1.14.: Mike's Brother

The brother would be Robbie. And, Robbie is very jealous of his brother, the Blessed Mike (that's how Robbie sees it). We've had the sibling rivalry thing before but this is the one that dives right out and says that Robbie is very jealous of Mike. It all builds around their incredibly messy garage. Steve can't get in the garage because the boys haven't put up shelves to clean up all the random debris. So, they will spend the next few days fixing it up.

Robbie is a big ball of jealous hate in this one. Mike is starting a new job. He put up the first half of the shelves. Robbie needles Mike about every single thing he does. And, Mike catches on and asks Robbie what his beef is...And, Robbie blows up and lets off a litany of reasons why he's sick of his older brother...And, frankly, Robbie does seem like a bit of a jerk but he's really just an awkward kid trying to grow up. And, let's be honest, Mike is cooler than he is.

Of course, in the end, both of them goof up. Robbie screws up on the shelves and causes all sorts of garage troubles. Mike is too cocky and doesn't get the job. Both brothers have their problems and the great thing about this show is that it takes the Sibling Rivalry plotline that we've seen so often and gives it a little extra humanity. We like the characters and we want to see them make up but, hey, I've had siblings and, a lot of times, these things never get made up. You just live with them.

I don't think I'd say this is a great episode but it's a good one. We need an episode like this. We need to have the brother's rivalry and jealousy acknowledged. We know that Robbie will screw up the garage but it's nice to see Mike screw up his new job.

An average episode but one filled with great charm.