Season 2 of Shifting Gears started off strong after Nancy Travis poked fun at Tim Allen‘s love life with Jenna Elfman.
During the Wednesday, October 1, premiere, Matt (Allen) prepared to reunite with Eve (Elfman) three months after their kiss. The only problem? Matt didn’t text Eve since she made a move, which left her assuming he wasn’t interested.
Matt’s actual issue was nerves about moving on following his wife’s death. Enter Matt’s season 1 friend Charlotte (Travis), who overheard him confiding in his late wife at the cemetery.
“We kissed and I am not sure what that means,” Matt said, to which Charlotte quipped, “It means you are a big old slut.”
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Charlotte realized Matt was still grieving — and initially asked if he “was open to doing small amounts of drugs.” Instead, Charlotte took him to a support group that was made up of Allen’s former Home Improvement costars Patricia Richardson, Debbe Dunning and Richard Karn.
After spending the evening with Charlotte and the group, Matt had an awkward conversation with daughter Riley (Kat Dennings). Some misunderstandings led to Riley thinking Matt spent the night with a mystery woman, which she discussed with Eve.
Eve and Matt ultimately got on the same page and agreed to go on a date (after she called him the “Golden Bachelor”). According to showrunner Michelle Nader, the couple will keep facing ups and downs.
“I will say that it is really interesting to watch them,” Nader exclusively told Us Weekly in September about the pair’s season 2 dynamic. “It’s interesting to watch their relationship develop, and so they’re going to go into high gear — but it’s going to be a little bit of a roller-coaster.”
Elfman, 53, also spoke to Us about how thrilled she is to get to return to the show.
“I’m loving doing the show. I love working with everybody on it. I love the showrunner. It genuinely is like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop because I can’t believe how good it is. I’m very excited for everyone to see it,” she gushed. “I have to say I’m blown away by the writing this year. They’re writing for each actor and for their character so well. The stories are sincerely hilarious. Like, at work, we’re all doubled over laughing repeatedly.”
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Elfman continued: “Just as a performer and as someone in this industry, I’m blown away at how good the comedy is on this show this year. So that makes me very excited for everyone at home because I know they’re going to have a great laugh with their family.”
Elsewhere in the premiere, Riley avoided Gabriel (Seann William Scott) because she thought he wanted to talk about his feelings for her. Once Riley realized she wanted to explore a romance with Gabriel, he revealed he was seeing someone else.
“Riley is literally hours out of her marriage. She should really pull it back a little bit,” Dennings joked to Us in March about Riley’s future with Gabriel. “She’s been separated for a long time and she hasn’t been emotionally in this relationship. But still, she just got out of a very long relationship.”
She added: “She also really loves Gabriel as a friend. So I think there’s lots of reasons for the slow burn.”
Shifting Gears airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Hulu.
