Is Dewey destined to follow in Malcolm's footsteps?

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Let us retrace briefly where the egocentric jerk Malcolm began. His journey started in Pilot when he was told he was gifted and was removed from the "normal" school population. The first three seasons were about his struggles in that class. Then in season 4 he started high school but his luck didn't change. He still tried to be upbeat but it didn't really work very well. In my opinion, the start of his real downward crash was in Thanksgiving. It concluded in Block Party and from that episode on it, the majority of Malcolm's screen time was devoted to him being upset, angry, selfish, or otherwise generally negative. Remember, before that time, I think he was a generally positive person.

All of that happened when Malcolm was in tenth grade. Now my question is this. In many respects, like intelligence, Dewey seems to be following in Malcolm's footsteps. But we only saw Dewey grow up through seventh grade. So once he starts high school is he going to go through a similar transformation and become a jerk like Malcolm did?
 

Alle

New member
In some respects, he might follow Malcolm's footsteps through adolescence. But unlike his brother, Dewey isn't prone to talking, boasting even, about how clever he is. He tends to keep that to himself for the most part. I don't know if Dewey can compare to Malcolm in academic knowledge, but if he does, then there is a reason that the writers would comment on this as little as possible, lest people just lose interest in him. And even if he doesn't, it would still be naive to assume that greater knowledge alone equates to greater intelligence.

Despite all what we've seen from Dewey, and perhaps this is just bias on my part, but I've always had the impression that he's yet even smarter than I give him credit for. I'm not taking anything away from Malcolm, though. And there is far more to him than just his intelligence. Dewey doesn't pride himself on his intelligence as much as Malcolm does, he would rather just be happy and enjoy life than trying vainly to make people like him while reminding them about what a genius he is. He would prefer to make the best of the situation he's in, than bother to torture himself with thoughts on how he can improve it. He might or might not build up an impeccable grade-point average like Malcolm achieved. We'll never really know. It would admittedly be interesting to see how Dewey would manage in such an enviroment. And who else would have have liked to see a potential feud between him and Lionel Hekabe.

Of course, theres always the option someone could pen a fanfic about life in high-school.
 

MalcolmFun

New member
I think you are going over the top saying Malcolm morphed into a jerk all of a sudden. His personality is actually very consistent through it all. He is in a neverending struggle to get people around him to like him, no matter what he has to do, because he has no self confidence. That is what defines him and his personality morphs like he is a chameleon who tries to fit in wherever he is. When he is with Reese they do mindless destruction. When he is with the Krelyboynes he has to be the smartest. When he is with the kids at Thanksgiving he is all of a sudden a reckless party teen. Even when he is with strangers he does what he can to get them to like him like we see in Block party. So I think it is wrong to say Malcolm ever turned into a jerk at a certain point. He is only a jerk when he was trying to fit in with other jerks. He turned into a jerk many times and then wasn't again totally depending on the situation. Malcolm has such low self esteem he literally tries to change his own personality - over and over across all 7 seasons (Malcolm holds his tounge, Burning man, Kicked out, Graduation, thanksgiving, block party ect ect ect....) Note Lois recognizes this and warns him about it repeatly that he should be himself. Notably in Graduation and in Long Drive when she warns him not to get involved with someone only because they like you and you think you cant do any better.

So to awnser your question I dont see how Dewey would be anything like Malcolm at all. To borrow Hal's phrase, Dewey is an Adonis. He has ample self confidence and in direct contrast with Malcolm, is a master of psychology and socializing. The things you attribute to Malcolm being a "jerk" really is the result of him having poor social ability....which Dewey is immune to that.

I know people think probably Reese and Malcolm are opposites, but in that respect really they are the 2 brothers that are closest to the same. See the episode where they dress up in halloween stuff and try to scare kids at the abandoned house for an example. They act like jerks when it is the only way they have to get some attention.
 
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yardgames

Retired Administrator
You raise some very interesting points. But my question would be this: I still think that Malcolm is more of a jerk in the second half of the series than the first half, so does that imply that he hangs out with jerks more often then?

And what about times where he's a complete jerk even to his closest friends, like in Malcolm's Car or Morp or Stevie in the Hospital when he's incredibly mean and rude to his best friend and doesn't even care?
 

Alle

New member
Malcolm comes off as a jerk because he can't maintain many relationships long enough before he says or does something stupid to sabotage them. He can only maintain friendships with the sort of nerds and social outcasts, whom themselves, can't afford to lose friends, while Malcolm thinks he can do better. But with his lack of a social skills, his inevitable ego will rear its ugly head. He's rude and arrogant to the few people that are his friends, while he does something to embarrass himself to the sort of people that could be his friends. Thats the sort of thing that is the cause for his low self-esteem, which of course, would be at its strongest during his adolescent years.

As far as "Stevie in the Hospital" goes, he did care about his friend. He only held back as long as he did because he didn't want to visit Stevie at such a vulnerable moment. And despite his little outburst at the end of the episode, Stevie was, all the same, pleased to see him.

In "Malcolm's Car", it was the first time he owned such a thing, naturally he was very excited. But because of its s*itty condition, coupled with his obsession, it was obvious he would neglect everything else in his life.
 
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Amigo22

Super Moderator
yardgames said:
I still think that Malcolm is more of a jerk in the second half of the series than the first half, so does that imply that he hangs out with jerks more often then?

But everyone else at school hates him. So apart from Stevie, who else would he hang out with? :confused1:
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Maybe if he hadn't been such a jerk in the first place, beginning with Humilithon, he coulda had friends. Look at Cliques, for example.
 

Alle

New member
In "Humilithon" Malcolm suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks that were mostly no fault of his own, such as his mother complaining publicly (and to the amusement of the onlookers) about some stain on his pants. And receiving a ravaged textbook from the school, then being criticized for its condition after he tried to ask for a replacement. The only objectionable act he did in that episode was try to distance himself from his old classmates. It was as if Fate conspired against him. Making one bad impression after another, evoking disdain and contempt from the sort of kids he wishes he could associate with. It was clearly a bad week for Malcolm.

In "Cliques", he tried to avert gang warfare inside his own school. So you could hardly hold that as an example against his friendless state.
 
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yardgames

Retired Administrator
But Cliques did prove that he was capable of making friends because he, well, he did make friends. I believe one of the kid's names was Kevin. Granted by the end of the episode he felt he had to distance himself from these kids as well, but he was capable of making friends; just not keeping them.
 

Alle

New member
I'm not saying that he can't make friends. I'm saying he has a hard time keeping them as friends for the reasons I have previously stated. Who knows, perhaps spending much time with the Krelboynes has stunted his socializing capacity?
 

MalcolmFun

New member
I still think that Malcolm is more of a jerk in the second half of the series than the first half

I totally disagree with that premise. He is older and less of a "cute" kid but his basic personality doesnt change much for 7 years. Simple illustrations of this are the second episode Red Dress reveals Reese is already beating people up because nobody likes Malcolm and in Bully he finds everybody thinks he is an unfunny smartass, sarcastic, bitter, caustic and arrogant. Lois says in the pilot he has a big mouth and never shuts up.

We actually see Malcolm recognize his own flaws and try to work on them and alter his own personality to shut up or be nice in several episodes. He mostly complained and was a jerk when he feels unfair bad things happen to him that are out of his control. If anything by season 7 he takes more control of his own destiny and becomes much less of a helpless, whiny complainer then ever before. How you think it got worse over time is beyond me. In Graduation he basically announces he is taking control of his life and leaving behind him the helpless victim Malcolm who just complains and is 'angry, selfish and negative'.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
These are good points, and I don't think that he's become more unliked in future episodes; he just becomes more vocal about it.
 

Alle

New member
This thread was supposed to determine how much of Dewey's experience through high school would mirror that of Malcolm's. Yet, we've mostly talked about whether or not Malcolm could have had friends. There is already a seperate thread discussing this. Could we try not to stray from the actual topic at hand?
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Thanks Alle. :) Actually, I think that the idea of Malcolm's friends is relevant because, well quite frankly, he didn't have any. Dewey didn't follow in Malcolm's footsteps at all in that area and I think that even if he had become a Krelboyne he would have ended up with friends. Even in the Busey class, Dewey made friends, and who would guess a mentally retarded class would be a place to have friends?
 

Alle

New member
Dewey's social life would likely be a sheer contrast to Malcolm's. As for being a Krelboyne, how do we know that Dewey never re-took the I.Q. test? For all we know, since "Busey's Take A Hostage", he might have blackmailed his principal into transferring him to either the advanced class, or at least, the mainstream program. Its what I would have done, I can tell you. Mind you, given how extremely intelligent he is, Dewey may as well just tutor himself, rather than trust in the guidance of those lazy, feckless teachers that we saw in the Special Needs class. He did a decent enough job teaching his classmates. By the by, the Buseys weren't actually mentally retarded, per se. They were definately insane, but they mostly don't fit the usual descriptions of what one would associate with the mentally handicapped ( although Chad is silly to think he can harm people with paste. Many seem to over-estimate how dangerous he is ). While his official educational performance might reflect those of his brother before him, Dewey is not plagued with the neurosis and low self esteem that hindered Malcolm throughout his youth.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I tried to find an episode after Buseys Take a Hostage where Reese was still in the Busey class, but I couldn't. So maybe you're right and Dewey transferred himself back into the mainstream class. Of course, at the end of the episode we're left to assume otherwise. Are the Buseys mentioned at all in season 7?
 

Alle

New member
The Busey's were not even once mentioned in Season Seven. That girl "Gina" he had a soft spot for in "Malcolm Defends Reese" was mentioned by Dewey to be classmate of his. She portrayed none of the mannerisms or quirkes that were endemic of the Busey's, so that could be interpreted as a clue that Dewey's no longer a student in that class. There was very little revealed at all about Gina, other than she had a severe allegy to peanuts. So we have no way of knowing if she was a Krelboyne or a normy. At any rate, I think Dewey ought to have been lifted into the so-called "gifted program", where in my opinion at least, even the Krelboynes are a bit slow compared to him. At the end of the day, he was only in the emotionally disturbed class because he took bad advice from Malcolm whom, despite claiming to have Dewey's best interests at heart, could well have been smarting at the prospect of Dewey being a genius too, thus removing any kind of regard of how unique and special that his family believed him to be. Subconsciously, I think Malcolm enjoys being the "golden boy".
 

MalcolmFun

New member
This thread was supposed to determine how much of Dewey's experience through high school would mirror that of Malcolm's. Yet, we've mostly talked about whether or not Malcolm could have had friends. There is already a seperate thread discussing this. Could we try not to stray from the actual topic at hand?

I think the point is that you have to get straight exactly what was driving Malcolm's personality in order to realize Dewey and Malcolm are almost polar opposites.
 

Alle

New member
Up until that, point we speaking of nothing else except Malcolm's inability to preserve his relationships with would-be friends. As important as it is a factor in the topic at hand, there are other aspects that we have yet to cover. These two were brought up under the same roof, share certain gifts, yet have different personalities.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
Well, of course they do, naturally. Are you an only child or do you have siblings? I have a brother and we are nothing alike. We are such polar opposites that I venture to say anything he likes I automatically hate. And thus we get into the argument of nature vs. nurture.
 
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