Butterflies

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
Only MITM could think of a storyline like that (the guy in the store) - i thought it was a good one for malcolm (which i like to see happening) and also the dewy growing taller thing was funny.

Wat a scene tho with the butterflies a good bit of CG work. I think it was kinda nice to see reese care - however the fact that lois said he hadnt shown that before is a little unfair cuase he clearly cares for his family and we have seen in various epsidoes even if he does beat his brothers up sometimes.

What do you think guys?
(im sure appanah will have sumfin to say :D)
 

daniel1985

New member
It was nice to see Dan Butler (the guy who played Norm) back on the TV. I haven't seen him in ages. Does anyone remember him? He used to play Bulldog in "Frasier".
 

tjpeople

Site Administrator
Staff member
OMG seriously - wow i didnt realise that - quite a different char3ector he played
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
For the first time, appanah, with all due respect I disliked your analysis. It's not that I disagree of it; rather, I disapprove of it. Before I begin my argument, I want to make it clear that I don't want to offend you and hope you'll continue posting them.

That said, I think you've dug too deeply into this episode. If the butterfly effect happened in this episode, there are a number of different episodes---nearly every episode--in which this theory could have played a large role. Take Billboard; if one little thing had changed, the boys wouldn't be sitting atop that billboard. I don't think that we need to make that connection merely because the name of the episode happens to be butterflies.

Unlike some of the past episodes, this one has tried to be a bit funnier than the last. I'm not saying episodes like Ida Loses a Leg weren't funny, because it was, but in a different way. I sincerely feel that the premise behind the butterflies was meant to be sheer funniness rather than part of an elaborate scheme; however I am impressed you counted the number of seconds the butterflies were on-screen.

Furthermore, to be perfectly honest, I think that the chrysilis theory for the man at the Lucky Aide is just goofy. When he goes under the shelves, he has already completed his transformation; he's not in the midst of it. The man is very helpful to some, but he's a hazard that doesn't follow the rules to others, and no matter how good these rule-breakers are, they need to be punished for breaking the rules. Even if the rules are being broken for a good purpose, they are still being broken, and if you go about breaking the rules, then there's really no point in having them in the first place, is there?

It was an interesting change for Reese, but we've seen it before. Reese has always had an odd soft side for animals. Take Vegas, when he became obsessed with his rabbit, and put his heart and soul, even his finger, into keeping it alive and making it fatter. This is merely a character trait of Reese, not a transformation, as you suggested.

I really enjoyed this episode, but I do not believe it conveyed the amount of symbolism you inferred.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I hope I didn't make you feel bad. I was harsher than usual. It's not that your comments weren't good....
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
I'm glad I didn't offend you, I wasn't sure if maybe my words were too strong.

I was surprised when you had already posted it on Monday; usually it's Wednesday before you reveal your latest work.

The connections you make from a mere sitcom are absolutely amazing, and this is teh first time i've felt you even remotely took it over the top. I look forward to reading your second attempt.
 
I really liked this episode and I think that malcolm's storyline in this episode was brilliant. Reese's storyline was also good. Infact I liked this episode a lot so I give it a 10
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
[I shouldn't have deleted this. It was one of those things that sounded better at night, than in the cold light of day, but I see that TJ People has made reference to it on the main page, so here it is again. My appologies]

This is just a little something for you to think about whilst you are waiting for my analysis to be submitted. For perhaps the first time, I want to look at the cold opener of this episode. What movie could Reese and Dewey possibly be watching?

I think it could be Fight Club. The reasons for this are because we clearly hear the distinct Fox fanfare, and like MITM, the movie is associated with Regency. And of course, it contains a lot of media violence, to which Dewey and Reese would enjoy viewing.

But most importantly, and this is where the philosophy comes in again, Fight Club is a movie which does not feature a star which has appeared on MITM. This is as far as I know, so please correct me if I am wrong.

It is important that the characters of Dewey and Reese are not seeing on their television, their actors’ co-stars or indeed even themselves in another context. If this was to occur, it would be the ultimate paradox to the plot. The structure would collapse – both in terms of physical discourse and psychological ideology of the characters.

Within the context of MITM, Dewey and Reese have no connection to Erik Per Sullivan and Justin Berfield. So if for example, they were to see Unfaithful, both characters witnessing a person on TV with a true likeness to Dewey would immediately take precedent over the siblings’ dialogue and psyche.

I just thought I’d leave these thoughts with you for the time being.
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
Cool, that post is a little less complicated then before. What would be neat though, would be Malcolm watching a movie Frankie starred in, like Agent Codey Banks or Big Fat Liar, fanticising about how much cooler it would be to be a movie star then a young adult working at Lucky Aide. That would be irony.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
First of all, Malcolm has never and will never suceed in a relationship for a long period of time if he's himself. Sorry, no, not gonna happen; he's might be book smart but he's not street smart.

Appnah, I enjoyed this analysis much more than the first, in part because I agreed with it to a much greater degree, and to be honest, I think I used many of my arguments in my first post.

What I do want to point out has to do wtih Hal and Lois. You mentioned that they indeed seem to operate better when they have no sex, but while that may work for a short period of time, Malcolm Babysits also showed us that their relationship is built around that action and they can't go for a long period of time without it.

Fantastic analysis, appanah, looking forward to more.
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
Something else I found rather significant in this episode was Reese's ability to out smart Hal. I didn't quite know how to bring this in, hence not mentioning this earlier.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
You could rewrite your analysis again, adding in that detail in an appropriate spot?

Just kidding, don't bother rewriting it.

It's a valid point. But I beg to differ that it's the first time Reese has outsmarted Hal. Maybe one of the first times alone, but Reese aids in plans hatched up by Malcolm or by all three of the boys somewhat often.
 

Dewey

Minimalistic
You are right. Working collectively with his brothers, Reese does play a major role.

Something I'm considering here in the latest episode, is whether Reese is really exercising an air of creativity, or are his actions just those of an opportunist?

As opposed to being part of some master plan, perhaps his intentions really were to fight with Hal, but after noticing that the doorr was open to him, he simply could not let the chance slip by.
 

NeCoHo

Retired Mod
In my point of view, Reese is really smart, just in a different way then Malcolm or Dewey, or even Francis.

Francis has proven to survive in the harshest of conditions, his mom, Alaska, and Military School. He can survive, that is his way of being smart, street smarts.

Malcolm has book smarts. He knows how to do something, he is the brain of this family. He just can't do it. He lacks the street smarts Francis has.

Dewey has creativity. He plays the piano, music is a way of art and Dewey expresses himself whenever he can. He is a bit of an actor, bit of a musician, a alot of an artist.

Reese also shows his creativity, in cooking, not the most recent thing he's done in a while, but he hs proven that he can cook very well. He also has the "go-out-and-do-what-you-want" attitude. He wants to hurt someone, he does, he wants to do something, like in the episode's name who escapes my mind but he took a slide and had this master plan for it. He is kind of a reincarnation of the 1970's do what you want attitude in the USA.

All the boys are smart just in different ways.
 
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