to leave. But she has returned several times to reprise her role. Abbot said he needed her in the final episode because of the close bond she and her dad share.
Even though it was a compromised ending, Abbot said he’s happy with the result.
