- Alternatively, Malcolm thinks there is a camera, but he's really just crazy.
- Well, there are several episodes that show that the boys don't know everything that is in the house: When they find the Bomb Shelter(Which they should already know if they have searched everywhere in the house) and the fact that there seems to be a second bathroom on the house. And some episodes do show that Lois and Hal send money somewhat regularly to Francis, not to mention Francis takes bribes when he managed the laundry, and other episodes show him winning money from betting on the pool or doing crazy stunts.
- The bomb shelter was found while they were digging, but in another episode (I forget which) Malcolm states that they have point blank run out of places to hide things. It might actually have been this episode, come to think of it. He says that the yard and the house are completely full. And anyway, I said by the END of the series, they'd probably searched everywhere on the property. Meaning that yes, they did find stuff that they didn't know about along the way, like the bomb shelter, but by the time that Reese and Malcolm graduate high school, they have most likely unearthed everything there is to find. As for the extra bathroom, they thought it was a storage closet. The only reason that it was discovered was that Hal and Lois were cleaning it out and found a toilet. There would be no reason for the boys to go into the storage closet. Also, the Stash wasn't found in either place when they eventually were discovered, which further leads me to belive that Francis did indeed take it. Yes, his parents send him money at school, and yes, every once in a while he hatches a scheme to make some himself, but he's also always complaining that he doesn't have enough money. Isn't it likely that he pawned his mother's jewlery and spend all of the proceeds quickly? Maybe he didn't use it to fund parties or pranks, who knows? He's always been portrayed as being terrible with money.
Lois nearly always complains to other authority figures that her sons are borderline criminals who if they dont act right WILL end up either dead or in prison and after telling the fellow authority figure of some truly bad behavior (that we the audience don't hear) the boys did the figure typically agrees with them (at times depending on the severity of what they did sometimes even her sons (Alternating between Malcolm & Dewey) also agree). However when you look at it the boys aren't really all that bad.
Malcolm is a surprisingly down-to-earth wunderkind that could get any job on earth he wanted, and as it says in other theories below Dewey is such a little charmer he practically bends reality to near his every whim (only doesn't realize it yet). And Reese while has the reputation of The Bad Boy in a seriously more grown up dangerous situation he would probably become useless and not really much of a threat at all. And even their own crazy grandmother believes that Reese by his own thugishness could really make something of himself in a more harsher/stricter society.
All in all in a more realistic sense Lois' constant "worry" is almost literally constant non-satisfaction with her sons and their life choices no matter what they are. Basically the entire De Construction of Lois' behavior can be summed up with one..single..point. Their not POOR, or Black or any other minority either for that matter yet Lois constantly acts as if she must save her sons from the Hellhole that is middle class suburbia. Her thought process can be seen as this, since Actual low income single mother/parents push their children as hard as they can in order to "lift" themselves out of their bleak existences and not live the parallel lives of their parents and Lois believes that she is duty bound as a parent to do the same.
So in her mind living in their picket fence quiet neighborhood is no different to her then living in an actual ghetto or slum and if any of her sons have a job that either doesn't (possibly literally) cure all major diseases or somehow dramatically change the world almost overnight they might as well be dropping f-bombs in every sentence and throwing up gang signs. For Lois since they already live a fairly affluent life just fairly successful and/or very rich isn't enough in her eyes her sons must become as close to new Gods/creators of a new golden age for humanity.
This pretty much explains everything from her harsh punishments to her even channeling Chris Rock's mother by figurative proxy ("if you dont do what I say I Gonna slap the (insert name here) out of you"). Oddly enough this also explains why the boys are always meeting Sadistic Teachers and generally mean authority figures Lois probably intentionally places them with these Jerk Asses based on the shows running Aeso P of "adversity builds character" (although in Lois' case its probably its more like "Extreme adversity builds Superhuman character".).
Finally in a small bit of Fridge Horror if Lois' sons lived in a filthy stinkin' rich family and were even smarter then they already were maybe she would demand that her sons build something that would make them Literal reality warping gods similar to Dr. Manhattan (Heroe S anyone?).
- So Lois is an Objectivist?
- You do know that they're lower-middle class and their first son is a criminal, right? And also, that every time she turns her back, the kids are getting into some kind of trouble (including, but not limited to: stealing, sneaking out at night, beating each other up, grifting, skipping school, vandalism, repeated lying, traffic violations, etc.)? Are you watching a different show than the rest of us where the family is normal and not dysfunctional at all, but Lois screams all the time anyway?
- Part of the genius of the show is that it talks about that particular economic situation, the point in which you are too 'wealthy' for government assistance, or even much pity, but too poor to quite make it without any assistance.
- Lois understands that they are of a portion of the population that frequently gets neglected by the government. That's why she pushes Malcolm so hard, because as revealed in the last episode she knows that he can someday become a president that will care about people like them. When Malcolm asks a question that is something along the lines of 'How can you expect so much of me?' She responds with 'tell me you can't do it.' He is stumpted, because even he knows that he can.
- Also, Malcolm really isn't a down-to-earth wunderkid, he's shown to be rather full of himself.
- That's only evident in the later seasons. I think it's a realistic way of showing him getting too preoccupied with his gift over the years since it also happens in real life.
- Maybe that Malcolm is just really smart, but he has a massive narcissism ego complex and that the Virts was what happens when the virtual world that he creates is actually the real world?
- There's no doubt that he really is that smart (he beat an entire classroom of geniuses working together to stop him). However, he also made himself incrediably handsome and perfect etc as well.
- Being similar to The Sims, it makes sense. Although the stats you can edit in Virts may differ from Sims (or some are more importantly monitored by the game than others, like the "handsome/beautiful" scale), the stats being all maxed makes it very easy to work against you if not handled with care. A sim with maxed personality stats (from cheating or otherwise), for instance, could be incredibly energetic, outgoing, playful, clean and nice among other things. But then they are also very sensitive to a point crying fits are common, they get very easily anxious and on-edge if things don't happen (according to them) as they should happen right then and there, they become so playful they take absolutely nothing seriously or become very, very quick to bore or quick to become hungry constantly, they are constantly starving for attention and get so focused on being in the spotlight they can do stupid things from flirt with someone when another person they wooed is in the same room or forget to put on some clothes while running to work when they previously fell asleep naked, and become so concerned everything must be clean to a point they curl up in the fetal position if their house becomes anything less than spotless for too long. It doesn't harm one to have flaws, but having too many flaws overwhelms them to a point they become very unstable because they can't handle too many extremes, unlike a more level-headed, evened-out-personality sim. Malcolm maxes everything out for wish fulfillment (like a Mary Sue), but then forgets having too much of something without some degree of self-control can backfire horribly.
- Furthermore, both shows have the main character providing narration, just in different ways (JD's is internal, and Malcolm is talking to some unseen force). Plus, they never say where either show takes place.
- Also, Teddy Buckland is there too. Same sad sack as ever!
- In fact, maybe the reason he seems like such a sad sack in Scrubs is because he's out of his depth. He's a property lawyer when he shows up in Malcolm's world, and that's a whole different kettle of fish to medical law.
- He invented the world's first cost-effective Suicide booth! That's why he's constantly being punished for his intelligence!
- Your premise is somewhat flawed, it was an arsenic containment basin.
- That makes much more sense.
- Proved false as that would be too sad, he found a nice new owner who opened the ball and adopted him.
- ...What? Did the show become happier while I wasn't watching? And how is it "proved" wrong because it's too sad? Half of the show's humor comes from sadness.
- You do know that the characters get lucky breaks from time to time, right?
- ...What? Did the show become happier while I wasn't watching? And how is it "proved" wrong because it's too sad? Half of the show's humor comes from sadness.
- I believe the hamster appeared in later episodes as a running gag. With an empty ball.
Reese's one-sided BroYay crush is best highlighted in Malcolm Films Reese, in which Malcolm pretends to get closer to Reese in order to film his antics. Reese basically becomes head over his heels in love with Malcolm (you really only have to see the scene in which Reese whispers into his magic tree that ''he wants to be together with Malcolm forever''), and clearly has his heart broken into itty bitty pieces at the end of the episode. It sheds a lot of light on this rather odd relationship. They start out as normal brothers before puberty, and then Reese keeps on attempting to initiate a Slap-Slap-Kiss relationship with Malcolm which doesn't fly, because Malcolm is both heterosexual and his brother - so it just ends up slap slap slap. But in the later episodes, Malcolm alienates all his old friends when he gets into high school, so he just ends up letting Reese follow him around like a love sick puppy because nobody else will put up with Malcolm's increasingly bitchy attitude, and Reese keeps on mistaking these signals as romantic, which just makes the whole thing even worse. Tragically screwed up.
- in the episode where he defects from the military, Reese's Inner Monologue says that he [dreamy voice]love[/dreamy voice]s Green Lantern.
- And when he needs an excuse to keep Hal occupied:Reese: Where do babies come from?Hal: I thought we'd been over this already...?Reese: Yeah, but I'm blanking. Two guys, right?
- I do believe they may have been doing this on purpose. * devious grin*
- Don't forget his solution to the problem in Pearl Harbor was to tackle Malcolm to the ground and roughly make out with him. And that in the series finale, it's highly implied he ended up in a relationship with Craig.
- He gives him a very visible hickey
- On the other hand, he did go after the girls in Houseboat, and apparently kept one of their thongs, and in the episode Billboard he did seem to dream about a stripper lady, and also hinted that all women desired was to be strippers. The fact that he'd actually dream about a female stripper would indicate that he at least had heterosexual/straight tendencies.
- It's called bisexuality. There's no need to dress it up as 'heterosexual tendencies'.
- Am I the only one who remembers that he was once so upset by a girl breaking up with him that he joined the ARMY? The friggin' army, people! That's love right there. And I'm also disappointed that no one has attempted to make a case for Reese being completely straight. After all, there was an episode that took place after Pearl Harbor that involved the three boys looking at a computer screen. It was a video of a porno with the boys heads pasted on the actual people. The dialogue went something like this.Malcolm: It's porn, Reese.Reese: If it's porn then where are all the chicks? ...Oh.
- He joined the army after his grilfriend cheated on him... with Malcolm. A case can be made of either being heartbroken for the girl, for Malcolm, or both.
- But it was his girlfriend's picture that he tore up and threw in the bin, so he was in love with her, not Malcolm. Think about it: if your girlfriend cheated on you, you wouldn't tear up a photo of the other guy, would you?
- He joined the army after his grilfriend cheated on him... with Malcolm. A case can be made of either being heartbroken for the girl, for Malcolm, or both.
- More evidence for this theory could be found in the episode when Reese's female friend from the army visits him and he freaks out because he thinks that she has a crush on him.
- Of course, immediately after he approaches her without any clothes on except a bow on his penis, and he tries to give her the gift of his innocence
- Somewhat conformed by the actor himself, who is gay and has stated that he thinks Reese is too.
- Also in the episode where Dewey's friend from the emotionally disturbed class spent the night, Hal said he went and looked for any mistake at all in the dictionary so Reese, Dewey & Jamie might have gotten it from him.
- Actually, Hal filled in all the holes in the letters of the encyclopedia (colouring in the one hole in the P's, the two holes in the B's, etc.) When Dewey asks him how crazy he really is, he tells him he's on his third set of encyclopedias. It kind of gives you some creepy insight into what Hal's really like on the inside...
- Sometimes, kids just don't want to talk. This troper knew a girl that didn't have autism or anything, but didn't talk until she was seven years old.
- Autism is notoriously underdiagnosed amongst women (Cis AND transgender), so it's possible your friend was indeed autistic.
- Francis hates her so much because of the psychological abuse and because they're very similar, in that both of them have an overwhelming need to be right, even when they're objectively, certifiably wrong.
- I can't stand Lois' shouting for a 21-minute episode. Imagine having to live with it. For you entire life.
- Psychological abuse can be just as bad or worse as physical abuse. Especially if the children really do all have varying degrees of schizophrenia already (see above). Still, Lois only really seemed to have outright abused Francis, due to him being the first child (and thus Lois going overboard from inexperience).
- Actually, she freaked out, dumped Francis with Ida, and Ida abused him. Shouting, hitting, cutting, enforced cross dressing, I think maybe there was something about cigarette burns in one of the Christmas specials? At least none of that was Played for Laughs.
- Also, Francis was probably disturbed to begin with. For starters, Francis as a toddler did several terrible things, including dousing his teddy bear with lighter fluid and setting it on fire, and that was before Lois snapped and became a control freak. In fact, it was because of the last action that she even became what she was.
- Lois was the one who set the teddy bear on fire in the fire place, after witnessing Francis douse it with lighter fluid.
- Actually, she freaked out, dumped Francis with Ida, and Ida abused him. Shouting, hitting, cutting, enforced cross dressing, I think maybe there was something about cigarette burns in one of the Christmas specials? At least none of that was Played for Laughs.
- Lois is a great mother. Shes definitely a hard ass, but how much more screwed up would those boys be if they didn't have a mother willing to take them on like Lois does?
- She's a horrible mother. All the screaming and ridiculous levels of punishment, sometimes for no reason, is meant to point out how bad she is as a mother. Notice also that she doesn't seem to get along with anyone else for very long, either.
- Considering how Francis turned out, with her becoming strict with Francis, it's kind of hard to blame her for being very strict.
- This is illustrated in one episode where there's a flashback to when Francis was a baby (or a toddler, whatever) and it shows her acting much more timid around her son. In fact, he pretty much walks all over her because she's afraid to punish him for anything. Hal was the one who had to act like a hard ass. Then baby-Francis gets a little too close to danger (I'm pretty sure he wandered near a fireplace) and she snaps. All of her timidness vanishes almost on the spot, and she becomes the bitch we all know and hate/love.
- Actually, its worse (although you are close on the part relating to fire). He took his teddy bear, doused it with Gasoline, and then attempted to set it on fire.
- Actually Lois started it. Lois clamed that Francis started it because she got a infection so she had to stay in the hospital while Hal took Francis home. When she returned home to find out that Hal was a good father and Francis wasn’t miserable without her she decided to make his life miserable to the point where his first words were actually you shut up.
- Anytime you see your happy smiling baby and your first thought is I have to destroy that happiness there is no question on weather or not you’re a good parent.
- She's a horrible mother. All the screaming and ridiculous levels of punishment, sometimes for no reason, is meant to point out how bad she is as a mother. Notice also that she doesn't seem to get along with anyone else for very long, either.
- She's a horrible parent, and Hal is a horrible parent for not getting the children away from her. Whether the boys are hellions or not, that doesn't excuse emotional, psychological, and possible physical abuse. Personally, I think the parenting might be the cause of such misbehaviour rather than something Lois needs to 'take on'. If the boys had a loving home, they might have ended up significantly less screwed up. And loving doesn't necessarily preclude strictness. There are ways to firmly enforce boundaries that aren't abusive.
- She’s not great, but she’s not horrible. Remember, she was raised by an abusive, crazy old bat. It’s only natural that her parenting methods be on the extreme side. As a matter of fact, in comparison with her mother, her parenting is excellent. She goes overboard, yes, but she keeps them fed, bathed, and she gives them a place to sleep. There are even several episodes that show her going far out of her way to make sure that they are well taken care of. That's hardly abusive in my book.
- Ida did all of those for Lois too. She might not be physically abusive towards the boys(And even that's debatable, considering some of the punishments, like -accidentaly- leaving Dewey a whole night on the corner), but she sure is emotionally and psychologically abusive. And later, financially too.
- She’s not great, but she’s not horrible. Remember, she was raised by an abusive, crazy old bat. It’s only natural that her parenting methods be on the extreme side. As a matter of fact, in comparison with her mother, her parenting is excellent. She goes overboard, yes, but she keeps them fed, bathed, and she gives them a place to sleep. There are even several episodes that show her going far out of her way to make sure that they are well taken care of. That's hardly abusive in my book.
- It's a very very sad cycle of horribleness in both parts that Francis started and Lois followed suit with every one of her children. Notably, Francis and Reese have turned out to be better without their influence(Francis took a while, but eventually matured. Reese's only problem was that he had no idea how credit worked, but a talk with Malcolm would have solved that). Also, in one episode Dewey starts behaving good, and Lois follows suit. so it's all really a matter on one part of the "war" changing, and the whole abuse/misbehavior would be ended
- Lois went from one extreme to the other. Abuse is not something children should ever have to change their behaviour to avoid. Reasonable punishment for misbehaviour and denial of privileges until the bad behaviour is corrected is not abuse. Francis was a toddler with a domineering personality; Lois and Hal's job as parents was to help channel that personality into safe, age-appropriate activities and build a relationship of respect and trust with their son. No, it probably wouldn't have been easy, and yes, they and Francis definitely would have screwed up on occasion. Instead, Lois choose to try to bully Francis and her other children into submission while Hal allowed such abuse to go unchallenged, making him complicit.
- Francis never actually changed for the better, especially seeing how he still takes joy in getting Lois angry with him, even going so far as to lie about his job status just to hear her reaction. Maybe if Francis was a perfectly normal child before Lois snapped, I could understand why he acted the way he did, but his actions as a toddler indicate that he was long screwed up before Lois took control. A sane child would NEVER try to deliberately douse lighter fluid on something and set it on fire. And to be fair, most of the abuses against his brothers were actually committed by him, not his parents, but him. For one thing, he was the one who locked his brothers up in a closet, stole their toys, tortured them, and scarred Reese with a bayonet. Had that been my kid, I probably would have tried to give him medical help to stop him before he became a danger to society.
- Yes, they would. Many children of both genders try to set ants on fire with magnifying glasses, they deliberately stomp bugs, they try to create fire by rubbing two sticks/stones together, they deliberately try to cause explosions, etc. Many of them grow up to be sane, productive members of society. Francis deciding to go the gasoline route just proves he was smart enough to understand that gasoline would exacerbate the fire. The parents are still to blame for not stopping his abusive behaviour towards his brothers. And after Francis left, Lois chose to continue to constantly yell, insult, and mete out unreasonable punishments on her children while Hal did nothing to stop her. Whether Francis changed or not is irrelevant. Once he was an adult, Lois could have ceased contact with him but choose to keep trying to get him to conform to her wishes. Although, trying to get Francis medical help most likely would have worked much better than the tactics she chose to employ.
- Maybe so, but most people who try to douse gasoline on things and set it on fire are usually labelled as insane. There's a reason why people who douse other people with gasoline and then set them on fire are often viewed as crazy. If something like that was considered a sign of inherent insanity, it's very much a sign when doing it in regards to doing it with a teddy bear. And actually, diagnoses for criminal behavior often are tied to harming animals, which Ants/bugs are animals. I agree it was still her fault for not stopping him when he had the chance, but it doesn't make his statements about his actions being from abuse any less false. When I described what he did to my mom, and to my dad, they agreed that he was simply disturbed to begin with.
- I'm not actually arguing Francis was or wasn't disturbed. I'm pointing out that the statement no sane child would ever attempt such a thing is false. Him trying to do that doesn't prove anything other than the fact he was smart enough to realise gasoline would exacerbate the fire. Whether Francis was disturbed or not, Lois was abusive towards him, and that did contribute to his adult issues. The answer to how to handle a psychologically disturbed child is to try to get them medical help, not to try to bully them in submission. Her other children all have issues and will most likely have those issues for the rest of their lives due to the fact she was abusive and Hal was complicit in their abuse.
- Justified in-universe: While Lois would be a horrible mother in the real world, her character is exaggerated to compensate for the exaggeratedly rowdy characters of her children. Face it: EVERY CHARACTER ON THE SHOW IS A BAD PERSON! Every character, even if they have good points, does some really nasty and spiteful things because of the Ruleof Funny. The arguement made is that Lois's strictness is justified in her particular circumstance, and she wouldn't be nearly as strict or angry with better kids.
- Here is what happened Lois returned home finding Francis smiling and happy feeling betrayed she treated him like crap. When she achieved her goal of making him miserable she changed into the loving spoiling mother. Francis as payback for her treatment and for Hal abandoning him to her went infant terrible until eventually he tried to set his teddy bear on fire. Lois in turn lit it aflame instead and consequently stopped feeding him chocolate
- If you remember the episode where this was mentioned it turned out that Jamie only acted out because Reese was feeding him energy drinks. And during the flashback Lois gave Francis chocolate every 5 seconds. They weren’t acting out because they were bad they were acting out because they were children being feed ridiculous amounts of sugar.
- That doesn’t really change the time line only instead of trying to get revenge he was acting out due to the sugar.
- Jane Kaczmarek isn't a bad judge of character, she's a good actress. Whether or not Lois is a good mother, she clearly *believes* that she is, and it's integral to her character. So Jane Kaczmarek has to try and believe it too.
- Oh my... that makes so much sense.
- That would certainly explain how he was able to to reduce a car to a flaming wreck, and crawl out without so much as a bruise.
- Like father(or in this case, mother), like son...
- Lois may be more civil than Ida to others, but she is not civil with others.
Ida on the other hand is rude, selfish and cannot even understand how being nice to other people can make them treat her nicer. When Lois was a teenager Ida made sure Lois suffed her bra. It is very damagaging to tell an alreadly insecure teenager that you chest is too flat and you will never be popular/ a cheerleader if you don't stuff it. Lois even has something of a breakdown when she remembers all the things Ida has said to her that lowered her self-esteem.
Lois has tried to do the exact opposite of what her mother did to her,so instead of ignoring her own children she tries to control them so much that she gets annoyed if anything is wrong.
This explains why Malcolm and Herkabe have the same Jerkass-Smug Snake personality, explains their similar levels of intelligence and their similar goals (both going to Harvard, and both being interested in computers (though it didn’t work out for Herkabe)).
Malcolm and/or Herkabe may have even realized this at some point, which is why they get increasingly more combative with each other as the series goes on; they’re jealous of the other’s life. To Malcolm, Herkabe is someone who wasn’t screwed up by Ida and became successful in the way Malcolm measures success—being insanely rich, even if he lost it all— as a result from not being damaged by this kind of upbringing. To Herkabe, Lois was raised in a way that let her have a happy and stable, if dysfunctional, marriage and family while his own marriage ended in a divorce he still seems bitter over, as well as a steady, if low-paying job, while he’s millions of dollars in debt. In the end, his and Malcolm’s fighting isn’t about being better than everyone or petty squabbles over GPA; it’s about being better than ‘’each other’’ to prove themselves and their families; they never let on because they don’t think the other knows, but they just can’t let go.
Assuming he keeps on being a Nice Guy from when he was with the Buseys. If he goes back to his Manipulative Bastard, The Chessmaster, Con Man ways, Dewey could be the most competent President Evil I can think of.
In Season 2 of Breaking Bad, Walt pretends to visit his mother, after some convincing from Skylar. Walt is unsure at first, as he has an estranged relationship with his mother. If you watch MitM, it's pretty clear that Malcolm and Lois have an estranged relationship, and perhaps this carried on as Malcolm/Walt entered adulthood. The main 'debunker' is obviously the name. Why would Malcolm change his name? Well, firstly, we never find out Malcolm and his family's surname in MitM, so for all we know it could well be White, which would then only mean he would have to change his first name.
The only possible explanation I can think of is that this stems from his rebellious behavior as a child. With grown up Malcolm and Lois no longer speaking, and Malcolm somewhat bitter, he may well have changed his first name as an act of defiance against his mother. Why would Malcolm choose Walt? Well, what's interesting is that in the MitM episode "Family Reunion", we are introduced to Hal's family, and his father, whose name happens to be... Walter! So Malcolm renamed himself after his deceased grandfather.
Next, Walt enjoys making his millions from the meth business, and will stop at nothing to carry on his empire. Lois' plans for Malcolm to become President had obviously fallen through, and Malcolm/Walt had ended up in a crappy job with a crappy house, which made him bitter, and gave him the ruthless nature needed to do what he does. Of course there's the issue with the underpants - grown up Malcolm has clearly inherited Hal's love of walking around in his whites. Plus, it's only natural that Malcolm would grow up looking somewhat like Hal.
With her plans in tatters, Lois would, unsurprisingly, try to blame it all on Malcolm and go on a self-centered rant, but Malcolm, having finally realized beyond a shadow of a doubt that his family just isn't worth caring about, would—at long last—snap and rip her a verbal new one, culminating in him publicly disowning her and walking away because, as she herself noted in that episode where he tutored Reese, he's smart enough to survive on his own. He'll find a job, work his way up his own way, and live in relative comfort, all while viciously preventing his "family" from making any contact with him. Lois will, as stated by The Mysterious Mr. Enter in his "Deconstructing Deconstruction" video, ultimately die alone and the rest of the family will fall apart, but the boys will go on to have relatively stable lives completely independent of one another—in spite of Lois's terrible parenting.