Last Man Standing Season 7, Episode 21 recap: Who was the best?

In Last Man Standing Season 7, Episode 21, Mike and Chuck competed in pinball. After Vanessa wrote a poem for Jen, Kristen and Mandy worked together.

Last Man Standing Season 7, Episode 21 was entitled “The Favorite.” In question format, it would have been titled “Who was the best?” At Outdoor Man, Mike (Tim Allen) and Chuck (Jonathan Adams) competed against each other in pinball. Both men revealed their love of the arcade game. Yet who emerged as the best?

At the Baxter house, Kristen (Amanda Fuller) discovered a poem written by Vanessa (Nancy Travis). After reading it, Mandy (Molly McCook) presumed the poem was for her, which motivated Kristen to best Mandy in showing their mother love. However, they both learned the poem was written for Jen (Krista Marie Yu). How did they respond?

The pinball game

Ed (Hector Elizondo) ordered a pinball game for his house, but it was mistakenly delivered to Outdoor Man. Kyle (Christoph Sanders) was delighted to play it and he held the high score. Mike quickly showed his prowess at pinball.

Mike revealed his near-obsession with pinball. In college, he was the best, defeating virtually every opponent. Eventually, he stopped playing because he became too focused on winning and he lost his love for the game itself. Ed promised to move the machine back to his house. However, Chuck challenged Mike to a game.

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Chuck revealed his history with pinball. In his youth, he too was the best at pinball. He nearly won a contest to decide the best pinball player. In the championship match, during his turn, the fire alarm went off. He thereby forfeited to evacuate the building. To this day, Chuck maintained his opponent pulled the fire alarm, sabotaging Chuck’s chance of winning. Now, Chuck wanted to decide who was the best Last Man Standing pinball player.

Ed explained the rules for this Last Man Standing pinball contest. Each player received three balls and the player with the highest score at the end was the winner. On his last attempt, Mike bested Chuck’s high score. As Chuck played, Ed vanished. Moments later, the fire alarm sounded!

To Chuck’s dismay, some of the Outdoor Man employees watching the match evacuated. Mike reassured him to keep playing. Ed worried about losing money, albeit only $45. Chuck continued playing, and he earned the highest score, becoming the Last Man Standing pinball champion!

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As Mike noted though, there were several Outdoor Man employees eager to compete against Chuck. That’s the great part about competition, it never ends. Someone is the best, but there’s always another person ready for the challenge.

Vanessa’s affection

Back at the Baxter house, Kristen discovered a poem left by the printer. As she read it, Mandy deduced Vanessa wrote it for her. After all, she and Kyle are finally moving into their new apartment next week. Kristen casually remarked all she received from her mother when she moved out was pancake mix.

Not wanting to let Mandy earn the distinction of being the favorite daughter, Kristen cooked Vanessa’s favorite meal. As the two girls battled for Vanessa’s affection, they revealed they knew about the poem. Mandy insisted Vanessa read it. To their surprise, however, Vanessa called Jen over because she wrote the poem for her. Pancake mix beat Mandy’s disappointment.

The two sisters teamed up to win back Vanessa’s affection. Mandy persuaded Kristen into inviting Vanessa to join them for a weekend trip to a swanky spa resort. The girls failed to mention why they didn’t invite Jen. Nevertheless, Vanessa readily accepted; they were back in their mother’s good graces, even if it was expensive.

At a gas station on the drive there, Vanessa apologized for her lack of time spent with both Mandy and Kristen. Mandy is a newlywed, rising fashion designer, and moving in a week. While Mandy didn’t think of anything about Kristen, Kristen is the Outdoor Man Grill manager, mother to Boyd, and she has a busy life. The inadvertent guilt trip by Vanessa worked like a charm.

The three women returned home to apologize to Jen. Kristen and Mandy realized they were being petty. Although they didn’t receive Vanessa’s affection lately, they always have her love. They wanted to share their love with Jen by inviting her to join them for the spa trip weekend. Jen agreed, and she opened up about her love for Vanessa.

Jen’s mother died when she was just a girl, but Jen had a precious memory with her. One year for her mother’s birthday, Jen bought her mother a scarf. Despite the fact that her mother was allergic to the material, her mother wore it because it was a gift of love from her daughter Jen. Happy moment sealed the deal, off the four women went to the spa!

While we didn’t see Eve this week, she will return for the season finale in one week. The Last Man Standing Season 7 finale is already being promoted as great.

Did you enjoy this episode? Will you be watching the Last Man Standing Season 7 finale? It’s your last opportunity to see new Last Man Standing episodes until this fall.

Last Man Standing airs Fridays at 8/7c on FOX.