Men of a Certain Age-"Can't Let That Slide"

Joe prepares some dinner on "Men of a Certain Age"
Credit: TNT

My review of tonight's episode of Men of a Certain Age is after the jump.

This was another very strong episode of the show. I honestly had no idea how consistent this show was in its quality before I started watching it, which is why I'm pleasantly surprised by how good this half season has been. This episode had some very strong moments and had a visual style that fit the show very well. I'm not surprised by that latter statement because it was directed by creator and showrunner Mike Royce. The episode also had some strong steps for our characters and their individual arcs.

There were many moments in this episode where I was almost shouting at my computer "What the hell are you doing Joe?" Honestly, I have been thinking that for the past few episodes. His steps back into gambling have made for interesting television because they came from mistakes made by the character. In this episode, we see him take a few steps deeper into gambling and one big step back from it. I liked the way that they brought this to a head, with Joe realizing that he isn't made for life as a bookie. I could see his struggle with actually being able to collect the money from someone who truly couldn't afford it. I have a gut feeling that there was a callback to season one there, but that was a connection I wasn't able to completely make as I jumped in at the beginning of season 2. Joe taking a step back and trying to resume normal life was a big step in the right direction for this character. 

Terry has gotten back together with Erin. I didn't get a chance to go in depth with the plotline in last week's review, but I'm enjoying this. The question I have with this is can the show avoid repeating itself? That's my biggest worry with this. I'm worried that the show will break up Terry and Erin and the show will go to the same place it did earlier this season. But, that's a problem for later. I quite enjoyed the resumption of their relationship in this episode. It made for some fun, even if the "I have to pee" joke went a little too long. I hope that they take this to an interesting place and they can create plotlines that don't involve them breaking up for the second time.

At first, I thought that Owen got the comic relief plotline in this episode. At the beginning, we had Owen spying on his salesmen doing ridiculous things and his wife watching the salesmen like it was a reality show. I like how they turned that around and actually added some emotional stakes to the plotline. Owen having to fire a salesman who worked with OT for 30 years was a great plot point. That scene was one of the best Owen scenes we had all season and certainly the best scene for OT. Richard Gant was fantastic in that scene. That was just a very surprising and unexpected way to turn this plot around in a convincing way. 

Overall, this was a very strong episode of the show. Unfortunately, my time to review the episode is short, so that's all I have time to write. I'll leave the rest of the discussion to you guys.

So, what did everyone else think?