Reese's Apartment is the fifteenth episode of Season 5 and the 100th episode overall of Malcolm in the Middle. It aired on March 21, 2004.
Plot[]
When Lois and Hal find out about the most disgusting and terrible thing Reese has done yet, they kick him out of the house. Francis tries to defend Reese and bring him home (without knowing what he did). Meanwhile, Malcolm is enlisted by Coach Oleski to help a dumb jock write a college essay.
Synopsis[]
Lois gets a call from the school involving a horrible prank Reese did at his place of work(which is never revealed). When she tells Hal about it, he goes into a 4 o'clock gibberish tantrum and Malcolm witnesses this. Lois then tells him about the prank and of which he's shocked by. Malcolm asks Lois if they had to evacuate the school. Hal mentions worse in gibberish. After Reese comes home from work having informed the family that the meat factory got shut down due to health code violations, she rails on him for his behavior. She mentions that she got a call from his principal, Mr. Block, involving a terrible prank he did. Reese doesn't take Lois seriously and mentions that he could name 3rd World Countries which things like that happens. She points out this is exactly what concerns her about him. Every time Lois tells Reese that his actions are the worst things that he has done, he sees it as a personal challenge and it motivates him to work harder to exceed his previous pranks. He points out that he just came home from a 6 hour shift at the meat factory and doesn't appreciate her yelling at him. Lois shouts out "You're Complaining!". Hal shouts at Reese to stop complaining because he angered them. When he makes the mistake of insulting Hal and Lois, Malcolm is concerned. He faces the audience and mentions that in the Wilkerson family, it's known as The Closer. Meaning that Reese will likely be kicked out of the house and will not be allowed back home. Malcolm mentions that they should guess who takes the credit in kicking him out of the house. Fed up, she and Hal kicks him out of the house.
At school, Malcolm runs into his former basketball coach asking him for a favor in helping Ira, the star football player, write an essay for his college application, as he is an idiot. The coach offers to get Malcolm out of gym, but Malcolm says he doesn't mind gym. Though reluctant, he agrees to help Ira out. Malcolm invites Ira over and he spends a great deal of time helping Ira brainstorm for his essay. However, as Malcolm shows him how to associate his words to write in his essay, Malcolm ends up writing the essay himself with Ira taking it as his own.
At the Grotto Ranch, Francis hears about Reese being kicked out of the house and isn't happy about it. He calls his family to let them know how he feels about it. However, Dewey doesn't seem concerned because he is finally able to get his own bed after sharing one with Malcolm for so long. He mentions that Francis is just overreacting to the best news that Lois gave him. He tells Dewey off this isn't an overreaction, but some shade Lois threw at the family just to have an excuse to kick Reese out. Francis mentions that when he got kicked out at 15 and sent to Marlin Academy, he never got a chance to come home again. He mentions that once Dewey gets older, he will understand Lois is the way she is in kicking her children out of the house.
Francis calls Otto to inform him that he has troubles with his family and may need some time off. He drives back home and convince Reese to move back into the family house. Unfortunately, he has moved into an apartment from his money in the meat factory and claimed he lied about being 18 to get the first month free. Reese also introduces his new neighbors to Francis who are single, recently divorced or separated middle-aged men. Francis tries to argue his case against Reese moving into an apartment and tries to get him to fight back against Lois by coming back home. When Malcolm and Dewey arrive, they too agree that they don't want him coming home. Francis continues his argument against this and tries to convince Reese to come home. He refuses, and challenges Francis to name one thing that would make living at home much better than in an apartment. He is frustrated even after Malcolm tries to convince him that Reese did have a strong argument over the toilet seats not needing warming and the fact that he likes having his own place to live.
The next day in the living room, Francis picks a fight with Lois for kicking Reese out of the house just like she did to him. When she tells him off that it's not his concern because he doesn't live in the house anymore, he argues it's because he was kicked out. Francis insists they need to bring Reese back as he is living in the apartment "with his Cable TV and his huge stack of video games.... miserable." Hal tells him off that's not how it works and if he is unhappy, Reese brought this on himself. Francis reminds them about the previous kick outs they've caused to him, Reese and Malcolm over the years. This makes it 44 kick-outs with three different kids and the only constant problem to it is both Hal and Lois. Francis questions when they're going to do the same thing to Dewey and Jamie.
A montage shows Reese continues living it up in his own apartment and doesn't miss living at home at all, with even showing a great deal of responsibility to his schoolwork. His only annoyance is coming from his neighbors barging in to invite him for evening plans or complaining through the walls about their living condition. One of his neighbors was even heard planning to take his own life with a gun, however, Reese mistakes it as something good he has on TV. At home, Malcolm and Dewey are also living it up in having their own beds. Only Francis is annoyed over the lack of concern the family has over Reese being in an apartment by himself.
Lois and Hal see a therapist, Dr. Armstrong, for guidance after the argument they went through with Francis and questioning their parenting. They seek a trick from the therapist to stop the boys as they are becoming more destructive to the point of eventually winding the parents up in jail. They admitted how much they had to punish the boys for their misbehavior and how as they are getting older, they fear the boys will be able to over-power them. Dr. Armstrong suggests kids should not be treated like criminals or animals to be broken, to which Lois and Hal tell her about the prank Reese did. Despite Dr. Armstrong claiming from experience nothing they can say can shock her, moments after the story was told, she was breath-taken. However, Dr. Armstrong suggests kids act out as they feel no one cares and they should try "Active Listening," the ability to mirror back what the speaker is saying, hence, make the speaker feel heard and understood.
Lois believing the technique to work tries to use it on Malcolm, who wanted her advice on Ira turning the essay Malcolm wrote. Malcolm gets annoyed by her as she is mindlessly parroting back everything he is saying and storms off, with Lois snapping out of it after he left by trying to say not to let him turn in that essay. After it, Francis calls home again to convince Hal and Lois to tell Reese they love him and to ask him to come home. Sometime later, they get a call from Reese's teacher who explains that what he did got him an A and they should be proud of his sudden turnaround.
The next day, Malcolm approaches Ira and tears up his essay. Malcolm persuades Ira that he should not be getting breaks just because he is a star athlete and that he smarter than people think, and he can write his own essay. Ira actually listens and wrote his own essay and read it to Malcolm, Malcolm, although thinking it silly, tells Ira it is good. Meanwhile, Hal and Lois visits Reese at the apartment and are impressed over him taking care of himself. They decided that since Reese is taking good care of himself, is working hard at the meat factory and improving at school, he can continue living there by himself. However, they learn Reese has been using credit cards and that he's spent $20,000 in only 10 days. Lois drags Reese by the ear home with creative ideas flowing for a punishment in mind.
The next day at school, Malcolm narrates that she has spent over a month finding a suitable punishment for him. Ira talks to him and excitedly tells Malcolm he got into college without even needing to submit the essay and uses it instead to turn in as his math midterm and got an A. Ira thanks Malcolm for believing in him and decides he doesn't need other people do things for him anymore. Malcolm was happy for Ira but after he walks away shows annoyance and envy that Ira got in so easily.
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmarek 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[]
- Patricia Belcher as Dr. Armstrong
- Michael Dempsey as Teddy
Recurring[]
- Jonny Acker as Ira
- Jack McGee as Coach Oleski
Cameos[]
- Brian Nulligan as Peter Noyes
- Rod Spencer as Lou
- David Elliot as Nick Smith(uncredited)
Trivia[]
- This episode reveals that Hal and Lois have kicked the older boys out 44 times, with Francis' record being 28, Reese's record being 10, and Malcolm's 6.
- Of those 28 times Francis was kicked out includes when he pierced his nose in Home Alone 4, got arrested by the cops for burning a neighbor's car in Pilot and in Tutoring Reese for his refusal to fix the roof.
- Also of the 6 times Malcolm was would include Kicked Out when he tells Hal he's sick of his terrible parenting.
- Out of the 10 times Reese is kicked out, one had to do with his prank at the Meat Factory and how he refused to get a job in Secret Boyfriend.
- This is the only time that Malcolm and Dewey were glad to have Reese out of the house.
- Although never revealed, Reese's prank probably involved a baseball bat and a bunch of cats at the Meat Factory he works at.
- On the Hulu re-runs, the audio for the neighbor attempting on his own life was muted. Reese, however, is still heard responding to him asking if he is watching something on TV.
- Ira's essay makes a reference to Rocky III. 
- Jamie was absent in this episode, only mentioned when Francis asks where he is. Lois and Hal answered he is at the babysitter's.
- This is the first episode Ira is introduced by name, however, he has made appearances in prior episodes, and at times, with a different haircut.
- First appearance was in Forbidden Girlfriend and later appearing briefly in Malcolm Films Reese.
Quote[]
- Lois: I'm gonna need you to be calm.
- Hal: Who is it?
- Lois: I'm not gonna tell you. You're not calm yet.
- Hal: Reese. OK deep breath. What'd he do?
- Lois: Reese....
- [Hal goes into a 4 o'clock tantrum.]
- [Reese on the phone]
- Reese: Hi, I just got your Deluxe Platinum Card and I want to activate it. [reads from card]...2-4-7-1... Now listen, I already transferred a $3000 balance from the Valley Federal Card over to my Spring Mills Mutual Card because it has an $8000 limit. But since I'm already bumping against that, I might as well transfer everything to yours, because it has a $20,000 limit. ...Sure, I'd love to talk to a supervisor!
- Hal & Lois: YOU'RE!!!
- Reese: I'M!!!
- All: OUTTA HERE!!!
- Reese: Tie goes to the runner.