prime, he was complicating Alan as a steadfast companion, or delving into his own past by digging up old friends. But at his worst, he was just… there. He was a background player to whatever silly, usually crass adventures Alan found himself in that week. For its finale, Two and a Half Men focused on Jake's graduation and decision to enlist in the army. A bold choice, as Jake has been basically nonexistent for the entire season, a year of episodes carried by an A-List newcomer. There's little constancy in the choices made by the writers of Two and a Half Men and it keeps the show from hitting any comedic stride. Creating arcs for characters may be too much to ask of an audience (see: the fateof the-too-clever-for-its-own-good Arrested Development), but Two and a Half Men had an opportunity with Walden that was squandered. Introducing major plot points and then not paying them off is just sloppy.
There's hope for Season 10 (unless you're still waiting for Charlie Sheen to return… then you're out of luck). While Angus T. Jones' Jake seems like a lost cause, a character whose gone off the deep end into a bottomless pit of stupidity, the rest of the cast have the chops to bring the funny with their established characters. The solution is the show caring about those characters. Two and a Half Men opts for lowbrow potty humor (see: the episode about vomiting) when it has a colorful ensemble to draw from. There's a distinct chasm between Alan