Two And A Half Men – Season 7 Review

Shows

Ok, I have to get something off my chest. I’m not what you would call a hardcore fan of Two and A Half Men. It’s just one of those shows that slowly crept its way into my regular weekly viewing schedule and amidst all the drama, sci-fi and reality I sometimes need a 20 minute break for sheer stupidity.

An overgrown food intake valve, neurotic chiropractor, alcoholic womanizer and a pot smoking maid all inhabiting the same house?  At times, I think that the genius that came up with that formula ought to be made to watch old episodes of Joey just to see that odd people living in the same place needs to be done with something special in the plot or characters in order to maintain some sort of interest (Big Bang Theory is a prime example of taking a simple idea and executing it well).

That being said…viewers do not seem to agree with me, as the 7th season of Two and A Half Men once again, was the most popular 30 minute show on television (not counting the Superbowl halftime show, AKA the national flushing of the toilets). But unlike in past seasons, what started in season 6 continued into season 7 – Charlie’s relationship with Chelsea. Gone was the endless bimbo parade (gratifying as it was to watch a different scantly clad woman or four come out that shower door and into Charlie’s bed. TAHM (yes, I’m aware that it doesn’t sound nearly as cool as HIMYM, but I need to shorten it up or this will turn into a graded college paper, not a random review) has actually made small strides but significant ones in advancing it’s characters and their lives.

Jake is finally learning how to appreciate things that do not have double fudge in them or make noises that would get a normal person angry looks in the Starbucks line. He’s made friends and even female ones. He has ambitions (driving a BMW counts as having ambition, right?) now. If we could just get him a normal haircut, he’d be almost grown up…

Alan is, well, still Alan…stingy as ever, and has an apparent deviant hiding just inches from the surface…but then, so do most of us. Alan though has made quite a step up in terms of date quality (and quantity), and even if a great deal of the show revolves around him fumbling yet another would be 2nd, 3rd or 17th date, John Cryer manages to make him loveable enough even when it’s clear that he’s screwing his own life into oblivion. And yes, he still lives with his brother.

But on the brightside, due to Charlie’s brush with monogamy, Alan is beginning to look like the manwhore of the show, so there’s always that.But without a doubt, the person that’s gone through the biggest change, try as he might to deny it is Charlie. In the past, Charlie would have been heartbroken about losing someone for about as long as it took him to find a shot of whiskey or a replacement for his bed, or both. But upon losing Chelsea, for the first time, we actually saw Charlie depressed and on a downward spiral, even when his proposal to Mia went south, he wasn’t as down as this. Could our beloved Charlie actually become a family man?

By all current accounts, the next and 8th season of Two and A Half Men, will likely be it’s final one, so the question on everyone’s mind (and by everyone I mean mine) is how the events of the Finale will affect the rest of Charlie’s life? Will he continue trying to get Chelsea back?  Will she even agree to take him back? And, assuming they do get back together (which is a 50/50 shot at best) what happens to the rest of the house? Alan & Jake, for the most part were very fond of Chelsea, but if the relationship picks back up where it left off, will they welcome her back? We already know Bertha Won’t, but that’s why we like her, right?

I wonder if after so many years of Charlie’s screwing around, a happy-go-lucky Charlie, one in a fully committed relationship, is what the show’s many fans really want? What about you, would you want Charlie to have his shot at happiness (one that doesn’t end within 5 minutes) or would that feel like too much of a diversion from what made the show good and funny to begin with?

There will be no “line of the week” this week, because it got drunk and passed out on July 4th

Next week, I will review sophomore sensation, and Nathan Fillion star vehicle – Castle.