Men of a Certain Age – A Lawrence for all seasons

I think last night was the first time that a scene on Men of a Certain Age truly made me feel uncomfortable. We’ve been through a lot of real and un-sexy problems with Terry, Owen, and Joe, but it took Joe’s store getting trashed by a cancer-ridden Manfro for me to blanch at the realism that the show exudes. And that includes the episode all about colonoscopies.

I’m not saying this in a negative way. My point is that the show’s so real, and is done so well, that it can make us need to turn away. I almost missed when Manfro accidentally hit Joe in the face and knocked him over because I was looking while trying not to look. Did Joe deserve it? I don’t know about that, but I do know that he needed it. Will it effectively end Joe and Manfro’s friendship? I hope not, but I’d understand if it did. But boy was that a painful scene … I did, however, love how Joe told Terry that it was some homeless guy who’d come into the store and randomly beaten him up.

But something good may come out of the situation yet. Or maybe even two somethings. First of all, Joe running into Dory (Sarah Clarke) could be great for him. She was but a blip on the radar, but I think he really was happy with her, and it’s a shame that she disappeared. I really do hope that their seeing one another again — and Joe does have to go back to the dentist again the following week — will rekindle whatever it was that was once blooming between them.

Then there’s Joe’s golf. While we didn’t officially know that he’d decided to give up, we have seen his confidence and his focus slipping of late. I was disappointed to hear him say that he was giving up when the going got tough, but then I was all the more encouraged when he hit the driving range again after getting back from the dentist. If Joe’s flirting with gambling leads to him getting his head screwed on straight again, then maybe it was worth it.

By the way, I didn’t realize that Joe hadn’t been giving Maria (Emily Rios) and DaShaun (Little JJ) their due. Not cool, Joe. And what’s up with Carlos (Shelly Desai)? He’s hilarious!

Owen’s still struggling to keep the dealership afloat. It’s obvious that things are going to come to a head soon … I just wonder how it’ll happen. I really do hope it involves Junior triumphing over Senior, because Owen deserves to finally make his father see that he deserves to be sitting where he is.

Terry, meanwhile, spent a lot of time dreaming back to his days as an actor. I was surprised when the director of the commercial didn’t start talking to him about coming to work for her … that’s where I thought their conversation was heading. But at the very least it hopefully opened Terry’s eyes to the fact that he does still have his creative instinct inside of him, even if an in front of the camera career didn’t quite work out the way he’d hoped. He still has a lot of options out there for him, and I hope he doesn’t let pride and stupidity stand in his way.

Oh, and it was great having the guys back together for another hike. Like I’ve said before, anything that finds a way for them to spend more time together works for me.

Only one episode left to the season? Now how is that fair?

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Jun 30, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT