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Lois Wilkerson (née Welker; formerly Gogorsky) (November 12, 1962) is the mother of Malcolm and his brothers and wife of Hal Wilkerson.

History

In Lois' past, Ida and Victor had been abusive to her and believing her to be weak all her life. This has lead to her being an absolute control freak after witnessing them favoring Susan. The friction between Lois and her family escalated when Hal chose to marry her against their and his own family's wishes for him to marry Susan. Since then, everyone blamed Susan's unmarried status on her for marrying him.

Lois used to be a kind and caring mother while raising Francis, revealed in Clip Show 2. When she had to go to the hospital during her Staph Infection scare due to Reese's uncontrollable kicking in the womb, she was worried about him asking about her and Hal being unable to be a parent to him. By the time she got home having recovered from it, Lois found out that Francis didn't care that she was gone and that Hal had been a dutiful parent. After this, she became overbearing control freak and a tough bully. This did not help Francis or the other boys to behave, and she made it worse. She is also always stubbornly right, to the point of being unable to say that she was wrong until Hal confronts her for it. It was also shown that she is overbearing and mad as a result of her sons' bad behavior, and not her pure hate.

Part of this also stems from how out-of-control Francis was as an infant. Even as a baby, he was able to constantly defy her and cause lots of trouble. Lois was shown to be unwilling to yell at him or discipline him because she was scared of causing him emotional harm. It was only after she caught him playing with lighter fluid and about to start a fire that she became assertive by burning his teddy bear in the fireplace right in front of him. It did not change Francis, but made him worse why she was a terrible parent. This was brought up when Jamie began exhibiting similar behavior and was revealed as the root cause of Francis' emotional problems.

Lois has planned for most of her sons' futures, including that of Malcolm's since she believes he would finally fulfill the dreams that she never got to do. It was because of her being unable to finish college that lead to her not being able to fulfill her dream as a US President. She also understood it was her poor decisions that she and Hal both made in marrying too soon and being grossly unprepared to do finances that lead to the family's poor status. The only son Lois didn't plan for his future is Reese because no matter how hard she tries to rehabilitate him and get him ready for the real world, he would still be the same degenerate delinquent he is. Thus, she has given up on trying to get him to care for his future

Lois is greatly despised by the neighbors to the point that they refuse to invite her to their gatherings, revealed in New Neighbors, Block Party and Mono. Unlike Malcolm, Lois is not bothered by it and tries her best to blend in with them. The neighbors sees past her attempt as a means to try and curry their favor. Lois has been directly responsible for chasing away previous neighbors with her continual confrontations. Thus, the neighbors see her as an overbearing and obnoxious control freak and celebrate the days she is sick.

In Victor's Other Family, Lois finally learns the truth about Ida's affair with Radu Gogorsky and that he is her birth father, not Victor who fathered Susan. Horrified and angered at her for lying all those years, Lois tells her mother off that no matter how much she tries to look at the positives, Ida will always be a monster.

Family

Hal Wilkerson

Lois loves Hal very much and is very devoted and supportive of him. She gets frustrated when she feels like he doesn't do enough housework around the house and will tell him off when he does foolish, childish things. She will listen to Hal's advice more than anyone else, even if she thinks she is right. Hal has the ability to talk sense into Lois when she is feeling frustrated and angry at the children. Lois and Hal argue a lot, but always make up.

Francis Wilkerson

Lois' eldest son and one of her most problematic sons aside Reese and Jamie. The start of their bad relationship started when Lois had to go to the hospital because of a staph infection and had to leave Francis with Hal and she constantly worried about Francis and when she got back home a week later she found out that Francis was fine and did not seem to miss her even though he was just a little infant, Lois being petty and narcissistic took it personally and vowed to make Francis life a living hell. She had earlier planned for Francis to take on a government job. This episode Lois vs Jamie, reveals the cause of Francis' later bad behavior, including not being concerned for Lois while she was at the hospital: Lois burned his teddy bear while reprimanding him for playing with fire. That didn’t change Francis bad behavior , it made him worse. Why Lois failed as a mother when she became a tyrant. He rebelled against her wishes, which causes most of the fighting. Francis got his nose pierced in retaliation for being told not to by Lois. However it wasn't until his arrest in for burning the neighbor's car and having sex with his previous girlfriend, that she shipped him off to Marlin Academy. After he got emancipated in Houseboat, Lois was so enraged over Francis quitting school against her wishes to go to Alaska and work as a logger that she spent most of Emancipation ignoring him. By Graduation, Francis procures a job at a computer company sorting computer chips and hasn't told her about it because he equally enjoys making her mad by telling her that he's unemployed.

Reese Wilkerson

Lois' elder son and Francis' younger brother. Reese is another of Lois' problematic children. In Clip Show 2, he is directly responsible for her Staph infection due to the his uncontrollable kicking. Out of her sons, Lois hates Reese the most because he resembles Ida in causing trouble, being greedy and manipulative. This was supported in Garage Sale when she realized the kind of person he truly is and yelled at him for throwing away $1,300 the family needs to finish their expansion. After this, Lois has truly given up on Reese and simply wants him out of her life. Despite the hatred, she has come to his defense whenever he needed help against a sociopathic teacher and a group of girls who played a horrible trick on him.

Malcolm Wilkerson

Lois' middle son. He is the one she favors the most since she believes he would finally fulfil the dreams that she never got to do. She doesn’t cut him any slack and punish him all the time to ensure her control over him. Malcolm and Lois hate each other. It was because of her being unable to finish college that lead to her not being able to fulfil her dream as a US President and thus she hoped Malcolm would find his successes as one, albeit being a much more harder path. He doesn't share her affections and hates Lois like all of his brothers Like them, Malcolm has blamed her for their miserable lives just because she and Hal couldn't take responsibility over their own mistakes. She almost never let's him have any joy as she views Malcolm Primary goal at all times is to ensure he lives up to his potential and views indulging in such things was what ruined everything for her and Hal.

Dewey Wilkerson

Lois' younger son. She and Dewey have a strained relationship. Lois on numerous occasions has completely ignored Dewey such as in "Malcolm's Job" when she didn't even know Dewey was absent from dinner and will harshly punish him when he breaks the rules such as in "Bowling". It is revealed that Lois has ignored Dewey since he was an infant as revealed in "Morp" when she tells Dewey she took almost no pictures of him when he was infant, willingly missed out on many of his class events, even did not get him vaccinated and expresses no regret over it whatsoever. The only time Lois did regret it was back in Forwards Backwards because she and Hal were very angry at Malcolm and Reese. Dewey seems to dislike Lois to a degree as well and enjoys getting in trouble alongside his brothers and pissing her off, however he is the only one to recognize that Lois can be reasonable if you don't push her buttons. Dewey once even betrayed Lois in "Motivational Speaker" and began hanging out with a better mom but in the end got her name tattooed on his chest to prove that he does love her.

Jamie Wilkerson

Lois' Youngest son. Jamie has learned to hate Lois at a very young age and just shares the same opinions for her that his brothers do. In the episode "Reese vs. Stevie", Lois spent days talking on and on to Jamie, trying to get him to talk. Jamie was being driven crazy by her endless yammer, to the point where his first words were similar to Francis' own to her, "Shut up." Jamie is a lot better at manipulating Lois than his brothers. In "Lois Battles Jamie", Jamie was causing Lois a lot of trouble, being able to drive her to the very brink of tolerance and pushing her to even consider giving up. Lois, however, learned to reign dominance upon Jamie again, realizing that she had the same trouble with Francis, years back.

Piama Wilkerson

Lois' daughter-in-law and Francis' wife. She and Piama didn't get along originally in Hal's Birthday. Unlike the boys and Hal, she has shown no fear and often got into Lois' face when she goes on a screaming tirade. She finally accepts Piama as part of her family after going through a terrible time with Hal's family in Family Reunion and they've gotten along since then.

Ida Welker

Lois' evil chain-smoking mother and the boys' grandmother. It's stated that she and Ida have a terrible relationship. Ida disrespects her and insults her whenever she gets a chance and has absolutely no love to share with her. She often blames Lois for making Victor leave her mainly because he is disgusted by her and even Ida. Ida even went as far as to almost sue her for everything she had after falling on her property. (Grandma Sues) Lois deeply despises when her mother visits the family and cannot wait to be rid of her and is so stressed by her visits that her sons are able to get away with trouble easily. Although they never seem to have any positive interactions with each other, Lois seems to still show some kind of care for her deep down. Ida, on the other hand, doesn't return the favor. It is revealed that Ida has mistreated and abused Lois her entire life and saw her as inferior to her younger, more talented sister, Susan Welker and Lois has always wanted to be better for that reason. However in Lois' Sister, Susan pointed out that Lois took the animosity between them and Ida to a new level by marrying Hal for herself. Ida resented Lois for stealing him away from Susan and mistreated her further since then. One time, Lois was talking about her childhood to Jamie and explained that throughout her whole childhood, she's been trying to be something she's not because her mother continuously tried to make her act that way, using the success of her sister as an influence. It was at this point, she made a breakthrough and realized that her mother was the source of all her problems and that all the stress and anxiety in her childhood boiled down to her. (Reese vs. Stevie) On some extremely rare occasions, the two of them manage to get along and have a nice moment such as in the episodes "Ida's Dance" and "Victor's Other Family" although these moments do not last very long. Lois was enraged to learn that Ida had lied to her all her life and that she wasn't legally married to Victor.

Victor Welker

Before Radu Gogorsky was revealed to be Lois' birth father, Victor had been her father. Like Ida, Victor has been abusive to her all her life. It's even hinted that he had suspected that she was another man's child and that Ida had an affair while he was gone. He only came back to Ida because of Susan whom he loved with his heart. Victor hated both her and Lois all the time and often returned to Sylvia and Roberta. Like Hal's family and Ida, Victor was against him marrying Lois believing he wouldn't properly care for her due to his immaturity. He had wished that Hal had married Susan because she was higher class and talented.

Susan Welker

Lois' younger half-sister. She and Lois have a strained relationship, which began in early childhood. Susan was treated like a princess by Victor and Ida, while she was treated like crap. This made Lois resentful towards her over the years. The resentment escalated when Hal chose to marry her against everyone's wishes for him to marry Susan. In Lois' Sister, their relationship hasn't changed a bit. While she treats the boys kindly and offers them gifts, Susan is resentful over Lois stealing Hal from her and lets her know how disappointed both of their families were in their choice to marry. When she learned Susan was dying from cancer and never told anyone about it, Lois offered her one of her kidneys. Susan refused to accept them, believing Lois is doing this to keep ahead of their competition. She begrudgingly accepts the kidney. Their relationship hasn't improved in Graduation and Susan was implied to have given Ida her ticket because she is still mad at Lois for foiling her chances at death.

Personality

Lois is a hard-working mother who is very devoted to her husband and children. She has a problem with anger and frustration, but that is because she has to balance holding down a job and being in charge of the house and disciplining the children as well. Having to balance such a heavy mental and emotional load causes Lois to have outburst of rage sometimes, because she feels frustrated and exhausted, and overwhelmed by the impulsive behaviour and bad decisions that Hal and her sons frequently make. She is so stressed, in one episode when she gets a massage, she bursts into tears because it feels so good.  

Lois has a lot of regret about the poor decisions that she has made in life and sometimes wishes that she never had children and had pursed a career as a concert violinist instead. In the episode about her birthday, she asks Hal and the boys to show her a little more respect and do more chores around the house. Hal responded that was never going to happen, and that all they could promise her was total obedience.  

Lois has trouble accepting letting things go and accepting that she can be wrong sometimes. This is due in part because Hal lets Lois play the role of the "bad cop" and leaves her to discipline the children on her own. Being forced into that position has caused Lois to develop a controlling nature. She keeps a watchful eye over her sons, because she knows that they have a habit of acting out and making poor decisions. Lois often has very good reasons for losing her cool with her kids. She wants them to grow up to be good people, but they often do terrible things, like steal cars or push old women over. Lois has shown to be very loyal towards Hal and her children. She is quick to defend them and always tries her best to be a good mother and raise her children to be good people.

Trivia

  • Lois appeared calmer in the later seasons. In the earlier seasons, she had often been screaming like a banshee.
  • Lois has been arrested more times than Hal has.
    • Her first arrest is in Traffic Ticket.
    • Her 2nd arrest is in Book Club when she and the other moms tried to vandalize her car. She later had a deal with the judge to serve jury duty for a stolen motorcycle case as per the agreement in Jury Duty.
    • Her 3rd arrest is in Monkey when she was seen chasing Reese up a tree for breaking her car window and the police were called in by the neighbors.
    • Her 4th arrest is in Reese Comes Home when she was brought back home by the Army recruiters for making a scene with her yelling and assaulting them, despite her revealing that Reese was underage.
    • Her final arrest was in Halloween and she was wrongly accused for kidnapping another child, unaware that Reese was the one who left Jamie at Mr. Sheldon's home.
    • Her only joint arrest with him is in Halloween Approximately
  • In The Grandparents, it's revealed the reason that Victor and Ida hated Lois all her life was because they perceived her to be a weak willed daughter. They also resent Malcolm because they believed he was spoiled by her and thus has inherited all of her weak traits.
    • This is supported in Garage Sale after the horrible visit with Susan. She believed Reese was just as unmotivated as she was. Lois found out just how similar he is to Ida and how little he cared for anything else other than himself. After this, she gave up on Reese and refocused her attention to Malcolm.
  • In the season 7 episode "Halloween", Lois hates celebrating the holiday in the later years because of the boys' misbehavior in the neighborhood that results in their arrest. Thus, she prefers working at Lucky Aide in the later years to avoid anything to do with her sons' misbehavior.
  • Lois' wishes to have a girl in the family is supported in If Boys Were Girls. As she is the only girl in the family, it had been hard on her since Hal only wanted boys.
    • She was given a chance to experience her life with them in her fantasy. At first, everything started out nice and pleasant with Mallory, Renee and Daisy behaving like angels. Near the end, she started experiencing the negative side to having girls.
    • The closest she had to having a daughter is Jessica, revealed in Pearl Harbor and in Jessica Stays Over.
    • In the last scene to feature Lois in the series finale, it is revealed that she is pregnant again, meaning it's possible that she may get the daughter she wanted.
  • Lois' wishes to not have anymore children was revealed in Reese's Party. She wanted to stop having children after being drained from dealing with her two troublesome sons, Francis and Reese. Lois asked Hal to get a vasectomy, but he refused fearing infertility and wanted to keep having boys. By the time Malcolm, Dewey and Jamie were born, she was already drained and had negative views on children itself. Lois had wished that she and Hal had waited a few years before having children of their own. If they had waited to have Malcolm, Dewey and Jamie instead of having Francis and Reese, her views towards children would've been more positive.
  • Lois has been fired twice from Lucky Aide. The first time by an arrogant boss named Mr. Pinter whom fired her out of spite for being originally up for a promotion. The 2nd time was in Reese Joins the Army: Pt. 1, when she accidentally gave a customer the wrong change due to the stress of having to deal with Hal's arrest.
  • One of the reasons why she became a harsh parent was because of how little Francis worried about her, revealed in Clip Show 2, even when she was suffering her Staph Infection scare from Reese's uncontrollable kicking. After this, she toughened up and became harsh towards him. Reese proved to be just as uncontrollable as Francis around Lois, except that he obviously never learns from his mistakes.
  • In the season 3 episode Christmas, Lois hates celebrating the holidays whenever it comes around is because of the boys' previous misbehavior.
    • The first misbehavior came when Malcolm, Reese and Dewey were little boys. Hal had just came home as Santa to give out presents. Reese sprayed him with silly string an blinded Hal. Malcolm tripped him with the rope and causing him to fall down. Dewey gathered the presents and gave them to his older brothers. As the boys were leaving, he returned to kick Hal in the stomach. This misbehavior earned Lois' wrath because of it.
    • The second misbehavior was when the boys made a mess in the living room by playing in the fake snow, causing Lois to yell at them.
    • The third misbehavior came when the boys set fire to the Christmas tree caused by their latest prank in over stuffing the electrical sockets. Hal was trying to get her out of the house by rolling over and calling the fire department. Lois ignores him, demanding that the boys come out of hiding and face proper punishment from her at once.
    • Their 4th misbehavior came when Lois busted Malcolm and Reese tying a Christmas stocking on Dewey's head tightly and poking him with fire pokers. This lead to Lois yelling at the two again and using scissors to cut the stocking loose to free Dewey's head.
    • Their last misbehavior is the one that drove Lois over the edge. After busting them for breaking Christmas ornaments, she decided enough is enough. Lois tells the boys off that she is sick and tired of bribing them to behave and issues out an ultimatum: behave so the family will have a proper Christmas or else she will cancel it completely.
  • In Day Care, Seth was the only child outside her family to have broken Lois completely by getting her into trouble at work while she was watching him.
  • In Emancipation, Lois reveals that she had big plans for Francis' future.
    • Graduation supports this and why Lois had planned for most of her sons' futures. As Francis was a natural leader, she envisioned him taking on a congressman's position. However, he rebelled by quitting school and living a similar life to Hal's own. For Malcolm, it was a US president and would care about the people around him. Dewey being a rich musician. Jamie possibly in a government job.
    • Out of her boys, Lois didn't plan for Reese's future. She knows that no matter how hard she tries to rehabilitate him and get him ready for the real world, Reese would remain the same degenerate delinquent he is. Lois told him off that the moment he graduates form high school and starts his janitorial job, he's going to move out of their house and into Craig's home.
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