Malcolm's Money: Opinions and Analysis

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Amigo22 said:
Red Dress is another, where we don't get to see what happened when the boys found out about Hal burning the dress after all the torture Lois put them through

yardgames said:
Actually, no one discovered that was Hal until he confessed five years later in Stilts. Everyone else left the house, remember?

Yeah, I know everyone else left the house, but I meant we don't get to see what happens when they discover it is Hal who did it. And I remember reading in the Stilts feedback thread (I have not seen that episode) about it being revealed, but even though it was revealed in that ep, it is still an incomplete storyline in Red Dress becasue Stilts is five seasons later.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
In my opinion, it's a strength of the show, not a weakness. We can all develop our own ideas of what happened, and none of us are wrong. :) It's also a great way for the writers to follow that continuity and work to complete episodes themselves months, or years, later. It's a piece of creativity that other shows just don't have. Most feel they must tell you everything by the time the 22 minutes has elapsed, and the MITM writers realize that that's just not true.
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
yardgames said:
We can all develop our own ideas of what happened, and none of us are wrong.

You've made a good point there, but I still think that if the writers can't finish a whole storyline in one ep, they should make it a 2-part ep - even if the other characters all have completely different storylines, like in Emancipation.

Speaking of Emancipation, in the first few episodes of Season 3, Francis's subplot was a continuation of the previous ep, until he got to Alaska - Houseboat he got Emancipated, Emancipation he left Military School and went home for a few days before he left, then he was hitchhiking to Alaska with that guy in the truck who made him dress up, etc.

Another one is Malcolm vs Reese and Mini-Bike - in Malcolm vs Reese Hal and Dewey accidentally burn down Craig's house while they are babysitting Jellybean, and in Mini-Bike Craig is staying at the Wilkersons' house and Lois says on several occasions "We burned his house down".

Do you guys think MITM would be different if each ep continues on from the previous ep instead of each episode not relating to the previous one like they've been doing?
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
Amigo22 said:
Do you guys think MITM would be different if each ep continues on from the previous ep instead of each episode not relating to the previous one like they've been doing?

Maybe not so much a continuation of one ep after another. I like the storylines that are completely separate from each other, but it would be nice if they hinted at what happened for some of those episodes where the ending was clearly left open. For example, with Hal's Christmas gift they may have had Malcolm make a comment in the next episode (or a few episodes later) about his credit card bill. Just a line or two to kind of tie things together like they did with Lois mentioning Craig's house being burned down in a few eps. Or in an episidode like Mini Bike, they may have had Reese's leg in a caste in Carnival, rather than him being miraculously healed a week later. Little things like that. They don't need to finish the whole story, just give us a hint or two of the outcome. I remember reading a thread a while back that someone made about all the unfinished storylines, but I can't find it now.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
That's true, that could work out well. On the other hand, i think they already do that to some degree, just not to the degree that you would like to see. But I do think that the MITM writers are much better about making sure the continuity of every episode is good than most sitcoms. Occassionally we do hear references to every episode. And check out my timeline; even though they were aired a week apart, Mini Bike and Carnival would have actually happened with more than week between them. :)
 

simon_4420

New member
I like that fact that sometimes we have to make our own conclusions as to what happened in the episode at the end. I also love it when later in the series, or after a few series, they sometimes give you the answer to what actually happened.

Back to Malcolm's Money, I just watch it was great. What did people mean about Lois and her voice, I thought it was funny with the Dolls house when she was talking all funny it made it seem even funnier that she was attempting to justify herself by talking like that.

I agree that the way Malcolm spent his money was alittle stupid, but we don't know how much it cost him tho.......

Reese's part was the best tho, with him hocking up that old couple.

I also thought the song that was playing at the end in Malcolm's photo shoot fitted well.
 

samboo1

New member
Yeah i agree with all of you, that...
-It wouldnt be very good if the episodes ran on from one another.
-It should hint about things from past eps (even more than they already do, which is a small amount)
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
Wildcat said:
I remember reading a thread a while back that someone made about all the unfinished storylines, but I can't find it now.

I did a search of the forums and found that link. Thanks :)
 

osoq

New member
Being the first episode of MALCOLM I've seen since Mid-Season 6 I found that Malcolm didn't lose, possibly gained, a thing since then. (Friday's are a horrible day for TV, lucky for me now my family has TiVo and I'll never miss an episode again!)

The Dewey/Lois & Hal plot was the best part of the episode. It proved how greedy money can make you. Just look, Dewey wanted a $15 watch in the beginning of the episode, comes the 10k check, he's asking for a Rolex! Of course, It couldn't have been a happy ending, and Lois went and bought a doll house! Expected yet funny all the same.

The Malcolm story was great too. The photographer was a real son of a...I wanted to punch him! But I have a feeling that the photo of Malcolm at the end, since it obviously wasn't him, was supposed to give off the message: THE CAMERAMAN SCREWED UP THE PICTURE.

Reese's story was good too and a sad sad ending for Reese.

--

Since I haven't been watching the show in a while could someone tell me where Francis went? Is he off the farm or did we just not see him in this episode?
 

Wildcat

Retired Moderator
Nice observations, osoq! To answer your question, no one is really sure what Francis is doing these days. He has only appeared in one episode this season (Blackout). He is off the farm because he got fired back in season 6 (I believe he announced it in Hal's Christmas Gift.) No one knows where he's living or working right now, but he is still married to Piama.

Chris Masterson is still a member of the cast and hopefully will appear in a few more episodes before the season is over. I know that he is also directing the Febuary 3rd episode so you may want to read about that here: http://www.malcolminthemiddle.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?t=1161
 

Dabney

Deutscher Moderator
O, thanks a lot, MITM18, I was trying to get some screen shots form this scene myself, but yours are way better. Thanks again, this makes me really happy...:)
 

Amigo22

Super Moderator
This episode turned out to be different to what I thought it would be. I thought that both Hal and Lois would want to keep it straight away without even telling Malcolm at all.

With an amount of money like that, Hal and Lois should have put more thought into how they would spend it - and spent it on something they actually need. It wouldn't exactly be very hard to work out what to spend it on. You'd think that at Hal and Lois's age that they would have been a darn sight more responsible than they were.

I just can't believe Lois was stupid enough to blow all that money on a dollhouse that to me did not look worth that amount of money, especially when there are more important things the money could be spent on - things they KNEW needed to be done.

And I don't see why they couldn't have bought Dewey a watch, since a watch is an essential item. Everyone needs to know the time. The type of watch doesn't matter, because the whole purpose of wearing a watch is to know the time, not how "cool" it looks.

And I thought it was totally ridiculous that Malcolm blew the money he ended up receiving on that photo shoot, although I do admit the photographer guy was an absolute nob.

This episode wasn't as good as the other 2 Season 7 eps I've seen so far.
 

yardgames

Retired Administrator
You're missing the very beauty of this episode--the unexpected surprises that they spend the money on--it's what makes this one great! :)
 
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