The most irrelevant character who’s mentioned in the show’s title has to be Jake Harper. On Two and a Half Men, Jake started out as relatively important, but eventually became more of a background character who showed up for a joke or two in his expense.
This makes knowledge about Jake rather scarce for Two and a Half Men fans or those prospective viewers who are thinking about watching the show. If you happen to fall in either of those two categories, then you’ll want to know the answers to these 10 questions about Jake Harper.
How Old Is He?
Over the course of the series, Jake was treated as a kid even after he grew up. This takes away focus from the fact that Jake is now all of 26-years-old. When Two and a Half Men started, Jake was only 10 - as the show was set in 2003, this means he was born in 1993.
The month in which he was born is dubious, with some sources indicating it was March while others pointing toward November. As a point of interest, the actor portraying the character was also born in 1993, with his month of birth falling in October.
What Is His Occupation?
When Jake grew up enough to be around the age to graduate from high school, Walden placed him within his own company to work in the control room. However, Jake and his friend sabotage it by downloading too much adult-oriented material, causing Walden to kick them out.
Later on, Jake is fooled into signing up for the army, expecting it to be a breeze. Surprisingly, this job stuck to him and from there on out Jake was an army man. He continued in this role for two more years before leaving and heading over to Japan of all places.
Was He Always Dumb?
If you were to watch just the first season and then skip over to the later ones, you’ll be shocked to see the change in Jake. This is because the Season 1 version of the character was nothing like that.
He was initially a sweet-natured boy with a level of wit and was considered to be the only good thing Alan got from his marriage. From Season 2, though, all of Jake’s good qualities were stripped away in favor of making him a lazy bonehead who was too stupid to even do simple math.
When Did He "Grow Up?"
This was when it became clear that the show was turning Jake into another version of his Uncle Charlie when we saw him having evidently been with two girls at the same time in the Season 8 premiere. There was still a little ambiguity in this situation, so we can dive deeper here.
Jake was also seen being involved with his tutor, who was so attracted to Walden that she used Jake as a placeholder. However, even this girl isn’t a sure thing and the time confirmed to actually take place was when Jake hooked up with Walden’s girlfriend’s neighbor. Onscreen, the first confirmation was with Miley Cyrus’ character, Missi.
How Rich Is He?
After he was sent away for army duty at the end of Season 10, Jake wasn’t seen again for two years. He resurfaced in the finale, though, and we saw Jake in a much different light.
Now, Jake had left the army to go to Japan, but had returned to the US and found himself in Las Vegas. Here, he fluked his way by betting the $250,000 Charlie sent to him and winning back $2.5 million in return. By this point, Jake was effectively set for life, walking away from the show as a millionaire.
How Many Relatives Does He Have?
Weirdly enough, Jake has a rather extended family you don’t think about him having since he’s such a loner. However, from his paternal grandmother’s side, Jake had multiple ex-grandfathers, and had an ex-stepmother in Kandi and an ex-stepfather in Walden, both of whom were married to Alan.
Along with them, Jake was related by blood to a half or full-sister, whose father might be either Alan or Herb. In Season 11, Jake’s cousin from his uncle Charlie was revealed to have existed the whole time without anyone’s knowledge. Finally, Jake had an adoptive brother in Season 12 when Alan and Walden took in Louis.
Why Did He Leave The Show?
Jake’s extreme adult-oriented stories in Season 9 and Season 10 wasn’t just noticed by the fanbase, and the actor himself was put off in having to portray that kind of stuff. Once he was enlightened by his faith, Angus T. Jones wanted out from Two and a Half Men.
A video surfaced of the actor admonishing the show for its material, and soon enough Jake was written out. In-universe, his absence had the best explanation in that he was busy with the army; although the one-year he was supposed to be gone for turned into two and counting.
Is That Really Him Singing?
A popular question from people who watch the show is whether that is actually Jake singing in the theme song that played from Season 1 to Season 8. And while it would have been cool to have a kid that was so talented, that is actually the voice of a woman called Elizabeth Daily.
From Season 9, the original voice was replaced to show Jake with the voice Charlie had in the prior eight seasons, only for Season 10 to then give him the voice Walden had in the previous one. What we know for certain is that none of these voices actually belong to Jake.
Does He Love His Parents?
All we saw of Jake and Judith was the latter treating him like a numskull, while Jake generally was apathetic toward Alan. However, there is definite proof that he did love them. We first saw this when Jake admitted he loved Alan when the former was down and out, although he also added that he had to love him because Alan was his father.
As for Judith, Jake’s love for his mom was evidenced in the series finale where Judith revealed she had received a huge check from Jake from the latter’s winnings from Vegas. Alan didn’t get any such check, but that’s probably because he was set for life with Walden.
Who Are His Love Interests?
Jake had a long list of love interests on the show, with the most popular one having been played by Miley Cyrus. She wasn’t the only one, though, as Jake’s romances really began with a girl called Celeste, whose father scared both Alan and Charlie.
Jake then dated another girl behind Celeste’s back, before moving on to one-time conquests including Miley Cyrus' character Missi, a 36-year-old woman with three children, then one of the daughters of the same woman, before finally meeting a dancer in Japan. He ended up marrying this woman, who also had three children, thus making Jake a stepfather.