Reese Cooks is the eighteenth of the second season of Malcolm in the Middle, which was broadcast on March 4, 2001.
Plot[]
Reese discovers he has a gift for cooking after attending a cooking course with Hal. Malcolm urges his classmate to call off a party and discovers from his friends how much he's truly hated by his peers. Francis is forced to write a term paper.
Summary[]
In the opening scene, Dewey comes into his parents room, wakes up Hal and tells him he had a nightmare. Hal says it’s okay and lets him spend the night with them before asking what his dream was about. Dewey tells him that he dreamed about a knife wielding maniac outside the door who wanted to tie everyone up, kill them and eat their eyeballs before falling asleep. Hal is now rattled and equally terrified by Dewey’s dream.
Malcolm is studying at the kitchen table when Hal comes in and asks him what he’s doing. Malcolm explains that he has to disprove. Hal clearly doesn’t understand what he’s doing and sees how he can’t help so he asks what Dewey is doing, after being informed by Malcolm that he’s coloring he says he better get in there. After getting up to go find Dewey the doorbell rings and as Hal answers it, he sees an angry father who’s sons' hair has been shaved off.
Hal and Lois attempt to punish Reese for his latest hair-shaving prank but find themselves coming up short, as Reese shrugs off all their attempts and half their punishments interfere with other past punishments he is still serving; for instance, Lois can't ground him as Hal previously punished him by ordering him to go outside and pull weeds which he hasn’t finished yet. Lois believes being stuck inside with no TV is a better punishment until Reese reminds her, he’s already banned from TV leaving her baffled. Hal attempts to punish Reese with no television and no going outside except for weeding which he will now be doing at night and inside the house, confusing all of them. When Lois tells him to go to his room he easily agrees, clearly indifferent to it. Lois despairs that they are not getting through to him, and Hal claims it’s because Reese doesn’t care about anything; they’ve taken away so much from him (even fresh air) yet he couldn't care less. Lois claims that they need to something to control his behavior before he winds up being a problem for the state. At their wits end, Hal suggests they change their approach to Reese and instead of punishing him they could try positive reinforcement and when he was Reese’s age, he always wanted someone to be there for him and perhaps that’s what Reese needs to turn himself around. Lois isn’t sure but Hal assures her that Reese needs a father figure and really believes that he needs to take that role.
At school, Cynthia is handing out invitations and Malcolm asks his friends what she’s up to. They assume he already knew due to his relationship with her, Malcolm argues that they aren’t in a relationship, but Stevie tells him it’s okay to feel. Cynthia approaches them telling them she’s organizing a "Be My Friend" party for everyone at the school and not to lose their invitations since they won’t be able to get past her dad without them. Dabney is overjoyed that for the first time he’s being invited to an event where he can socialize. But Malcolm is worried upon seeing her invitations and believes that she's setting herself up for disappointment, he asks her if she wants to sound so desperate but is interrupted by Lloyd saying how he wishes he had thought of it himself. Cynthia is excited about finally making some new friends and asks Malcolm what he thinks. Malcolm puts on a happy face for her and says that the party should be fun.
At Marlin Academy, Francis keeps blowing off his share of a major history project that his friend, Eric, is also half-responsible for since he doesn't like to work and prefers to do his own thing. Eric tells Francis that he just missed his third history deadline and he is not going to Marlin Academy’s summer school because his partner blew off his half of their project. Francis slipped his half under Eric’s door but Eric informs him that his half is one page of an and his is a large binder with numerous pages. Francis claims if he had known he was gonna go overboard he would’ve spent more time on his section. Eric reminds him that his half is a photocopied page from the dictionary. Francis tells him not to worry and asks Eric when the project is due and when learning the deadline he questions why Eric is worried since he has over a week to finish it, but Eric informs him that his half took him two months. Fed up, he confines Francis into their room to work on his half which is on the Reconstruction from the Civil War and tells him to be serious. He leaves the room, only to go back and see Francis attempting to sneak out the window. Francis makes up an excuse he was testing the temperature of the room and that 68 degrees is perfect for writing conditions.
Hal brings Reese to a community center where Reese asks whether or not it’s a punishment. Hal wonders why he assumes it is, he thinks because Hal keeps looking at him and saying words. Hal states he is paying attention to Reese, who objects that his dad has signed himself and Reese up for a cooking class. Hal claims although the community center offers classes in judo, riflery and kickboxing, that anyone can fight but it takes a true artist to craft a perfect Bolognese sauce. Reese initially isn't interested, until he sees the class involves knives and fire and upon seeing a large knife being used to chop a fish he agrees to give the cooking class a try.
Back at the school, Cynthia continues to hand out invitations to the students. Malcolm asks if she’s inviting the whole school, but Lloyd claims that he can’t talk since he’s saving all his interesting conversation topics for the party, such as an interesting article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dabney calls him out that he was going to use that topic. Stevie hopes his wheelchair will fit in the make out closet. Cynthia tells a group of students to bring their appetite since she’ll be serving cookies that look like famous communist revolutionaries.
Back at Marlin Academy, Eric drags Francis into his room and tells him to get to work since it’s been two days and he hasn’t made any progress, and is upset that he let Francis talk him into seeing a movie. Francis says that he doesn’t understand the whole talking dog genre but suggests another round of miniature golf. Eric shuts it down and tells him to focus and he’s gotten him two textbooks he can breeze through. Francis tries to study and do his share. However, he gets distracted by a beetle crawling over his book. He finds another beetle he names Harvey and tells him he has to complete the course in an hour and six minutes to beat the record of Brent, the first beetle, before setting him off on a homemade racetrack made of paper.
Eric removes all the distractions from Francis’ room and says he really needs to focus now, but admits that Harvey’s last heat was exciting. Francis claims that he thought that Eric crushing the bug was a bit unnecessarily cruel. Eric claims it was necessary before heading for the door. Francis tells him to take a sofa can with him to avoid getting distracted by crinkling it, which he does before leaving the room.
As the cooking class proceeds, Reese discovers a genuine talent and love for cooking impressing everyone in the class. While Hal is impressed with himself by merely making toast. Lois herself is astounded to come home from work late after having to walk Craig to his car only to find Reese is cooking dinner with Dewey as his sous chef. Reese makes Dewey taste his marinara sauce and tells him it needs another bay leaf. Hal tells Lois how the class gave him a standing ovation. Reese then orders Dewey to check on the brioche. Dewey doesn’t know what brioche is until Reese informs him it’s the bread in the oven. Reese then approaches Hal and reduces him to tears by thanking him for signing him up for the class.
He takes her to the boy's bathroom to show her the writing on the wall which presumably is how annoying she is. Cynthia is hurt by this and runs out of the bathroom in tears. From inside one of the stalls, Stevie says that was real smooth.
Cynthia approaches them and announces that she’s cancelling the party now that Malcolm opened her eyes to the fact that she’s a creepy loser who shouldn’t expect anyone to come to her party. Lloyd calls Malcolm a callous bastard for ruining what may have been the only chance they had to socialize. succeeds in angering Lloyd, Dabney and Stevie who were supportive of the party. He tries to defend himself by stating that she was setting herself up to be hurt and he cared about her to show her that. Lloyd, Dabney and Stevie don't believe Malcolm at all and think he's too selfish. They tell him off that the writing wasn't about Cynthia, but rather about him. Malcolm is shocked by this and is in disbelief thinking that his friends are lying to him. Lloyd, Dabney and Stevie reassure him that they're not lying at all. They had asked their classmates around school about their honest opinion on Malcolm. The boys got a truthful answer in how much the students like Cynthia because she never lets herself be in the advanced class bother her from making friends and they also like how friendly she is to everyone around her. Stevie, Lloyd and Dabney point out that everyone in their school hates Malcolm because they see him as an egotistical, obnoxious and a self-absorbed jerk who only cares for himself. Because of his own selfishness in cancelling Cynthia's party and which everyone in their school was looking forward to attending, the students are going to have more reasons to hate him and possibly beating him up for. It's only then Malcolm regrets hurting her feelings and his friends were right about him being too wound up. He realizes that he should apologize to Cynthia at once and explain himself.
In the class's cooking contest, Hal hopes they will get to taste whatever Reese cooks before freeing Dewey’s tongue from a hand mixer that he tried to lick the chocolate frosting off of. The teacher tastes Reese’s spinach quiche and tells him it’s the best she’s ever had and asks what his secret is. He informs her he added allspice to the pine nuts impressing her. However when she goes to taste a quiche made by a woman who is one of Reese’s classmates she asks her how much salt she used. She says just a pinch but upon tasting it herself she claims she didn’t add that much salt. Reese is found to have tampered with everyone else's quiches, even though he was already favorite to win much to his parents shock.
At Cynthia's house, Malcolm is confronted by Mr. Sanders who remembers him throwing a brick through his daughter’s window, ruined her party, hurting her feelings and humiliating her in a public toilet, asking how he’s doing so far. Cynthia appears and asks her father to give them time alone. After he leaves, Malcolm apologizes to her for hurting her feelings, Cynthia knows he wants to alleviate his guilt and absolves him. He asks her to let him finish and mentions he thought he was saving Cynthia from the disaster in having no one attend her party and wishes he had been nicer about it. Cynthia wonders what the nice way to tell someone they’re a social retard, Malcolm claims she now sees his problem. Just then a bunch of students from the school arrive for the party after seeing the fliers Cynthia posted. Malcolm now realizes all he did was make the students hate him more by acting like an egotistical and self-absorbed jerk.
Malcolm realized that Cynthia was right and that if you invite people to a party they’ll show up and that he should loosen up more. Lloyd and Dabney impress a group of girls. Another girl asks Stevie if he’s wearing cologne which he says it’s just his aftershave. Malcolm greets him, but he tells him he’s busy working, so he wanders off. Soon everyone at school, including Eric and Francis appear at the party. Malcolm walks by without noticing them. Eric tries to remind Francis that the project is due tomorrow Francis assures him they’ve got the entire drive home to do the work before introducing him to two cute girls named Terri and Robin. Upon introducing himself Eric states that he is no longer upset about having to attend summer school.
Hal and Lois drag Reese all the way home from class to confront him. She orders Dewey into his room for some privacy. Dewey argues back that Reese was the one responsible for poisoning all those people but she repeats it as he agrees and goes to his room. After he leaves, Reese is upset that they dragged him out before he could accept his trophy. Lois begins to shout at him but Hal buts in saying that the cooking class was his idea so he should handle it. Hal informs Reese that they pulled him out of the class because they knew he cheated. He asks Reese what made him cheat in the cooking competition when he would’ve won easily. He simply says he enjoyed it, not showing concern for others. Lois then asks the way he'd feel if he was the woman whose quiche he salted. He says if he was the woman he’d feel fat. Hal then informs Reese on empathy so he can receive a better comprehension of their perspective, saying empathy is putting himself in other people’s shoes and empathy makes him hurt whenever he hurts someone else. This alone make Reese ask why he'd want empathy if it just makes him feel bad.
Hal pulls Lois to one side and realizes that Reese hasn't changed at all and he has no more sense of right and wrong than a tree frog. Lois asks what they'll do because no matter what punishment they throw at him, Reese will just brush it off. Hal quickly remembers how much Reese has become infatuated with cooking. Hal begins by calmly banning Reese from cooking for a month. He is calm at first and maintains his composure. However, Hal reminds him there will be no more chicken cordon bleus or Linzer tortes. Reese loses his composure after reminding Hal that the linzertorte is baking. Hal decides to up the anti, and elaborates further by forbidding him from baking, broiling, and sautéing and Lois adds on that the stove and all the whisks are off limits for a month. Reese starts complaining the punishment is too harsh and promises to behave himself. Hal refuses and tells Reese it's simply the way it needs to be. As Reese goes to his room upset, Hal and Lois are satisfied that they have finally found a punishment that works and now that Reese is aware that his actions will have consequences they can be parents again. Hal claims that it’s even worth suffering through a month of eating Lois’s flank steaks, which even she agrees with.
Malcolm mentions that he's learned a lesson from recent events; parties suck no matter how many people attend, the music stinks, the food is always terrible and since people are such phonies he doesn’t care whether or not anyone talks to him. However, he is now more considerate of Cynthia's feelings and when she comes by he puts on a happy face and tells her he's having a great time. Cynthia tells him she’s gonna need his chair before taking it away. Malcolm attempts to dance but decides against it and continues leaning against the railing of the stairs.
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[]
- Miriam Flynn as Cooking Teacher
Recurring[]
- Craig Lamar Taylor as Stevie
- Fred Sanders as Mr. Sanders
- Tania Raymond as Cynthia
- Kyle Sullivan as Dabney
- Evan Matthew Cohen as Lloyd
- Eric Nenninger as Eric
- Kristin Quick as Flora Mayesh
Cameos[]
- Ashlee Simpson as High School Girl
- Sheila Shaw as Student #1
- Colleen Maloney as Student #2
- Christopher Hutson as a male student
- Adam Craig Duro as Kid #1
Trivia[]
- This is the 2nd time that Malcolm finds out just how much he's hated by his own peers. The first time was in Bully, due to Reese protecting him. This will continue on in Humilithon, Malcolm Films Reese and in Morp.
- This episode originally had Stanley appearing and was supposed to be a part of season 1. Unlike Eric, he wouldn't put up with Francis's laziness. Stanley and the other cadets would've beaten him up for not doing his share of his project and be forced to do his homework. This was dropped after Karim Prince left MITM and Eric Nenninger took over as Francis's roommate and friend, Eric.
- Hal's calm punishment in banning Reese from doing any sort of cooking in the kitchen is the first time that he has been able to break his son.
- Originally, Francis snuck out of his shared room with Eric, to call home. He bribes Malcolm money to do his term paper involving the Reconstruction era after the Civil War. With his genius, he is able to deliver on his essay and save Francis from Eric. This allows both boys to avoid Spangler's summer school. This was dropped because the writers believed that Malcolm and Francis’ plots should be kept separate.
- Songs: "Super Sound" (Two Ton Bee Mix) by Pepe Deluxe (first day of Cooking Class); "Party Up" by DMX (final scene at Cynthia's party).
- This episode is the first and only time Hal has accepted that Reese will always be a degenerate delinquent. This is revisited in Garage Sale and in Secret Boyfriend. It takes Lois several episodes for her to accept that reality and give up on Reese.