Passion
Riley finally takes a step on her own, after a push from Eve, to start working toward her own independence. Meanwhile, Matt must make a decision about how he views Riley’s new business.
Warning: Spoilers Below
Carter Gets a Job
Carter walks into the kitchen to tell his mother and grandfather he has a job. When he tells how much he’s going to be making, Carter announces his starting wage and Riley is shocked to find out he’s making more than her. This leads to Matt trying to encourage her to go to law school, but she keeps pushing back because she doesn’t want to be a lawyer. Still, she knows she has to do something if Carter’s first job pays more than hers.
Disney/Raymond Liu
After taking a practice LSAT, Riley vents to Eve who encourages her to find something about which she’s passionate. Riley talks it over with Gabe and Stitch who love the coffee she makes, and she decides to pitch a coffee business to Matt to see if he’ll invest. After a decent pitch, he declines it, because her pitch is all passion and no practicality. When she goes to work the next morning, she explains what happened to Eve and settles that it’s not happening. So, Eve steps in and pushes her along.
No More Safety Net
Eve decides what’s holding Riley back is her willingness to not push for what she wants at the first obstacle. Eve fires Riley saying she’s taking away the safety net. She pushes Riley to go pursue her passion rather than sit back at a job that she doesn’t want and was only intended to be temporary anyway. Riley may not want to be a lawyer, but she’s got to do something more than be a receptionist at a dance studio.
Disney/Raymond Liu
The next day, Riley has set up a coffee cart in the alley in between Matt’s custom car shop and Eve’s dance studio. She’s making a little money and pursuing her passion. She points out to Matt that she figured out how to speed up the process of making her coffees by using hydraulics. Matt is very upset about this and goes to talk to Gabe and Stitch asking who helped her. They tell him that Riley did it herself, noting that she grew up in the shop and learned some things from him. Just because she’s not interested in cars doesn’t mean she’s not interested in some of the stuff that goes into cars and how it can be used elsewhere.
Supporting Riley
Matt and Eve discuss Riley’s new venture and much like their own relationship, the pair are on opposite ends of the spectrum with what this means. Matt is very disappointed to see his daughter selling coffee in an alley. However, Eve is very supportive and notes Riley’s passions for what she’s doing and how passion and practicality mix. Matt notes Riley’s mother used to say something similar, and Eve asks Matt what Diane would think of seeing Riley happy as she owns her own business.
Disney/Raymond Liu
Matt decides to support Riley in a different way. He brings her to a Winnebago that used to belong to Riley’s mother. Matt had been discussing selling it, but now he says he’s going to convert it for her. He’s going to make it more like a coffee truck, so she has more than just a cart in an alley. It’s a sweet gesture that demonstrates how much he wants her to follow her passion even if he doesn’t understand it. Plus, it gives her new business a connection to her mother.
Special Guest Stars
The episode started with another reunion for Tim Allen, as well as the third special guest in three episodes. Episode one saw a Home Improvement reunion with Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn and Debbe Dunning appearing, as well as a Last Man Standing reunion with Nancy Travis. Episode two saw a special guest from the Los Angeles Dodgers, Mookie Betts. This episode starts with Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias appearing to pick up his car. This is a reunion from Allen’s other show, The Santa Clauses. (I reviewed that series here). He’s a fun addition and his interaction set up Diane’s Winnebago.
Disney/Raymond Liu
Later in the show, Lori Greiner from Shark Tank makes an appearance visiting Riley’s coffee cart. Riley’s daughter, Georgia, had been spamming Greiner with information about this woman-led business and wanted her to swing by. This follows an appearance on video in the pitch Riley made that looks like it was taken from Shark Tank. It’s a nice tie-in to her business move, plus Shark Tank is on ABC, so it’s a nice network tie-in as well.
What’s Next?
After last week’s aggressively mediocre episode, this is a vast improvement. There’s character development for Riley and a better demonstration of the relationships between Matt and Riley, Matt and Eve and Riley and Eve. There’s also finally some character development for Georgia. She’s been so one note, it’s easy to forget she exists. But here, she’s supportive of her mother chasing a business dream and gets to meet her “queen.” She’s made it clear she loves Lori from Shark Tank and giving them an interaction makes Georgia feel special. Carter may have been incredibly one note here, but he’s had a lot better character development in other episodes, so he doesn’t need this as much as Georgia does.
Still, this show is just chugging along being derivative of previous Tim Allen works. It’s not bad, but it’s not good. It seems content to coast on Tim Allen, Kat Dennings and Jenna Elfman delivering the same stuff they have previously. If it works, Disney and ABC will keep it going. And I’ll probably keep watching.
Check out Shifting Gears on ABC, Disney Plus and Hulu.
Article Written By: Jeremy Brown for Stelmach Brown Media 2025
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