Company Picnic: Part 2 is the twelfth episode of the third season of Malcolm in the Middle, which was broadcast on February 3, 2002.
Summary[]
Malcolm and Laurie are partnered up for the scavenger hunt but as Laurie attempts to figure out the first clue Malcolm can't stop complaining about how she can like Gary over him since he high fives people when they decide what they want on their pizza and still says "It's the bomb". Laurie asks him to focus and Malcolm figures out the clue easily and that he has a lot of great qualities if given a chance before being told he needs to focus again.
At the hockey game, Lavernia is dismayed that they are down by two goals and Eric claims he can’t get any speed with his skates and has already had them sharpened by Francis twice. Unbeknownst to them Francis is trying to sabotage his own team by sawing their skate blades and coughing in rhythm with his sawing so they will lose the bet, knowing that if he wins the money he can pay off his debts to Lavernia and leave his Alaskan hellhole. Eric also informs Lavernia that player number 32 (Magic Johnson) on the other team is a monster who has crippled their whole front line.
Back at the picnic, Pratt asks Hal to help him the cubicle dwellers are getting restless and they know about his reputation and asks him to shoot some BS and calm them down. Hal addresses his coworkers and convinces them to pretend he is Landon due to Hal having dirt on the rest of them such as one having an alcoholic wife and another with an unnatural attraction to women's shoes. He reminds them that they are all together and nobody likes a snitch.
Reese has also entered the scavenger hunt and is partnered with a large boy named George. Reese and George at first have problems working together until they spot two younger boys claiming they only need five more items to win, Reese and George throw them in some trash cans and steal their scavenger hunt items. George is impressed and states Reese is a genius, Reese compliments his size as they head off to complete the scavenger hunt.
Back at the hockey game Clarence mocks Lavernia saying that they’ll win for nine years in a row, and wonders if they should put some of their pregnant girls in the game to make it more of a challenge. Howie claims that isn’t helping since it’s only gonna make her feel bad and now their pregnant girls are gonna want to get in the game as well. Lavernia steps in claiming its time for a little "strategy". She helps put the loggers back in the game after beating number 32, much to Francis’ dismay.
Reese and George continue to enjoy themselves despite their differences and their limited brainpower manages to get along well together. All the while torturing and injuring many younger scavenger hunt participants in the process. Reese claims that together he and George make the perfect three legged person. George wishes they could stay like this forever. Reese wonders why they can’t since there are people who do surgeries. George tells Reese he’s the smartest guy he’s ever met, Reese thanks him before reminding him they still have to find that fork.
Dewey attempts to attack another boy over candy, but Lois restrains him and orders him to sit in a chair until the picnic is over. Lois then gets interrupted by Meg's husband who is equally as annoying talking about how he wet his bed every night until he was sixteen and his mother changed his sheets for years and never said a word and brings up how Meg thinks he has a porn problem even though she was the one responsible for introducing it, Lois then snaps and tells him exactly how to solve his and her problems and explains that the problem is they both see themselves as victims and they have to talk to each other and there’s a certain thing called give-and-take they need to make a relationship work, and he needs to be more attentive towards her and make sure he is home every night at 6:30, not 6:35 or 6:31 in order to create an atmosphere of trust.
The loggers manage to even the score much to Francis’ fear and he gets another idea. Eric tells Lavernia they might actually win, she agrees since she’s got $600 riding on it. Francis joins the game replacing Amos, whom he claimed ran away screaming about government helicopters and murderous clones when in reality he had just locked Amos in the bathroom. Eric commends Francis for stepping in, before Francis “accidentally” trips him with his hockey stick.
Back with Malcolm and Laurie, he attempts to kiss her until she stops him. He apologizes but demands that she sit down and make her to tell him exactly why she doesn't like him only to find out she thinks he's bitter and annoying and his continual picking at the awkward situation made it worse and despite him being cute he manages to mess it up. Realizing too late he was prodding her Malcolm desperately attempts to untie the binding on their legs to escape.
Dewey once again is being restrained by Lois after attempting to attack an old lady who explains to Lois that she just opened her purse to get a Tic-Tac and Dewey dropped out of a tree on her back. Lois apologizes and orders Dewey to sit at a table and put his head down. Hal arrives and Lois asks if he straightened things out with Pratt, when Hal’s response is “almost”, she resolves to talk to him herself but how holds her back since it’s too late now and it would be nothing but awkward. Lois reminds him they are going to be working together and he’s bound to find out eventually, and it will be two seconds of embarrassment before pushing him towards Pratt to tell him the truth. Hal tells Pratt they have to talk, Pratt easily agrees but Hal only tells Pratt he is firing him based on his opinion of him. Pratt doesn’t understand and reminds him that he hasn’t even started yet and wonders what he is basing it on. Hal informs him he’s basing it on his gut and it’s never steered him wrong before and believes it would be best if he left the picnic and that they have a foil if he wants to save his salad. Pratt angrily throws the salad on the ground and leaves the tent.
Malcolm eventually ends up crying after Laurie’s rant as she tries to apologize for her words since she didn’t even mean half of them. Malcolm thinks he can stop crying and asks for more leaves, until Laurie informs him that the leaves he was using as tissues were poison oak. Malcolm responds with “Of course it is.”
Back at the hockey game Francis “accidentally” hits the clock when he has a chance at a goal. He apologizes to his teammates but Artie tells him not to beat himself up since they all make mistakes and Lavernia tells him to shake it off. Francis questions Eric why everyone is being so nice to him when he’s doing terrible, Eric assures him he’s trying his best and good or bad they’re all in this together. Francis starts to feel guilty about sabotaging them.
Reese and George eventually win the scavenger hunt, after being separated they state they will miss each other, George then punches Reese giving him a black eye and taking the 100 dollar prize for himself.
Meg then returns to complain about Lois's words towards her husband about how she was insane and she should be more committed and doesn’t see how videotaping them in bed will help their marriage. Lois argues against her words but Dewey takes the chance to run away while she’s distracted. Finally fed up Lois tells Meg she has to stop since she doesn't have time to deal with them and their habits which she could care less about. This leads to a long fight between the two, rolling onto a dessert table into an egg toss competition and ending with Landon pushing them both into a muddy pool, where they brawl.
Eric gets hit in his unprotected groin with a puck saving Francis from being hit, which gives Francis a change of heart and ends up winning the game for his team despite his skate blades falling off and his stick snapping in half he manages to shoot the puck into the goal just before the buzzer goes off. The loggers congratulate him and offer to treat him with the bet money, once Francis explains the scheme he is dragged behind a Zamboni naked as punishment while everyone else celebrates. Eric claims that it won't be much longer because a kids skating party will be starting in a half an hour.
After Lois is covered in mud and has gotten rid of Meg for the day she finds Dewey eating out of a ruined piñata like a wild animal. She tells him to get away from there but Dewey has now gone savage and tries to bite her only to be wrapped and bound up in her coat and loaded into the car.
Once Landon sees Pratt flipping everybody off as he leaves he decides not to hire Pratt after all and tells his assistant to report him to the IRS. Hal then returns to the car where Laurie then claims it was nice to see Malcolm and would like to again only she can't tell if he's smiling due to the poison oak swelling up his face.
With the exception of Hal every family member had a terrible time at the picnic. Reese has a black eye, Malcolm has a swelled up face, Lois is covered in mud, and Dewey is wrapped in a coat trying to lash out, due to going savage. Hal then states that his encounter with Pratt went better than expected and is the only one in a good mood leaving the picnic.
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
Recurring[]
Guest Starring[]
- Terry Bradshaw as Coach Clarence
- Howie Long as Howie
- Stephen Root as John Pratt
- Susan Sarandon as Meg
- Bradley Whitford as Meg's Husband
- Patrick Warburton as Burt Landon
- Aaron Hill as George
- Lauren Storm as Laurie
- Magic Johnson as Ringer Hockey Player #32
- Thomas Lumberg Jr. as Amos
- Nick Mize as Barry
- Eric A. Payne as Phil
- Steve Witting as Announcer
- Lillian Adams as Old Woman
Trivia[]
- This episode has no "camera commentary", though Malcolm does aside in part 1, so it does have camera commentary as a whole.
- This is also the first episode not to have a cold opening, only having a "Previously on Malcolm in the Middle" segment before it.
- The unnamed husband of Meg is played by Bradley Whitford, who was Jane Kaczmarek's husband at the time of filming.
- The song playing as Meg and Lois fight and mud-wrestle is "Do Your Thing" by Basement Jaxx.
- Magic Johnson can be seen in the Hockey game as number 32.
Errors[]
- At the end of the episode Lois's seat in their minivan is already visibly dirty before she gets in. This indicates that several shots were needed for this scene, as she previously must have sat in that seat before while being muddy.