Although Owen seemingly decides to put him up for adoption as he doesn't know how to raise him, it's a decision neither he nor the girls are happy with, and Elka's new boyfriend Pierre calls them out on it.

Speaking of Emmett, who is Victoria's co-star in her movie, although she is suspicious of his motives, the two develop chemistry between each other, especially when rumors circulate of a secret relationship between them.

On the day of her bachelorette party, she suffers an accident and takes it as a sign she needs to figure out what went wrong in her previous marriages before she marries Emmett.

Realizing that he is right and fearing she will do this to Emmett, Victoria decides to break off her engagement to him, but Melanie and Joy stop her from doing so, noting that she is already open and happy with him.

Although Joy is suspicious of this when she sees the cash Elka has been hiding, she doesn't find out more information until she takes an internship at a private investigation firm run by Detective Bob Moore.

Their efforts occur as part of the show's first live episode, where they successfully manage to do so as well as avoid trouble with a former drug lord and a major mob boss.

However, Melanie later decides to break up with Alec to give him a chance at fatherhood, and she quits her job and moves out of his apartment and back into the house with the girls.

Danny Pudi, William Shatner, Brian Baumgartner, and Shirley Jones all have roles in the special live episode ("It's Alive") that kicks off the second half of the season.

[8] Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper, and Cloris Leachman appear in an episode about Elka and Mamie reuniting with members of their 1963 championship bowling team.

[12] The episode picks up where the previous one left off, where it is revealed that Elka and Mamie Sue are running an illegal pharmacy to provide lower-cost medicines for the elderly.

But when an ex-spelling bee contestant, Tommy (Danny Pudi), goes to pick up his grandfather's medication and reveals that he used to sell pills illegally before the women moved in on his business, he proposes to buy their stockpile or he will burn their house down.

The ladies plot to have Detective Bob's brother Claude (Brian Baumgartner) pretend to be a major mob boss named Salvatore ("Sally from Cincinnati") to scare Tommy off.

In a recurrence of the girls finding dates for each other for their annual birthday celebration, Victoria meets a famous independent film director (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) with a strange physical trait, Joy is set up with one of her college professors (George Hamilton) who is more interested in Elka, while Melanie "hits the jackpot" by dating a plastic surgeon (Edward Kerr).

Elka and Mamie Sue decide to get their 1963 championship bowling team back together for a 50th anniversary dinner, as their remaining three teammates (Mary Tyler Moore, Valerie Harper and Cloris Leachman) all return to Cleveland.