Then when his TV mother, Evelyn (Holland Taylor), stood up like Mama Bear to demand they give her son “some respect,” she just couldn’t help the barracuda real estate broker in her from taking over and letting the crowd know she was selling Charlie’s beach house and that the flyers for the Open House were in the back of the room.
Did I laugh? Sure I did, because there she was staying true to character, even at her son’s funeral. And that goes along with what I often say about grieving – we’re all still always who we are, and our true selves peek out when we least expect it. I’m never the one to say “too soon.”In fact, the day of my husband’s funeral, as I was getting dressed I was thrilled to notice I’d lost weight. And later put that moment in Poor Widow Me, and gave it the title, “I Lost My Husband & 3 Pounds.”
I also remember, when sitting in between my son and daughter in the very first row at the funeral, thinking, This is probably the only time in life we don’t want the best seats in the house. But I didn’t whisper that to my kids, or to the line of people who came by to offer their condolences, partly because my life isn’t a sitcom, and mainly because the next moment I was overcome with emotion.
And that’s what I feel was missing from last night’s “Two and a Half Men” episode…genuine emotion. To me it cried out for at least a little hint of reflection, that could have then moved right into something funny. As Alan sat on the couch holding his brother’s ashes, he could’ve spoken a bit longer, and more from the heart, to Charlie, and that would have been the moment. Then the new guy, Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher), could’ve still interrupted, and the ashes still could’ve flown all over, just as they wrote it…grief relief bringing it back to comedy.
