Jury Duty is the twentieth episode of the third season of Malcolm in the Middle, which was broadcast on May 1, 2002.
Summary[]
With Lois on jury duty, Hal decides to solve the murder case he thinks she is working on. Meanwhile, Reese reveals a hidden talent after he, his brothers and Stevie get lost in the sewer and things get heated during an ice fishing trip.
Plot[]
In the cold opening, Hal finds objects buried in the backyard and creates an archaeological digging site through the backyard and revealing all of the boys' misdeeds in breaking his vinyl record of Frampton Comes Alive!, his watch, etc. Malcolm, Reese and Dewey watches on nervously as he uncovers more evidences of their wrongdoings. But are thankful they repaved the drive way last year since buried underneath lies the most severe evidence.
Lois is angered over having to serve jury duty on a week she specifically asked them not to. Hal claims that spring break is coming up and he can't be expected to take care of the boys for the next week. He tells Lois she needs to refuse. She states that's not an option, and Hal decides to take matters in his own hands to attempt to convince the court to let her out of it. This ends with Lois serving jury duty anyway after his undisclosed shenanigans.
In Alaska, Eric, Artie and Pete are preparing to have a guys' weekend ice fishing in a shack together. Francis shows up and tells them to make room for four people. When Eric asks him how he got Piama's permission, Francis reveals that he doesn't need it, but that he tricked her into a fight so she'd kick him out temporarily.
Dewey is annoyed when Malcolm and Reese come home later than normal. He reminds them that they were supposed to exploring to the sewers and reminds them of the promise that he done to cover for them whenever Lois got suspicious. Malcolm tells Dewey that they will after they tell him something important. Reese mentions that while they and Stevie were getting a few things that they need to explore the sewers with, they caught Kitty naked in the shower. She screamed in terror and tried to cover herself up with the shower curtains, but they could still see through them. Stevie screamed in terror having to see his mom naked. Reese screamed for a bit and then he mentions she is attractive. Dewey is not phased by this and tells them that a poor excuse for their lateness. He reminds Malcolm and Reese that Lois parades around naked all the time. To him, it's not surprising since she's unashamed by this nudity unlike Kitty. Reese tells Dewey if he doesn't stop mentioning about Lois being naked, he's going to beat Dewey up.
The next day, Hal mentions that the boys gone to the library with Stevie. Lois is suspicious because of the past misbehavior and mayhem they've caused. Hal tells her that he knows that look too well and that they would've come up with a better excuse if they were going to cause trouble. He asks Lois about the case she's working on. She tells Hal that she's not allowed to discuss it because of the oath she took the information is classified. He believes it's the high-profiled Reyes' murder case Lois was assigned to after noticing a newspaper clipping concerning it. Without telling her that he knows, Hal thanks Lois.
Meanwhile, the boys begin exploring the sewers, only to realize they all have different ideas of what turns they've made, and are thus lost.
In an ice-fishing shed, Francis is bored out of his mind. He asks how long it takes to catch a single fish, and Pete admits he's been ice fishing all his life and never caught one. Francis suggests getting to know each other better. Eric goes first and gets a little too personal, while Artie isn't much better. Soon, the group are trapped with a grizzly bear outside. The group decides someone should run for the truck to get help. They argue over who should risk it. Soon the three trick Pete to facing the bear, only for him to reach the truck and willfully abandon Eric, Francis, and Artie forcing them to walk back .
In the jury room, Lois's case is really for a stolen motorcycle involving a teen named Marty, and not the high profiled case like Hal believed. Despite her initial verdict of guilty, she finds out that her fellow jurors just want declare the defendant guilty and go home. They refuse to analyze the case and debate that issue with Lois. Annoyed over the idea that they're abdicating their responsibilities, Lois refuses to let the other jurors leave by changing her verdict intentionally, forcing them to properly analyze the case. When they finally debate the facts, she realizes that she's been comparing Marty to Francis the whole time, and is too involved in this case and has to take herself out of it. The annoyed jurors finally agree to have Lois leave the jury.
At the house, Hal is making a timeline chart of Reyes' murder case. Abe comes in and reminds him that they were supposed to have lunch together. Hal apologizes and explains that was making a timeline of the case that Lois is presumably on. Abe immediately realizes that it's Reyes' murder case and asks him if she knows something about it. Hal mentions that she didn't tell him because of the oath she took. He had to dig up information from previous news reports. Thus for the rest of the day the two spent time talking about their own theories. Eventually they recreate a possible murderer running across town and stabbing the victim in an alley. A nearby witness screams at the fake knife attack, causing them to run away.
Lois begs the judge to give her another case, but he refuses. He points out that he's not responsible for the scheduling. Lois begs him once more, unaware that Hal is being arrested behind her by the bailiff. The judge agrees to do what he can, as long as she stops bothering him.
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmerek 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[]
- Eric Nenniger as Eric
- John Ennis as Artie
- Sandy Ward as Pete
- Craig Lamar Taylor as Stevie
- Gary Anthony Williams as Abe
Cameos[]
- George Wyner as Foreman Fred
- Bonita Friedericy as Susan
- Carlease Burk as Janice
- Byrne Offuft as Ben
- Thomas Lumberg Jr. as Amos
- Sean G. Griffin as Judge
- Dennis Cockrum as Police Officer
- EJ De La Pena as Boy
- Ashley Tisdale as Girl(credited as Ashley Michelle Tisdale)
Trivia[]
- This is Pang-Ni Landrum's first and only solo credit. In the earlier episodes, she was credited alongside her co-writer, Maggie Bandur.
- Hal and Abe argue about the case in this back alley here.[1]
- Originally, Lois was to explain to Hal the main reason she can't get out of serving jury duty is because of the deal she has with the judge avoid jail time for the earlier incident with Lillian Miller in Book Club. This was dropped to cut down on airing time.
- This episode is a parody to the courtroom drama story 12 Angry Men.
- Lois's role is parallel to Juror #8 in 12 Angry Men as she is the only person to take her job seriously to discuss the case and decide fairly while the others vote majority to leave quickly.
- Lois also shared parallel with Juror #3 as like Juror #3, as they almost made a bias decision based on seeing their defendants to be their sons whom walked out on them after having fights with.
- While in 12 Angry Men, Juror #8 managed to get everyone to vote "Not Guilty," Lois instead was realized of her bias of comparing the defendant as her son, Francis, and it was voted to excuse her from the jury.