The news that Frankie Muniz is set to revive the titular role in time for his 40th birthday, and we’ll see his character all grown up with his own family. While there are plenty more details to come out about the series before it’s due to air in December, one mystery about Malcolm’s future immediately raises questions about this revival.
In Malcolm in the Middle’s original finale at the end of its seventh season, Malcolm’s mom Lois reveals the enormous expectations she and her husband Hal have for their middle son. Lois, played by Jane Kaczmarek – who’ll be reprising her role in the revival, too – tells Malcolm that she expects him to be elected to the highest office in the land. “We thought you knew,” concurs the rest of the family, as if the idea were an everyday topic of conversation. Now that Malcolm is returning for revival, however, it remains to be seen whether he’s achieved Lois’ ambitions for him, or his life has taken a different path.
Lois Planned For Malcolm To Become President Of The United States
She Didn’t Give Him A Say In The Matter
Malcolm’s prodigious intellect was apparent from the very first episode of the show. His genius continued to develop to such a degree, that by the time he was ready to graduate high school, his parents were convinced he was destined for greatness. As Hal, played by Bryan Cranston, puts it, "Our expectations started much smaller, but you just kept upping the ante." At the same time, Malcolm often proves himself to have the emotional capacity for levels of empathy which are rarely observed in his household.
The combination of his extremely high IQ and comion for others means that his mother sees him as an ideal candidate to become President of the United States.
The combination of his extremely high IQ and comion for others means that his mother sees him as an ideal candidate to become President of the United States. In what was one of Lois' best quotes in Malcolm in the Middle, "You know what it's like to be poor and work hard."
The 18-year-old Malcolm is understandably horrified that he’s suddenly burdened with such colossal expectations of public service, but Lois makes him tell her honestly if he can’t do it. When Malcolm stays silent, it implies that he’s willing to accept the weight of these expectations and try to become President.
If Malcolm Doesn’t Become President, The Revival Needs To Explain Why
Either He Went Against His Parents’ Wishes, Or Life Got In The Way
On its own , the scene in which Lois and Hal reveal their plan to Malcolm is quite moving, despite the whole family being covered in biological waste throughout the conversation. However, in the context of Malcolm in the Middle’s revival, this scene throws up a problem. If the adult Malcolm doesn’t seem anywhere near the road to becoming President by his late thirties, he’ll have abandoned the plan carefully laid out to him by his parents. Not only will this turn of events take some of the shine off the show’s original finale, but it will take some explaining.
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Then again, if Malcolm doesn’t look like becoming President of the United States, he’ll have plenty of good reasons why. It could simply be that his working-class background presented socio-economic obstacles that were ultimately insurmountable for him, preventing him from even entering the political scene at a statewide or national level. Maybe he just couldn’t live up to these frankly ridiculous expectations, or he decided to follow his own path like his older brother Francis did, angering his mother in the process. Lastly, it’s reasonable to question whether public office even suited Malcolm’s character, given that he became very self-involved during the show’s later seasons.
Malcolm On The Path To Presidency Was His Perfect Ending
It Validated Everything He’d Been Through
Nevertheless, it’s hard to deny that Malcolm being lined up for the presidency by his family was the perfect ending to the original series. The show started with Malcolm’s extraordinary intelligence giving other characters a reason to bully and burden him. Rarely a moment of his teenage years went by without him suffering from being both at the bottom of the social pecking order and trapped in a stifling family environment. Malcolm being offered the chance to get as far away from these experiences as he could possibly imagine, to reach the highest office of state in existence, felt like the ideal reward for everything he’d been through.
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On the other hand, it was the kind of reward Lois was notorious for doling out to her boys in Malcolm in the Middle. She never gave them the easy option, and insisted on them doing the right thing. "How is being rich throwing my life away?" Malcolm objects, when Lois tells him that’s why she stopped him taking a high-paying job at a tech firm. She responds that it’s not what he’s “supposed” to do. This conversation sums up the moral of the series. Nothing will ever be easy for Malcolm, because real life is hard work. But that’s what makes it fulfilling.
Malcolm in the Middle
- Release Date
- 2000 - 2006-00-00
- Network
- FOX
- Showrunner
- Linwood Boomer
Cast
Frankie Muniz
WHERE TO WATCH
- Directors
- Linwood Boomer
- Writers
- Linwood Boomer
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