Ida's Dance is the eighteenth episode of Season 6 and the 125th episode overall of Malcolm in the Middle. It aired on April 17, 2005.
Plot[]
In the opening, Reese receives a notice from the school stating that Reese is suspended from school, which he tears up, puts it in a bowl, pours chocolate sauce on it and started feeding it to Jamie. Malcolm arrives and wonders what he is doing. Reese reveals that their mother started going through the trash, so his idea is to feed Jamie the notes from school so he wouldn't get in trouble.
Lois goes over to visit Ida, but gets unpleasantly surprised by the St. Grotus Day festival from "the old country", where Ida and her elderly friends make Lois miserable and force her to bake a huge and complicated tart (and bringing one of their own just to piss her off). In retaliation, she humiliates them by stomping on both tarts and angers Ida. To make it up to her, Lois and Ida perform an old dance of Croatian origins. Malcolm fails a music appreciation course, and reluctantly goes to Dewey for some tutoring, who enjoys the situation but then, Malcolm causes them both to become temporarily deaf.
In the master bedroom, Hal uses a moist towelette to bathe Jamie and that if Lois asks he’s had a bath. Reese and Hal secretly watch scary movies while Lois is not around, but it ends up terrifying Hal. The next morning, Hal is on edge pouring coffee and when Malcolm comes in he pulls a knife on him in shock. Malcolm now terrified says that he only wanted to trade his fruit roll-up for a strawberry flavoured one. Hal apologizes and agrees but asks him next time to ask for it like a man instead of sneaking up on him. Malcolm now on edge as well decides to come back later. As he leaves Reese enters and shows his dad the movie for that night “They Peeled My Face” and how the director went to jail for using real corpses. Hal says he wants to talk about movie night and Reese agrees but admits he was reluctant to do so because he thought it was gay to talk about feelings. He reveals that he used to feel bad that he and Hal never spend any time together and now that he finds out that the one thing he likes the most that everyone else thought was creepy his dad likes too and how great it is. Hal decides to feign his enjoyment of the movies not wanting to hurt Reese’s feelings before he leaves the kitchen.
In the kitchen, Malcolm loudly states that although now both Dewey and himself are both deaf, it’s okay because they’ve had a while to practice and they’re pretty confident they can hide it from their father. Hal comes in and tells them he’s going to hide the TV until their mother gets back and he plans to tell Reese it was stolen by junkies desperate for a quick fix and if he ever suspects they didn’t hear it from him. But he sees Reese coming outside and takes the TV into the kitchen. Reese comes in and tells his dad that the guy at the video store finally admitted that they have a secret room behind the snuff films and he’s going down to check it out. Hal lifting the TV so it’s hidden behind the kitchen cupboards says it sounds like a plan before Reese leaves. Hal asks Malcolm and Dewey for a hand but unfortunately he is unaware that they cannot hear him. Hal then accidentally smashes the TV screen and falls to the floor. Despite screaming for help to save him from the glass shards falling towards his eyes Malcolm and Dewey obliviously eat their sandwiches.
Back at the St. Grotus Day festival. Lois asks Ida if dressing in traditional dress makes up for everything she did. Ida wonders if she’s supposed to be impressed, but Lois told her she was close to quitting between the first and second corset. Ida says if she wants to dance, then they’ll dance before removing her prosthetic leg claiming how she won’t dance with it since it only gets in the way. Gorga announces the dance of Wushny Sabor where mistakes are long remembered. As four men bring out wooden boards and beat them together, Ida jumps between them on one leg flawlessly. When Lois’ turn comes up she also does so flawlessly even as the boards are beaten together at the level of her head. She goes over to Ida and they share a toast to “Noroc”. Gorga announces the next stage of the dance with the use of sharp lato vlatnis, as sharp as a Cossacks heart and sharp as a raven's beak. Lois isn’t happy claiming how she hates doing the dance with the knives.
In the boys bedroom Hal screams at Malcolm and Dewey for not helping him and how he assumes they think their father getting killed by a TV is funny and states they will be grounded for the rest of their lives. Malcolm admits that he can't hear a single word Hal is saying and how after an hour of screaming at them he spit a piece of glass into his lap and he could only admire his level of perseverance. Hal announces that they will be grounded so long that their children, and their children’s children will grow up grounded in the house. Malcolm still can’t understand him, but judging by the colour of his face he realizes that asking for the car that weekend would be nothing shy of a fool's errand. Reese comes in and tells Hal he's got a surprise for him.
In the living room Reese shows Hal an expensive 72 inch TV along with several speakers he bought and they can use the system until Lois comes home. Afterwards they'll return it to the store tell them it was defective and get a refund for it and it'll be so real that they'll actually feel like they're inside the victims torso. Hal asks Reese to sit down and admits to Reese that the movies are torture for him and he has chewed blisters into his fingers, cannot sleep and is afraid of everything. But he says he does love Reese and spending time with him. Reese understands and how it is similar to himself and baseball. He reminds Hal of when he was so excited to teach him baseball when he was six, and Reese just didn’t have the heart to tell him how bored he was. Hal assumed he liked it and brings up the happy he look on his face when he got him his first mitt, but Reese says it’s the same face he uses when he gets underwear for Christmas. Reese assures his dad that it's not so bad since they're both liars but for a good cause. Hal brings up a camping trip he thought was stupid, but Reese informs him that he actually loved the camping trip, Hal quickly corrects himself.
The following morning, Dewey enters the kitchen and is greeted by Lois who has just returned from her trip. Upon hearing her voice, Dewey is overjoyed that he can hear again and gives her a hug, which she returns. In the boys bedroom Malcolm is asleep until he is awakened by birds chirping which annoys him at first until he realizes that his hearing has returned as well. He decides to celebrate by listening to the CD which he listens to in silence, while listening he sees that music doesn’t make him feel anything.
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
- Bryan Cranston as Hal
- Christopher Masterson as Francis (credit only)
- Justin Berfield as Reese
- Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey
- Frankie Muniz as Malcolm
Guest Stars[]
Recurring[]
- Cloris Leachman as Ida
Cameos[]
- Bess Meisler as Gorga
- Lorna Raver as Big Kathy
- Lilyan Chauvin as Marica
Trivia[]
- The dance Ida and Lois perform is called Tinikling. Although it is presented as being found in Balkan culture, it actually has its roots in the Philippines.
- This is the second episode in which Dewey goes deaf. The first time was after Malcolm blew up the bouncy castle, scaring everyone in Malcolm's Girlfriend.