Sleepover is the sixth episode of Season 1 of Malcolm in the Middle and the sixth episode overall of the show.
Plot[]
Malcolm invites Stevie for a sleepover, which Stevie has never done before. Malcolm tells Lois that he's staying at Stevie's house, and finds that Stevie's parents, Kitty and Abe, are extremely overbearing. Malcolm and Stevie decide to sneak out to the arcade in the middle of the night only for Stevie's wheelchair gets stolen.
Meanwhile, in order to get Hal and Lois to let him stay up late to watch a scary movie, Reese is tasked with getting Dewey to take a bath and put him in bed while Lois and Hal have a romantic evening knowing Reese stands no chance.
At Marlin Academy, Francis and his classmates are hazed by a group of senior class men.
Summary[]
The show opens with the Wilkerson family about to take a family picture. Malcolm reminds Lois that Francis isn’t there, but Lois refuses to cough up bucks to fly him in for one picture. She sees Dewey invading another family’s picture and tells him to stop. Hal asks Lois if she wants autumn leaves as a backdrop since there are several more colorful options. Lois tells the photographer she has a coupon for one 8”10 and two wallet size photos and that’s all she wants. Malcolm has snuck in a picture of Francis so he wouldn't be left out, but him and Reese argue about who gets to hold the picture. Hal wants a beach scene, but Lois, having enough after Malcolm and Reese start fighting after ripping the picture and the photographer not giving her a good deal in favor of an expensive one, orders everyone in their places to take the picture. She tells them they’re going to take the picture and it’s going to be good. That means no faces no tongues no cross eyes no bunny ears. They’re going to smile and look good. It will cost them $9.99 and all of it will happen by the time she counts to three. The boys and Hal argue against it, but as soon as she counts to three, they all freeze and smile at the picture before immediately resuming their arguing.
Malcolm goes to Stevie's for a sleepover and is horrified by how controlling and over-protective his parents are, especially Kitty. Kitty suggests that they do a puzzle instead of what they want, makes pizza without any sauce or toppings, and forces them to go to bed at 8:00 with sheets that are tucked in too tightly. She gives them exactly four minutes after she leaves to talk before "sleepy time." Abe, thinking he is a "cool dad," gives them an extra 30 seconds to talk.
They sneak out and go to an arcade, but when Stevie's wheelchair is stolen, and the lazy arcade security guard refuses to help them, Stevie and Malcolm look around town and Malcolm uses other objects, such as a desk chair, a trash can lid, a shovel, a tire, and a shopping cart to help get Stevie around. they spend the rest of the night working together to figure out how to get Stevie around and getting his wheelchair back.
Meanwhile, at Marlin Academy, Francis is being used as weights by Stanley until he uses the time to take a break. When he goes in the closet to get a snack, he finds Finley hiding in there. Francis asks him why he is in the closet. Finley tells him that he's been marked by a cult known as "The Brothers of the Apocalypse" lead by a senior named Stevenson. He points out they're hazing the students by giving them a severed doll head known as "Poquito Cabesa". Francis mentions that he thinks Finley is being ridiculous because to him it's just a couple of seniors with limited to no imaginations. He mentions he's more worried about how Spangler would react to seeing the latter hiding in the closet. Finley tells Francis that's easy for him to say that because he has Stanley protecting him and isn't holding a severed doll head. Finley refuses to come out of hiding and asks him to turn in his math homework for him. Francis feels sympathy for Finley but since he’s good at math he erases his name in an attempt to pass it off as his own. Soon the senior cult arrives to get him as Francis and Stanley talk about them. As they carry Finley away Stanley stops them. He asks Finley for a box of Froot Loops and after handing over the box he allows the seniors to carry on. They leave the room carrying a terrified Finley off to be tortured.
At the Wilkerson's house, Reese really wants to stay up late and watch a Chucky movie, but his mother challenges him to an arm-wrestle to prove that he's old enough to extend his bedtime. Hal comes in and asks what he’s fighting for, after Lois tells him he says she should stop screwing around and pin him, she does make Reese lose miserably and then tries to prove his maturity in other ways.
At Stevie’s house,
At Marlin Academy, Stevenson and the seniors come into the common room with poquito cabeza asking it to choose who it’s next victim will be. Francis emphasizes how sick he is of them. Poquito cabeza spins around and selects a cadet. Stevenson tells him what’s in store for him until Francis grabs it from him.
Lois then decides to put Reese to the test and if he can give Dewey his bath and put him to bed, he can stay up late to watch a scary movie. Hal and Lois giggle at the impossible task that Reese now has and decide to enjoy the little bit of alone time they'll have while Reese is struggling with Dewey.
At Marlin Academy, Francis confronts the leader, Stevenson and tells him to stop the cult activities as he finds them quite annoying. Stanley has just left to be with his dying grandmother and soon Francis is marked by senior classmen. At first, he's scared but comes to find their ways of torture amateurish. Francis then tells them about the kinds of torture Lois put him through. The senior classmen now realizing that their ways of torture weren't working and decides to try a new one. Replacing the picture of a tortured man in a straitjacket to that of Lois, the cult uses her ways of discipline to get the other students to do better in school.
Hal goes off to a pornographic bookstore to get some supplies and actually passes Malcolm pushing Stevie in a grocery cart. However, he's so focused on the task at hand that he walks by and gives Stevie some spare change without recognizing him and heads home. While Hal and Lois are romping in the bedroom, Reese is passed out in the hallway and Dewey is happily watching the horror movie in his pajamas.
He tells them off, thinking he is protected by his friend/bodyguard Stanley. After his bodyguard leaves to visit his nana who has a fever, Francis hides in the washing machine to escape the wrath of the seniors but is found. He is tortured in a hazing ritual but soon finds their ways too amateurish compared to the torture Lois puts him through. He tells the seniors all about what his mother has done to him and succeeds in scaring them and letting him go. They eventually adopt Lois's method for their future hazing rituals.
Malcolm and Stevie eventually find the hoodlums responsible for stealing Stevie's wheelchair. They chase them, the wheelchair is eventually abandoned, and Malcolm is able to retrieve it. As they are making their way back to Stevie's, they notice that his house is swarming with cop cars. Malcolm eventually abandons Stevie to face the punishment from his parents himself.
After squabbling with Dewey to take a bath and chasing him around the yard, however, he finds himself in over his head when he finds out how smart Dewey is. Hal and Lois use the time they would have spent putting Dewey to bed to have a romantic night together. Reese ends up being tired from trying to wrangle Dewey and falling asleep in the hallway while Lois and Hal are in the bedroom. Meanwhile, Dewey watches the scary movie that Reese wanted to see.
All is well, Malcolm is able to retrieve Stevie's wheelchair and he's pushing him home. As they were coming closer to his house, Stevie says that he's never been in trouble and he's looking forward to seeing what it looks like. When they arrive, they notice that there is cop cars parked right in front of Stevie's driveway. Suddenly, Malcolm just disappears (possibly afraid of getting busted by the cops and most likely getting berated by Hal and Lois).
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmarek as Lois
- Bryan Cranston as Hal
- Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Francis
- Justin Berfield as Reese
- Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey
- Catherine Lloyd Burns as Caroline Miller
- Frankie Muniz as Malcolm
Guest Stars[]
Recurring[]
- Karim Prince as Stanley
- Arjay Smith as Ken Finley
- Craig Lamar Traylor as Stevie Kenarban
- Merrin Dungey as Kitty Kenarban
- Gary Anthony Williams as Abe Kenarban
Cameos[]
- Sheff Otis as Cadet Stevenson
- Chad Brannon as Cadet Brannon
- Scotch Ellis Loring as Photographer
- Nick Gaza as Security Guard
- Bart McCarthy as Homeless Man
- Ahmad Stoner as Thief 1
- Joey Simmrin as Thief 2
Trivia[]
- This episode is Kitty Kenarban and Abe Kenarban's first appearances in the series.
- Merrin Dungey, the actress who played Kitty Kenarban, had previously played the role of Malcolm's original teacher in the Pilot episode that's technically her first appearance.
- This episode is also the first appearance of Cadet Finley.
- 'Downtown' as Stevie calls it is a set at the southern border of the CBS Studio Center.[1]
- While Stevie and Malcolm argue about his complaining, they roll down this back-alley here.[1]
- The industrial looking complex where the two thieves were hanging around with Stevie's wheelchair was actually a warehouse site on the CBS Studio Center in Studio City.[1]
- Malcolm pushes Stevie home on this stretch of a fake road located on the premises of the CBS Studio Center. This private location would later be reused several times over the course of MitM, next time in High School Play.[1]
- Hal is revealed to have pupaphobia, the fear of puppets.
- Hannibal Lecter, from movies such as Silence of the Lambs is seen in pictures in the Marlin Academy "torture chamber", coincidentally Daniel Von Bargen (Spangler) starred in the film.
- This is the first episode where Malcolm doesn't talk to the viewer.
- Early in the episode, when Stevie called, the Panasonic logo on Lois's phone was clearly visible while later in the episode, when Francis called, it is masked with white tape.
- List of objects Malcolm used to get Stevie around town without his wheelchair:
- Desk chair
- Trash can lid
- Speed limit sign
- Tire
- Shopping cart