Anyone who watches Two and a Half Men knows the story behind the character switch in 2011. To refresh every one’s memory- Charlie Harper played by Charlie Sheen was replaced by Ashton Kutcher’s character Walden Schmidt. This was a huge change considering that none of the other characters in the serial were replaced. Instead, viewers were introduced to Charlie Harper’s daughter, who played a female version of the character right down to the sexual escapades.
Hence, with the season ending after 262 episodes spread across twelve seasons, the makers felt it necessary to pay tribute to Charlie Harper. The reason was simple. Charlie Sheen had made the character extremely popular among fans for the nine seasons that he was part of the franchise. However, in typical fashion, the tribute was more of a parody than anything else.
The plot for the final episode was that Charlie was returning to take his revenge. However, this was used to poke fun at the various escapades connected with the character. Jon Cryer’s character who plays his brother kept insisting that the show could not go on without him. The creators even added Arnold Schwarzenegger as a cop and even Angus Jones who plays Jake made a return.
Jokes about Charlie Harper, hotels and hookers abounded during the show. They even took a swipe at Charlie Sheen’s new show Anger Management and how Charlie Harper failed at it. However, the return, if it can be called that, of Charlie Harper was saved for the very last scene of episode 262. They showed an individual in his likeness, walk into the scene with his back to the camera, and then disappear into a cloud of vapor.
Chuck Lorre, the creator of the series, was shown seated in the place of the director. He was trashed by Charlie Sheen when the actor was removed from the series. Lorre turns around and utters the word – Winning, which is a phrase attributed to Charlie Harper. Then, he was hit by a piano.