College Recruiters is the twelfth episode of season seven of Malcolm in the Middle.
Synopsis[]
This episode follows up from the previous, Reese and Raduca are now married and living in the family garage. Lois refuses to accept it initially until seeing how Raduca tames Reese into a responsible adult. Dewey visits Francis and soon comes to realize how broke and a loser he really is. Malcolm refuses to meet with college recruiters, so Hal takes over and treats each one as a suitor to buy him off with gifts and merchandise.
Plot[]
Raduca and Reese are now married and move into the garage. Lois is very angry for her mother setting them up and wonders about how likely she'd get away with killing her. Hal tries to get Lois to see the bright side as Reese and Francis are married and moved out, soon Malcolm will be off to college, so they will be empty nesters. Lois corrects Hal that they still have Dewey and Jamie. Dewey then approaches with his bag packed as he is ready to visit Francis for the weekend. Since Dewey is taking the bus, Lois gives him the ground rules to keep the seat to himself and to avoid strangers by even pretending to be sick and encouraging picking his nose. Reese enters and invites his parents to his garage-warming for dinner to which Hal accepts. Hal asks what they'll be having, Reese takes out bologna from the fridge and wheat crisps and will be making it in a casserole.
Meanwhile, Dewey arrives at Francis' run-down apartment. Piama is away, so Francis promises Dewey a fun guys-only weekend. It is clear that his prolonged unemployment is having an effect on Francis; he sports a knotted beard, he manipulates his neighbor into playing loud music and the only furniture are two deckchairs and a stolen bus bench. Dewey thinks this is the lifestyle he dreams of. Later, Lois and Hal arrive at the garage and see it is beautifully decorated and Reese is actually doing his homework. Throughout the dinner, they notice how Raduca shouts at Reese and commands him. They realize that Raduca has broken Reese's spirit, and couldn't be happier that she's accomplished what they couldn't.
Later, Malcolm gets a phone call from a college recruiter for a school he has no interest in and pretends to take down their contact info. Hal notices this and questions Malcolm's refusal to meet them and encourages Malcolm that each recruiter should be treated as the school to go to, as it'll give him plenty of options. At Francis's apartment, a trip to the nearby water park is cut short when the hole in the fence Francis planned to sneak them through was mended. Dewey was willing to pay the $5 admission to which Francis refused as he already feels bad about Dewey buying dinner later. The landlord begins banging on Francis's door demanding rent and Francis asks Dewey to quickly bark like a vicious dog to scare him away. Dewey starts to see Francis's unemployed lifestyle is not the ideal lifestyle.
Back at home, Reese is reviewing Raduca while she is naked due as knowing details about her body is going to be on their green card application. Meanwhile, Hal invited a college recruiter over to meet Malcolm who is from M.I.T. which is actually Mississippi Institute of Technology. Malcolm expresses no interest in this school, or the others Hal has been getting to meet that are knock-offs of the Ivy League schools like this and Kolumbia with a K and tells Hal off and refuses to speak with them. Hal begins to take over meeting the college recruiters and gets bought off with free gifts and merchandise. Reese comes into the house and gives back the amount of bologna, wheat crisps and sprite he borrowed and used to Lois as Raduca told him to. Lois then tells Reese how unsure she was initially about Raduca but now changes her mind and thinks she is good for him. Lois gives Reese her blessing to which Reese thinks is reverse psychology.
Meanwhile at Francis's apartment, Francis's neighbors are out of town for the weekend, so he sneaks through their window and steals their cable wire for the TV. However, Dewey encourages Francis to check out a job fair close by, to which Francis does not want Dewey to worry as he is fine, and he has a few side gigs. Dewey calls out he is bum and needs to get a life, which upsets Francis, and he locks himself in the bathroom. At home, Reese walks in on a naked Raduca thinking she wants him to continue to review her for the green card application. However, he sees her with another man, Bela, who she claims is her brother. Reese gets "upset" because she did not tell him that her brother is town and goes to hug Bela, much to both Bela and Raduca's confusion.
Hal continues to meet all these college recruiters and cleared his day for multiple meet ups. Malcolm thanks Hal for taking them off his back as it gave Malcolm time to clear his head and he decided to go to Harvard and has already written his letter of intent. Hal, however, does not want to allow Malcolm to submit it as he still has meetings with the recruit, including a recruiter for a lobster dinner, while Harvard didn't even show up. Dewey is letting Francis know he is leaving; Francis does not respond. Dewey then leaves him some extra money as Dewey only needs enough for the bus and says goodbye. Before Dewey leaves, however, Francis stops him and shows he has shaved and cleaned up and is wearing a suit. He admitted Dewey was right and thought it was wrong for him to lie around and wait for his life to start happening. However, Francis's friend, Travis, shows up announcing his band, Ass-Bandit, got a record deal and is touring Europe and wants Francis to be the band's manager as Francis always believed in them and encouraged them to keep "rocking on" shocking Dewey.
Back at home, Reese receives his result for Raduca's green card which he is afraid to open. Lois encourages him and promises he passed, however, upon opening the letter, Reese was denied Raduca's application and being investigated for the validity of their marriage and to appear at the office (apparently, Reese's revision didn't go well as he put on the application that Raduca has a tail). Reese is afraid to tell Raduca but Lois assures him that if he loves her, they will find a way. They walk to the garage to tell Raduca the news but she was caught having an affair with Bela, who is not really her brother, which Reese comically responds, asking why he does not have a waiting period for sex.
Meanwhile, Hal meets Vince, a college recruiter for lobster dinner. He bribes Hal with a class ring, asking him to say yes, and he can have the ring and Malcolm will be a new student in the fall. Malcolm shows up, however, to interrupt and question his letter of intent to Harvard hiding in Hal's drawer. This angers Vince who leaves and takes back the ring. Malcolm calls Hal out on investing Malcolm's future with college knick-knacks as this is Malcolm's decision alone. Hal tries to defend himself saying Malcolm could change his mind and needs a fall back. However, Hal also confessed he loved the attention he was getting as he never gotten to go the distance Malcolm has, he then realized he was left to pay the dinner. Back at home, Dewey gets an F on his test which angers Lois, Lois questions how he intends to turn it around and that it'll jeopardize his future. Dewey has a sudden laid-back attitude and told Lois that he's learned that you can do nothing and things will still work themselves out, walking away simply saying "rock on," to Lois's confusion.
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
- Bryan Cranston as Hal
- Christopher Masterson as Francis
- Justin Berfield as Reese
- Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey
- Frankie Muniz as Malcolm
Guest Stars[]
Cameos[]
- Rheagan Wallace as Raduca
- James McCauley as Burt
- Scott Klace as Ned
- Pete Gardner as Milt
- Roark Critchlow as Vince
- Josh Hammond as Travis
- Reid Collums as Bela
Trivia[]
- From this episode until the finale the series returned to a Sunday slot after all the first 11 episodes of the season were premiered on Friday.
- This marks the final time that a cold opener deviated from the norm and which it's plot is significantly important to the storyline. In this case, Malcolm is seen telling the audience about Lois's annoyance with Raduca. The first that happened was in Traffic Jam. The 2nd time in Emancipation. The 3rd time in Humilithon. The 4th in Day Care. The 5th time in Reese Joins the Army: Part 2, and the 6th time in Reese Comes Home.
- This is the episode where Malcolm first declares his intent to go to Harvard. He reveals he gets accepted in the series finale, Graduation.