Polly in the Middle is the seventeenth episode of season five of Malcolm in the Middle.
Summary[]
Polly is looking for a boyfriend and Hal tries to hook her up with Abe.
Plot[]
In the cold opening Reese is in the backyard burning ants with a magnifying glass. Malcolm tells him there is one on his hand, Reese aims the magnifying glass at his hand unaware of Malcolm tricking him and says the ant is in for an unpleasant surprise.
In the boys bedroom, Dewey is rifling through the closet. While Malcolm and Stevie are hanging out. Malcolm explains that ever since Stevie's mom deserted him he's been living his life more dangerously and had read a book in dim light the other day, now he is making his first prank phone call, but due to his speech pattern he is exposed immediately. Lois comes in bragging about the special guests that will be at a baseball card convention, Stevie is unaware of any of them and Lois informs them and states she is a much more devoted fan. Dewey cannot find his lucky shirt, Malcolm states how ridiculous that is and asks Stevie if he believes it, Stevie is exasperated since he is laden with nothing but bad luck. Dewey finds it and an M&M on the floor as well.
Abe and Stevie are doing laundry at the Wilkersons house and Lois brings Abe's clean shirts into the kitchen. Abe is impressed by the crisp collars as Hal claims its her signature. He then asks how the divorce is going. Abe claims it's not good since Kitty wears miniskirts to the court hearings and flirts with the judge, and even Abe's lawyer is attracted to her. Hal suggests that Abe should try dating again, but Abe claims he plans on wallowing in misery and dying alone. Craig arrives claiming he was driving home but had an urgent need to use the bathroom. Polly comes into the kitchen with Jamie saying she's taking him to the park to find butterflies and talk about his birth trauma. After she leaves Abe claims Polly must have fallen from a sexy tree and hit every branch on the way down.
Trivia[]
- The title of this episode is a pun on the title of the series, Malcolm in the Middle, itself.
- Polly's final appearance.
- Craig's cat Jellybean is revealed to have died in this episode.
- When being forced to decide between dating Craig or Abe, Polly says that "If society wasn't so strung up, this wouldn't be a problem", implying that for her, it'd be ideal to be in a three-way relationship or polyamory with both of them. Her name being "Polly" may be a joke on her being a polyamorist.
- Pete Bucowski is shown in a Chicago Cubs uniform.
Errors[]
- In the scene where Jamie is crawling through the air vents, we can see that Jamie is digitally placed there, as his knees are just slightly above the floor of the air vent.
- When Hal talks to the bird mascot, the suit's beak goes from normal to smashed in during the final shot, as Lois drags him away.