Clip Show #2 is the seventeenth episode of season four of Malcolm in the Middle. It broadcasted on April 20, 2003.
Summary[]
In this second clip show, Hal and Lois are penning their will, and think back to all the trouble their sons put them through.
Plot[]
In the intro scene, Hal tries to remove a sliver from his finger and Reese hears him yelp whenever he touches an action figure in his bedroom, believing he has made his own voodoo doll he enters the kitchen and calls Hal a stupid, useless old man and that from now on there will be some big changes.
In the second clip show, Lois wakes Hal up in the middle of the night and tells him that it’s time. Hal panics since the baby isn’t due for a month and is certain that it wasn’t conceived when they made love in an elevator but instead at Dewey’s parent-teacher conference. He grabs a suitcase from the closet ready to go, but Lois explains that she’s not having the baby, reminding him that they agreed to finish making out their will tonight. Hal tries to make an excuse and that she doesn’t know she’s not having the baby since she’s not a doctor and he’ll meet her in the car. But Lois is two steps ahead of Hal after she pulls out both sets of car keys and took the seat off his bike.
Hal and Lois go into the kitchen as Hal questions why they are doing it in the middle of the night. She says it’s because she doesn’t want the boys to see them writing a will and if they start thinking about a future without them, they’ll totally lose control. Hal states that they’re not equipped to handle penning their will since they get into a giant, stupid fight every time they try. Lois reminds him the last attempt they made to write the will was ten years ago. Hal stands his ground since it lead to a fight where she called him thin-skinned and overly sensitive. Lois tells him he can stall all he wants but they’re not leaving until they finish writing. Hal gets a pencil and takes too long to sharpen it. Lois reminds him they’re doing it for their kids and if a terrible accident occurred they wouldn’t have a plan and the boys would be alone and defenseless. A sequence of clips show the boys aggressively attacking and beating up bullies or people who gave them trouble.
They look at tangible assets and Hal wonders how they can’t expect to find anything since they just shoved stuff in boxes and there’s a fortune cookie in the box. Lois find something she believes will save time: Malcolm gets their coin collection until they remember that Dewey found it and swallowed all the coins, Hal says it was 500 dollars down the drain, and they couldn’t find a single dime in the strainer. Lois mentions their silver tea set, with Hal informing her the boys pounded it into a suit of armor and other antiques that the boys destroyed with Lois realizing they have even fewer assets than they did a decade ago. Hal brings out the box containing their bank statements but says she won’t find anything helpful. Outlining that he was trying to avoid this evening because he foresaw this very situation and maybe in the future, she’ll trust his judgement, until she reads a bank statement stating that Hal spent 300 dollars on sequins for his costume in Rollerskates. Hal defends it was for the car and retaliates by showing Lois the 520 dollar charge from the hospital for toy extraction after she destroyed Dewey’s Lego city in High School Play.
Hal then sees how much money they spent sending Francis to military school, Lois says it was unavoidable since he needed the discipline as a clip shows the cadets singing the “Candy Man” short order drill from New Neighbors. As Lois rifles through out of date checks Hal admits they are in the crapper and they both accuse each other in failing to handle their finances, since they each believed that the other was supposed to be in charge of the finances, which Hal says might be the problem.
Hal points out that Lois's overbearing, low class and controlling nature will lead to her death first over his own, which will lead to him committing suicide shortly after. Lois is offended that Hal is wishing her dead and wonders why. Hal isn’t impressed since she had no reaction at all to his suicide and states she’ll likely die first due to operating on a very high level of stress as a montage of clips highlight her fury to support his argument and that he is the far more relaxed person followed by another clip montage highlighting how unstable he gets and how ultimately his inability to deal with their sons is what will lead to his own death. Lois is still upset over being labeled as a human time bomb and knows that Hal won’t commit suicide since he’s so cowardly he can’t even rip off his own band-aids. Hal says it will be so beautiful it’ll make everyone forget about her stupid funeral. She then pinches his arm and says if he can’t handle that wonders how he’ll ever find the courage to kill himself. The two gets into a pinch fest as they try to avoid waking the boys up and letting them see their will.
Hal and Lois both apologize for their behavior including hair pulling, a Dutch rub and ear twisting. He tries to convince her to stop penning their will on her own by going to bed. Lois stops him because they’ve passed the worst part of it. Lois then looks at what they plan to do in the case of both parents' death, both Hal and Lois agree that their own families are not an option. Clips support the cruelty of Lois's own parents and the abuse they’ve inflicted upon the boys. Lois wonders why there aren’t more people willing to give their sons a home as clips highlight how much harm the boys have caused to others due to their reckless actions and bad attitudes. Lois highlights the silver lining is that they finally agree that there’s no one to take care of their kids. When he tries to suggest Francis since he's working and that both he and Piama can take care of the boys and the baby in New Mexico, she refuses and agrees to go to bed. Hal confronts her for not giving him a chance since Francis is a working, married young man who is showing responsibility and although he wasn’t the easiest kid to deal with growing up, he has changed for the better. But Lois isn’t convinced since he quit school, moved 3000 miles away and married Piama who he barely knew beforehand and how making decisions on a whim is irrational and will not make him a good parent. Good parents understand that actions have consequences but Hal states that they are parents precisely because they can’t remember that. Hal reminds her that she’s never been able to give Francis credit for any of the good things he does, she asks him to name an example, but he draws a blank and defends that he’s not a performing seal. Lois says she can’t talk to him if he’s hysterical, but Hal says she’s not getting out of the situation by playing the “My husband is crazy” card and how it didn’t work with the airport security screener and will not work now. Lois is stunned that he’s even considering Francis, since he is the worst behaved of them all as a clip from Halloween Approximately highlighting when Francis lead his brothers in their tirade of setting up a slingshot on the roof to fire projectiles at their unsuspecting neighbors.
It is there that Lois's problems with Francis are finally revealed and how her inability to admit when she is wrong led to a lot of the problems the family has been dealing with. Hal points out that she was always acting like a control freak and blaming them for all of her problems whenever she couldn't admit when she was wrong. Reminding her of parents weekend at Marlin Academy she and Francis got into a sword fight, and she once pulled him off the field in the middle of a tee ball game as a child for giving her a dirty look, and how his first words were “You shut up!” Emphasizing that they’ve been at each other’s throats for his entire life. Lois regrettably says “He started it.” Hal is in disbelief and wonders how he could’ve started it. Lois finally confesses there was a time she never used to be like that and how she used to be a calm and loving mother to Francis. When Lois has to go to the hospital for six weeks due to a Staph Infection caused by Reese's uncontrollable kicking during her pregnancy, she had been worried sick over him wondering where she was. But by the time she made a speedy recovery and came home, Lois found out just how much Francis didn't care that she was gone. She mentioned that Hal was taking care of him just fine and that she was just an annoying distraction to him. After this, Lois made it her personal mission to make Francis' life a living hell and he became more rebellious.
As Lois admits her remorse for her actions, she admits that she’s the worst mother off all time. Hal hugs her admitting it’s just as much his fault and they are both utter failures as parents as they live in a pigsty and Lois wonders why they’re even bothering to make a will as all they can leave their children is misery. Hal says they are a walking advertisement for forced sterilization and wonders what idiots in Washington allowed them to procreate and their family is an unmitigated disaster. Another montage of clips highlights all the pain and destruction that the family has caused over the years.
They both hear a thump and hear Dewey awaken. He is hurt after hitting his head and running in the kitchen. Lois asks to see it as Dewey panics and is sure he is bleeding before she asks him to solve the math problem of 19 times 5 to calm him down. As Hal calms Dewey down the two prepare to take him to the hospital to see his physician. Dewey asks for some apple juice, but Lois looks and sees they only have apple-cherry. Nevertheless, Dewey accepts it as Hal carries him off. Despite knowing how to calm Dewey down, make sure he's ok and the location of the nearest pediatric emergency center, the two still believe they're the worst parents in the world. A final clip plays highlighting where Hal and the boys defended Lois’s honor in Lois’ Birthday by beating up the clowns who insulted her.
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
- Bryan Cranston as Hal
- Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Francis
- Justin Berfield as Reese
- Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey
- Frankie Muniz as Malcolm
Guest Stars[]
Recurring[]
- Eric Nenninger as Eric Hanson
- Kasan Butcher as Cadet Joe
- Arjay Smith as Cadet Finley
Cameos[]
- Daniel Von Bargen as Commandant Spangler
Trivia[]
- This is the second clip show episode, with Clip Show being the first.
- For curiosity, this is the first and last episode written in duo for the Writer of Dan Kopelman.
- This is also the second episode to end in "#2", with Poker #2 being the first.
- Malcolm and Francis do not appear in this episode (this episode being Malcolm's only non-appearance), while Reese only appears in the cold opening scene. Dewey appears in the end of the episode
- This is the first episode of the series where Francis does not appear.
- Craig is the only recurring character that did not appear in the flashbacks.
- This is the 2nd episode where Lois had an epiphany over being a terrible mother to her sons. The first episode is in Christmas. The later episodes that will follow it is in Day Care, Lois Battles Jamie and Ida Loses a Leg.
- Lois's issues with Francis comes to light and including the Staph Infection caused by Reese's uncontrollable kicking in the womb during her pregnancy. The last episode that alluded to this was in Flashback and would be further explored in Lois Battles Jamie.
- Originally Francis was going to appear in the kitchen, telling Lois off that she's wrong. He explains that when she left for the hospital, he was so upset she was gone and kept asking Hal when she was coming home. He wouldn't tell Francis the answer he wanted to hear and tried to change the subject. When Lois finally came home with Reese, he was happy to see her again after dealing with Hal's ineffective parenting and wanted to tell her this. However, she got the wrong idea thinking he was happy without her in it and made it her mission to make his life miserable. Lois is shocked by this confession and asked Francis why he didn't say this to begin with. He explains that she never gave him that chance to tell her this out of her own anger. Only then, Lois realizes she got the wrong idea and apologizes for her behavior to Francis. The tender moment between them is interrupted by loud screaming and shoving in the hallway.
- In the original ending, Malcolm, Reese and Dewey find out about Hal and Lois penning their will and including their plans to appoint a legal guardian from their secret spying on them through the hallway. At first, the three are happy at the prospects of being free from under Hal and Lois upon their death. Soon, the boys began to argue amongst themselves in who would be the legal guardian. All three agree that Stevie's parents aren't a viable option due to him being wheelchair bound. Reese points out that he's older than the remaining two boys and thus, he should care for them. Malcolm argues that he's not as smart and can't make sound decisions in regards of them being cared for. He mentions that he's very smart in managing finances and can help care for them in case of Hal and Lois's death. Dewey disagrees, pointing out that both Malcolm and Reese are incompetent and wishes to stay with Francis. He mentions that Francis and Piama are more mature and better equipped to deal with them. Dewey mentions if not him, then Craig would be the next best option because he has the patience to deal with him, Malcolm and Reese as a legal guardian. The older boys take offense and the three start fighting. During that fight, the boys injure themselves and causing Francis to break up their fight. He reprimands Malcolm, Reese and Dewey for their immaturity, pointing out that if their parents do die, they'll end up living with him in New Mexico since he'll be the legal guardian of them. Dewey tells them that he told them so. Malcolm and Reese yells at him to be quiet at once before they beat him up. Francis orders all three to be quiet as he uses a pinching technique to put them in their place. As Hal takes the three boys to the hospital, Lois sadly admits that they're the worst parents in the world and she is unsure if they can handle raising another baby in a house full of troublemakers and chaos. Francis comforts her in all of this. This was dropped due to it adding too much screen time.