Who's smarter? Dewey or Malcolm?

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
Simple but incredible question seeing as how this whole show was built around the "boy genius" Malcolm. But after seeing this season and episodes from the last two seasons(5 and 6), I got to ask the question of who is smarter, Malcolm or Dewey?
My personal opinion is that Dewey is A LOT smarter than Malcolm is. In recent episodes, Malcolm just does really stupid crap that you don't think a genius would do(like in the earlier episode, Morp). Malcolm in the past two seasons seems like he's becoming a complete dumbass, whilst Dewey comes up with genius plans to get what he wants, like when him and the other boys and Hal were at that wedding thing and Dewey went around getting all those people to get mad at Hal for forgetting his birthday...genius!:D Or when Dewey made Reese thought he was going to China by keeping him in a crate all weekend...genius!:D Or in "Morp" earlier, when he dragged Hal and Lois everywhere because he had all of Hal's credit cards and cash and made them get lots of crap all for Jaime...genius!:D
Anyway, who's smarter?
 

AlexTheMartian

New member
I actually do not think Malcolm is that wize, or have any comon sense (maybe that is a bit extreme, maybe he just lacks 'street smarts'). Dewey is by far the smartest. After all he wrote and directed an entire musical drama (remember the one based off his parents), and i bet if Malcolm attempted to do that, he will not finish becuase he would be too worried about minor issues, and will have his ego get in the way and it will be a failure. and I think Dewey is a complex individual, although not as complex as Reese's many sides.
 

han_keep_smilin

New member
Although malcolm is smart i think Dewey in his own way .
Also dewey is much more independant. from what i have seen of him he doent rely on people as much as malcolm does.:)
 

simon_4420

New member
I think it depends what you mean by smarter.

Malcolm is definatly smarter IQ wise, but when it comes to "the real world" he is to caught up in peoples views of him, which always gets in the way. Whereas with Dewey we are led to believe he too has a high IQ, but he doesn't focus on trivial matters and let them get in his way. Also right from the first season we have seen Dewey's manipulational skills.

If I had to decide I would have to say that Dewey was the smarter one and would be more successful and HAPPY in life, whereas Malcolm will always be bitter but very smart:)
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
They're both geniuses, but in completely different ways. Malcolm is a genius in the traditional sense of the word. He has book smarts and is capable of an extremely high level of thought when it comes to academics. However, he's lacking in common sense and often fails to see what's going on right in front of him. He also has a difficult time figuring out the best way to deal with everyday pressures as we've seen several times in the past, most recently in "Stevie in the Hospital" and "Morp."

Dewey is obviously a musical genius--that's a given. We don't know if he's an academic genius since he never retook the test for the Krelboyne class. Even so, he's still a genius when it comes to "street smarts" (as Alex said). He thinks quickly and efficiently when put on the spot (unlike Malcolm) and he can easily think out every little detail of a complex plan--mainly to manipulate people. Malcolm, on the other hand, is often irrational under pressure. When it comes to planning something he's similiar to Reese because he often needs instant gratification, much like we saw from his actions in AA.
 

tony_montana

Semper Fidelis
To answer the question earlier, this is a question of not only "street smarts" but the IQ type, also. I think Dewey beats Malcolm in both. It's just that if you take a look at this seasons episodes and episodes from seasons five and six, Malcolm always does this stupid crap that backfires whilst Dewey comes up with these magnificent plans, such as in "Morp", that mainly go his way. Something tells me if the show went on, Malcolm would end up being a depressed lonely smart guy whilst Dewey would become a very successful happy guy.
I better stop, Im slamming Malcolm wayyy to much!:D
 

rzombie1988

New member
tony_montana said:
To answer the question earlier, this is a question of not only "street smarts" but the IQ type, also. I think Dewey beats Malcolm in both. It's just that if you take a look at this seasons episodes and episodes from seasons five and six, Malcolm always does this stupid crap that backfires whilst Dewey comes up with these magnificent plans, such as in "Morp", that mainly go his way. Something tells me if the show went on, Malcolm would end up being a depressed lonely smart guy whilst Dewey would become a very successful happy guy.
I better stop, Im slamming Malcolm wayyy to much!:D

No I agree with you on what Malcolm's possible future could be like. Honestly, I could see him killing himself.
 

AlexTheMartian

New member
rzombie1988 said:
No I agree with you on what Malcolm's possible future could be like. Honestly, I could see him killing himself.
I found it funny in the "Hal Coaches" eppisode (316) when Malcolm plays a computer game similar to "The Sims" on the family computer and recreates his family in the game, and he ends up dying of extreme obesity while the rest of the family survives with no problem.

Whats even mre funny is that I did the same thing on The Sims 2, and the parents aged and retired happily, Reese became a successful businessman, Dewey became popular, and Malcolm always wore sweats and sat arround the house all day watching TV and eating junk food. LOL just like the episode almost.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
LOL if you still have the original family files, you ought to share them with us--I'd like to give that a try. :)
 

Alle

New member
Dewey being revealed as a genius was a turning point in the season for me.
Unlike Malcolm though, he wasn't inclined to yap about how smart he is. The kid would often downplay his own brilliance to everyone else so as to maintain a semblance of freedom and independence, whereas Malcolm gets manipulated by Lois within seconds into changing his career goals from microbiologist to U.S. president. Unlike Malcolm, who was mentioned in every episode as being a genius as if it was going out of fashion, Dewey didn't need to have that reminded of him too. We all know full well that he is. It didn't seem too long ago that Dewey was a sweet, sheltered naive kid, who was beaten, manipulated and treated like crap by his brothers. Than we see episodes like "Army Buddy" and "A.A." where he carries himself with such confidence whilst tricking and manipulating everyone around him into doing his bidding with comtemptous ease. There are those that don't like how Dewey was "suddenly" labled as a genius. Well if you saw his character way back in season two, it seems that the writers were at least toying with the idea for quite some time. How would it look if Dewey at twelve or thirteen years old would still be acting in the manner as was natural for him at the age of six? I for one, am pleased with the fact that the Dewey character had grown to supersede Malcolm intellectually. It was a pleasure seeing Dewey overcome his own insecurities and young age, and the largely indifferent attitude his family often seems to display to him. Even though the shows finished, it isn't hard to imagine someone with Dewey's brains and talents would have a very bright future.
 
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Amigo22

Super Moderator
It didn't seem too long ago that Dewey was a sweet, sheltered naive kid, who was beaten, manipulated and treated like crap by his brothers.

When Jamie came along Dewey assured him that he'll screw him over the way Malcolm and Reese had done to him ("Watching The Baby"), but as we saw in "Morp", two seasons later, his intention was not to make Jamie suffer, but instead to make sure Jamie had a much better childhood than his. Although he still had some 'child-like' qualities, I thought Dewey was mature for his age.
 

Alle

New member
Indeed. Dewey's opinions of what was right and fair had changed in the two years between "Watching the Baby" and "Morp". It doesn't matter that Jamie not being treated like s**t does not conform with his earlier notions of fairness, but Dewey did not deserve to be treated like s**t by his brothers either. Doing what he did for Jamie was simply the right thing to do.
 

patrick4488

New member
Malcolm often showed his intelligence, Dewey never did that, he seems to be very gifted when it comes to music, but not science and stuff where Malcolm is the best as we know:D

I'd say Malcolm's smarter
 

Alle

New member
I suppose then it wasn't very smart of Dewey when he orchestrated a savage smear campaign that tarnished the reputation of that kid in "Hal Sleepwalks"? In "Army Buddy" not only did he find out a certain comic that Malcolm had earlier beqeauthed him was worth thousands, but used the money to bribe Malcolm into doing humiliating things for his own amusement, knowing that his brother's need for money yet outstripped his ego. Whats more, Dewey, not clever-clever Malcolm, was the one to discover this. In "Malcolm Visits College", Dewey single-handedly constructed a working piano out of random household items. Yes, I'm sure thats just normal. In "A.A", Reese and Malcolm were outwitted by Dewey when he convinced them that he swallowed Hal's spare car-keys, then took off in his dad's car, while his brothers were left to sift through his feces. I take it that its normal for ten or eleven year-olds to be writing operas, then? And what of the scavenger hunt that Dewey put Lois and Hal through in "Morp". But if Dewey doesn't know his maths and science, then SURELY he can't be as clever as Malcolm. That is, of course, if you know this for sure.
 
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vching

New member
I suppose then it wasn't very smart of Dewey when he orchestrated a savage smear campaign that tarnished the reputation of that kid in "Hal Sleepwalks"? In "Army Buddy" not only did he find out a certain comic that Malcolm had earlier beqeauthed him was worth thousands, but used the money to bribe Malcolm into doing humiliating things for his own amusement, knowing that his brother's need for money yet outstripped his ego. Whats more, Dewey, not clever-clever Malcolm, was the one to discover this. In "Malcolm Visits College", Dewey single-handedly constructed a working piano out of random household items. Yes, I'm sure thats just normal. In "A.A", Reese and Malcolm were outwitted by Dewey when he convinced them that he swallowed Hal's spare car-keys, then took off in his dad's car, while his brothers were left to sift through his feces. I take it that its normal for ten or eleven year-olds to be writing operas, then? And what of the scavenger hunt that Dewey put Lois and Hal through in "Morp". But if Dewey doesn't know his maths and science, then SURELY he can't be as clever as Malcolm. That is, of course, if you know this for sure.

calm down... :D ... Hi, I'm new here :D
I suppose what it comes down to is how you define 'smart'... there are many kind of smartnesses (?) - you can be musically talented, street wise etc etc, and every character in MITM have their own unique smartness... you can't compare malcolm's smartness in discovering the special enzyme (ok, maybe that was reese, ) or topping the school with dewey's smartness in manipulation (street wise) or music... They are all different, unique, and incomparable
 

rzombie1988

New member
I think Dewey is smarter. Malcolm as far as we know, does have a higher IQ, but he does some very stupid things. Dewey thinks out decisions, and doesn't get himself in trouble.
 

Alle

New member
I don't reckon I.Q. tests, as they are done, are an accurate way of determining the quality of one's intellect. If you took it more than twice, how do you know that the two seperate results would match each other? I would not need a piece of paper to tell me how intelligent some one is. Its clear to me that, judging by the things he says and what he does, that Dewey is indeed the brighter of the two. Compared to Malcolm, we know precious little about how well Dewey performs in his schoolwork. But on that side, I think the writers of the show were deliberately vague about Dewey's academic excellence, since that was mostly supposed to be Malcolm's bag and they did not really want to diminish his importance for the sake of Dewey's character development. While Malcolm may be touted by Lois and Hal to be the family's "only hope", Dewey purposefully acts under their radar and downplays his own intelligence as much as possble. One might think that it irks him not to be held in the same high esteem as his parents hold for his brother, but in truth, I think Dewey prefers going mostly unnoticed. He enjoys his freedom, I think, more than he would have Lois and Hal having such high hopes for him that they would try to decide and control his future for him as the did with Malcolm. If replacing him as the family's "golden boy" means having his personal freedom and independence curtailed by Lois, than Dewey would not be so stupid to influence that kind of outcome. Put it this way, if Malcolm's destiny is to become President of the United States, he still wouldn't fulfil that destiny until he is well into his forties. Whereas Dewey may likely become rich and famous years before Malcolm makes it in politics.
 

MalcolmFun

New member
Malcolm would never really make it in politics at all. He is a bookworm, scientist type with limited social skills. Lois clearly knew this in other episodes. I think the whole point of graduation was more of a motivational speech then what really would happen.

Dewey is more of an artistic genius.
 
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