Charlie Harper is dead, having fallen in front of a moving train while in Paris (actually pushed in front of one by Rose after cheating on her). After the cremation and funeral, Alan is preparing to move on with his life, when a suicidal internet billionaire washes up on shore. His name is Walden Schmidt, and he decides to purchase the beach house, retaining the services of Berta and allowing Alan and Jake to 'temporarily' remain as guests.
Tropes
- Did Not Think This Through: After getting divorced, Walden Schmidt plans to commit suicide by drowning himself in the ocean. Ends up swimming back to shore and abandoning the attempt because the water was cold.
- Dropped a Bridge on Him: One of the best examples of this ever, since the nature of Sheen's firing and the bad blood between him and the writers meant they couldn't use the actor at all, and needed a solution that would allow them to move on as quickly as possible with the rebooted show.
- Last Disrespects: While Alan and Evelyn attempt to have a respectful funeral for Charlie, the attendees are mostly women who Charlie scorned during his life and want to metaphorically dance on his grave. In a more meta sense, the episode also reveals that Charlie was broke and a drug addict, which may have something to do with residual bitterness towards Sheen from the writers, given his actions forced them to toss six episodes worth of scripts, come up with a brand new direction for the show out of nowhere, and of course all the insults he threw at them on his way out.
- Left Hanging: Technically, the Charlie/Rose plot thread gets resolved, but it's fairly obvious that their original plan was not for their main character to get killed offscreen, and they had to slap something together that would allow them to move forward. Given the dramatic and serious nature of the firing of Charlie Sheen the previous season, most people are forgiving of the very abrupt and awkward transition, although that doesn't mean they like what was done.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Charlie Harper is dead, Alan Harper is now the main character, and his new benefactor is Walden Schmidt, an emotionally stunted manchild who is hung up on his ex-wife, radically different from Charlie's characterization, which in turn alters the style of the show's humor radically.
- Pet the Dog: While a good portion of the episode is disrespectful towards Charlie's character due to the messy nature of the actor's departure from the show, it's clear that Alan is emotionally distraught by losing his brother and showcases that despite their quarrels he did love him. Berta also refers to Charlie as the best boss she ever had.
- Too Dumb to Live: Charlie, who has known Rose for years and is fully aware of how dangerous she can be when she feels she's been wronged, sleeps with another woman while on a pseudo-honeymoon with her. And then, he puts himself in a position where she can push him in front of a moving train with it looking like an accident.
