We had a second straight week of new Last Man Standing episodes this past week. This episode was all about Jen coming back into the Baxter’s house, where she will be staying with them for the next six months. On top of that, Chuck and Kyle pulled a prank on Ed to make him believe that he was part African. Additionally, Eve is in this episode!

The episode begins with Mike getting a text from Vanessa. Mike cannot tell what she is trying to say because it is all written in emojis and apparently Mike is not very good at translating the meaning of emoji-filled text messages. What I did like about this scene is that it is funny since it fits both characters, Mike and Vanessa, very well. Also, I like that I think that I saw Mike using the new BlackBerry Key2 smartphone that was released in 2018.

Vanessa arrives with Jen. In the background, you can see a welcome banner that looks similar to the one that they used in the first episode of season seven. I know that it cannot be since Chad Miller, the head of “Last Man Still Standing-Last Man Standing Fan Page” Facebook group, actually has the original banner in his home. Still, they welcome Jen into their home.

For those who do not remember, Jen is going to be the foreign exchange student living in their home and has an interest in geology, which is the subject that Vanessa majored in college at Ohio State and is a career that Jen would like to get into for her career someday. This also gives them a kid to look after since Kristen is all grown up, Mandy is in the process of growing up, and Eve is at college now (which is why she does not appear in the show as much).

The subplot of this episode is that Ed is going on in the Outdoor Man offices that he is going to be getting a DNA test in the mail, which will show his heritage and also show just how Basque he is. Chuck decides to mess with him by photoshopping the DNA results to show that he is 37.5 percent African. Although the episode description says that Kyle was in on it with him, Kyle objects to most of it in the name of “we’re not scientists!”

Throughout the course of an afternoon, Ed and Chuck talk about their black heritage. Ed even makes Chuck watch all nine hours of Roots.

What also made this funny is that Ed kept asking Chuck all of these questions about black people and their culture because he thought there was going to be some form of test on it later on down the road.

Getting back to the main plot, Mike is having a hard time connecting with Jen because they do not have a lot in common. When he was watching the Denver Broncos game with Eve, he invited her to sit-down with them to watch but got quickly annoyed because Jen kept asking so many questions. I still think it was funny when she asked him “Does it help your team when you wear their blouses?” Of course, Mike has to explain that they are football jerseys, but it was still a great scene from this episode.

Mike ends up giving Jen a tour of Outdoor Man, where she ends up having Kristen, the Outdoor Man Grill manager, make her some coconut shrimp.

When Mike gets home from work, he sees Jen sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper. She goes on to explain that reading the newspaper helps her work on her English and that she also underlines and highlights words that she does not know to help her too.

Eventually, she and Mike come to a “common ground.” He explains to her that he is not always a nice guy but that she is free to do what she wants as long as it does not disturb him or get in his way. To wrap up this scene, Jen had been driving a beverage out of a coffee mug and while she was leaving the area, Mike says to her in Chinese to pick it up and take it out. This surprises Jen because it reminds her of living with her father for so long. Perhaps to her it’s like her being at home without being at home.

At the end of the episode, they’re both reading the paper. Jen had made coffee in the coffeepot (there was a previous scene where there was tea in it that Mike did not like and commented on to her). Mike pours the coffee in his mug, walks to the table, and begins to read the paper. She hands him what he wants and likewise. At one point, she can’t find her pen and Mike hands it to her. To me, that was like Mike saying without words that he was happy that she was living there with them. Maybe it’s just me?

Lastly, Ed does find out that Chuck fudged with his results, with Ed revealing that he already had gotten his results and was trying to mess with Chuck. Ed then goes to tell Kyle that he is part norwegian and then tells Chuck to find copy of Frozen for Ed and Kyle to watch.

Overall, this is a great episode and has excellent writing. I will say that the Ed and Chuck part is a nice touch but is decent at best. I just enjoyed the Mike and Jen part because that was the bigger story between the two and that it was so well done. It shows why shows like this are doing so well in the ratings too. It’s a show about family, which is something that I think we as a country need right now.

I’m still giving this episode 4/4 stars. It’s a great episode and one of the best of season seven, so far.

Rating: 4/4 stars

You can watch this episode in its entirety on the FOX Now app and on Hulu. Be sure to do so as that helps with the 3-day ratings after the episode airs on Fridays. Also, as a fun fact about this particular episode, Phil Lewis, the man who played Mr. Moseby in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and The Suite Life on Deck from Disney Channel, directed this episode.

The only bad part now is that the next episode does not air until February 1, 2019. In the meantime, if you have not done so already, watch this episode, as well as get caught up on the entire season seven so that when February 1 comes, you’ll be ready for the new episode.

The next episode is called “Cabin Pressure” and airs on February 1, 2019 (like I just told you) at 8 PM ET on FOX.