Kevin Can Wait – Neighborhood Watch

By: Julie Mante

Kendra (Taylor Spreitler) coaxes Chale (Ryan Cartwright) to spend more time with her father Kevin (Kevin James). Chale is reluctant, but makes an effort and suggests hanging out with Kevin at Enzo’s. Chale is relieved when Kevin declines. Donna (Erinn Hayes) tells Kevin he cannot go to Enzo’s tonight because her cousin Irene (Claire Coffee) and husband Stuart (Alexander Chaplin) will be staying over at their house for three nights. Kevin is not happy about this because he will be stuck entertaining Stuart who is apparently the most boring man alive. According to Kevin, the worst thing about Stuart is that he keeps a dream journal and tells people about his dreams. Their conversation is interrupted when their neighbor Rootger (Bas Rutten) shows up with Kevin’s broken New York Jets mailbox. Kevin is determined to find the perpetrator and he decides to form a neighborhood watch group with his retired police buddies. Rootger is eager to join Kevin’s group. Donna reminds Kevin not to forget about Stuart, but Kevin assures her that it will not take him a long time to find the perpetrator.

After listening to Stuart drone on and on about boring stuff, Kevin pretends his phone is buzzing. When Chale walks in, Kevin invites him to talk to Stuart while Donna uses that opportunity to hang out with Irene alone. Now that Stuart has someone to tell his boring stories to Kevin takes off to fight crime. Kevin decides the best course of action is to wait and watch for the criminals to destroy his new mailbox.

Kevin, Duffy (Lenny Venito), Goody (Leonard Earl Howze), and Rootger are surprised to see Officer Nick Dawson (Chris Weidman) approach their vehicle. Apparently the police were called to report four creepy men with binoculars sitting in a car. Kevin tells Nick the situation and Nick feels it is sad that they are trying to relive their glory days, but tells them to “keep the weirdness to a minimum.” Duffy and Goody think that Kevin is handling this wrongly. They believe they should go out and look for the guy, not wait in car. When Rootger sees a kid holding a golf club approach the mailbox everyone is ready to go investigate, but Kevin says they should wait. Kevin finally admits that he was the one who ruined his own mailbox.

Kevin’s friends are incredulous that Kevin broke his own mailbox to avoid hanging out with Stuart. As Goody and Duffy start to leave, Kevin tells them that they do not want to be stuck at home either so they should not complain about stuck with him. As the men continue to argue, Rootger invites them to hang out in his RV. After having lots of fun in the RV, Kevin heads home and tells Donna he was not successful finding the guy. When Donna feels that Kevin is going to bail on Stuart again, she tells him that he has to spend time with Stuart tomorrow and he agrees. When Donna goes to their bedroom, Kevin sneaks out to talk to Chale in the basement. He asks Chale to knock down the new mailbox so they do not have to deal with Stuart tomorrow and Chale agrees to help him.

The next day Kevin and Chale are trying to avoid Stuart, when Donna and Irene walk in and show them that the mailbox has been vandalized again. Donna says that Kevin should continue looking for the guy. Kevin pretends to feel bad because Donna and Irene had a girl night planned. Kevin says he will call the guys to continue the search. Chale has joined the guys in the RV and they are having a blast. The guys are enjoying their secret hideout so much that they have started planning more fake vandalism so they can stop participating in family gatherings they despise. Back at home, Kendra and Donna are bored by Stuart’s stories. Kendra tries to use her studies as a good excuse to leave, but Donna refuses to suffer in silence so Kendra is stuck. As Stuart is looking for a particular picture on his phone, Kendra is able to escape.

The guys are enjoying themselves in the RV when they get an unexpected visitor: Stuart. After a while of listening to Stuart tell dull stories, Kevin comes up with an idea to get rid of him. He tells Stuart that everyone has already been on patrol for the mailbox bandit so now it is his turn. After he leaves, the guys are watching a video of a bear on a trampoline when Stuart comes back and says he caught the bandit. Stuarts leads the guys to a van that has a New England Patriots sticker on it. Kevin tries to tell Stuart that he is wrong, but Stuart refuses to listen to him. Kevin tells Stuart that the van belongs to his neighbor Mr. Ferguson (Julian Gamble) who is in a wheelchair. Stuart decides to take revenge in his own hands and he deflates all of the van’s tires and throws a brick into the drivers’ side window. The two men run away.

Kevin knows he has to fix the situation. He asks Rootger and Chale to help him remember the 24 hour place that sells glass. As they are trying to remember the name, the cops show up and everyone runs away to hide. In the closer, Officer Dawson tells Kevin and Donna that Mr. Ferguson is willing to drop the charges if they agree to pay for the car window, tires and the fence. Kevin apologizes to his neighbor for the damage and thanks him for his military service. Mr. Ferguson said that he is in a wheelchair because of a ziplining accident. Stuart comes into the house and tells everyone that he missed his flight. Surprisingly, Kevin does not tell Nick that Stuart was the real perpetrator. As Stuart starts talking, Kevin, Donna, Nick and even Mr. Ferguson all leave and Stuart does not even notice.