Ida Loses a Leg is the fourteenth episode of Season 6 and the 121st episode overall of Malcolm in the Middle. It aired on March 20, 2005.
Plot[]
During Grandma Ida's unwelcome visit with the family, she loses her leg while saving Dewey from a moving truck. Consumed with guilt, Dewey is determined to find Ida's leg and give it the proper burial. Francis, on the other hand, begrudgingly becomes the caretaker for his stubborn, cranky grandmother at Lois' admonition. He soon learns that not only he and Ida both despise Lois, but she was responsible for leaving him at his grandmother's house. Meanwhile, Malcolm and Reese get a new idea for a prank that forces them to stay awake for days on end to avoid the embarrassment of having their faces glued to the floor (which causes them to glue themselves in the floor anyway).
Synopsis[]
During Grandma Ida's unwelcome visit with the family, she loses her leg while saving Dewey from a moving truck. The next day, Hal warns the boys to behave themselves because Lois has put him in charge of them. He points out that she still has a hard time trusting him to watch them while she is gone is because he failed to bust them for hiding fireworks in the backyard and thus he was punished for having not caught this.
Meanwhile, Malcolm and Reese both simultaneously get a new idea for a prank which involves gluing their faces to the floor. Unfortunately, since both expects the other to do the same, they end up staying awake for several days so the other won't have a chance to do it. Eventually Malcolm tells Reese this prank has to stop because it's endangering both of their lives. He mentions that he had been called in the principal's office a couple of time because he's flunking his classes due to sleep deprivation. Reese agrees and admits he fell asleep in beating up some kid, which resulted in everyone laughing at him. No sooner that they shake hands, the two struggle to get the other's faced super-glued.
In Manitoba, Francis begrudgingly becomes the caretaker for his stubborn, cranky grandmother at Lois' admonition. Ida claims she doesn't need his help and would rather have Dewey taking care of her since he owes her his life. This sentiment is shared by Francis who doesn't want to stay in the apartment. Lois refuses to let up and insists that he stays in the apartment regardless. She points out that unlike the rest of the family, Francis has neither a job nor any other responsibilities and thus she relegated him to taking care of Ida. Ida screams to she doesn't need help, causing a fight between her and Francis.
Consumed with guilt, Dewey is determined to find Ida's leg and give it the proper burial. Hal warns him against it because it would always end up being in trash like all the other legs. Determined, Dewey pretends to be a secretary of Dr. Weiss and claiming he was drunk the day of surgery which caused him to leave his wedding ring in the leg. He even uses his home address to get it delivered there.
In Manitoba, Lois is frustrated over Francis and Ida's continual fighting. This time over an episode of Star Trek with her spoiling it for him. Fed up, Lois orders the two to behave themselves at once. Lois tells Francis that she has to return to California soon and that she needs someone there to take care of Ida when she's gone. He soon learns that not only he and Ida both despise Lois for being a control freak, but she left him at his grandmother's house for six months since she couldn't deal with him. She tries to explain that the family was going through a rough time because Hal was transferring jobs and Reese was already a problem at home. Francis is furious that Lois had already tried to get rid of him before he'd been forced to join military school.
Dewey receives a bunch of severed legs from the hospital. A call from Lois reveals that Ida wears a similar size 8 shoe like her. In his attempt at a leg funeral, Hal gets Dewey a dog that he wants. He protests against it calling Hal an idiot for bringing it to a leg funeral. The dog takes Ida's severed leg into the crawlspace and eats it. Hal agrees to get rid of the dog, if Dewey gets rid of the other severed legs.
In the boys bedroom, Malcolm asks Stevie for a favor in keeping look out for Reese while he naps for an hour. The latter shows up and the two get into a fight over who he's allied with. Malcolm and Reese are now so determined to not let the other win they end up gluing their own faces to the floor. Afterwards, the two fall asleep and Stevie puts them both into awkward positions before leaving.
In Manitoba, Lois finally apologizes for making Francis' life miserable in leaving him with Ida and shipping him off to Marlin Academy was a mistake. She admits she did a lousy job in raising him and the fact she didn't do the same to his brothers actually makes it worse. Francis is blown away by the sincere apology, not only because he's hearing the words he's always wanted to hear but because he doesn't feel better for hearing them. He starts to freak out over not feeling any kind of resolution or closure, so Lois offers him most of her money claiming she only needs $30 for the bus ride home. He takes it, and starts to feel a little better.
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[]
Recurring[]
- James and Lukas Rodriguez as Jamie
- Cloris Leachman as Ida
- Craig Lamar Taylor as Stevie.
Cameos[]
- Tara Page as Contortionist girl (deleted role)
- ???? as Truck driver.
Trivia[]
- Lois finally admits that it was a big mistake sending Francis to military school.
- Tara Page had a role in this episode that was never shown.
- After Book Club, it's established that Lois had a hard time trusting Hal to be alone with the boys.
- The Russian song used when Ida runs to save Dewey is "Traffic in Moscow" by Limpopo.
- The Star Trek episode Ida and Francis watch is "The Devil in the Dark", in which a living rock creature, known as a Horta, interferes with a mining operation.
- Originally after getting rid of Champion, Hal comes in the boys' bedroom and lets them know that Lois is coming home soon. On the brink of deprivation, Malcolm and Reese see a solution to their problems and superglue his face to the floor. After Stevie leaves, they both fall asleep despite Hal's warning that they will face grounding from Lois once she's home.
- Lois comes home to see Hal's face superglued to the floor. As she struggles to get him loose, she yells out what happened. This ends up waking up Malcolm and Reese who still have superglue tubes on hand. Seeing this, Lois grounds them for their misbehavior again. This was dropped to cut airing time.
Quotes[]
- [Lois is frustrated as Francis and Ida continue fighting.]
- Francis: I don't care if you knew the end of that Star Trek episode. I didn't and you ruined it. You can't let anyone be happy!
- Ida: SHUT UP, MONKEY!!!!! Anyone with half-a-brain could see the rocks were alive.