Malcolm in the Middle

2000 - 2006

Malcolm is a child genius in crazy family of four rowdy boys. This show follows his daily life as he puts up with being in the nerdy "Krelboyne" class, fighting with his brothers, and trying not to piss off his scary mother.

Stars: Frankie Muniz, Justin Berfield, Erik Per Sullivan, Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Jane Kaczmarek, Bryan Cranston, Craig Lamar Traylor, David Anthony Higgins, Daniel von Bargen
Created by: Linwood Boomer
Tags: family, teens

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Episode Tropes

Season 1

Inappropriate Violins: Episode 2, "Red Dress" (2000). Lois misses her anniversary dinner with Hal because she's too busy tormenting the boys for destroying her favorite dress, so Hal is all alone in the fancy restaurant. After waiting for an hour, Hal befriends the men's room attendant and has dinner with him instead, while a violinist plays his and Lois's song, "Tears of a Clown."

Season 2

Up on the Roof: Episode 2, "Halloween Approximately" (2000). Francis comes home a week after Halloween, and the boys decide to celebrate late by building a giant slingshot and shooting balloons full of nasty stuff at the neighborhood from their roof. When the Krelboynes retaliate by building their own slingshot and firing back relentlessly, forcing the boys to retreat, but before they can get off the roof, the Krelboynes take out their ladder, leaving them stuck up there until their parents get home.
Sure, I'll Join Your Cult: Episode 10, "The Bully" (2000). When Reese loses a wrestling match to a girl, he loses his enthusiasm for being a bully and starts searching for his place in the world, which leads him to join a cult led by "Brother Billy," a guy who drives around the neighborhood in an ol school bus, handing out manifestos.
When I Paint My Masterpiece: Episode 14, "Hal Quits" (2001). After a lackluster career day at Dewey's school, Hal gets fed up with his job and decides to take some time off to create a painting he's been visualizing for the last 15 years. He spends all his time in the garage painting, and when his masterpiece is finished, it has so many layers of paint that it just peels off the canvas.
Surprise Delivery: Episode 25, "Flashback" (2001). In a flashback, Lois is pregnant with Malcolm and fighting with Hal. Hal gets so mad he goes for a drive to cool off, and while he's gone, Lois goes into labor. When she tries to pile the kids in the car and drive herself to the hospital, little Francis locks the doors and won't let her in, so she ends up giving birth to Malcolm on the front lawn.

Season 3

What a Dummy: Episode 1, "Houseboat" (2001). After Malcolm betrays Hal twice, he decides to spend more time with Dewey, and since Dewey told him he wanted to be a ventriloquist, Hal buys them both dummies.
Trapped: Episode 5, "Charity" (2001). Francis and Eric get into the locked pantry while Lavernia is out by putting a piece of tape over the lock, but Francis stupidly removes the tape, and when the door closes, they both get locked in for the night, so they make the best of it by eating all the food and drinking all the alcohol.
Mail Order Bride: Episode 9, "Reese's Job" (2002). Pete tells Francis and the guys that his fiancé is coming soon. When they express skepticism, he explains that he ordered a mail-order bride from Russia named Svetlana, but it turns out he accidentally ordered a blow-up doll through the mail.
Unnecessary Makeover: Episode 10, "Lois's Makeover" (2002). Secret shoppers come to Lucky Aide and report that Lois's "hygiene is questionable" and that she's "slovenly," so her boss orders her to get a makeover from an employee in the makeup department, who piles on thick layers of eyeshadow, mascara, and rouge, but for some reason it attracts all the men at the store to her and makes Hal frisky.
Make a Wish: Episode 18, "Poker #2" (2002). Hal is hosting poker night, and one of the guys brought his daughter and her friend, so Hal asks Malcolm and Dewey to entertain them. When Stevie shows up, the girls immediately start fawning over him, so Reese, in an uncharacteristically altruistic move, decides to help Stevie out by telling the girls he only has two months to live; it works.
Clip Show: Episode 19, "Clip Show" (2002). Hal takes the boys to see a psychiatrist, and they tell him stories in clips from previous episodes.
12 Angry Men: Episode 20, "Jury Duty" (2002). Lois gets jury duty, and the rest of the jury is ready to vote guilty just so they can go home, so Lois casts a protest vote of not guilty to make them deliberate more.
Monkeying Around: Episode 22, "Monkey" (2002). After the dog Dewey found chases Craig into traffic, causing him to break all his limbs, he hires a helper monkey to take care of him, but his constant demand piss the monkey off, and it starts trying to kill him.

Season 4

Family Reunion from Hell: Episode 3, "Family Reunion" (2002). Hal's family has a reunion for his father's birthday, and from the moment they arrive, his relatives insult and belittle Lois. When she gets so upset that she locks herself in the bathroom and cries, the boys take a stand by commandeering the golf cart their grandpa got for his birthday and driving it over the catered dinner table and into the pool.
Prank War: Episode 5, "Forwards Backwards" (2002). Through flashbacks, we see how an escalating prank war between Malcolm and Reese culminates in a head-on go-kart collision that sends them both to the hospital.
Accidental Porno: Episode 13, "Stereo Store" (2003). Francis lets a film crew shoot "an independent film" at the ranch, and Otto and Gretchen are super psyched about it, especially when they offer a walk-on role to Gretchen, but when Francis recognizes one of the actors, he realizes they're shooting a porno.
Clip Show: Episode 17, "Clip Show #2" (2003). Hal and Lois are making out their will in the middle of the night to avoid upsetting the boys. As they go over their assets and expenses, they reminisce about them through clips from previous episodes.
Art Class: Episode 19, "Future Malcolm" (2003). Piama tells Francis she's posing nude in Otto's art class, and Francis is upset, but when she tells him it pays $200, he starts posing for the regularly.
Surprise Delivery: Episode 21, "Baby: Part 2" (2003). Lois is planning to induce because her baby has gotten bigger than expected, but when her mother shows up unannounced, Lois suddenly goes into labor, and Hal and the boys aren't home yet, so she waits at home for them instead of going to the hospital. Unfortunately, she waits too long, but the only doctor in the house is Hal's poker buddy, Trey, and he's a dentist with a hangup about private parts, so he talks Francis through delivering the baby while Piama assists.

Season 5

What Happens in Vegas...: Episode 1, "Vegas" (2003). Hal has a dream that he wins a jackpot in a casino, so when he finds out that Malcolm won a science award that's being presented at a ceremony in Las Vegas, he cashes out his life insurance policy and takes the family on a trip. On their way back, he finds the very slot machine from his dream and wins, but his prize is a a free hotel stay where he'd have to sit through a presentation on a timeshare.
Hole: Episode 1, "Vegas" (2003). While attempting to build a fence, Francis and Otto separately fall into the same old well and soon they're at each other's throats in the cramped space.
Business Goes Bust: Episode 7, "Christmas Trees" (2003). When Hal gets temporarily laid off, he decides to sell Christmas trees to make ends meet, and all the boys join him. First they get shut down by a local church for undercutting them, then the cops shut them down for selling trees from their lawn without a permit, but Hal manages to talk a neighbor into buying one more tree so that they can make a profit: 25 cents.
Accidental Accomplice: Episode 8, "The Block Party" (2004). When his family comes home from vacation early to discover that the whole neighborhood throws an annual block party while they're gone, Malcolm tries to improve his reputation by helping a man carrying things out of a house. The man is very grateful, and Malcolm feels good about the interaction, until the owners of the home show up, and he realizes he just helped someone rob them. When a cop shows up to investigate, Malcolm lists everything that was taken and outs them as counterfeiters
Dance Lessons: Episode 9, "Dirty Magazine" (2004). Otto and Gretchen are celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, and Gretchen bought auto a custom-made cuckoo clock, so he feels like he has to get her a really good gift: He wants to learn how to waltz so that they can dance on their anniversary. Francis tells him he knows how to waltz from military school when he used to take girls to cotillions, and he offers to teach him. Unfortunately, Otto proves to be an especially difficult student, who constantly beats himself up.
Ashes to Ashes: Episode 10, "Hot Tub" (2004). Malcolm gets his learner's permit and jumps at any chance to drive, which causes him to get caught up in a fight between Polly and her ex-boyfriend, Danny, over a canister that contains the ashes of both Polly's mother and Danny's father. Malcolm gets fed up with their arguing, takes the canister, and dumps all the ashes out the car window.
Whodunnit?: Episode 11, "Ida's Boyfriend" (2004). Otto hires a troupe of terrible actors to stage a murder mystery weekend at the ranch, but their over-the-top acting annoys the guests and disrupts their dinner.
Play Ball: Episode 12, "Softball" (2004). Lois is coaching the Lucky Aide softball team, and she manipulates Malcolm into joining. The day of their big game, the other team is short a player, so Lois makes Malcolm join their team, and Lois stresses him out so much that Malcolm plays worse than he ever has, and Lois's team wins.
Baby Swap: Episode 13, "Lois's Sister" (2004). Hal comes home from the park going on and on about how much fun he and Jamie had. Then Lois points out that he brought home the wrong baby.
Kidney Transplant: Episode 13, "Lois's Sister" (2004). Lois's sister, Susan, comes to visit and lavishes the boys with gifts, and Lois is annoyed by her sudden generosity. When Susan goes out, Lois answers her cellphone and learns that Susan is in end stage renal failure and needs a kidney transplant right away, but she told her doctor that she's an only child because she doesn't want Lois's kidney.
The Education of a Jock: Episode 15, "Reese's Apartment" (2004). The football coach asks Malcolm to help a star football player write his college application essay because he's not smart enough to do it himself, but Malcolm ends up writing it for him.
Magic Brownies: Episode 16, "Malcolm Visits College" (2004). Otto opens a daycare center at the ranch, and when he goes to get cookies for the kids, he accidentally buys "hard" lemonade because he doesn't know what it is, and all the kids get drunk.
Inappropriate Violins: Episode 21, "Reese Joins the Army: Part 1" (2004). Reese plans a romantic night when he tells his girlfriend he loves her. Unfortunately, she responds by saying she wants to break up just as a violinist begins to play.

Season 6

Election: Episode 7, "Hal Sleepwalks" (2004). A bully nominates two of the Buseys, Hanson and Zoe, for student council president as a prank, so Dewey gets revenge by nominating him for president and running a smear campaign against him. Meanwhile, the competition gets to Hanson and Zoe, and they start fighting with each other.
Bad Bet: Episode 9, "Malcolm's Car" (2005). Malcolm has been helping Reese bet on horses, and they're making a bundle, but when Malcolm buys a crappy car and tries to fix it up, it consumes his whole life, and instead of betting with the $200 Reese gave him, he spent it on his car.
Who Brings a Dog to a Leg Funeral?: Episode 14, "Ida Loses a Leg" (2005). Grandma rescues Dewey from getting hit by a truck and loses a leg in the process. Dewey is racked with guilt and having nightmares, so to help him feel better, he decides to hold a funeral for Grandma's leg. Unfortunately, Hal shows up in the middle of it with a new dog for Dewey, and the dog runs off with the leg.
Beauty Contest: Episode 22, "Mrs. Tri-county" (2005). The boys enter Lois into the "Mrs. Tri-county" beauty contest as a joke, and she decides to do it because her sister was always in pageants when they were younger, but she never got to be in any.

Season 7

Giving Things Up Competition: Episode 3, "Reese vs. Stevie" (2005). Dewey has been smoking for some reason, and to help him kick the habit, Hal says he'll quit drinking coffee if Dewey quits smoking.
When I'm 64: Episode 6, "Secret Boyfriend" (2005). Lois is concerned about Reese's future, and she has a nightmare about her and Hal as senior citizens still taking care of a middle-aged Reese.
Get Out: Episode 9, "Malcolm Defends Reese" (2005). Lois hires a new babysitter for Jamie named Claire, who consistently invites herself into the house, talks nonstop, and refuses to leave. Eventually, Lois get so fed up that she screams at her to get out, but Claire comes right back in. It only stops when Claire's sister calls Lois to tell her that Claire died, but then Claire's sister shows up, and she's the exact same way.
Green Card: Episode 12, "College Recruiters" (2005). Grandma comes to visit and brings a girl from the old country named Raduca, and she makes Reese and Malcolm go through feats of strength to prove that Reese is a man and can marry her; Malcolm wins, but Reese still wants to marry Raduca, so makes a desperate proposal, and she accepts, but what Reese doesn't know is that Raduca is only marrying him to get her green card, and she's sleeping with another man.

Character Tropes

Whiz Kid: Malcolm - Played by Frankie Muniz.
Unseen Character: Sara Coleman - Played by Alessandra Torresani in season 3, episode 4, "Malcolm's Girlfriend" (2001).