"Houseboat episode"

lll333

New member
In the Houseboat episode (the first episode of season 3) there's bikini tops and Reese's shirt floating in the lake. And at dinner time- Reese is sniffing a girl's bikini top and he brags to Malcolm about it. Does this imply that Reese and Stevie had sex with those girls? This seems immoral and too much for a family comedy show. Sex is ok for adults in a long-term relationship- but Reese and Stevie hardly knew those girls. And they were underage.
 
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Gouki

New member
Oh my.

For a start, sex feels great. It really does. It doesn't need to be intimate or anything, it can just be good physical fun. How old are you, out of curiousity?

Secondly, theres nothing to indicate they had sex. There's nothing to say the slutty cheerleaders wouldn't be skinny-dipping or simply giving them away. Nor that they were drunk and decided to just be naked.

Thirdly, if I had a body like Berfield, I would probably swim shirtless, too.
 

PeterU

Super Moderator
I don't think it implies they had sex -- I think it merely implies they got to, erm... see something Malcolm didn't.

I don't know if you've seen Season 7, but

Spoiler for details of a Season 7 episode:
in 7x08 'Army Buddy', we learn that Reese hasn't yet had sex, which would contradict your theory.


Personally, I see the point of that part of the episode as merely to be something Reese and Steve shared that was compelling enough that Malcolm feels extremely left out.
 

Richiepiep

Administrator
There are a number of more or less implicit references to potentially controversial issues in 'Malcolm' like sex and drugs, but I think these are handled with taste (as I said, they're mostly implicit) and as sort of in-jokes for the keen observer.

I think there should be, as this is about a number of teens growing up in a family, and it would be really strange to pretend they're non-existent.

Even a whitewashed, religiously-inspired series like 7th Heaven dealt with subjects like these, so they're pretty much unavoidable in modern society.

In various episodes of MITM, fun is made of racial issues (which happened with Abe Kenarban on several occasions as in Poker #1 and Baby #2), Stevie's physical handicap (Poker #2 and I guess throughout the series) and defiling Thanksgiving with sex with drunken teenagers and condoms and puking into a turkey could be called 'edgy'.

I'm thinking also of 'Reese's Party' with lots of jokes about Lois' final stage of pregnancy and Hal's would-be sterilization. I think Hal says: 'Lois, leave my balls alone', right?

Then there were other jokes about gays, lesbians, placentas, whores, strippers, inflatable sex dolls, drug abuse and sundry which sometimes involved young children, and a prime example when Lois says to naked Hal: 'Stop playing with yourself' in the Pilot, in front of her young teen and pre-teen children. But I never took issue with those, it's done pretty intelligently and in good spirits.

Rich
 

Gouki

New member
and a prime example when Lois says to naked Hal: 'Stop playing with yourself' in the Pilot, in front of her young teen and pre-teen children. But I never took issue with those, it's done pretty intelligently and in good spirits.

Rich

She said that too Dewey.
 

Movieye

New member
I think it was more that Reese and Stevie got to "make out" with the girls while Malcolm was stuck fishing with his dd. Though they're never explicit about the kids' ages, I think the hormonal teenaged thing was a big part of the MITM cast as they were growing up. It started with Malcolm kissing the girl in the bowling alley. And they dealt with puberty issues all the time.

Malcolm is offered a condom on that Thanksgiving episode, but doesn't actually go through with sex. He comes back to puke in the turkey.:eek:

And don't forget, Reese was actually a virgin up until the Army Buddy episode when he offers his virginity to her. And since Reese obviously joined the Army after Malcolm stole his girlfriend, then that also explains the earlier episode when Reese and his then gf come back from the garage with her clothes inside-out.

Overall, I think MITM treated sex very lightly and humorously for a family sitcom. The only people we knew for sure who were having sex were Hal/Louis, Stevie's mom/dad, and Francis/his wife, Piama.
 
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Richiepiep

Administrator
She said that too Dewey.

Yes, I read that in the script, but I never made that connection in the Pilot, because she was watching Hal's crotch when she said it!

It's not that important, I was trying to emphasize that the series dealt with edgy issues in an indirect, lighthearted way.

'Malcolm' is never meant to be moralistic or edifying like 7th Heaven, it's a black comedy about the stupid things that ordinary people do in an attempt to control their kids. The only implicit moral we got through the series, I think, is that the family sticks together through thick and thin, and actually shows a lot of love for each other, even when behaving like idiots and making all the wrong decisions about parenting and planning careers.

Rich
 

okladave

New member
Overall, I think MITM treated sex very lightly and humorously for a family sitcom. The only people we knew for sure who were having sex were Hal/Louis, Stevie's mom/dad, and Francis/his wife, Piama.

We know Malcolm loses his virginity at Burning Man in the beginning of the 7th season, but it was handled in a way that was still humorous and very realistic given the circumstances.
 
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