Foretelling text messages, ‘The Silence of The Lambs’ inspiration,
bizarre tirades and piano drops. “Two And A Half Men”’s ending isn’t as simple as you’d think.
In "Of Course He's Dead," Walden receives a text from Charlie, which is a lengthy
rant against him. This rant contains plenty of strange comments, including the phrases
"bayonets of truth," "an army of assassins," and allusions to Charlie's "tiger blood."
Many of these phrases are taken almost verbatim from comments Charlie Sheen made following his
departure from "Two and a Half Men." The "bayonets of truth" line is likely meant as a parody of
Sheen's live tour, "Fastball; My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not an Option," announced
shortly after his contract's termination with CBS. The "army of assassins" he threatens Walden with
is a reference to Sheen's previous comments on a media show where the actor claimed the following:
"There's a new sheriff in town. And he has an army of assassins."
The line about Charlie's "tiger's blood" is an obvious riff on Sheen's now infamous
interview with ABC News. After discussing his past use of alcohol and drugs, Sheen said:
"I just have a different constitution,
I have a different brain, I have a different heart. I got tiger blood, man."
Charlie's text to Walden, calling him a "troll," may also be a reference to
Sheen's past comments about Jon Cryer after his dismissal, in which he referred to Cryer
as a troll among other names for not defending him from CBS and Chuck Lorre.
In part two of the finale, Alan and Walden go to the police to ask for their assistance.
While meeting with police Lieutenant Wagner, the two provide a summary of the entire series in a
meta dialogue. After Walden underscores just how dangerous Charlie's rage is,
Wagner asks the duo if Charlie ever tried anger management. This leads Alan to quip:
"Yeah, but it didn't work."
This joke is a dig at Charlie Sheen's FX series, "Anger Management," which
he worked on after "Two and a Half Men." The premise of the series was meant as a
somewhat self-aware meditation on Sheen's own rage issues, with the actor playing a
former baseball player whose career comes to an end because of his uncontrollable anger.
The sitcom was Sheen's first acting role after "Two and a Half Men," and was meant as his return
to TV after his fallout with Chuck Lorre. While "Anger Management" ran for a healthy two seasons,
it earned mixed to negative reviews from critics. Some unfavorably compared
it to Sheen's previous sitcom role. Shortly after its 100th episode aired,
the show was canceled by FX, leading to Alan's joke in "Two and a Half Men"'s final episode.
At the start of "Of Course He's Dead," Rose is shown preparing a meal and descending into
her basement, where a large pit is seen in the middle of the floor. Placing the
meal into a basket and lowering it into the hole, she tells the unseen character
whom she refers to as "it" to eat the meal she prepared and to change his clothes.
Of course, it is revealed that it's Charlie in the
pit. When Charlie appears reluctant to do either of Rose's requests,
she threatens to spray him with a large fire hose until he complies. This entire
scene is meant as a direct parody of the Academy Award-winning film, "The Silence of the Lambs."
In that film, the serial killer antagonist known as Buffalo Bill keeps his victims in
a large pit located in his basement, very much like Rose's own pit in "Two and a
Half Men." Buffalo Bill also takes to addressing his victims with the
dehumanizing "it" and threatens to spray them with a hose should they disobey him.
"It rubs the lotion on its skin or it gets the hose again."
The influence "The Silence of the Lambs" has on the finale doesn't stop there,
either. During the finale's animated flashback sequence, Rose is seen transporting Charlie from
Paris on a metal gurney, with Charlie restrained via a straight jacket and muzzle. This is the
exact same manner that Anthony Hopkins' iconic serial killer, Hannibal Lecter, is transported.
Halfway through the finale, a montage shows several women from Charlie's past
receiving personal apology letters and large checks in the mail. Three of these
four women played larger roles earlier in "Two and a Half Men," two of whom
Charlie even came dramatically close to marrying in the series' initial seasons.
During this montage, viewers see Charlie's former girlfriends, Mia,
Chelsea, and Dolores Pasternak. Mia was a ballet teacher who Charlie fell in love with in Season 3
of "Two and a Half Men" and became a regular romantic interest for Charlie from Seasons 5
through 7. She was also his fiancée for a short time in Season 3, although Charlie
decided to break off the wedding after Mia tried kicking Alan and Jake out of the house.
Chelsea was Charlie's girlfriend throughout Season 6, eventually becoming his fiancée in
Season 7. Their engagement was impacted by a number of personal issues and side
romances on both of their parts, resulting in Chelsea breaking up with Charlie in the end.
Introduced in Season 2, Dolores Pasternak was one of Jake's teachers, who Charlie similarly
dated for a short time. The character went on to appear again in Season 6 and Season 7,
although she was played by a different actor. All three women were also featured
at Charlie's funeral service in the opening moments of Season 9.
Alongside Charlie's past romantic interests, several old flames of both Alan and Walden
are also featured in "Of Course He's Dead." As they anxiously await Charlie's vengeance,
each of them dials up some of their long-running significant others. For Alan,
this includes ex-girlfriend Lyndsey, and his two ex-wives,
Judith and Kandi. For Walden, this includes ex-wife Bridget and ex-girlfriend Zoey.
All of these women played big roles during "Two and a Half Men." Before the events of
the series, Judith and Alan maintained an unhappy marriage with each other. Their
subsequent divorce caused Alan to move into Charlie's beach house in the pilot episode.
Kandi was one of Charlie's many one-off girlfriends in Season 3 who later dated Alan,
becoming his second wife soon after. They divorced in Season 4,
with Kandi enjoying a successful career as a television star. Lyndsey was Alan's on-again,
off-again girlfriend during the final few seasons of the series, reluctantly becoming
engaged to Alan after seeing the massive ring Walden purchased on Alan's behalf.
Bridget was Walden's wife prior to his debut on the show, divorcing him because of his
supposed immaturity. However, she once again developed feelings for him after the divorce
was finalized. After the end of his marriage to Bridget, Walden then becomes attached to Zoey,
but the two break up when Zoey learns of Walden's romance with Rose in Season 10.
Along with the several sizable checks he sends to his ex-girlfriends,
Charlie also mails a check to Jake for $250,000. Likely, Charlie giving Jake such
a large amount of money is meant to reflect his general warm feelings toward his nephew.
Much of the earlier seasons of "Two and a Half Men" find Charlie and Jake bonding
in a variety of past-times together. Taking his young nephew under his wing,
Charlie also encouraged Jake to learn from his own mistakes in life and avoid repeating them.
As Jake grew older and became increasingly distant from his father and uncle,
Charlie was seen to treat him less warmly than he had in previous seasons. Still, he admitted
to harboring a fond place for Jake a few times as the show went on, usually when he was inebriated.
Charlie sending Jake money illustrates that he still holds some love for his nephew,
leaving their relationship on a high note in the finale.
"Okay, you got me."
After receiving Charlie's check for $250,000, Jake tells Alan and Walden that he stopped at
Las Vegas before visiting them, winning a total of $2.5 million from playing craps. In many ways,
this might appear like a throwaway joke meant to provide Jake a fitting epilogue for his
character, but it also ties in greatly to his relationship with his uncle Charlie as well.
In the early seasons of "Two and a Half Men," Charlie was shown teaching Jake various adult
activities, such as poker. From Jake watching his uncle play Texas Hold 'em with his friends to the
two of them betting on sports games together, Charlie instructed Jake on all the subtleties
of gambling from an incredibly young age. As an adult, it makes sense that Jake learned to
become an effective enough gambler to increase his winnings from $250,000 to $2.5 million.
One of the more unique aspects of "Of Course He's Dead" is the meta-aware comedic style
of the finale. Over the course of the episode, numerous jokes are made about the show's content,
the ludicrousness of its central storyline and characters, and the real-life drama surrounding
former star Charlie Sheen's behavior in his personal life. There are even a handful of
moments where the actors address the audience members, regularly breaking the fourth wall.
The creator of "Two and a Half Men," Chuck Lorre, has discussed the more
self-referential humor that the finale employed with Entertainment Weekly. There,
Lorre said that the comedic style of "Of Course He's Dead" was meant mostly
as a way for the show to conclude in a humorous way. The showrunner said:
"It was our last swing at that bat. Why not throw the rules out and do
everything we can imagine that might be funny and acknowledging the meta elements of the show?"
Lorre also said that he felt the show didn't warrant a more emotional undertone,
as there was no central storyline imparted from the beginning of the
show that could be effectively wrapped up with its conclusion.
"Yeah, right. And I'm the governor of California."
The final scene of "Two and a Half Men" sees Charlie meeting his premature end
after a piano crushes him. While Charlie's character here is played by a body double
and his face never revealed to the camera, it was initially planned for Charlie Sheen
to return to "Two and a Half Men" as a special guest star for the finale.
In an interview with EW, Chuck Lorre said that he and CBS had tried reaching out to
Sheen to negotiate his return for "Of Course He's Dead." However, as Chuck Lorre said on
his trademark vanity card for the episode, Sheen wanted the show to end on a more cathartic note.
He wanted to leave open the possibility of a spin-off series starring himself and Jon
Cryer titled "The Harpers." With Lorre wanting to maintain a more lighthearted tone for the finale,
he refused, and the negotiations between himself and Sheen soon fell apart.
Per Lorre's vanity card for the episode, the initial plan was to have Charlie turn to the
camera and deliver a monologue about the dangers of drug use. Over time,
Charlie's speech would devolve into a bizarre tirade about how he was "a
ninja warrior from Mars" and was "invincible" until his speech was
cut short when a piano crashes on top of him, as it does in the finished finale.
Chuck Lorre's physical presence and his subsequent death in the finale can be eyebrow-raising
for some viewers. However confusing and meta Lorre's appearance in the show is,
though, Lorre has since justified his cameo at the end of the episode,
as well as elaborating on the reasoning behind his onscreen demise.
Chatting to Entertainment Weekly, Lorre said that the piano falling on both of
him and Charlie is meant as an illustration of their rocky relationship and the effect it had
on the series. In Lorre's eyes, his feud with Sheen ultimately led to the show's
steady decline as "Two and a Half Men" went on without Sheen there to headline the show.
The two pianos falling on both of them were therefore
intended to be symbolic, with Lorre saying:
"It felt like the funniest and most succinct way to end the damn thing.
And dropping the second piano also felt like an appropriate response -- perhaps nobody wins,
but hopefully, we laughed along the way."