Man With a Plan – Adam’s Big Little Lie

By: Ujjyani Banerjee

Andi (Liza Snyder) comes to Adam (Matt LeBlanc) looking for her Baby Ruth candy that she’d kept at the kitchen counter. Before he can blame the kids, she lets him know that she saw him steal it. She comments on his frequent lying and worries that they might be setting a wrong example for their kids, especially Teddy (Matthew McCann). Adam promises not to lie again.

Adam is in the kitchen. Joe (Stacy Keach) storms in looking for a place to hide and instructs him to lie to Bev (Swoosie Kurtz) that “Dad spent the night here.” Confused, Adam stops Kate (Grace Kaufman) before she leaves for school and asks her to change her too short “shorts.” Kate returns upstairs, irritated. Bev walks in looking for Joe. Adam lies to her, as told. Soon Joe comes out casually and tells Bev about feelings queasy from Andi’s lasagna. Both leave and Adam is relieved. He surreptitiously notices Kate trying to sneak out wearing the same shorts and he sends her upstairs again.

After learning everything Lowell (Matt Cook) wonders if Joe’s cheating on Bev. Adam doesn’t think so. He notices Lowell rocking a pair of clogs, which apparently give great arch support. Adam calls his dad to get clarity, but Joe curtly asks him to meet at Mick’s as he can’t speak in front of Bev. All three meet at the bar. Joe asks the clog-clad man for privacy and lets Adam know about urgently needing a pacemaker for his fluttering heart. Last night he was at the hospital undergoing pre-op tests. Adam gets worried. His tension rises upon learning that dad doesn’t want Bev to worry; hence the lies. Joe asks him to maintain the same with Andi too as he wants Adam to drive him to the hospital the next day. Torn, Adam reveals about the promise he made to Andi. Joe thinks occasional lying to wives is necessary. Adam eventually agrees for this last lie before Joe chooses Don (Kevin Nealon) over him. Seeing Adam feeling stressed about framing a cover up story, Joe reveals about his fail-safe guy…Marcy (Kali Rocha). Shocked, Adam is sure that she’d spill the beans to Andi, but Marcy says that she won’t. It turns out that Joe is Marcy’s favorite who shields her from Bev, her biggest enemy. Joe reveals to Adam that he and Marcy basically run the whole family under shadow governance. Marcy gets an idea from one of the multiple newspaper cutouts that she maintains daily to keep Don from getting tempted by pathetic ideas from the newspaper. The trio decide on a story where Adam and Joe would be camping all night for a fishing store’s grand opening to be amongst the first ten customers who’d be given free stuff.

Joe and Adam take seats and start chatting while waiting for Andi to arrive at the kitchen. Andi comes in inquiring about the discussion and Adam behaves guiltily on purpose, trying to make something up. Andi lets him know that she can already see through his attempt and reminds him about the promise he made. Adam apologizes and lays down the “truth” about the fishing store’s grand opening. Andi happily gives permission to Adam. Relieved, both father and son rush to the hospital. After the procedure Joe is on meds, fruit juices and in an unnaturally great mood. Marcy comes in and is glad to know that everything went smoothly. Adam begs her to help him not blow up their story. Marcy decides to keep Bev preoccupied. Soon Bev is given a golden opportunity to advise Marcy on being a better person, daughter-in-law and a wife!

Kate argues with Andi on how the shorts aren’t too short, but Andi is on Adam’s side on this one. Even Lowell, who walked in, reflexively walks out wondering if Kate was changing clothes. Pissed, Kate disagrees about taking fashion choices from a man wearing clogs and goes upstairs with Teddy. Lowell wonders where Adam is. Andi is surprised to know that he has no idea about the fishing store and soon smells something fishy. She forces Lowell to spill the truth. Andi rushes to Don’s to investigate further while Lowell gives Adam a heads up on the developments. A worried Adam calls Marcy to come accompany dad while he handles Andi. Marcy cuts Bev’s commentary short, rushes to the hospital, reveals about Adam’s cover being blown and drives Joe home as he’s been now discharged from the hospital. Andi and Lowell arrive at Don’s. Andi wants to know the truth but Don is clueless. Upon learning about the fishing store lie,  Don wonders if dad and Adam are having an affair with a mother-daughter duo. Just then Adam arrives and spills the whole truth about Lowell giving him a heads up and the real pacemaker story. He’s hoping to get a token of appreciation from his wife for having done a good deed of putting Joe’s health first. Andi does not believe a word he says. Adam even takes them to the hospital to prove but is taken aback to find Joe gone.

All three return to Joe’s and Adam begs his dad to tell the whole truth to Andi. Joe speaks about Adam betraying him at the fishing store and abandoning him. Don believes dad and Adam were busy canoodling with a mother-daughter team while Marcy, who just got attacked by Adam for masterminding the whole thing, acts more innocent than ever. Adam hates how no one is believing him and suddenly realizes that Andi has her “I’m teaching you a lesson” face on. It turns out that Andi knew about the pacemaker all along and just wanted Adam to lie to her. Don and Lowell feel surprised upon realizing that they were used by Andi just for being witnesses to the act. Andi makes Adam realize that it feels bad to have told the truth but have nobody believe it. After the truth settles down, Adam reveals about a few other lies he told to Andi in the past. Joe and Bev are in the audience, too. Andi learns that it’s not her and Adam’s first time watching “Breaking Bad” as her husband and Don had already watched it earlier. Also, Adam calls her out on her weird-tasting lasagna.

Before they retire for the day Adam wants to know how Andi learned about Joe’s pacemaker. It turns out that Bev, who is Joe’s emergency contact, knew about the pacemaker all along and told Andi about it. Joe is surprised. Andi shares how Bev gave her permission to have some fun with it and that’s when the Game of Lies started to roll!