Malcolm Defends Reese Thoughts and Analysis

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
I enjoyed this episode, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting but it was pretty good. All in all it was an average episode—not the greatest, but not bad either. LOL, I probably won’t be satisfied with anything after seeing Blackout now. :D

I was a little disappointed because I thought there would be more Malcolm/Reese interaction and “brotherly” moments, but they barely even spoke to each other. I guess I was thinking that Malcolm would stand up in class and put Herkabe in his place in front of everyone and Reese would be like “thanks for standing up for me Malcolm” or something like that. I suppose that would have been really predictable though so probably the way they did it was better. I felt really bad for Reese until he punched Malcolm for no reason. Malcolm’s a really good brother for still trying to help him after that, then especially after Reese joked on him for getting 1 wrong answer. What a jerk! I don’t like what they’ve done with Reese this season. They’re really overplaying the bully role after they made a point to show last season that he was growing out of that. In addition, they’ve made him even dumber than ever. I liked seasons 5-6 Reese much better.

It was nice to see Herkabe again even though I can’t stand the guy. I guess he’s one of those people that you “love to hate.” I can’t believe that the guy is still teaching with the things he does to his students. If this was real life, there’s no way he would keep his job. But it isn’t, so whatever. He’s one sick dude to blackmail a high school student for some award that he won years ago that nobody even cares or knows about. I was great to see him get what he deserved from Reese in the end.

Not much to say about the other plots. They were okay. Dewey being all nervous and shy was cute. This marks a turning point for him because we now know he’s interested in girls now so it opens up a lot of plot possibilities for future eps. Lois’s plot started out funny, but it got old really quickly. It was basically the same thing throughout the whole episode. I just wanted those parts to hurry up and end so we could get back to what was going on with Malcolm, Reese and Dewey.

BTW, wasn’t Francis supposed to be in this ep? His name was in the credit list in the spoilers. Is it always listed even when he’s not in an ep? Maybe I just never noticed before.
 

allison

New member
I haven´t seen the episode yet, but i think I know what you mean by Reese´s "negative" character developement this season. I realized that, too, and just like you I don´t really like it. I think Reese shouldn´t become a "saint" because that just doesn´t fit his character, but I don´t like it when he´s REALLY mean. It should be a mixture of bully and nice person. That´s what makes Reese Reese and something special. :D I think it´s best when he behaves like in Hal sleepwalks, Billboard or Reese drives. In the beginning of these episodes he was a little mean or played pranks on people but in the end he said stuff that made us realize that there is a nice person inside him.

(Sorry that my post is a little off-topic, I´ll get back to it when I´ve seen the episode)
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
I know what you mean. I like seeing the bully in Reese emerge once in awhile, but it seems like this season he’s regressed back to the Reese from season 2 that bullys people all the time. I loved season 2 Reese too, but like you, I really enjoyed those special moments in the more recent eps when we got to see that there’s a lot more to him than just a big, stupid bully. I guess we saw a little bit of it in Army Buddy, but that’s about it. It’s just weird after they made it seem like he had changed so much last season. Probably someone in charge decided they didn’t like the change. :rolleyes:

Did anyone besides me see this ep? I guess everyone's busy Christmas shopping. Mine's done, thank goodness! :)

 

reese35

New member
I did! Ratings -

Reese/Malcolm/Herkabe plotline - ***3/4
Lois plotline - ***7/8
Hal/Dewey plotine - **13/14

(**** = I Llkey!; *** = pretty good; ** = I'll adjust; * = Writers, why?!)

Again, another superb shot of bastardism from Lionel Herkabe (played to the hilt by Chris Eigeman). I'm wondering why Linwood didn't leave sooner. This 'Reese becoming a bully again' idea would have worked 2-3 seasons ago (or tried to at least). Even though Reese did make fun of Malcolm when he got just one answer wrong, at least it's a good feeling to know that he's got his back when giving Herkabe his just deserts. I couldn't agree more with allison's remarks about Reese - a combo good/bad really makes Reese Wilkerson what he is, or was, or whatever. And it's like Malcolm says - "Somethings you don't do for trophies. You treasure them here (in your heart), where it matters the most. No one can take that away." A little unrelated, I know, and forgive me if I'm wrong, but the only wise thing he's said all year, and to us, no less.

What was really humorous was Lois' storyline with Claire. Seeing the persistance of Claire blabbing her everyday life and Lois driven bananas by it was just, well, worth a laugh. The Hal/Dewey plotline didn't grab me as much, but we do have the common elements - matchmaker father screws up, tries to repair the damage, screws up some more, despite warning from wife. And after that, Dewey still manages to talk to Gina.

All-in-all, a great episode. And just one suggestion. If they're gonna need Chris M. less and less, just take his name out of the opening credits, put him as a special guest star and be done with it!
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
I saw from that part Reese says "I got a better grade then you" to Malcolm. :D 2nd episode so far...... :)

I think the Hal/Dewey line wasn't that bad, (even though I only saw the last 10 minutes) He screws up, and then tries to make it better, at least he offered her chocolate and a ride in his car. :D

I think we can say Herkabie is a tad OCD, if there was never proof before, there is now. He fought a little old lady for grades, basicly. Then he fights Malcolm for the grades, the he ends up giving it back to the old lady after revealing that he never took P.E. Then he takes gym with Reese and Malcolm to get his name on a plaque the size of his fist. Then, of course, Reese beats the crap out of him 42 times.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I have a cleaning lady just like Claire, so I could understand Lois' situation completely. You try and be nice to her, but really just want her to do her job and leave immediately. But I wonder whatever happened to Polly? She must have finally gone to the bonko bin. :D

I think one of the things that the new writers have tried to communicate is Malcolm's good side this year. It's not like he's magically turned around from his season 5/6 depressed-teen image. To me, he still comes off as rather depressed. But he seems less self-centered. This was evident in Reese vs. Stevie and Jessica Stays Over, and now in Malcolm Defends Reese, as well. We've seen Herkabe blackmail Malcolm via. Reese in the past (namely, Malcolm Films Reese) and it's not like Malcolm has to stand up to Herkabe for him; I mean, Herkabe isn't really hurting Malcolm. But Malcolm cares, as a brother, about his brother. Which brings me back to the Wilkerson Family Unity I've discussed in the past. The philosophy is that, within the family, the brothers can beat each other up as much as they'd like. But that's it. No one outside the family is allowed to mess with any of them. Because they are still a family. And that is one of the great things about Malcolm in the Middle.

I'd also like to discuss the Dewey/Hal plot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the first time we've readily seen Dewey be even remotely attracted to a girl. Compared with the rest of the Wilkersons, I'd say he's a little late. Malcolm had Julia back in seaon one, Jamie's already had a girlfriend, if you can call it that, and Reese and Francis (and Malcolm for that matter) have gone through numerous girlfriends. But this is the first time we see Dewey even remotely interested. That should open up the door for some new plot lines, and it also shows that our little Dewey is growing up. He's not the cute little kid who wants a blue stuffed animal anymore. He's evolved into much more than that. Linwood's staff did an excellent job of doing that with Reese and Malcolm, and later Francis, and now we're seeing the same thing with Dewey, and once again, they're handling it brilliantly. I sincerely applaud them for that.
 

reese35

New member
Like I said before, they grow up so fast! Oh, and yardgames, it's Julie - I couldn't understand what you meant in the first 5 seconds I read your response.
 

Dabney

Deutscher Moderator
I LOVED the episode.
The Dewey-plot was really nice. Hal again got a bit crazy and in the end got arrested for that, which made we really laugh a lot. In the end, Dewey managed to talk to the girl without Hal's help. If only he had done it before Hal found out that Dewey liked the girl (what was her name again?). It's nice to see that Dewey is attracted to girls. Some people already assumed that Dewey was gay, which wouldn't fit for him, in my opinion. Not that I dislike homosexuals in any way, but Dewey's character wasn't the right to be gay.

The Lois plot was very nice, too. Poor Jamie, I bet this old lady talked to him about her life, too, whenever she babysat him. I really laughed a lot when Lois broke the plate. This showed her feelings very well. :D But in my opinion, the end, when Claire's sister came, was very predictable and thus not that funny. I wished the writers had done this part better. But still, the story was good.

I liked the Malcolm/Reese/Herkabe - plot the most. It was wonderful to see that Malcolm does care about others, after he was shown different in past seasons. It was really nice of him to help poor Reese out. Herkabe was really mean. That "monkey dance" part in fact frightened me a bit. And he stole an award of an old, handicapped, blind lady. What a jerk! I was so glad when Reese punished him in the end (although it was for other reasons, but Herkabe got what he deserved).

Excellent episode, season 7 is really amazing so far. Keep it up!
 

allison

New member
I´ve seen the episode now and I think it was quite good. Reese really was a bit of a jerk in this episode, though I liked that look on his face in the end which looked to me like he wanted to say "I´ll save you from this bastard." :D As many people here already mentioned it was also good to see that Malcolm appears less self-centered this season. It was really nice of him to stand up for Reese, especially after he had punched him and made fun of him. But I think if Reese had realized what Malcolm has done for him it might have become a bit soppy, so the way they did it actually was good and even if Reese seemed like a jerk in this episode at least in the end I had the impression that he wanted to do malcolm (and himself) a favour by giving Herkabe what he deserves.

(This is a bit off-topic now, but concerning teachers in real life: I´m not sure how the American school system works, but I wouldn´t be surprised if a teacher like Herkabe didn´t get fired from his job at the school I went to. We had a couple of teachers who were more than unfair and nobody cared. One of them was mostly drunk when he entered the classroom (though that one actually was nice), another one humiliated a girl in front of the class so bad that she changed school, and another teacher (I think she was kind of mentally disturbed) even chocked a student (he wasn´t dead, though, in case I´m using the wrong word here :eek: )and broke a TV set. Now you can guess if ONE of them got fired)

Okay, back to mitm. :D I liked the Claire/Jamie/Lois plot, though I didn´t find it that interesting. What I mean is, it wasn´t like I couldn´t wait to find out what was going to happen. I actually thought that Lois would fire her, although I didn´t expect her to die. That was the only unpredictable thing about this plot.

The Dewey and Hal plot was good, but nothing special. I think it´s obvious that Dewey is becoming a real teenager. He smoked, is moody and interested in girls, now. He´s nothing of the mysterious "weirdo" he used to be. I miss that season 1-4 Dewey a bit, but maybe it wouldn´t work anymore so I guess the way Dewey is now is just realistic.

Now that I talked about all the things I didn´t like it actually sounds like I hated the episode. :D But as I said, I think it was good. Not the best of this season, but certainly not bad.

(BTW I realized that lots of things that happened in Wildcat´s fanfic actually happened on the show. First Reese was kicked out in secret boyfriend and now Malcolm stood up for Reese who was treated badly by Herkabe. Spooky!):eek: :D
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
allison said:
(This is a bit off-topic now, but concerning teachers in real life: I´m not sure how the American school system works, but I wouldn´t be surprised if a teacher like Herkabe didn´t get fired from his job at the school I went to.

It just depends on whether they get caught or not. There was a teacher in the news here about a week ago who is getting fired for showing up yo class drunk and another for doing drugs in school (he was snorting cocaine while the students where actually in class taking a test--what an idiot! :eek: ) They would definitely be fired for choking a student or laying a hand on them in any way. Not sure about humilitaing students though, but probably if they did it on a regular basis like Herkabe.

(BTW I realized that lots of things that happened in Wildcat´s fanfic actually happened on the show. First Reese was kicked out in secret boyfriend and now Malcolm stood up for Reese who was treated badly by Herkabe. Spooky!):eek: :D

I thought about that too. It is really wierd! Dewey smoking in Reese vs Stevie has some eerie similiarities also. LOL, maybe I'm psychic! :D I'm glad I finished it before these eps aired, otherwise it would have seemed like I copied some stuff right from the show.
 

Malcoholic

New member
It helps to recall from previous episodes that, after a brilliant start, Herkabe's adult life has been a total disappointment: financial ruin, failed marriages, unsuccessful therapy. His last remaining claim to glory is the little plaque for Best Grade Point Average, and the thought that his hated foe Malcolm is about to snatch it away drives him over the edge. Herkabe is at his best here (which means, at his worst!): a real fun-to-hate villain. He's just sane enough to realize he's evil, so he richly deserves his punishment; his fiendish cleverness makes outsmarting him an especially sweet victory. This is why it's so much fun to watch Malcolm and Reese wreak their vengeance on him:
"You can't defeat Lionel Herkabe! You see, Malc...WHACK!!!"
As is typical of MITM, Malcolm's compassion toward Reese has an ironic twist--the punch in the mouth convinces Malcolm that a humiliated and angry Reese is dangerous to live with. Reese is not very verbal--he complains with his fists. Reese's jerkiness in this story is the writer's way of avoiding what by MITM standards would be excessive mushiness (or too "soppy," to use Allison's word).

Not so fun-to-hate is poor Clare, an all too true-to-life portrayal of a lonely old empty-nester who devoted her entire life to her family and now feels neglected and starved for someone to talk to. Because she's pitiable, the brutal way that Lois throws her out is unsettling, but it sets up the strangely bittersweet scene where Lois tells Hal that Clare is dead. At first this seems like a set-up for a guilt trip, but instead Lois is baking cookies and then has this surprising train of thought: "Boy, life is so precarious, isn't it? You know, just yesterday she was sitting right here, and then... Hal! You know what I just thought of?! We never go dancing! Why don't we go dancing tonight?! Doesn't that sound like fun?!" This suggests that Lois learned a valuable lesson from her experience with Clare: enjoy life while you still can.

Dewey has become more adult than child by temperament, making it hard to write a puppy-love story for him. So his first boyhood crush gets hijacked by Hal and turned into a typical obsessive-compulsive Hal story, where it's the boy's father, not the boy, who acts like a fool. The comic payoff is the hilarious scene where Hal gets arrested on suspicion of soliciting sex from a minor.

Some odds and ends:
--The girl is described as being in Dewey's class. Since she doesn't appear to be emotionally disturbed, this raises the question of whether Dewey is still in the Busey class.
--There was a bad blooper in one of the classroom scenes. Not only was Malcolm's answer "Tilden" wrong, the question was wrong. The disputed presidential election that Samuel Tilden lost (not won) was 1876, not 1896. There was no dispute over the 1896 election, where William McKinley beat William Jennings Bryan by a sizable margin. So, Herakbe deserved his monkey dance!
--Speaking of history, by my count, this is the sixth time Hal gets arrested. The others were: "Houseboat" (for indecent exposure), "Reese Joins the Army" (fraud), "Jury Duty" (assault with a deadly weapon), "Charity" (selling stolen merchandise), and "Malcolm Visits College" (dealing drugs). That's more times than either Francis or Reese, who are supposed to be the delinquents in the family.
 

allison

New member
Again an excellent review, Malcoholic! I didn´t realize that Hal was arrested so often, but you´re right. Seems like it´s not only Francis and Reese´s fault that they turned out that way.:D

@Wildcat:

A teacher took drugs in the classroom??? Wow, I think that even beats the teachers at my school. :rolleyes:
But the thing is that everyone did know that some teachers were drunk and that she chocked the student. Even the principal, but she didn´t do anything about it. And the girl who was humiliated wasn´t in my class, so I can´t tell what exactly happened, but I think he said some REALLY inappropriate things about her genitals that I better don´t repeat here.:eek: And he still is a teacher at this school. They even wrote about it in the school paper, but the principal is just interested in organizing stupid "project days" none cares about. So i suppose it´s just a matter of time until he makes students do the monkey dance. lol

Either you´re psychic or you´re a writer of the show. :D If Reese will be shot in one of the next episodes it´s getting a bit creepy. :p
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
Malcoholic said:
Not so fun-to-hate is poor Clare, an all too true-to-life portrayal of a lonely old empty-nester who devoted her entire life to her family and now feels neglected and starved for someone to talk to. Because she's pitiable, the brutal way that Lois throws her out is unsettling, but it sets up the strangely bittersweet scene where Lois tells Hal that Clare is dead.

Awwww man! Now you made me feel all bad about saying that her plot was boring and I wanted those scenes to hurry up an end. :( Great review though! I love how you manage to get inside the character's heads so well. You have a real talent for that. Great catch on the history blooper too!

Allison said:
Either you´re psychic or you´re a writer of the show.

Darn, I guess you found out my secret! My next fanfic will cover the plots we've outlined for the second half of the season. ;) J/K, pay no attention to me, I'm in a silly mood tonight for some reason. Must be the Holiday spirit. :) :D
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
This was a great episode, with the references to earlier episodes. It was great to see Dewey having a girl he liked for a change, although I knew when Hal took over that his "crazy side" would kick in and something would go wrong. Chocolates are a great gift but they're not for everyone. This subplot had references to "Krelboyne Picnic" and the episodes where Malcolm was with Julie in Season 1 (Pilot, Lois vs Evil, Funeral).

Jamie has certainly grown a lot as I've commented from seeing the screencaps in the gallery.

The Lois/Clare plot... Clare reminded me of Mrs Griffin from "Old Mrs Old" appearance-wise. It's a wonder Jamie didn't tell her to shut up, since she kept on talking. It was kinda rude how she would just invite herself into the house... which is a reference to "Pearl Harbor" (when Jessica walks in and immediately continues with a rant).

The Reese/Malcolm/Herkabe plot - Herkabe was really mean humiliating Reese like that - he may be dumb and get poor grades but that doesn't mean he deserves to have it rubbed in his face. And once again Malcolm was sucked into a crazy scam but it was good that Herkabe got found out and stripped of "his" trophy by Principal Block.

My favourite part was the dodgeball scene. That was so hilarious! This scene was a reference to "Goodbye Kitty" when Malcolm was throwing the balls at Stevie.

Overall - great ep :)
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
It's interesting you find so many references to past eps; I hadn't thought about some of those before. I would agree that the Wilkerson house more or less seems to have become an open lot, doesn't it?
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
I've just thought of another reference to a past episode, in the Hal/Dewey/Gina subplot - it's almost a repeat of the Malcolm/Julie subplot in "Funeral", except this time the friendship wasn't ruined.

Also another point I forgot to mention before, and this is based on our discussion the other day about whether MITM is suitable for younger viewers. When a stranger in a car offers a child candy it would be very easy for the child to oblige and put themselves at great risk; and for the younger viewers this was a perfect lesson on what to do should this happen to them.
 
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