Should We Feel Sorry for Reese?

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
Re: 716 Lois Strikes Back

Question to everyone-after all the crap Reese has done to everyone, should we feel sorry for him?
 

Reesegurl

New member
Thats a hard question!:confused:
I'm not sure what way we should feel about Reese because in the earlier seasons he was a real bully and was always picking on everyone. But in episodes like 'Cheerleader' you can see the nice pitiful side of him.
In the newer seasons they really make us feel sorry for him like in, 'Malcolm films Reese' and 'Malcolm defends Reese'. And even in some earlier episodes like, 'Minibike', I think thats the name, and Malcolm says to Reese, 'You don't have any friends'. And Reese just says,'Mom told you your never allowed to talk about that'. I don't know about anyone else but that makes me feel sorry for him!
I think they want us to like Reese as a charactor even though hes a bully so they make us feel sorry for him.
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
I waver on this a lot. Sometimes, I feel really bad for Reese because he’s not too bright and he’s never had any friends, then sometimes I think he’s the biggest jerk I’ve ever seen and totally deserves what he gets. It really just depends on the episode. :D If I was solely basing my opinion on the things he has done to people, I would say “no” we shouldn’t feel sorry for him. But you have to take into account what how Reese’s mind works to fully understand him.

Yeah, Reese has done a lot of crap to people and he rarely (if ever) feels sympathy for anyone else, but we kind of have to forgive him. As I’ve stated in the past, the reason he does the things he’s does is because he’s so insecure with himself. He knows that he’s not that bright and he’s had to live in his brothers’ shadows his whole life. It’s tough enough being stupid, but when you have a brother who’s clever and conniving like Francis, and two brothers who are geniuses like Malcolm and Dewey, it makes it all that much tougher. When he was younger, the only way he knew how to get people to notice him was by bullying them around. Also, it kept people from joking on him due to his lack of intelligence. Now that he’s older, he’s afraid if he lets down his “tough guy” image and shows people that he really can be a sensitive and caring person, then they’ll either laugh at him or end up hurting him in one way or another. And most of the time, he’s right.

Look at what happened to him in Army Pt. 1, he poured his soul out to Beth, only to have her turn around and give him the ultimate slap in the face by cheating on him with his own brother. In Bride of Ida, he wants so desperately for someone to care for him that he’s willing to run off and marry some girl that he’s only just met. Then in College Recruiters, he’s willing to put up with Raduca’s constant emotional abuse just to feel like he finally has a purpose and a place in the world as her husband—when she’s really just using him to get her green card while cheating on him the whole time. So every time he does show someone that he cares, they ultimately end up hurting him. In effect, he maintains the attitude that “if I hurt them first, then they can’t hurt me.” So to finally answer you question: “yes,” I do think we should feel sorry for him in a way simply because it goes a lot deeper than him being a bully just because he enjoys being mean. Granted, he does do some things out of pure meanness at times—like hopping all the way home on one foot just so he could wipe dog crap on Dewey in Mono—so not all of it can be attributed to emotional issues. That’s just Reese being Reese. :D

Sorry this turned out so long when all you asked was a simple yes or no question.:D :D
 

simon_4420

New member
Wildcat said:
Sorry this turned out so long when all you asked was a simple yes or no question.:D :D

LOL, if everybody just posted yes or no answers to questions the forum woudn't be such and interesting place:D

I often wonder too, but I guess I do feel sorry for Reese's charactor, probably becuase Justin Berfield does a good job of getting you onto " Reese's level" so to speak, so when something bad happens you do feel sorry, but if you weigh up all the stuff that he has done to others then you can't really feel sorry for him:D
 

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
Who made this a thread?:D Anywho, I think if Reese were a bit more nicer, he'd get friends. Look at Malcolm. He is whiny and such BUT he's overall a pretty nice guy and has alot of friends. Reese is just too much of a "bad boy"(then again, Ive heard alot of girls like the bad boy thing:D All us guys should take note).
 

allison

New member
That´s a hard question, but I think I agree on everything that Wildcat said. On the one hand Reese is a jerk who bullies other people all the time, but if you take a closer look and see why he maybe does all this stuff you kind of feel sorry for him. In my opinion Reese has got a very interesting personality. He pretends to be shallow and a bad guy while he´s actually quite a caring person. But whenever he actually showed that he got hurt, so I also understand why he´s so into animals. They´ll never hurt him and accept him the way he is. I think when he´s with them you can see his true personality.
So yes, I think I feel sorry for him, though I sometimes think he´s a real jerk who doesn´t deserve better. :D But then again he even does the mean things in a way that makes you unable to hate him for it and you actually think it´s kind of funny (at least I do, I can´t speak for other people).
 
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