Grief

I thought it was kind of soon to already address the passing of Tim's wife, but they did it. I may have mistaken something but they never explicitly say when she died but it seems to be fairly recent as his younger grandchild seems to remember her despite living out of state.

This episode goes for less laugh-out-loud humor and more for emotion and Tim does a good job. Kat is... fine. I can't be too down on her because she is so likable. She's charming, attractive and is a time-capsule of the apathetic 21 year old millennial of 2007 and plays that character to a T.

Tim stands out as someone who is still an actor capable of more than just snarky lines. His rant about how good people die and bad people live was well done and exactly the type of character he should be portraying. I'm not a fan of ever right-leaning character always being portrayed as old and out of touch. Sometimes you have to give those characters a win and some credibility, especially when they are the star and the reason most people are watching.

Tim is developing chemistry with Kat and seems to already have a good rapport with the child actors. I feel like we need an episode this season where its mostly just Tim and the two grandchildren on a camping trip or going to a ballgame.

The employees of his car shop still need more development. They are just faceless characters at this point. One is white. One is black. I need more from them especially with how much screen time they get.

Good Lord what the hell is this nonsense? Kat Dennings is awful, Tim Allen lost his mind, why does the son, Carter, or in this episode called "farter " speak with a lisp? Is that his real voice or was that a creative choice? This reminds me of a seventies sitcom, not only that but a bad seventies sitcom. I never understood how Dennings last show "two broke girls " went on for six seasons, maybe she's going to average it out by crashing this show in one season, not that Tim Allen is bringing anything useful here. He comes across like he's not sure who his character is or why the show is on the air.

My wife asked what the show was about. I had a hard time answering her.

'Grief' is the first episode of 'Shifting Gears' where I've felt that this is a show that has a longer-term future.

It might be because the storyline is based on more than just 'Riley's parenting style vs Matt's'.

Here both Tim Allen and Kat Dennings get to play material that's a bit deeper, and it works well.

Developing the side characters by giving them their own plotline was important too, and that will be a work in progress as the episodes continue.

This episode shows good momentum being built.

Tim allen gets to show his acting chops in this new series - a change of pace, sure, but darn good!

He's showing a lot of depth in this character.

Liked the counter monologue to the modern theory of "processing", much more realistic and less dictatorial.

Series is finding it's voice, seems headed to a full range of topics in an interesting way.

Kat plays the prototypical millennial almost too well ;-), and the kids are good, thankfully avoiding the smarter-than-everybody-else trap.

The absence of a concrete denouement (in this episode and others) seems purposeful to let the viewer decide things for him or herself - no forced conclusions.

Family fare tackling family issues in an even handed way.

Give it a try!