Malcolm in the Middle – CliqueClack Flashback

It’s only been three years since Malcolm in the Middle went off the air, and yet it feels like much longer. Why? Well, I suppose it doesn’t help the longevity of the show that high costs for music rights have hampered a number of TV on DVD releases, including Malcolm‘s. A release can sell well, but if it’s not predicted to be a big enough hit to recoup costs and make a tidy profit…. And so, unlike most shows today, Malcolm essentially died when the show went off the air.

Which is why I’ve so been enjoying re-watching the show. Ever since Nickelodeon announced its syndication agreement with the series and began airing re-runs this past summer, I’ve been catching episodes left and right on a bunch of channels. In fact, only the playoffs and the World Series prevented me from watching the entire series before sitting down to write this — overrun on FOX led them to preempt Malcolm on the nights that baseball was on.

The series as a whole stands out more for moments than for anything overarching. I was actually a big Frankie Muniz fan while watching the show, but looking back, he doesn’t really blow me away as an actor. And, in fact, it was Jane Kaczmarek’s Lois who was really the center of the show by season two (I still can’t get over her being married to Bradley Whitford).

The pilot set the stage for a really funny seven seasons to come. Malcolm being moved into the Krelboyne class (why was it called that?), Stevie (Craig Lamar Traylor) as friend-in-chief, the family (who shall remain nameless and location-less) putting all of their hopes for their future on Malcolm’s shoulders, Lois being in charge, and Malcolm breaking down the fourth wall upon occasion. And in addition to those foundations, we also got a peak at what would become a staple on the show: a minor situation played brilliantly by one actor or another. Lois’ topless scene while running around the house and when talking to Malcolm’s teacher was great.

Here are just a few more of the many moments, and guest stars, that made this show one of my favorites:

• The introduction of Francis (Christopher Masterson) in military school. He definitely added something unique to an already screwed up family.
• Craig (David Anthony Higgins) was great, except when mined for his immature incompetency, as opposed to just regular incompetency. And I loved the crush on Lois, as well as his luck with the boys. I wasn’t crazy about his evolution from creepy weird to stupid, but what can you do.
• I doubt that actual torture is harsher than the way these brothers treated one another. Hilarious.
• Alexander Gould (Shane on Weeds) as Egg, that weird friend of Dewey’s (Erik Per Sullivan) during the “Funeral” episode.
• Bea Arthur as Dewey’s babysitter in the season one finale was a great pairing. He ate her buttons!
• Tania Raymonde as Cynthia was less Alex from Lost, more Frankie from Cold Case.
• Dakota Fanning as an ankle-biting new neighbor.
• Lois’ parents, Ida (Cloris Leachman) and Victor (Robert Loggia), were horrors. Victor disappeared without so much as a pat-me-bum.
• Dewey bringing home his class gerbil, and setting him free in his walking ball. The gerbil popped up frequently in season two in the background of outside shots.
• Francis and his excursion to Alaska — where we met Lavernia (Brenda Wehle) — was the beginning of the end for Francis’ character. The writers were no longer able to figure out what to have him do. The one nice thing to come from the Alaska arc? Piama (Emy Coligado). But it’s hard to reconcile military school Francis with Piama Francis.
• Apparently a lot of famous people worked at Hal’s (Bryan Cranston) company, or at least crashed the company picnic, like Patrick Warburton, Susan Sarandon, and Stephen Root to name but three. And I love the scene between Lois and Bradley Whitford, as she balls him out for mistreating his wife (Sarandon) … it must have been awkward back at home that night.
• Andy Richter as the boys’ therapist. It was a clips show, but still.
• The Grotto — with Otto (Kenneth Mars) and Gretchen (Meagen Fay) — was still a  weird excursion, but sometimes an inspired one.
• It was brilliant introducing a fifth child, and I loved how it totally caught Lois and Hal by surprise, pitting them into further despair. Plus, Jamie (James and Lukas Rodriguez) was great!
• “If Boys Were Girls”: Renee, Mallory, Daisy, and … Francis.
• The family joining that Church for the free daycare, and every subsequent misstep they took, from the choir to Hal teaching Bible classes.
• Great surprises like Dewey becoming a master pianist, or his being a Malcolm-level genius. Or that Hal came from a fabulously rich family (Christopher Lloyd played his father). Or that Reese (Justin Berfield) could cook — none of the talents were introduced in a vacuum, but rather were new discoveries for us when the characters first learned of them. I always appreciated that.
• Lois actually washed her kids’ mouths out with soap — we saw Reese experience the horror.
• It wasn’t a good thing, but something I want to mention nonetheless: I hate that Reese was friendless and alone. I know he was a bully, but you mean to tell me that in their public school he had no clique of bullies to hang out with? And that no girls were interested in him? His sadness at being all alone got to me whenever it got to him.
• Dewey as “Le Great El Foldo” was brilliant showmanship.
• I enjoyed Dewey’s development, brought on by the introduction of his special class. I think it was a stretch for him to become a father-figure to these kids so shortly after some classic immaturity from him at home, but I love responsible Dewey.
• The old man with the walker who chases Dewey and Reese down on Halloween? Priceless.
• Malcolm working at the Lucky Aid gave him a lot more screen time than he’d been getting for the preceding few seasons. And his strength was always when matched with Lois.

The above actually brings me to a particular area of strength for the show: pairings. As the series evolved, it became an intricate network of great couplings. Some of my favorites: Reese and Dewey (for Dewey’s manipulation of Reese), Francis and Ida (only a person so hateful could elicit such a reaction from her grandson), Piama and Ida (not much interaction, but I love that Ida always thought her the “help”), Lois and Ida (love/hate), Piama and Lois (hate/love, and at its best when Piama would stand up to Lois), and Hal and Dewey. Dewey always got screwed (although I’d imagine Jamie would have eventually gotten it worse), and it was always fun to see Hal scrambling to try and make things right for him.

So, there you have some of my favorite memories from Malcolm in the Middle. Got some of your own? Share them with me below.

Meanwhile, I’ll leave you with the one line that remains for me the most indelible of the entire series, and perhaps, when taken in context, best encapsulates all you need to know about the family plot. In season one, episode two (“Red Dress”), the boys wrap an anniversary present for their parents. Dewey sits anxiously by, repeating his one request over and over. And, true to the form that we had yet to learn, once it’s time Reese just ignores him and does it himself. And that’s the very nature of the boys’ relationship. What a show!

Dewey: “I get to do the bow.”

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Nov 11, 2009 @ 12:00 EST5EDT