Thanksgiving is the fourth episode of Season 5 and the 89th episode overall of Malcolm in the Middle. It aired on November 23, 2003.
Synopsis[]
Malcolm wants anything but to spend another dreadful Thanksgiving with his obnoxious family. Luckily for him, he has made a group of friends who are fairly normal and is willing to ditch his family to have a party with them.
Plot[]
In the cold opening, Reese is telling Lois how to do his hair cut. She reassures him that she's done his hair countless of times and knows what she's doing. Dewey comes in with a torn shirt with a ruined pocket and tells Lois what he done. Angered, she sends him off to his room with plans to deal with him later. Lois then grabs Reese and starts cutting his hair, despite his pleas to calm down first and yells begging her to count to ten. Dewey hears Reese screaming in pain and is amused by this.
Malcolm makes new friends, including one girl named Kristen who he is unsure if she likes him. One of the friends, Dylan, plans a party on the day of Thanksgiving. Malcolm wants to go, though Lois fails to understand why he wouldn't want to spend the day with his family despite their history of ruined Thanksgiving dinners. Suddenly Francis and Piama arrive in the middle of a huge argument, allowing Malcolm to slip away and Hal promises to cover for him.
Meanwhile, Reese employs Hal and Dewey to help him cook a fantastic thanksgiving feast. So much so that he's made the kitchen off-limits to everyone else so that he can be focused entirely on cooking dinner, such as using a monk fish to help the turkey lock in all of the juices and getting Dewey to obtain the correct spices from a farmer's market (using cash stolen from Hal's wallet).
Lois decides to talk to Francis about the fight he's having with Piama. Francis tells her he's considering divorcing Piama, and Lois is sympathetic until she learns what the fight was about; she wouldn't let him drive after he had been drinking. Lois is appalled, both at Francis being willing to drive while drunk and the fact he's ready to divorce his wife because she stopped him, and demands that Francis apologize to Piama at once. Francis refuses, accusing her for trying to destroy his life like she's always done. Hal witnesses this and tells Lois off for interfering, as he believes that she wants the divorce to happen (since she doesn't like Piama) and is trying to manipulate Francis so he goes through with it. He also tells her that he can understand why Malcolm refuses to be at home when she's like this. Lois suspects that Hal had given him permission to not celebrate Thanksgiving with his family and they get into a fight. He warns her that her controlling behavior will come back to haunt her one day.
At the party, Malcolm is having a great time hanging with his friends. He is unsure if Kristen is flirting with him at first, but then she makes it clear she is and the two start making out.
Soon after, Reese and Dewey get into a fight over his kleptomaniac behavior. The fight reaches it's climax when Lois tries to handle the problem on her own by trying to get Piama to talk to Francis. Her attempt succeeds in angering them to continue their fight. Hal points out again that Lois always makes things worse just for her own benefit. Soon everyone is seen blaming each other for ruining their Thanksgiving. Lois is fed up with the whole behavior of her family and decides that Hal is right about her causing too much problems. Thus, she decides to stay out of it from now on.
Malcolm is enjoying himself at Dylan's house getting drunk and making out with Kristen. She is totally wasted at this point, and lies on the floor inviting Malcolm to have sex with her. Although tempted, he finds that he can't go through with it and leaves frustrated.
At the house, everyone continues to give each other the silent treatment. Nobody is talking to each other and Lois demands to know why Malcolm isn't home for Thanksgiving. Hal asks her to leave it alone and he'll come home when he's ready. Lois is more enraged by his collective behavior in allowing Malcolm to ditch dinner. Francis tells her off to mind her own business. Piama mentions that Thanksgiving with her relatives would be much better than being here. Dewey asks if he could be excused to his room. However, everyone starts to feel much better when Reese comes. He announces dinner is ready and lays out a delicious looking spread of salad, steamed carrots, squash stuffing, shrimp, green beans, a meatloaf tower with asparagus, noodle nests, mashed potato, Beef Wellington, and the pièce DE resistance, the turkey monk fish. Everyone is about to dig in when Malcolm shows up drunk and ruins the festivities. He tells Lois off that she's a terrible mother who's lost her touch with reality and had a good time hanging out with his friends and asks Lois what she thinks of her “golden boy” now. She is offended and tells Malcolm off that he's grounded for a month for questioning her parenting skills. He ignores her and proceeds to insult her further.... only to end up throwing up in the turkey. Everyone is disgusted and abandons the table leaving Reese's dinner completely uneaten. Reese attempts to get everyone back since the rest of the dishes are still good to no avail.
The next day, Malcolm is nursing his hangover. He talks to Francis about what happened. Malcolm shows regrets not sleeping with Kristen when he had the chance but. Francis assures him that he did the right thing in not taking advantage of her while she was drunk. Malcolm notes that his list of punishments from Lois including: grounding, no TV or computer, cleaning the house with a toothbrush and changing Jamie's diaper for the next six months was actually light, but Francis tells him that he got several more after passing out.
Hal finally has had enough of Lois staying out of Francis and Piama's fight and begs her to intervene once more. He mentions that Piama wants a drive to the bus station. Lois refuses to budge on the situation, pointing out that Hal was right the first time about her starting every fight. She tells him off that she's minding her own business from now on and the family can do what they want, even resolve their own issues. Fed up, Hal explains that Lois was right the first time when she mentions he couldn't handle the situation. He mentions that the family can't function without her. Lois decides to do it and gets Francis to make up with Piama the only way she knows for certain will work... she tells them to get a divorce. Francis of course won't do what Lois says, and the fight is instantly resolved. Hal thanks Lois for butting in.
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[]
Recurring[]
- Emy Coligado as Piama
Cameos[]
- Alessandra Torresani as Kirsten Stewart
- Marshall Allman as Dylan Edwards
- Joel Anderson as Mr. Edwards
- John O'Brien as Sales Clerk
- Joyce Corradetti as Biker Chick
Trivia[]
- This episode aired a day before Thanksgiving.
- Malcolm is making new friends on this front yard on 12005 Woodbridge St, Studio City, CA 91604. It has been redesigned in 2018, the location however was used again in Malcolm Films Reese.[1]
- This episode revisits Reese's stunning ability to cook. (Reese Cooks)
- Alessandra Torresani, who played Kirsten in this episode, was also Sara in the episode Malcolm's Girlfriend, although her face was never shown.
- This is the 3rd episode in which Malcolm almost loses his virginity. The last two are in season 3's Houseboat and Health Scare.
- The original plan for the ending had Lois finally apologizing to Francis and Piama for her behavior. She admits she's trying to accept their marriage, but it has been hard on her because he married too young at 17 and she didn't marry Hal until they were older. Francis finally starts to understand why his marriage to Piama had been hard for Lois to deal with and apologizes to her for having told her this after his wedding. Lois promises them that she will try to respect their marriage more.
- Rule of advice, never grab a burning hot pot from the oven with your barehands, especially without oven mitts, that was extemely dangerous to what Reese did.