Mike & Molly - General Discussion

[Pdxblonde]

Melissa looks great! She isn't that much bigger than the gal that plays her sister now! Mike looked like he had lost some weight, too. I noticed it in his face.

Edited January 14, 2016 by Pdxblonde

[iMonrey]

Billy Gardell did lose a bunch of weight about a year ago but to me it looks like he's gained it back. That was a very realistic struggle he described about throwing away all his old clothes and then needing them back. 

 

Melissa McCarthy does look great, she looks like she's about back down to the size she was when she was doing Samantha Who. 

 

I just wish the show would focus less on Mike and more on Molly and her family. The last two episodes have been about Mike and Carl or just mostly Mike. I want to see more of Joyce and Victoria. I hate it that they only get a few lines per episode.

[tenativelyyours]

This was not a bad episode.  I did not come away from it annoyed.  But it felt really slight.  Like they had the whole wrist monitor as a 'B' plot for Mike in an episode with a stronger 'A' plot and then dropped the 'A'  and gave Molly the frozen yogurt shop scene to fill it out more.

[tenativelyyours]

I'm not sure if it was just my mood or what.  But this was such an improvement over last week's episode.  Over a lot of previous episodes.  I found the lines really sharp and laughed several times.  From the family coming to find out how Peggy was and pretty much figuring out exactly what happened to Carl's low center of gravity line to pretty much everything Peggy.  I hope this is a sign of the rest of the season to come.  This really is a show that works when the characters of Mike and Molly work off the others more then each other yet it is the relationship of the two that causes the main plot when you break it down. 

[candall]

I always enjoy Molly being so utterly transparent to her family.  Peggy's my favorite character and there can never be enough Peggy+Jim, so I'm good.

 

(P.S.  I also think Vince has comic timing equal to anyone on the show and Louis Mustillo is under-appreciated.)

[jewel21]

When Peggy told Mike to put down Jim I died. And the dog's face was hilarious in that scene. That being said, I hate when people put down animals for no good reason. Jim would be fine and happy living with Victoria and her "habits." That has already been established, heh.

[iMonrey]

Episodes that feature Peggy are always gold. But Molly was right, she didn't really do anything wrong. Peggy is always antagonistic towards her, I don't blame her for telling her off.

[Pdxblonde]

Molly was actually likable this episode! I don't think Peggy should have blamed her for the heart attack, but I like that Molly actually felt some empathy and took some responsibility for a change. The seasons she was writing she became very bossy and unlikable, and it's nice to see a bit of growth in her (NOW that the show is cancelled!).

Also, on a shallow note, Billy Gardelli looks kind of cute with his hair that way, as opposed to the super short style he's sported in the past.

[Josette]

I thought Peggy didn't blame Molly for her heart attack.  Mike did, but Peggy was just upset that Molly hadn't wanted to go on the casino trip with her.

[random chance]

Everyone but Peggy blamed her.  Which was nuts, you can't go through life never arguing with anyone in case they have an attack. 

[Rhetorica]

I finally had time to watch. Being snowbound has its perks. I enjoyed it and laughed, which is really all I ask from my comedies. Of course Peggy is the only one to blame for the HA. She doesn't live a healthy lifestyle. But I can understand Molly's guilt. The timing certainly was not the best. Perhaps she & Molly will be walking together. Each of these actors are comedy gold.

[barbedwire]

I was so glad that this show is back.  And, wow, does Melissa McCarthy look good!  What I couldn't believe is that a police officer not only puts his wallet on the dash but that he keeps his Social Security card in his wallet!

[iMonrey]

I'm going to make the same complaint I made two episodes ago - the show is too focused on The Adventures of Mike and Carl. Three out of the four episodes this season have circled around Mike and Carl while Molly and her family play supporting roles. It's positively criminal to waste the talents of Swoosie Kurtz by only giving her two or three lines an episode. Mike and Carl just aren't that interesting. I don't understand why the writers keep making them the A plot when surely Melissa McCarthy is the biggest draw this show has. Her, her family, and Peggy are the best things about this show, NOT Mike and Carl. The only real saving grace this episode was the scene with Mike and Victoria.

 

I wonder if maybe the writers were asked to explore the possibility of doing a show without Melissa McCarthy when they started writing this season. We know now the show is cancelled but back then all they knew was that McCarthy's contract would be up for renewal at the end of this season so maybe they were trying to show the network they could do a show without Molly.

Edited January 28, 2016 by iMonrey

[tenativelyyours]

I agree somewhat but I think the problem for me that I just find Mike as a lead dull.  I actually like the character of Carl as written and played.  I still think it would have been more interesting to have Carl and Victoria together and had Mike die the season when Molly was trying to have the baby.  I do find Mike funny often but only when he is the glue that binds Molly and her family to Peggy and Carl.  And again in an episode that was the Adventures of Mike and Carl, I found Carl a more interesting and entertaining character.

 

It wasn't the worst episode though.  But after last week it seems to me that they still know how to get it right and how to simply coast a bit.  This was coasting.  I did like after the heavy handed alley narrows bit, that instead of being looked at as an even bigger fool, Mike is seen as a hero because he got the guy despite the possible danger to innocents, his partner and of course the trashing of the car (I think the price tag Carl said was way too low for a cop car).  I found it unrealistic but at least it wasn't doofus doofs again.

 

I think the episode would have been more amusing and better in tune with what I think the show is about, is if they followed the theft issue more.  Trying to track the crook down while the rest of the family has to deal with the headaches a lost wallet with all your personal information and credit cards etc.  Do they pay the supporting cast by the line?  Because no Peggy and too little Joyce.  Victoria had an okay scene with a few good lines. 

 

The show's not doing its supporting cast any favors here.  Cancelled, it still serves as a burn off piece of filler for the stuff that failed shortly after launch at the start of the season last fall.  An episode that actually felt a little lazy and plunked down amid the re-reun weeks leading into Super Bowl and Oscar territory.  These people should be allowed to shine and make a bolder line for their resume.  Melissa has movies to make and I think has inked three deals that are actually into production. 

[pennben]

 

I agree somewhat but I think the problem for me that I just find Mike as a lead dull.

 

Yes.  I agree with this so much.  It should be 'Molly & Family' or 'Victoria & Family' or 'Everyone But Mike' or 'Peggy's World (Deal with It)'.  As has been noted, the supporting cast is absolutely criminally underused.  And when Molly gets to play with the rest of the cast in episodes, and sometimes even without her, it is gold!  If only they could have found a way to keep Peggy in the show without Mike, maybe it could have run for so many more seasons. 

 

I feel like there was an absolutely  hysterical show somewhere in here, and we saw it every so often, but it has been horribly mishandled since the beginning, so we lose it, even though so many of us can see what could have been. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by pennben

[tenativelyyours]

They went real weird for me in trying to up Melissa's role when she became a film hit.  Which brought an abrupt end to the baby attempts and the segue into the horrible season of writing. 

 

It's real easy to keep Peggy.  Mike dies between seasons.  Peggy struggles to make ends meet and has to take in a renter.  Carl.  who had promised Mike he would look after her anyway.  Molly struggles with the hate/love relationship with Peggy as she tries to keep the mother of the love of her life in her life. And slowly finds that she values Peggy for herself and not just as Mike's mother. As well as Carl and Victoria have a steady lust thing going but can't ever figure out how to be in a real relationship what with Victoria being a huge druggie and Carl being a cop.  Plus just being themselves.  Carl and Peggy often are part of the family but just as often clash as well as clash with each other.  Mike still is with them in spirit as the one that brought them all together as well as in an 8.5 x 11 portrait by Molly's bedside. 

 

Or you could have Carl with Victoria and Molly did have a kid and Peggy is now the blunt irascible Grandmother that Peggy clashes with repeatedly over the kid.  I'm sure I could come up with some other simple but plausible scenarios. 

Edited January 29, 2016 by tenativelyyours

[candall]

Agree, agree, although I'm not sure I need Mike to die.

 

The show started out with two nice people who were "real" with their weight struggles and funny, in a subtle way, with their offhand wry observations.  All the "seltzer down the pants" humor came from the whackadoo friends & family.  Solid foundation.

 

Then suddenly Molly can't walk across the room without a faceplant and Mike's a giant doofus.  Sigh.  Go back!  Go back!

 

Now that Melissa McCarthy needs to move on, did the producers forget they had a successful formula and a strong, compatible comedic cast back from Season One?  A simple rewind would be so easy, with Molly off on some implausibly long book tour and Mike back to being the decent, much put-upon, straight-man to the wine-guzzler, pothead, horndog, acerbic, immigrant, get-rich-quick schemers around him.

 

Especially now, when sitcoms are churned out ten at a time, you'd think they'd think twice before breaking up the band.

 

 

 

 

[Rhetorica]

Having just written and talked to my kids about my will, power of attorney, and last instructions, this hit home. It needs to be done but it's hard. Good episode combining heart and humor.

[tenativelyyours]

This is a good example of how to let Melissa be the star.  Everyone with her got to have some great lines and scenes.  And she was able to do what she does best.  I usually find the physical comedy on this show a bit much, but I loved her going after Vince when he said he thought he was getting the ring.  Nice way to incorporate the emotional without be too preachy or after-school special-ish.  Letting the characters feel and show it instead of telling the audience.  Other sitcoms should take note (Modern Family and Black-ish).  Its episodes like this one, even without Peggy, that will have me miss this show.  And I hope film writers doing Melissa's projects see what it is that she brings to this show and makes it work (when it does).

 

ETA:  I like Mike as the hopefully amorous but wrong time guy on occasion.  It worked both times here and I think they should have stayed with that.  One of the enjoyable things about the couple is that they are physical and lusty and still not that long married or even together.  The risque aspect of all the characters has been a fun area to explore.  From Peggy, Joyce and Carl's grandmother to the rest, for the most part the show balances that part of nature with humor rather well even if it usually is on the ribald side.

Edited February 4, 2016 by tenativelyyours

[random chance]

I think that for the rest of the series, no matter what's going on onscreen, I'm going to be sitting there thinking "my God Melissa looks fabulous now."  

[Pdxblonde]

LOVED this episode. Loved it when Victoria was telling Molly has she no credit card debt, savings, and stocks (as she should... she hasn't been paying rent/mortgage payments ever).

Molly is still big, but she is sooo much smaller than she was. She looks fabulous! Even her skin and hair look better (she's always had beautiful hair).

[Rhetorica]

Molly looked even better this episode. I love Vince. He's totally comfortable with himself. Good to see Peggy again. I know the plot was contrite but Mike and Molly are just so darn cute together.

[iMonrey]

So when did Mike turn into a caveman? I get that he's frustrated with Molly not doing anything all day long but to go from there to expecting her to have supper on the table for him seems like a real stretch. He was single for most of his life, what did he do for dinner then? I did crack up when she dressed as a 50s housewife and brought him breakfast but they spoiled that scene by showing it in the promos. 

[candall]

Hmm.   Say Molly still had her teaching job and Mike had some temporary down-time from the PD.  I'd be mad if they showed her coming home from work to an empty house, heating up a sad little dinner for one, then running a load of laundry so she'd have something to wear the next day. . . while Mike loafed around the Tiki Lounge all day with Vince and Carl.

 

I love Peggy for her blunt--sledgehammer--ways.  But this is the second time Mike's dropped by for a little pity party with his Number One Fan and she's reverse-psychologied him into rushing back to Molly.  (Remember when Mike was feeling smothered and Peggy agreed it was much better to maintain a distance?  I finally just set your father's beer at the top of the basement stairs.)

 

She could have reeled him in closer, but she sends him away.

Awww.

[roughing it]

My guess was that Mike and Molly got cancelled in order to make room for Angel From Hell.  Now that Angel from Hell has been cancelled (and as much as I like Jane Lynch, the show was awful!) - I wonder if they will continue with MandM.  Let's hope anyway!  Melissa has said she wanted the show to continue, so the cancellation wasn't because of her.

[DiabLOL]

So when did Mike turn into a caveman? I get that he's frustrated with Molly not doing anything all day long but to go from there to expecting her to have supper on the table for him seems like a real stretch. He was single for most of his life, what did he do for dinner then? I did crack up when she dressed as a 50s housewife and brought him breakfast but they spoiled that scene by showing it in the promos. 

 

I had a few thoughts about this episode I wanted to share here.

 

First of all I realized it was very naive of me to expect this show to actually offer up a deep profound true to life version of what living with a "creative" is like. We were pretty much led to believe that Molly somehow became a successful author, right? So knowing quite a few published authors myself I assumed that she brought in way more money with each book than she ever did as a teacher and more than Mike brought home as well.

 

Even so, I"m not someone who believes that if you make more money you get to treat the other person as your servant. Not at all but I just really wanted Molly to say hey listen, I'm a writer so even when I'm not sitting at my laptop typing in the big words, I'm writing. So even if I'm in some tacky bar with my mom and sister, I could very well come up with something that will inform my next book and put more food on the table, got it? 

 

Mike has set hours and a set salary. Not everyone does. Some people are like Molly so if they decided to make her this author why not just go a little deeper? We're not all that dumb.

 

Why can't Mike bring home a pizza or something if he's so helpless. Thing is he wasn't helpless he was being very aware of how petty he was being.

 

Second of all, I really can't deal with a sitcom that's running right now acting like it's "I Love Lucy" or something. A shoutout is fine but this just needed to go deeper.

 

ETA: I was shocked by how awesome Vince was. The last time I paid any attention to him he was pretty much presented as a skeevy loser and Joyce treated him like crap. Not only was he totally comfortable with himself and what he enjoyed outside of any of the petty scorekeeping Mike was so heavily into, he offered up realistic, helpful and generous relationship advice! 

Edited February 12, 2016 by DiabLOL

[random chance]

I thought the resolution was good - things are better when everyone pitches in because they want to.  Feeling obligated, and/or making someone else feel obligated, never works - it  just ends up in an unholy mix of resentment, grudges, passive-aggressiveness and score-keeping. 

 

I agree about Vince - somehow against all odds he has turned out to be a great character.

[iMonrey]

 

My guess was that Mike and Molly got cancelled in order to make room for Angel From Hell.

 

I doubt the two shows were connected in any way. CBS wasn't happy enough with the pilot for Angel to even put it on the fall schedule and asked for re-shoots. Mike & Molly was the established show already on the network, there's little chance they would cancel it for an untested new show they didn't even have much confidence in. 

 

The main reason Mike & Molly was cancelled seems to be money. The ratings have been in decline and the actors' contracts were up for renewal. The network apparently didn't feel like negotiating if the ratings were high enough for them.

 

It seems like the network has been very frustrated that this show hasn't done better because Melissa McCarthy is a big film star now and they never understood why that didn't translate into higher ratings. That's why they tired to re-tool the show and make her more of a scatterbrain with more physical comedy to mimic what she does in her films. But I think a lot of the show's fans were turned off by her sudden personality change, especially in an economy were most people can't just up and quit a steady paying job to follow their dream.

[random chance]

They retooled it more than once.  They originally packaged it as "two obese losers find love."  Why I don't know, they could have just been another wacky family sitcom, but that was the way they framed it.  (Remember the dead serious organ music opening and "at last I see loooooove"?)  She was a shy sweet school teacher and he was a shy sweet cop, blah blah blah.  The rest of the family was way more interesting because they were nuts. Then I guess TPTB realized that making MM the straight man (so to speak) was idiotic, so they started giving her quirks like having a 'travel addiction.'  AND for awhile it was about the courtship of quirky spendy Molly and mama's boy Mike - who had to learn a lesson about relationships at leats once per episode. After they ran that into the ground, there was the trying-for-a-baby storyline - and of course on TV that's always complicated, someone's sperm is too slow or someone has a hostile womb or whatever; they always drag it out forever.  (Even the writers seemed bored with this one.)  BUT finally she got pregnant.  And then they killed that for the wacky author retool.  They actually deleted that scene from the show and pretended it never happened.  (I remember asking people on TWoP if I was losing my mind or what.)  But she got a little too wacky to the point where she was a caricature of herself, and I assume some sort of focus group or whatever passed this info along because they reined her back in to where she is now.  So the show never did find an audience, but that's possibly because it was looking for one in all the wrong places. 

[tenativelyyours]

Part of the problem, at least to me, seem that CBS played a waiting game of sorts.  Treating the show as a building effort hoping that eventually it would be one of those shows that would sky rocket after a few solid but hardly spectacular ratings seasons.  I remember it was one of those shows listed in Entertainment Weekly in their "Save our shows" story they have done after it was shown that fan support could be vocal and organized enough to bring back cancelled or about to cancelled shows.  Was the show actually cancelled and brought back?  I do know it was one mentioned as 'at risk'.  But just those few years ago, shows would be cancelled and you could still watch the episodes that remained.  Now shows get cancelled and pulled immediately.  I think Angel from Hell is not the most immediate.  I think both Fox and ABC have announced a cancellation in the middle of the day and that evening the scheduled episode never airs.  I think Angel got 24 hours or so.

 

But CBS also seems to have put pressure on the show.   The changes you have already mentioned made whatever fan base the show had based on the show itself and not from McCarthy's growing popularity which mostly came from outside the show, be perplexed at what had happened to the show they loved and stuck with.  So they waited.  But they also tweaked and re-tweaked and they sullied the good and never replaced it with new good.  Simply silly mindless and senseless attempts at comedy too many times. 

 

For me the rush to get pregnant seemed just that.  Show wise.  I always felt they got them married a bit too soon.  I always end up trying to edit a show to my liking, but Mike and Molly dating and even living together was fun as it explored things that might seem trite in sitcom land but had a nice fresh take with the cast and the storylines they introduced.    But the attempt to fix and re-direct the show from the pregnancy plot was also a failure they didn't seem to be able to find their way out of.  The episodes this season and last that I really enjoyed and will watch again remind me of the episodes in the first two seasons.  That is the show I got to really enjoy and look forward to (in syndication), and that is the show I will miss.  This last one was not the best, but it still is an episode that will add to the hole in my watching schedule when this goes away.  And unlike some other shows I still watch and can still occasionally laugh at but am finding tired and almost pain other times coughBigBangcough, I will miss this one.  Others, like Mad Men and Downton Abbey, I will be glad for the journey but get me off this damn thing already.

[LucyEth]

What happened to the relationship between Carl and Victoria?

[random chance]

The last I recall, they broke up because Mike blabbed to her that Carl was planning to propose, but Carl changed his mind and did not propose.

[momtoall]

Everyone has commented on Melissa's weight loss but Katy has lost quite a bit of weight also.

Edited February 15, 2016 by momtoall

[random chance]

I think it's because we've already seen Katy thin, since she gained weight after a few seasons.

[momtoall]

I think it's because we've already seen Katy thin, since she gained weight after a few seasons.

 

 

Good point!!

[Big Mother]

Both perspectives were over the top. I still live in a world of traditional gender roles, and yes, my husband does expect me to have a hot dinner ready for him when he comes home from work. I'm a stay-at-home-mom and he works hard all day plus helps me with the kids. However, if I have a bad or busy day and order takeout instead, he won't fly off the handle. On the flipside, I would feel really bad and horrible if I spent my entire day hanging out with my relatives and puttering around on the computer but not bothering to ensure there's something to eat when he gets home from work. I get this is a sitcom, but it felt like overtrumpeting feminism and making Mike appear like an a-hole for having the audacity to be hungry after a whole day of work. And on the flipside, his reaction was overexaggerated. The only food in the house is stinky lentil soup and peanuts? Ever heard of sandwiches? Cereal and milk? Frozen pizza? Frozen food of any kind? Ever heard of texting your spouse, "What's for dinner, do you need anything on the way home" when you're about to fall into the house, starving? Both sides completely mishandled this issue, and I didn't like how it was written. Nu, that's why it's a sitcom. and a bad one at that.

Edited February 15, 2016 by Big Mother

[LucyEth]

The last I recall, they broke up because Mike blabbed to her that Carl was planning to propose, but Carl changed his mind and did not propose.

Thanks, that's right. Guess they have no intention of getting them back together.  I always thought they should have kept Carl with Christina.  Don't know why they broke up that relationship, unless the actress wanted out.  I really don't see Carl and Victoria together, don't see any chemistry IMO.

[tenativelyyours]

The funny thing is when Victoria was off limits, I thought there was tons of chemistry between Carl and Victoria.  Like when she comes back from the Army recruitment office and meets Mike and Carl at the diner.   It was almost weird that they kept teasing us with something that seemed so interesting and yet when it happened it completely fizzled.  I wonder if the actors already knew the story arc and figured if it was that stupid why try?

 

I have read a couple of places that there are a total of thirteen episodes and CBS, when announcing the cancelling, said all would be aired.  So do we have to wait for Survivor to end in May before we get the rest?  I know 2 Broke Girls for some reason is a bigger success in CBS's eyes (no pun intended), but I was hoping with Angel from Hell getting the heave-ho, Mike & Molly would take that spot.  I follow Survivor but don't watch an episode straight through and often only catch whatever scene outraged someone after it aired and the last ten minutes to see who goes.  So now my Wednesday and Thursday just got quite a bit emptier.  Time to binge some series I have put on the back burner I guess.

[Meraji]

I'm a relatively new watcher of Mike & Molly. Started watching in syndication before the airing of the fifth season and really grew to like it. I had never given it a chance because I thought it was about two fat married people, probably together for 15 years and in the vein of Roseanne. Then actually watching it I saw that not only weren't they well into married life but the series started when they just met! That was infinitely more interesting to me and I was hooked. This is my roundabout way of saying I'm sorry to see it cancelled like this. I didn't find the Molly-as-a-writer story arc very entertaining, nor the new direction the show took after season three. Last year was the completely strange publisher, the balls of water, Peggy's raunchy backstory. It just didn't work for me. I admit last season I multitasked during episodes but this season, knowing it was cancelled, I have been determined to appreciate whatever comes up on screen. And it hasn't been difficult to enjoy this season.

When Survivor was an hour and a half last night I figured m&m would be back next week, but I guess not. I tried to find something tangible on the internet about when it'll be back on, and couldn't find too much. I don't know what's a reputable source, but a found a blurb about m&m possibly moving to Monday nights when Supergirl is done airing this season. I also saw the Odd Couple Will start airing April 7, and wondered if they wouldn't pair that with m&m? It's too bad that it's a thing to have midseason finales and broken up seasons. I get out of the habit of watching and it makes me less inclined to stick with a show. That being said, since m&m is low on the totem pole, I don't think pulling it from the schedule is a planned mid season finale type thing. It's just a not doing great in the schedule thing and when it comes back we have to be grateful, I suppose.

[iMonrey]

Yeah, no wonder the ratings aren't up to par. They've also been holding it back for a mid-season start the last two years, and people forget about a show when it doesn't come back in the fall. I thought my DVR had failed to record it last night, it didn't occur to me it was bumped for Survivor. WTF? Only 13 episodes this season and they even take a long hiatus between those? 

[LucyEth]

I already forgot about the show, realized a fews ago I forgot to look for it last night.  Guess it didn't air again.

[CarolMK]

The show is returning on April 25 and then the remaining episodes will be on May 2 , 9, and 16th. I don't know how many are left but that's going to be a 2 month gap and then a rush to finish the series. 

[tenativelyyours]

Apparently it returned tonight.  Have yet to see it but will definitely watch in a little while.  My record clock says it comes in at less than twenty minutes without commercials.  Really CBS?  I find Big Bang greedy as hell at the expense of the show's quality.  But is another couple of minutes of show really taking away that much money? 

[Rhetorica]

I found this while channel surfing. It was good to see it back. I laughed out loud when the dog kicked Molly off the bed. I'm going to miss this show.

[jewel21]

I thought the dog was adorable and loved how it liked everyone but Molly, hah. It's nice to have this show back but I'm going to be sad when it's over. I still can't believe it got cancelled, grrr.

[Eliza422]

I loved the dog too, and I think they missed a golden opportunity to have the conflict between her and Jim!!! I can think of a few ways they could have gone, not the pointless plot of her not liking Molly.

[teebax]

On April 26, 2016 at 8:17 PM, jewel21 said:

I thought the dog was adorable and loved how it liked everyone but Molly, hah. It's nice to have this show back but I'm going to be sad when it's over. I still can't believe it got cancelled, grrr.

Is it being cancelled for ratings or because of MM's film career?

[candall]

So do I understand from the comments above that this was the first of the final four episodes?  Why are they screwing around with a dog--which they don't even keep--instead of spending those few (19?!) minutes giving the various characters a nice ending?

 

The dog was a cutie.  I expected Molly to be the family hero and announce she'd talked to the owners and voila! he's ours now.  Nope, Mike and Molly sex.  I feel somewhat cheated.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Is it being cancelled for ratings or because of MM's film career?

A little of both, actually. CBS has always been frustrated that McCarthy's movie star status didn't translate into stronger ratings. The ratings have been decent but not nearly high enough to suit the network. Plus the actors' contracts are up for renewal. 

Quote

So do I understand from the comments above that this was the first of the final four episodes?  Why are they screwing around with a dog--which they don't even keep--instead of spending those few (19?!) minutes giving the various characters a nice ending?

I could be way off base but it's possible this was the last episode they filmed before they found out they were being cancelled, and the remaining episodes will work towards some kind of end-game. Looks like she's 

Spoiler

gonna be pregnant next week.

[honeydo7]

Saw the previews for next Monday's episode of M&M, showing Molly saying this is what they've wanted for a long time & immediately thought she & Mike are going to be parents.  IMHO....it would be a nice way for the series to end.