'Last Man Standing' Season 7, Episode 7: The Baxters have to make their dreams fit reality

Tim Allen starred in the latest episode of 'Last Man Standing' Season 7, Episode 7. (ABC)

What happens when the Baxters find themselves at the crossroads of dreams and practicality? That’s precisely the question tackled in Season 7, Episode 7 of "Last Man Standing" when Mandy finds herself facing a harsh rejection for the very first time.

[Spoiler Alert: The remainder of this article will discuss the latest episode of “Last Man Standing.”]

The episode opens with Vanessa warning Mike that Mandy is on her way home and she’ll likely be in a bad mood. It seems that the designs she submitted were rejected by a popular fashion outlet. Given that she’s moved home of the sole purpose of getting her fashion business off the ground, they expect this to be a big blow.

However, Mandy comes home with Kyle and two boxes of pizza. They’re in a surprisingly good mood as she’s decided to mark the rejection with a trip to Italy. This puzzles Mike and Vanessa who wonder how they can afford a lavish trip. Mandy reveals that they’ve been saving money, thanks in large part to the fact that they’re living rent-free.

Later, the parents confront their daughter about spending what is essentially their money on a vacation.

“We support you trying to get your business off the ground,” Mike says in the most diplomatic terms possible. “What we can’t sign off on is you wasting money on travel, OK?”

Mandy argues that Mike has said that travel is the best education in the past. He retorts with the slightly-abridged adage, “when God closes a door, he builds a window.”

“Why is everything always home improvement with you?” Mandy says as a subtle wink to Tim Allen’s immensely popular ABC series.

After that, an Italian vacation is out, but it’s OK because Mandy comes home the following day with a similar spring in her step. This time, she’s met with an old high school friend who got into real estate. She decides that she’s going to pursue another vocation and sell houses.

Mike doesn’t hate the idea, feeling like it’s not really a solid plan just yet. Vanessa, however, has serious doubts. She goes above and beyond to convince Mandy that the process of becoming a realtor is going to be a lot of work. However, her daughter is undeterred. When pressed by her husband, Vanessa admits that she’s worried Mandy will end up like her, following her passion far too late in life after settling for an easy job that crossed her path.

Mike is clearly upset to hear that’s how his wife thinks of herself and takes it upon himself to correct both problems.

He lovingly tells Mandy to clear her fashion stuff out of the bomb shelter now that she’s going to be in real estate. She responds noting that she’s only taking a break after the huge upset of getting rejected. Mike asks her if the foray into real estate is simply her trying to find a way to have a career that won’t hurt her if she’s rejected given that she didn’t personally design any of the houses.

In the end, she admits that she loved the work she was doing on the fashion line she submitted but didn’t know how to pick herself back up after people she respects didn’t love it. She agrees to continue to chase her passion and gives up the realtor push.

The episode ends with Mike making a nice dinner for Vanessa and explaining that, although he followed his passion and found success, his dream was to have a family, and he couldn’t have done that without her.