Heartwarming / Malcolm in the Middle

It's good to be back home.

• One from the "Pilot", that Malcolm is forced to be friends with Stevie by Lois because they ate lunch together once and is sent on a playdate with him. Despite Stevie's wheelchair, slow speech, and lack of television, when Stevie reveals his collection of comic books, the two immediately bond, with Stevie offering to let Malcolm read one and Malcolm says he wouldn't want to wreck it before they begin discussing Savage Dragon together.
• "I love that nothing in my life is complete till I've shared it with you."
• "Francis Escapes"
  • When he learns that Francis ran away from military school and is hiding in the backyard, Malcolm tosses his lunch over the fence to feed his big brother since Francis didn't think to pack any food for the day.
  • While it leads to Lois finding out that Malcolm knows where Francis is, Malcolm tries to reassure her that Francis is fine because…well, he's Francis. Lois seems legitimately worried about Francis going AWOL over a girl.
  • The episode ends like this, despite Francis being heartbroken that BeeBee dumped him. Malcolm feels guilty about accidentally ratting out an AWOL Francis to Lois and offers to let Francis punch him. Francis does and they call it even. He also cleans himself up after Malcolm sneaks him into the house and says he'll walk back to military school. As he prepares to do so, headlights flash on; it's Hal. Francis gets in, and Hal drives him the rest of the way. Turns out Hal asked about Francis, and Malcolm told him. He expresses his condolences and says that he's never been dumped, but Francis deserves better. Francis can't help but smile.
• In Lois vs. Evil, when Lois is fired from her job because Dewey accidentally shoplifted an expensive cologne, the store manager, Mr. Pinter, calls her out on her attitude, despite Lois making valid points. When he makes the mistake of insulting Dewey in front of her, she rips of his toupee and walks off with dignity and a proud mother.
• Spengler and Francis have a heart-to-heart, that isn't a punishment, just Spengler wanting to hear out Francis and bond with him. While they argue about if either of them blames their mother for their problems, Francis says he understands his commanding officer better now. In the end, Spengler calls his mother.
• "Rollerskates": Hal and Malcolm have a fight in this episode where Malcolm decides to ask Hal for rollerskating lessons, only to find his dad's teaching methods are embarrassing and seemingly worthless. They call a truce after Malcolm does Hal's punishment for using a swear word — read out five pages of swear words at his dad— and Hal advises they don't make eye contact for a few days while resuming the skating lessons with Malcolm. Then Hal sees that Malcolm is still having trouble playing roller hockey. He brings out his boom box to play the song from their lessons and starts dancing. Malcolm smiles, and uses his dad's techniques to score a goal.  As he puts it, "I may look like an idiot, but hey I'm kicking ass."
• When Ida actually jumps into the street and loses her leg to save Dewey from being run over by a truck. It's one of the only nice things she's ever done for anyone.
• "Malcolm, I'm an average guy, in the middle of my life, in a job that can replace me in an hour. I was never an important man. You're the only important thing I've ever done."
• In "Family Reunion", the boys all unite to get revenge on Hal's family for reducing Lois to tears, her transgression being simply to exist and yet repeatedly having Kick the Dog moments whenever she genuinely tried to be nice to them.
  • Even more heartwarming than that. After seeing their mother reduced to tears, without any hesitation at all, the boys simultaneously get up and proceed to enact their Roaring Rampage of Revenge, which they conduct in complete silence and wearing looks of utmost serenity. It's safe to say, they got the message across that you do NOT mess with Lois (even if she is a hard-assed shrew)!
    • To top it off, keep in mind that Piama knows that look on her husband and brothers-in-law's faces and asks them what they are setting off to do. Francis openly states they don't know...the entire plan was concocted in a matter of minutes and went off flawlessly.
  • While it's unclear if they were old enough to understand what's going on, it's also kind of nice that most of the kids' younger cousins help them out by rigging the buffet table to collapse.
  • Piama smiles as she watches them crash the buffet table.
  • A smaller moment at the end, when Lois — who's spent the entire episode, not to mention their entire relationship, being equally hostile to Piama — considerately asks her if she's comfortable during the drive back. Everyone in the car catches it without saying a thing.
  • Best of all: the parents don't even punish them.
    Hal: If you boys EVER drive a golf cart over a catered table and into a swimming pool again, there will be consequences!
  • As Hal is saying this, Lois has a look that seems to be a mix of touched that her whole family would go through this trouble for her, and trying not to laugh at Hal's Overly Narrow Superlative attempt at punishing their children.
  • And before he chastises them, at Lois's insistence, he's sitting in the driver's seat, absolutely beaming with pride.
• In a later episode, Lois apologizes to Francis for how controlling and mean she was to him growing up. She tells him she should have been more patient with him, and that even though she tried harder to be a good mom to his brothers, it just made her realize how bad Francis had it. When someone like Lois, of all people, admits they're wrong, you know it must be sincere.
• The episode where Reese and Malcolm are tricked into believing the other is gay, and in an attempt to prove their acceptance, they're nice to each other for a change. This even leads to them dancing to an ABBA song together in one amazing moment. Like many heartwarming moments, it also doubles a funny one, too: Malcolm and Reese each wear an extremely uncomfortable rictus grin as they pretend to like and dance a song they both hate to humor one another, but then they start getting into it. Really getting into it, to the point that the rest of the family has to stop and stare in confusion, surprise and —in Dewey's case— maniacal glee.
• In Dirty Magazine, Malcolm becomes the editor of the school's literary magazine, and as he chooses stories, he's impressed by a serious, albeit vulgar, short story from the school's Butch Lesbian. However, the administration refuses to run the piece due to its strong language. Malcolm, moved by the story and seeing how much it means to the student, works as hard as he can to try to get the piece published. Though the school employs a slew of pressure tactics to force Malcolm to not run the story, including forcing the student to tell him not to run it, he ends up publishing it anyway — in an independent magazine distributed just feet outside of the school ground. It's one of the few episodes where Malcolm is completely selfless.
• In Houseboat, out of everyone on the trip, Stevie and Reese had the best time because they got to spend it with Cheerleaders who have had no interactions with men in a month. It's one of the few moments you actually see these two act like friends.
• Lois takes Malcolm for a drive and makes it clear that this will be about The Talk, covering everything from contraceptives to more. Understandably, Malcolm is utterly horrified and embarrassed about this, with the two butting heads for a while. But they slowly begin to have a good heart-to-heart talk. Cue the end of the episode, where Malcolm asks Lois about emotional matters, and the camera pans out to show them being parked at home, neither of them thinking of getting out and stopping this talk.
• The episode where Lois, who had increasingly grown stressed as the boys ruin a trip to the mall, ends with all of them including Hal giving Lois gifts to show that they care about her.
  • In the same episode: Reese immediately jumps to Malcolm and Dewey's defense after they're threatened by an old woman at the mall. Granted, he ends up getting into a fight with an octogenarian - but he did it for his younger brothers, which can't help but be a little heartwarming.
• After Malcolm gets a head injury in "Home Alone 4," Francis's big brother instincts kick in and he immediately gives Malcolm medical attention, eventually driving him to the hospital; the brothers then work together to guilt-trip Malcolm's teacher into paying for his medical bill, and it works.
• Fed up with the booster clubs lackluster fundraising, at a charity auction Malcom makes sure to humiliate them by offering things like a picture of the Lovable Alpha Bitch pre-nose job, or a video of the Dumb Jock crying after he was benched during a football game. The heartwarming part comes when, rather than get embarrassed or angry, the boosters are excited by how much money they raised and leave Malcom stupefied by voluntarily offering more embarrassing pictures and stuff to raise more money, getting a lot of bids. Malcom then follows up by realizing he misjudged them and even though they probably wouldn't have even realized to be mad at him, he announces that the next bidding item is the right to duct tape his mouth shut (the bidding goes pretty high). Afterwards, he relates the lesson he learned to Lois in a way that gives her a jerkass realization about how she's been with Hal that episode. Also has shades of an awesome moment.
• After discovering that Hal and Lois have absolutely no photos of Dewey growing up, he takes Hal's wallet and puts the two on an elaborate scavenger hunt to get it back. Along the way they have to pick up party supplies from the people who've got the contents of Hal's wallet (who also take the opportunity to mock the two for how they've treated Dewey). Eventually, they find Dewey at a video arcade he's paid to keep open after hours. Hal and Lois assume he wants them to throw a party just for him. But it's not, it's for Jamie, who's there with a babysitter. Dewey accepts that Hal and Lois neglected him, but he's not going to let Jamie go through the same thing, and has provided them an opportunity to shower Jamie with attention. Lois even concedes that what Dewey has done is an incredibly nice thing for his brother... before telling him that everything he eats after the party will be soaked in sardines.
• The episode where Lois loses confidence in her mothering abilities, and the flashback with her attempt at parenting Francis as a toddler (An Enfant Terrible one at that) was pretty heartwarming, especially compared to their regular interactions. She catches him as he's trying to set a teddy doused in lighter fluid on fire, takes it, and holds it in the fireplace. Then she turns on the flame, still holding her hand in the fire, and gives a speech to the toddler about how she'll do anything to keep him safe - even if it means having him hate her later.
• After fighting with her sister and acting childish and crazy the whole episode, Lois learns that Susan has a fatal kidney disease. Lois then undergoes surgery and gives up her own kidney to save her.
  • And when Susan accuses Lois of never loving her, Lois gives this speech.
    Lois: You see this scar? When I was six and you were four, Dad said we didn't get dessert because we were bad, and you dumped his pudding on his head and said, "Yeah, well neither do you!" And I laughed so hard I fell and hit my head on the corner of the coffee table. See those four freckles on your left ankle? We used to play connect-the-dots, and I drew a bunny, and you named it 'Footy'. And this hole in my ear is from when you got Dad's tackle box and pierced my ears for me because I was too chicken to do it. And that cap on your tooth is from when Cindy Bauer called me a bitch, and you beat the crap out of her and didn't think I ever knew about it. And this is the scar I got from the kidney I gave you because I love you. Don't you tell me I don't love you.
  • From the same episode, while most of Francis's experiences with the Buttercup scout troop he's duding (and who he quickly falls out with) are either creepy or hilarious, it is somewhat cute when one kicks him out of the cave when he tries to turn them against each other, refusing to fall for his trick and proclaiming "Buttercups are loyal."
• When Lois finds out that she is pregnant with Jamie, it is at an awful time; Ida injured herself outside their house and is suing them over it, when they're already horribly in debt. When Malcolm, Reese and Dewey find out about the pregnancy, they get angry and storm to their room. While Lois is still having to deal with Ida, they come back down, and, having had a change of heart, tell her they don't mind sharing their stuff with the baby.
  • There's the matter of how the boys (and Piama) came to this conclusion. Up in the boys room, Francis is incredulous, Reese and Dewey are cranky, and Malcolm is concerned about the bigger picture. Then Malcolm inadvertently calls the future sibling their baby brother. All five of them go quiet, and Dewey asks "Brother?"
• In "Academic Octathlon," Dewey saving Hal's life and asserting that he loves him after he spent the whole episode refusing to say it.
• The episode where Hal visits Francis in military school. Hal is disappointed that Francis hasn't achieved anything during his stay and gets the impression that Francis was a troublemaker. Francis then criticizes Spengler for yelling at a cadet simply for hugging his father farewell. Spengler uses this to explain Hal that Francis was always trying to challenge his authority. Hal then realizes that even though Francis doesn't have any awards, he found another reason to be proud of him.
  • Hal's entire relationship with Francis is this. Quite the opposite to Lois, their relationship is fantastic. He has openly defied Lois on Francis' behalf whether it be agreeing to not tell Lois about Francis' job or telling Lois to her face that the way she treated him growing up is why he turned out that way. In "Hal's Birthday", he fully admits that while he didn't agree to the marriage, he would've come to the wedding had Francis asked. This prompts legitimate remorse from Francis and he apologizes.
• In Malcolm Films Reese, when Reese confesses on camera, after Malcolm gets him to open up to him for a school project, that he hopes he and Malcolm will be his best friend forever. Sure, it's used by Mr. Herkabe to humiliate both Reese and Malcolm, but it's still a shockingly sweet moment by Reese.
  • After Reese's deep thoughts are revealed to the whole school and he gets horribly mocked, especially for having a 'wishing tree' he whispers his deepest feelings and wishes to, Malcolm sneaks into the principal's office and turns the PA system on. He apologizes for what he's done and says the only way to make up is to reveal something incredibly personal about himself: he's had dirty fantasies about the rather unattractive lunch lady. (And then Malcolm reads every student's personal file to reveal their own deep secrets, humiliating everyone so much they won't mock others anymore — except for Reese, who gleefully does so in vindication).
  • The B plot at the ranch is an attempt to get a better review from a hotel critic. When we meet the hotel critic we quickly find out he's a Hate Sink spewing some of the most condescending insults as a running commentary. No one reacts that badly at first until he insults Piama, Smash Cut to the next scene of him being taken out on a stretcher bloody and bruised. Francis cared about his wife so much he beat the critic to a bloody pulp for insulting her but the real moment is that Otto, of all people, also took part in the beating because one of his employees was insulted. And then they get thrown a bone when (naturally) the critic gives the ranch a bad review in revenge, it actually improves their reputation and gets them more business because he's so widely despised by all.
• At the end of a late night of looking at their finances and trying to write a will, Hal and Lois concede that they're terrible parents and the latter even breaks down in tears about it. As if on cue, there's a loud noise in the boys' room and Dewey emerges with a bump on his head. The parents promptly and lovingly attend to their injured son as Hal rushes out of the house to take him to the hospital. Lois, alone, ironically echoes her belief that they're terrible parents.
  • I don't think that this description does justice to that scene. After he rushes down to them, they morph into a perfect team of perfect parents, distracting Dewey from the pain with math while checking his eye movements. They immediately decide to drive to the hospital and know exactly which one: One is preferred for their child-accidents but they know that the doctor they consider most competent is absent (which shows that they keep track of such kind of information). While they carry Dewey out, he asks for some apple juice but it turns out they only have apple-cherry juice at the moment. It is only then that Lois breaks out of that perfect "kid-in-emergency"-routine to note: "Of course we don't have apple juice - we're such terrible parents".
• After failing music class, Malcolm reluctantly seeks tutoring from Dewey. After trying and failing to teach him, Dewey gets frustrated and accuses Malcolm of not having enthusiasm for music. This leads Malcolm to take revenge with a prank that leaves them both temporarily deaf. A few days later, Malcolm wakes up to the sound of birds outside his window. Joyously realizing that his hearing is back, he puts on a classical music CD to celebrate. The episode ends with Malcolm listening to the music with a deeply thoughtful look on his face.
  • Even after Dewey temporarily loses his hearing because of Malcolm, right when he's about to take Malcolm's hearing away from him, he simply can't do it. Sure, Jamie accidentally does the deed for him, but Dewey is too good-natured to do such a thing to his brother.
• Early in the series, Malcolm's class is having a sort of fair, where each of his peers display a talent. Malcolm hides his when his family arrive, until the fair starts to fail. He goes onto a stage to show his talent, which is an absolutely absurd ability to calculate large numbers very quickly, like the product of 2 credit card number times 9 squared, in as long as it takes to read that equation. After this goes on for about a minute, we cut to a scene in the car, driving home. It's silent, Malcolm feels like his family thinks he's a freak. After Dewey asks if he's a robot, and Hal telling him Malcolm is just very very very smart, Francis makes a joke, shortly followed by a few more, and everyone laughing.
  • This moment really has even more of an impact when you see Hal and Lois' faces during the math scene, where they have a look of intense discomfort about how their son is much smarter than them.
• Lois of all people also makes a joke that puts Malcolm at ease.
  Lois: You know what I don't understand? You rattle off those numbers but you can't remember to brush your teeth.
• "Red Dress" has a strange platonic one that doesn't even involve a main character. It's oddly moving how Hal spent his anniversary befriending the unnamed bathroom attendant who was happy that someone made eye contact for once, and by the end of the night they're sharing the meal that was meant for Lois, over a copious amount of alcohol and hearty laughter. It's only shortly demolished when you find out it was Hal who burnt the red dress and destroyed the evening for everyone else.
  • From that same episode, there's Francis managing to get through to Lois that she's running the evening for herself and everyone else, causing her to drop her inquisitorial hunt into who burned the dress and finally take the boys to dinner. This is one of the very few times that Lois swallows her pride and gives up on one of her crusades, and the fact that Francis is the one to get through to her makes it nicer. As does the fact that all of the boys really were innocent that time.
  • Malcom telling Francis he'll put his name on one of the anniversary gifts at the beginning of the episode.
• Francis and his boss happily drinking and mending fences with their cattle rancher neighbors, after a lot of tense fighting, when they realize they can just build a gate in the fence that they've been fighting over.
• In "Malcolm Defends Reese", Malcolm needs almost no deliberation before he decides to purposely tank his grades to get Mr. Herkabe to stop torturing Reese in front of the class — even after Reese responds to Malcolm's offer of sympathy by splitting his lip open. The fact that his decision is never commented on or acknowledged as a big deal is what makes it particularly heartwarming, as is the scene at the end where only a blink-and-you'll-miss it glance between the two brothers, no big confrontation or declaration of gratitude, implies that Reese knew what Malcolm did for him and that him pummeling Herkabe with the dodgeball was for Malcolm's benefit as well as his own.
• "Watching the Baby," by the end of the episode, the boys sacrifice a chance of making out with beautiful girls to get back at their ex-boyfriends, just because Reese found Jamie's binky in his pocket, and they steal the girls' limo to rush back home to give it to him.
  Limo Driver: "Y'know, kid: for a dumbass, you got heart."
• In Reese's Party, Dewey, after having bonded with Craig of all people, decides that they won't abandon him to the hooligans that had taken over their house.
• At the end of "Softball," Lois concludes that Malcolm is acting out because of the new baby and promises to spend time with him one-on-one. Malcolm's "Thanks, Mom" is dubbed by his younger voice.
  • It should be noted that Lois is actually wrong. Throughout the entire episode, Malcolm has been lashing out because he feels smothered and infantilized by her. Her attempts to bond with him, however, are enough to make him swallow his embarrassment and agree to spend even more time with her. He might be an Emo Teen, and she might be a Drill Sergeant Nasty, but it's obvious that they love each other deeply.
• In the series finale, Reese and Grandma Ida have surprisingly heartwarming moments as they plan out the 30-day mess to keep Reese on as a full-time janitor. She even calls him a good kid, and he says he loves her. It should also be noted that in Ida's first episode along with Victor, they despised everyone except Reese.
• Hal and the boys are enjoying a camp out (in the bat-infested living room) and Hal asks Dewey how school has been. Dewey says that he was hit by another kid and didn't hit back because "he's bigger than me."
  Hal: I see. Reese?
  Reese: I'm on it.
• When the logging camp in Alaska closes down and all the work dries up, Piama stubbornly refuses to move away from their home. After spending a whole episode fighting the Tribal Council, hitting a mug over a cop's head and staring down a bulldozer, she finally breaks and admits to Francis that she doesn't want to move because she's scared.
  Piama: Francis, I've been on this reservation my whole life. I don't know anything else. I'm just a hick. I'm not like you! I can't just pick up and start a new life whenever I need to. I'm not as brave as you, OK?
  Francis: Brave?! I'm not brave! I just didn't know any better!
  Piama: What?
  Francis: If I had had any idea of how horrible it was up here, I never would've come! And I never would have met you. I'm not brave. I'm stupid and lucky. And you're with me now so my stupid luck will take care of you.
• In the cold open of "Living Will" Lois and Hal are enjoying a night in by reminiscing over photos of the boys, talking fondly about the memories, even though they are all x-ray photos from hospital visits over the years, and they then plan on reminiscing over their arrest reports. Amusing, indeed, but also quite heartwarming that they treasure even the bad times with the boys.
• In Piama's first episode "Hal's Birthday" she mentions that Francis built a wheelchair ramp for her uncle despite how Lavernia has him working sixteen hours a day.
• From "Mrs. Tri-County":
  • After the boys sign up Lois for a beauty contest as a joke and she decides to participate, Hal gets enraged because of this, especially because Lois thinks that they sent the form as an appreciation to her. Even though it started as a prank, the sight of all the other mothers trash talking Lois made them resolve to help her win at all costs.
  • During the whole competition of being bullied by her competition, Lois is about to leave because of this and Hal's pressuring has made her feel bad about herself. What makes it more heartwarming is that Hal not only apologizes to Lois, but also reassures that the other women are merely bullying her because they DO see her as serious competition and all she has to do is keep being herself, which grants her the prize in the end.
• "Stevie In The Hospital" has Malcolm refusing to visit Stevie there because he can't handle the reality of his friend's health. At the end of the episode, Malcolm does visit - and acts like a complete asshole. When he leaves the room, Stevie looks over to the patient next to him and says this with complete sincerity:
  Stevie: I told you (breath) he'd come.
• In the episode "Poker" Hal and Abe have a fight over Abe and his black friends looking down on him because he's not a professional. They decide to settle their argument with a poker match. At the end they realize they're using a faulty deck, and in their anger at each other, Hal reveals he considers Abe his best friend. Abe pretty much agrees, and they both realize the reason they are fighting each other is kind of stupid. They then have an awkward hug.
• In one of the earlier episodes, Lois runs off to a bat cage at an entertainment place because she feels so unappreciated by the family. They find her, and all the boys end up getting into a fist fight with the clowns there after one of them calls Lois a "Wide Ride." Also a Moment of Awesome and Moment of Funny when Lois gazes lovingly at her family punching and kicking clowns.
  • Francis found her by accident on his way to a keg party with a cute African tourist, and gave up the chance to get drunk and make out in order to help make things right.
    Francis: "Sorry, but I have to do this. Will you be here when I get back?"
    Amaani: "No. Goodbye, Francis."
    *Francis turns and jumps into the fray anyway*
• When Francis delivers his little brother.
  Lois (after): You can go throw up now.
  • Also in this episode, when she begs Francis to deliver the baby, Piama comes to her defense and helps convince Francis to do it. She also remains by her side during the birth and even encourages her.
• Reese's First Job has one for Herkabe, off all people. After the Child Prodigy he was going to make his apprentice left to join NASA, Malcolm and the other Krelboynes give him a gift: a photo of the kid and his dad with Herkabe's face pasted over the dad's. Herkabe is genuinely touched by this.
• Lois Strikes Back has one scene where Reese is depressed after a horrible prank played on him by a bunch of girls from school. Dewey brings out his ant farm that he had been cultivating and become attached to, and hands some bug spray to Reese to try and cheer him up in the only way Dewey knows how to. Unfortunately, Reese was too miserable to even go for it.
  • Lois shows that, despite all the headaches Reese undoubtedly gave her in his life, when she sees her son be wronged in his most vulnerable state. Keep in mind that he was honestly trying to impress the girl he was asked out on and Lois gave him some motherly advice to which Reese took to heart, only for the cruel prank to take effect. When her own flesh and blood was taken for a fool, she went full Mama Bear.
• As weird as the premise of the episode where Reese starts running with a dog pack is, there are some cute moments there, like how touched he is when they roll over to declare him their alpha.
• In the Series Finale, after sabotaging Malcolm's chance to get an easy well paid job, Malcolm explodes on his parents to find out why. They then explain that their plan for him is to go to work his way through college while his friends will be out partying he'll be working hard. And eventually graduating he'll work his way through politics to be President. When he asks if they've decided his stance on issues they admit they haven't, but they know that he'll remember the low income families like theirs and having to scrape by to survive. And he'll do what it takes to make life better for people in similar life situations instead of selling out to the rich because he'll know first hand how hard life can be. All of his brothers admit they've known this all along. And his parents also admit originally they only intended him to be a senator or congressman but Malcolm constantly proving himself to be able to be better made them set their goals for him higher and higher. It's the perfect culmination of Lois's "tough love" schtick and, while ridiculous, is completely in character for her.
  • Lois' absolute faith in her son's abilities can be summed up in one line, and given that it's the end of the argument, Malcolm implicitly accepted it.
    "You look me in the eye, and you tell me you can't do it."
  • In this episode, Dewey was upset that he was going to be left alone and wouldn't have anyone to do crazy things with. A few months later, after he and Jamie do something horrible together, he realizes he still has a partner in crime.
• In Emancipation, Francis appears, expecting to get support from his brothers. Rather than congratulating him, they chastise him for hurting Lois so deeply.
  Malcolm: We've done a lot of bad things to mom, but we would never abandon her!
  • Despite being angry at Francis, though, the boys still let him sleep in their room (albeit on the floor).
• As hard as Lois can be on her sons, she very often displays that she really does love them.
• In "Hal's Christmas Gift", it turns out the reason Francis has been so extremely cheerful is because it's a front; he doesn't want Piama to know that Otto and Gretchen fired him due to unknowingly using a fake ATM to cash their checks. But by the end of the episode, Piama outright asked Francis to quit his job, due to him being "insanely happy" since they left the ranch (the implication being she thought he was too stressed out from working there). Cue Francis genuinely happily agreeing.
  • When it came to light that Malcolm had a credit card and used it to buy Lois and Hal's Christmas presents (since they were all supposed to make their own presents that year), everyone got indignant with Malcolm... except for Hal, who reprimanded him for thinking Christmas was a competition and said all he really wanted was a loving gesture, which he proceeds to show by hugging Malcolm and forgiving him. Except it is clearly obvious that Hal's true intent was to steal Malcolm's credit card, and take everyone to a ski lodge for Christmas (since his own homemade present was crap and had spent the entire episode up until that point driving until he figured out a solution).
  • Reese and Dewey's presents showed a genuine level of care from them: Reese made homemade jam and candy, and Dewey went through the trouble of not only looking for a good picture of Lois in the attic, but also made the frame for it, along with a recording of a sonata he composed.
• "Blackout" has three somewhat twisted moments.
  • Lois gives Francis sincere relationship advice when she thinks he and Piama are fighting (Francis is lying about that while trying to steal a stuffed fish).
  • Hal gets Reese to cook Kobe steak, saying it's for Hal (the procurer) and Reese (the cook) to eat, and Lois won't get any even though it's her anniversary, but Hal really plans to switch Reese's steak with Lois's as a present to her.
  • After Dewey drugs the rest of the family, the Dutch party girls Malcolm snuck over have fun hanging out and eating cereal with Dewey and say it wasn't fair for his parents to break their promise to let him pick dinner.
• During "Experiment", as Reese retraces his steps and acts out everything he did that day (in order to figure out how he made Malcolm and Stevie's enzyme separate), he eventually reaches him doing his math homework, where he unintentionally (and calmly, given how he was retracing his steps) reveals to Malcolm and Stevie some personal problems.^note After failing to get any of the problems, he starts smacking himself on the forehead, calling himself stupid, putting himself down via the bathroom mirror, before sitting on the bathtub, head in hands. Malcolm and Stevie, extremely discomforted with what they saw, give him some reassurances.
  • Earlier, after Reese offers to help, only for Malcolm to blow him off. This upsets Reese, as he was being genuine. In response, Malcolm and Stevie decide to have him help... by having him donate two pints of blood.
  • When Reese ultimately uncovers what he did to make the enzyme separate (bouncing a ball onto the ceiling, right above the test tubes, and knocking asbestos into the open tube), all three cheer in accomplishment... until it dawns on them that they're reveling in the fact that the house has asbestos.
  • When Malcolm and Stevie go to Lois about Reese being unwilling to help them unless he gets credit, Lois takes Reese's side and outright forces them both to give him the credit he technically deserves.
• "Goodbye Kitty":
  • While Abe uses it as a chance to blame Malcolm for Kitty leaving, it's nice to hear about the Positive Friend Influence Malcolm has had on Stevie over the last few years and how it's made the latter more confident and socially adjusted.
  • Early on in the episode the family is arguing how to break the news to Stevie. Reese decides to break the news to him since no one could agree on who to say. What's heartwarming about this is that immediately after breaking the news, he's genuinely concerned about how Stevie took the revelation and immediately tells his family someone should help him.
  • When Stevie lapses into a depression after Kitty walks out on him, Abe finds him sulking in his own depression not caring he's being soaked by the sprinklers. Abe breaks out of his own depression and gives a passionate speech to Stevie saying he's proud of how much Stevie has been able to overcome and he knows he can work through this, and that while he doesn't think he can help Stevie that much, he'll try his best in any way he can. Cue He's Back! from Stevie.
• The hug between Dewey, Reese, and Malcom at the end of “Reese Comes Home”
• When Lois discovers how Malcom helped Reese expose his abusive teacher, she immediately jumps to his aid and tells him that Reese needs all the help he can get. While it does look extremely callous how Lois would sacrifice Malcom's future for Reese; she admits her confidence in how Malcom will be successful no matter the circumstances.
• In one episode, Lois takes dance classes. While she enjoys them, when she looks at the recording video of her duet with the dance teacher, she realizes that she is actually a terrible dancer, even unintentionally kicking the teacher in the groin when he tries to dip her. Lois tells Hal to turn the video off. Only for Hal, who is watching the recording with an enraptured expression, to say with absolute sincerity that he can't believe how beautifully she dances.
  • Followed by the two of them dancing around the kitchen. Judging from the sounds, they are bumping into things and knocking plates off the table, they are that bad - but in their minds, it's perfect.
• Lois and Reese (who keep in mind just wanted to go because of the naked women) having fun and being deeply moved during the Burning Man event, and happily agreeing to go back together the next year. Quite some mother and son bonding there.
• Just about everything about Hal's old boss Mr. Dawkins from Hal's Friend. Hal's friend Larry drags Hal to seek restitution from a previous boss who made them work extra hard cleaning up after a broken water pipe and then withheld their paychecks. They arrive for a fight only to find an old man in a trailer park happy to make them tea and talk about the old days. Mr. Dawkins casually reflects about how, contrary to Larry's recollections, Hal and Larry were the ones who broke that water pipe in the first place and how he actually did send them (or at least their fathers) the paychecks afterwards in spite of his boss wanting to punish Hal and Larry by docking their pay (something Hal also remembers with that extra context provided). And then when Larry pettily decides ram his car into Dawkins trailer and collapse the roof down on him, the first words that Dawkins calls out from the rubble is asking if Hal and Larry are ok. It's little wonder that incident causes Hal to end his friendship with Larry and hurry out to help Mr. Dawkins.
• Even though Reese tries to make Dewey ditch his purse in the episode "Old Mrs. Old" it's only because he doesn't want him to get bullied for it. When Dewey said he can defend himself with said purse, Reese is immensely proud of him. And this was in Season 2, where Reese was still a Big Brother Bully to Malcolm and Dewey, especially Dewey.
• After collectively forgetting and ruining her birthday, Hal and the boys track down Lois to the local Suck E. Cheese's, where she's taking out her frustrations in the batting cages, and (poorly) sing her "Happy Birthday". She issues a list of ultimatums to which Hal and the boys immediately agree, and then follows one of the series' most absurd and heartwarming moments:
  Lois: "Then why do I even have to ask? If it's so obvious I need a little human consideration, I shouldn't even have to ask."
  Hal: "Oh, geez, honey..." (sheepishly) "...that's never going to happen."
  Lois: "What?"
  Hal: "We're not smart enough to do that. Look who you're talking to. You might as well ask us all to be a foot taller. Sweetie, you're always going to have to tell us what to do. I mean, look at this half-baked celebration. I mean...we're at the top of our game here.
  (indicates shoddy but sincere attempt at celebration/apology)
  Honey, the only thing that we're ever going to be able to offer you is our total abject obedience. I-I know that doesn't sound like much, but if you look at it this way, our meager abilities are yours completely— 100%."
  (At this point the clown holding the birthday cake insults Lois. Hal and the boys beat up said clown and the rest of his troupe in defense of her honor while Kenny Rogers' You Decorated My Life plays.)
• In "Boys at Ranch", Dewey gives Gretchen a tearful apology after breaking her antique doll (which he promised earlier not to touch.) While it's ambiguous as to whether his apology was sincere or just to milk some sympathy from Gretchen, she ends up putting him to work cleaning rooms around the ranch with her, and they bond through the use of grueling labor to atone for their mistakes.
• In "Zoo", right after Francis starts working on Otto's ranch, one of the people already working tries to get Francis to join him in just milking Otto and Gretchen for money because they are so trusting. Francis simply tells the guy he's fired and gets to work. Really shows how much character development he's undergone and illustrates his strong sense of justice.
• Hal's group of friends he got through Abe is heartwarming, because he doesn't seem to notice he's the only white guy in it. In fact, in one episode, when he gets angry about them over a game of poker, you think he's going to bring up race, but instead he brings up the fact they are all more experienced poker players and should give him a break on that. The fact he is so good natured, race doesn't register with him, is heartwarming.
• The first poker episode with Hal and Abe's group of friends eventually turns into the group comparing themselves amongst each other in assorted random categories. Hal always loses badly in these comparisons (EX: the group all check to see which one has the most accurate watch, with all of them only being off by a few seconds, whereas Hal's watch doesn't even have a second hand so he's not sure), which only further wounds his pride on being in a group of far more skilled poker players with far more money. Eventually, the topic becomes how often each has sex with their wives. At first, it seems like Hal will be humiliated again, as after each man answers with a number between three and five, he glumly says two...except he didn't realize they were talking about how many times per week. Correcting his answer to *fourteen*, every other guy in the group immediately becomes impressed with him, and even a little envious, as it becomes clear that the reason why he's not as successful as them is at least partially because of how much time he's spending in the bedroom. For the first time, Hal feels like he's really part of the group.
• In a similar vein, the episode where Hal and Lois couldn't have sex for a week due to her being on antibiotics shows that pretty much every problem in their lives stems from their active sex life. As soon as the two are forced to be celibate for a week, the house and yard are fixed up, Hal gets a raise at work, Lois discovers some mistakes in their previous tax returns that they are owed significant money, and their children are receiving more attention and affection. When the week is up, they at first try to continue their celibacy after realizing how much better their lives are, but ultimately can't keep it up for long and go back to the way things were. While there is some selfishness and irresponsibility in their decision to essentially trade having good lives outside the bedroom for an active life inside it, there is something heartwarming about seeing the two of them decide they'd rather keep the flame in their relationship alive and deal with financial hardship because of it.
• Despite the way Stevie talked to her in "Kitty's Back" Lois is genuinely furious at Reese for humiliating Stevie on stage and punishes him for it by making him clean the bathroom floor then eat off it for two weeks.
• In the "Christmas" episode where Lois, after years of being fed up with them ruining Christmas, decides to cancel Christmas for the family unless the Boys behave at an impossible level. When the boys reach their boiling point and sneak into the garage where Lois kept all of their gifts so they can just get them already, they come to realize that not only did Lois get exactly what they wanted, but in some cases, even better. The boys learn that their mom, despite how hard ass she can be, really did try this year and are ashamed of themselves for thinking otherwise, even regretting painting mural of Lois killing santa. Elsewhere, Lois is crying hysterically for ruining Christmas for everyone, especially the boys, despite Hal's best efforts, and soon move to grab the presents, only to find the boys attempt to cover everything up. Instead of being angry, Lois decides that what they have is good enough and decide to use what they have for Christmas, leading the family actually having one of the best Christmas they have ever had.
• In one of the episode opening, Hal is teaching Dewey about the preciousness of life by helping a spider get out the house. However, due to the quickness of the spider, in a panic, Hal and Dewey accidentally tosses the spider on an unexpecting Lois and closing the front door on her. As Hal fears the consequences, Dewey holds the door firm and tells him to run for it, as she can only ground him, sparing his father from any terrible punishment. Despite his reluctance, Hal goes while Dewey awaits his fate. One of the truest moments of father son moments they share.
• Lois wins an all inclusive weekend at a luxury spa but Hal is lost with Malcom and Reese in the desert. So she takes Dewy instead and the pair have a wonderful mother and son break together.
• In "Boys At The Ranch", Francis shows how much he's turned his life around by taking his job seriously. Hal is upset, because he feels like he failed Francis by not bringing out this side of him. While talking to Otto about how he feels, Otto assures him he didn't fail him at all. Francis didn't just change who he was overnight, Hal had to instill something in him to begin with for Otto to be able to bring it out.

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