Bomb Shelter: Opinions and Analysis

[Wildcat]

Lets try this one more time….

I really enjoyed this episode. It was fun watching Frankie dance. I wonder if he had to learn just for this episode or if he already knew how. When I read the episode description, I figured that Malcolm would be a terrible dancer and would have to work really hard to get good at it. Turns out that he was a natural from the start.

It’s a shame that the relationship didn’t work out between Malcolm and Danielle. He finally finds a nice girl and makes a connection with her that isn’t based mainly on looks and he ends up screwing it up. He had some nerve getting offended when she told him that he wasn’t her idea of attractive (in so many words) when he told Lois the exact same thing about her. Of course, the whole point was for Malcolm to see how it felt to have someone judge him based on his looks. On a side note, I loved it when the other girl tripped and he turned to the camera and said “It was an accident…IT WAS!” It seemed like he was reading our minds cause I’m sure many of us were thinking that he did it on purpose to get out of dancing with her (at least I was anyway.)

I also really liked the Hal/Reese/Dewey plot. There isn’t a lot to say about it though because it was mainly for comedic value. It was hilarious when Hal grabbed Dewey’s leg like a wild animal and tried to pull him into the shelter and Reese was trying to “save" him. I can’t believe that Hal ate that food that had been down there for 40 years though. Gross--even if it is loaded with preservatives.

I’m really glad Lois won the truck. This was quite a surprise because the Wilkerson’s usually don’t have the best of luck so I was expecting something to happen at the last minute to make her lose. It’s about time something finally worked out well for them! I loved how she kept eliminating the other competitors by messing with their minds. That’s Lois for you. Overall, great episode!

[yardgames]

Their old van had to be from like the 80s! Seriously, that thing was in bad shape way back when they took the trip to the waterpark!

Anyway, I enjoyed this episode, but I kept looking for the cows! The opening scene really showed one of the great things about MITM: Hal and Lois walking together through the mall. Their great relationshiop is the glue to the series--their relationship is one that we should all strive to attain.

[PBUNDY]

I absolutely love the way they display Hal and Lois' relationship. It really shows them in a positive light even with all the chaos and stress that comes along with raising five rambunctious boys. But despite that at the end of the day you know they really love each other.

[tony_montana]

Not trying to be pissy, but didn't I start this thread last night and someone erased it or something? Or did the boards screw up? Because I also had another thread called "Hal's Sanity" which disappered. What's going on?

Okay, here I go again....
Season seven hits us once again with another fantastic episode! The whole thing rocked, from Lois winning the truck( ) to Hal eating 40 year old food and talking to the late JFK( ),to Malcolm getting in dance class...plain great!
Ill go ahead and admit my favorite plot was once again Hal's(actually this was Reese and Dewey's too). I just found it hilarious that he ate that food and had a nice chat with president Kennedy...who died over 40 years ago. Anyway, great episode!

Lois-9/10
Hal/Reese/Dewey-10/10
Malcolm-10/10

OVERALL-10/10

This is a season for the ages!

[ReMoss85]

I don't really expect to get a response here, but I have a favor to ask. The jackass weather man came on in the middle of the episode to warn us of tornados so I missed a part. It was right in the middle of Lois' speech to Malcolm about the looks thing and she was using Janet as an example. The last line was "she is reduced to trying to win his attention by bringing home a truck." And then it picked back up when Hal said to JFK "Here's to you buddy." Could anybody possibly make a little transcript of the part I missed? Obsessive, I know.

[ahelm13]

Here ya go:

She (Janet) admits that it what she is doing and runs away. Lois tells the other competitors that took courage.

Hal is admiring the playboy magazine. I like some meat on the bone. that's a fanny. Talking to JFK, we beat them they're eating cheeseburgurs in red square. went to the moon waste of money. we've never had a president as cool as you.

I got 404 errors here earlier today so the site might have crashed and lost some posts.

[Ears]

did anybody else find it kind of strange that they had never noticed the bomb shelter before? I mean they lived there all those years and the main door was pretty close to the surface, and the other one was right in the sandbox, where they would be digging, and was barely covered at all!

[cranstonfan]

True, but I think that's part of what makes the notion so funny. It's a lot like Season Two's "Therapy," in which Hal and Lois discover that their packed-to-the-gills hallway closet is actually a second bathroom--which they both agree to keep secret from the boys. Little stuff like that (or the clandestine bomb shelter in this episode) make the series sparkle with cleverness.

[Malcoholic]

Not much to add to Wildcat's comments. I loved Malcolm's dance scenes and found the whole episode consistently entertaining (the cold opener was ethpecially funny!). The theme of Malcolm agonizing about why people don't like him is an old one (shades of "Company Picnic"). What's new here is how little it takes to trigger his fretting--all Danielle says is she didn't expect to like him right from the start, and he launches an obsessive interrogation into what there is about him that is not instantly likable. This nagging preoccupation about what's wrong with him is part of Malcolm's character profile as an overthinking brainiac who analyzes everything to death. His brothers have all come up with simplistic explanations for their misery:
--Francis: It's all Mom's fault. She's destroyed my self-esteem.
--Reese: It's all my fault. I'm a jerk.
--Dewey: It's all my family's fault. They neglect me.
Malcolm by contrast keeps picking away at the question, to the point where, in this story, he messes up what looked like a good match.

[yardgames]

To those of you wondering about the server problems, my understanding is that the database went corrupt yesterday. David was able to successfully revert to a previous backup, but about a day's worth of posts were lost. We apologize for that.