Funeral is the eleventh episode of Season 1 of Malcolm in the Middle and the eleventh episode overall of the show.
Summary[]
The family reluctantly prepares for Aunt Helen's funeral, but Lois finally gets fed-up by the collective attitude and announces she's going to take a bubble bath and everyone else can do their own things. Reese blames Malcolm for ruining his plans.
Francis is upset that Aunt Helen's death was not reported to him. This frees Malcolm to attend a concert with Julie, but she catches him in his underwear and runs away. Realizing how much he divided his family, Malcolm turns to Francis for help and whom suggest he uses a scapegoat. Once Hal and Lois gets wind of Reese ruining Dewey's upcoming birthday by destroying the expensive toy, they decide that the family will attend the funeral so he can apologize to Aunt Helen.
Plot[]
In the cold opening, Malcolm is in class reading a monologue from "Romeo and Juliet" and is applauded. Caroline commends him on being so passionate, Malcolm looks to Stevie and reminds him that just because they are best friends his wheelchair won't save him from an ass-kicking. Stevie responds with "Bring it on, Homeo."
On a Sunday morning, the family is getting ready for Lois' Aunt Helen's funeral. While coloring his dress shoes, Hal explains to Dewey what happens to people after they die. Telling him that after death people the body undergoes a fascinating series of changes. First it gets bloated like a balloon before shriveling like a raisin. Followed by having their flesh eaten by microbes and ones head slowly shrinking, before Lois tell him that he needs to get ready for the funeral.
Malcolm is less than thrilled in going to Aunt Helen's funeral because he is forced to cancel plans he had made to go to a concert with Julie Houlerman instead, with Julie informing him she may give the extra ticket to a football player named Jimmy Wescott. Malcolm tells his mother but Lois is adamant in going and gives Malcolm guilt for not feeling bad for his late great aunt. Malcolm claims she is doing it on purpose since he could’ve come up with a million different escape plans but now his brain is filled with guilt from his mother. Lois enters the kitchen to find Dewey's silent friend named Egg who is eating cereal. Lois tells Dewey Egg needs to go home but Egg keeps coming back.
In the bedroom, Malcolm finds it unfair and knows whether it is a wedding, funeral or court date all of his family gatherings for him are the same, old women pinching his cheeks, claiming he can't wait until he gets acne so then he will be able to fight back. Before getting ready, Hal was looking forward to listening to his records and tells Lois he needs to get his speech ready. Lois informs him that he doesn't have to speak at every funeral they go to but Hal is convinced people look to him for the reason. Francis then phones Lois and learns of Aunt Helen's demise which he isn't happy about because no one told him about a family member dying and is even more upset when Lois tells him that Aunt Helen's husband Uncle Fred had died two months prior.
Lois wants to see the boys suits, but Malcolm and Dewey's are too small, so Reese and Malcolm hand theirs down, now seeing Reese is in his boxers she makes him wear a suit that Uncle Fred left to them. Reese is excited about wearing a dead suit. Once Lois leaves with Dewey to get rid of Egg once more, he reveals to Malcolm that he is actually looking forward to going to Aunt Helen's funeral and confesses he trashed an expensive Mighty Man toy. Reese wants to bury it with her so no one finds out, since it is an open-casket. When Malcolm asks why he did it he explains that he has no idea why he does reckless and brutal deeds only that he doesn't want to get caught. Reese learned from a lawyer show Lois will think he did it but cannot prove it without evidence "No Evidence, No Conviction, E Pleribus Unum". Unconvinced and knowing her too well, Malcolm points out that Lois will find out sooner or later because the Mighty Man toy is meant to be a present for Dewey's birthday next week and even if Reese does conceal the evidence, she will eventually go looking for it.
Lois comes into her bedroom where Hal has found his box of jokes for the funeral which for some reason was behind the water heater. Oblivious to the fact that Lois was hiding them to avoid him using them. He asks her if she saw his pun file in a box marked “Laughter Thoughts” a joke which goes over Lois’ head as she leaves the room.
Francis tries to get an answer from Dewey about how Aunt Helen died who responds, "cats ate her face," which Francis is assuming Dewey is confused but then confirmed by Hal. Malcolm goes into Lois' bedroom and informs his mother how he hates wearing Reese's hand-me-down suit due to it having jelly in the pockets, a broken fly and reeking of wet dog, Lois claims he should be grateful Reese only wore it once. Malcolm claims he is trying to be supportive of her but the annoyances are starting to outweigh his guilt and he is close to sneaking out of the funeral, until Lois states that Malcolm must be entitled to complain since it's only her dear Aunt Helen, Malcolm wonders if she is a mind-reader.
Malcolm comes into the kitchen where Hal is preparing his joke cards for the funeral, he asks his father how long the funeral will take. But to his dismay Hal informs him that the funeral and the trip to and from the funeral will take all day, but reminds Malcolm that it'll make his mom happy. Malcolm assumes Lois must've really loved Aunt Helen but Hal reveals to Malcolm that Lois and everyone else hated Aunt Helen, informing him he used to forbid her from calling for always making Lois cry. Irate that Lois lied to him about being close to her, he now considers himself totally free to ditch the funeral. He takes the phone from Dewey and Francis is relieved that he has someone he can actually talk to, but Malcolm dismisses him and hangs up.
Malcolm calls Julie again and lies about Aunt Helen, claiming she was in a coma and woke up on the embalmers table at the last second, giving him a leeway to go to the concert, believing he thinks better when he is under pressure. After questioning himself he knows its too late and he'll find out sooner or later. Reese carrying a backpack tells his dad that he’s ready to go. Hal questions why he’s taking a backpack to the funeral with Reese defending how his back gets cold. Hal responds with “Fair enough”.
On the phone, Francis tells Lois he feels like he's not part of the family anymore. Lois reassures him that it's not true but doesn't have time right now. Francis understands since it's not like it's a matter of life and death, before sarcastically reminding her that it is. He continues ranting to Lois, asking her if anyone else has died without his knowledge. She tells about the family's daily activities and wonders if he wants her to send him a picture of her foot after she dropped a frying pan on it. When she sees Egg throwing utensils out of a drawer, she tells him to stop before Francis asks who Egg is, her only response is Egg was a new boy in the house, confusing him once again.
Malcolm first tries to injure his eye, and asks Reese to hit him, but he punches him in the stomach instead. He refuses to injure his eye because it will leave evidence, Malcolm concludes that he needs to move on to Plan B: Lying. In the kitchen, he makes up a fake book report thinking that if he volunteers small crime, it’ll distract his mom from looking for the real reason. Lois seemingly agrees but Malcolm knows she’s misleading him. She begins asking him several questions about the book and the criteria for the assignment, Malcolm attempts to keep pace with her but he is eventually caught after Lois turns the tables on him causing him to mess up the details. Malcolm admits that he doesn’t want to go to the funeral and wants to go to the concert with Julie, Reese comes in and says he’ll be waiting in the car. Lois expresses her disappointment in Malcolm for denying his Aunt Helen her due, but Malcolm says he’s not falling for her words because he’s now aware she hated Aunt Helen, Lois admits she hated her but that it doesn’t matter confusing him. Lois explains to Malcolm she doesn't care whether or not she liked Aunt Helen because it is their duty as her family to be there for her. Malcolm argues back that she can't just stick "family" in front of something and turn everyone into slaves and how little sense it makes that since no one liked Aunt Helen why they should pretend to now.
When Lois asks Hal for his backing up, he refuses to help her out after claiming he is giving up his entire day for the funeral and he's not complaining about it. Lois callously mentions it's just a bunch of records on his record player that he can listen to another time after the funeral he’s not giving up anything important, he is further offended by her words and reveals they are important to him. Lois is exasperated and offended by his words because it means no one cares about how she feels in the matter. Francis over the phone points out to her that it's not asking from their perspective, but rather ordering everyone around as if they owed her a favor, when in fact they really don't owe her at all. Lois slams the phone on the counter as Francis continues to listen in. Lois is now extremely angered by Hal and Malcolm's refusal to go to Aunt Helen's funeral and reminds them that after all the chores she does for the family, she shouldn't even have to ask. Hal, Lois and Malcolm hear Reese honking the horn trying to get them in the car so they can go to the funeral. That is ignored as the trio's anger is with each other. Hal then admits that instead of cleaning the gutters he would much rather be surfing European beaches or cruising on his hog. Lois sarcastically yells out what hog, with Hal mentions exactly his point in where's his hog. Fed up with everything she had to endure, Lois declares that they won't go to Aunt Helen's funeral and from now on: no one has to do anything they don’t want to. They can all do whatever they want and she wants to take a bubble bath. Hal agrees before storming out to the garage. This frees Malcolm from going to the funeral and gets ready for the concert, oblivious to the discord he has created.
Hiding in the bathroom to take a bubble bath, Lois tells Hal she's going to be in there all day if she feels like it. He tells her that's fine with him and doesn’t expect to hear any of her complaints over his music being too loud and once he’s finished he’s using the bathroom whether she’s still in the tub or not. When Reese appears asking Lois to attend the funeral of Aunt Helen, Lois knows Reese is up to something and tells him she doesn’t like whatever scheme he’s trying to pull. Reese wonders if he is the only one who cared about her, Lois agrees and says that he can be the good kid and to enjoy his moment in the sun before telling him to leave her to her alone time.
In the kitchen, Reese kicks a trash can over before blaming Malcolm for ruining his plans. He is upset that his own brother couldn't respect that he had a good idea and has now created anarchy. Malcolm claims he'll think of something, Reese defends that Malcolm has good ideas all the time but how it was special for him since they don’t happen as often, further offended because it meant Malcolm didn't care about Reese at all. He tells Reese to clean up the trash since Julie is coming. He refuses and reminds him that no one has to do anything anymore thanks to him. Malcolm shrugs it off and gets ready for his date with Julie, he asks Lois to wash a shirt for him. She says he must be joking, he begs her since she’s the only one who knows how to use the washer and dryer without getting shocked. Lois agrees but she simply dunks it in her bathwater.
Hal gets ready to listen to his records on his quadraphonic but upon seeing how overloaded with plugs the outlet in the den is concludes that it will get its own outlet. He plugs it into the outlet in the hallway, he then sees the spilled trash from Reese but remembers Lois’ words and how it’s not his problem. He turns on the quadraphonic and starts blasting the song "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel. Egg stares at Lois in the bath and she tells him to get her a loofah, Dewey says that Egg wants juice and reminds her she said he’s not supposed to get it himself. Lois declares that from now on Dewey is old enough to get his own juice. Dewey gets Egg some juice he accidentally spills and Lois tells him to clean it up. Dewey squirts an entire bottle of dish soap on the floor, and him and Egg making a mess of things by covering the entire kitchen floor in suds. Malcolm, meanwhile, is trying to dry off his shirt that is now drenched with bathwater and hopes that Julie will like the scent of green apple soap, only to realize that the dripping water from the shirt has also gotten his pants wet. After he finishes drying his shirt, he takes off his pants to begin drying them off too.
As Julie comes to pick up Malcolm, she is directed to his bedroom by Hal. However, Malcolm, still attempting to dry off his pants with the hairdryer, is standing in his room pants-less when Julie walks in, and she sees him standing in his tighty-whities. Disgusted, she runs out of the room only to trip over the cord Hal used to plug in his quadraphonic, fall onto the soapy kitchen floor of Dewey and Egg and slides into the trash can that Reese kicked over. Malcolm, having thrown his clothes back on, runs out of his room. Julie explains she just wanted to be nice and people advised her to stay away from Malcolm's house. Malcolm apologizes and explains how things aren’t usually the way they are. He asks her to give him a minute and he'll be ready to go. Julie rejects this, saying she no longer wants to go, and now she wants nothing to do with Malcolm anymore. She then leaves and never speaks to him again.
Malcolm turns off the record player in frustration. He rhetorically asks Hal how he could've let Julie see Malcolm in his underwear. Malcolm runs into the bathroom and tells Lois that things have gone too far and she can’t just do nothing. He explains that they’re not supposed to injure his friends or let people see him in his underpants, they’re supposed to be there for each other. Lois then brings up the similar situation of a family member dying and going to their funeral to be there for their grieving relatives, and how he earlier fought with her against going to Aunt Helen's funeral because his plans didn't allow it. Realizing the parallels, Malcolm goes to his room and feels guilty over dividing his family up and indirectly humiliating Julie.
The Wilkersons are now divided and are in the living room. Lois drinking tea, Hal eating cookies and playing with his Jell-O, Reese applying new tape to his hockey stick and Dewey plays with Egg.
In the boys' bedroom, a guilty and remorseful Malcolm calls Francis asking for his advice in what to do to fix this issue after telling him what happened with Julie sliding into the trash and running off, and now the family is falling apart and not even speaking to each other. Francis is elated by this news and mentions he knew the family being divided was going to happen sooner or later. He advises Malcolm to find a scapegoat, use him to let the family blame their problems, and absolve his guilt. Francis explains that whenever he's at home and with Lois blaming him for their problems as the scapegoat, he was able to keep them together. Without him or anyone else to blame their problems on, everything goes to hell and the Wilkersons don't know what to do with themselves and are giving each other the silent treatment. Malcolm thanks Francis for his help and hangs up. He realizes Francis is right: the family needs a scapegoat to blame all of their problems on. He concludes that since he started the conflict that tore the family apart, it’s only fair that he’s the one who ends it, and knows who will make the perfect scapegoat: Reese.
Hal and Lois both reach for the last cookie, before receding their arms. Coming into the living room, Malcolm addresses his family and apologizes for tearing them apart due to his selfish actions. This gets Lois's attention knowing he's taking responsibility for his mistake. However, Malcolm isn't finished. He tells them that what Reese did is much worse than him tearing his family apart. Despite his attempts to stop Malcolm, he grabs Reese's backpack and takes out the crushed Mighty Man toy from the backpack, exposing his plans to their parents. Picking up the toy, Lois furiously asks if this was Dewey's birthday present. This gets his attention and confirms it. Lois immediately confronts Reese for breaking the very expensive Mighty Man toy and wasting their money in doing so. Hal agrees and confronts him by taking his hockey stick and pointing out to Reese that it was a terrible thing to do to Dewey. A smug Malcolm reveals to him and Lois that Reese was so enthusiastic to attend Aunt Helen's funeral so he could stash the remains inside the coffin and they couldn't blame him without evidence. They are further appalled as Hal voices his anger at Reese’s intentions to make Aunt Helen spend eternity holding a crushed Mighty Man toy for his own amusement. Dewey is obviously very hurt that his birthday is ruined and will never get his present because of Reese. Hal and Lois both agree that it's a whole new low on his part. Reese stands up attempting to lie his way out of trouble by claiming it to be circumstantial and he had no idea how the toy got in his bag. However, Hal and Lois don't believe him and force him back onto the couch. Reese then reminds Lois that no one knows what he would've done at the funeral since the family isn't going. But Lois tells him that he can guess again and decides that they’re going to attend the funeral immediately and Reese will march right up to the coffin and apologize to Aunt Helen right away. Lois also announces that everyone in the family will do the same for her. Hal herds everyone (including Egg) into the car wearing the clothes they currently have on and if they drive creatively, they can make the ending of the funeral.
At Aunt Helen's funeral, Hal gives out a heartfelt and amusing speech about her life. This impresses the family, Egg and the funeral attendees. Lois is talking to Francis on the lawyer's phone and admits she's impressed with Hal's speech. He asks for his phone back and she tells that she's almost done. Lois then mentions to Francis how lovely Aunt Helen looks in the coffin and apologizes for her earlier behavior. While continuing her conversation with him, Reese is seen facing the wall with his nose to the corner as his punishment for ruining Dewey's present. He tries to turn away hoping to get a break. However, Lois immediately catches Reese in the act, loudly shouts at him to face the wall again and shocking everyone in the funeral. Fearing further punishment, he immediately turns back around. Lois decides to tell Francis the story about Reese's scheme in breaking the Mighty Man toy.
Malcolm claims it has been a pretty productive day, now he has Julie Houlerman hating him and Reese waiting to kick his ass when they get home. But he decides to help his elderly Uncle Louie by giving him some water because he needs someone to put in a good word for him just in case Aunt Helen decides to bad mouth him to God.
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[]
- Landry Albright as Julie Houlerman
Quotes[]
- Malcolm: But, it’s not half as bad. It’s what Reese did!
- [Lois had just gotten wind of Reese breaking Dewey's birthday present, thank to Malcolm taking the backpack and revealing the crushed Mighty Man toy as proof of his older brother's wrongdoing.]
- Lois: Oh my God! Was this Dewey's present?
- Dewey: Present?
- Lois: Reese, how could you? Do you know how expensive this was? HAL!
- Hal: I'm on it. [standing up and taking Reese's hockey stick] That was a terrible thing to do to your little brother.
- Malcolm: [smug] There's more. He was going to bury it with Aunt Helen.
- [Lois and Hal are further disgusted with Reese.]
- Hal: You were going to make Aunt Helen spend eternity with a crushed Mighty Man.
- Dewey: Mighty Man?!
- Lois: I can't believe you.
- Hal: This is a whole new low, Reese.
- Reese: [Attempts to stand up, but Hal and Lois force him back on the couch] First of all, this is all circumstantial. I don't know how that thing got in my backpack. And as for this Aunt Helen business, no one knows what I would've done at that funeral because we're not going.
- Lois: [convinced] Who says "we're" not going.
- Reese: You did!
- Lois: Well you can guess again. You're going to march right up to that coffin and apologize to that poor dead woman. (to Hal) We all are!
- Hal: All right everyone in the car as is we’ll have to drive creatively but we might make the end let’s go chop chop here we go! (Everyone heads out the door to car) (Egg still sitting in living room Hal comes back in) Egg! psst come on! (Takes Egg outside)
- Hal: [Standing at church altar podium giving speech] Aunt Helen used to say, [in a raspy voice] "Oh, you're going to miss me when I'm gone". And, uh, by the looks of today's turnout I could see it wasn't just an idle threat.
- Lois: [On cell phone talking to Francis] Yeah Francis, your father's giving out a speech and it's actually kind of good.
- Lawyer: Can I get my phone back?
- Lois: I'm almost done, sweetie. [continues talking to Francis] Oh, Aunt Helen looks just lovely.
- [Reese is seen with his back turned facing the corner and his nose to the wall as his punishment for breaking Dewey's birthday present as well as his intentions to stash the remains in Aunt Helen's coffin. He turns around thinking Lois hasn't seen him. Unfortunately, she busted him doing so and is angry at him.]
- Lois: [yelling at Reese] YOU TURN RIGHT BACK AROUND, MISTER!!!
- [Everyone else is shocked as Reese in fear turns around to face the wall.]
- Lois: [calmly to Francis] You'll never guess what Reese did.
- Malcolm: Well, it's been a pretty productive day. I made Julie Houlerman hate me. Reese is gonna kill me the second we get home, and right now Aunt Helen is personally bad-mouthing me to God. (picks up glass of water) You want some more water, Uncle Louie?
- Uncle Louie: Sure.
- Malcolm: I need someone to put in the good word for me. (Looks and smiles at Louie)
Trivia[]
- Erik Per Sullivan and Alexander Gould later appeared in Finding Nemo.
- Morals: Family events should never be ruined. Death is the end of life.
- This episode marks the final appearance of Julie Houlerman.
- The song that Hal plays on his stereo is "Stuck in the Middle with You" by Stealers Wheel.
- This episode marks the first time Hal called Lois out for her controlling ways. The next times that will follow is Traffic Ticket, Clip Show 2, Thanksgiving and in Softball.
- In this, he points out that no one (except Reese) wanted to go to Aunt Helen's funeral because of how cruel she was all her life. That the family have other plans they want to do.
- A bug can be seen crawling down the wall, just over Reese's left shoulder as he is saying "It's anarchy, baby!"
- This marks the first episode where Dewey's birthday is mentioned and/or ruined. The next episodes that follow it are Malcolm's Girlfriend, Baby Part 1, Kitty's Back and Morp.
- Francis's advice in using a scapegoat is used here.
- This episode originally had a different cold opening scene where Hal comes home with dinner in bags but after calling out to the boys, they savagely rip apart the bags like wolves to get their food. After they’re gone Hal takes a burger out of his coat only to have it stolen by Dewey.
- Irony: Malcolm learns a hard lesson in causing a rift in his family with his own needs to attend a concert with Julie.