>Here's another possibility. I noticed that Poker #1 aired on the first
week
>of January 2002, which would be a month after the supposed birthday, it
may
>be that the visual of the poker equipment may have stuck in Malcolm's
mind
>thru Poker #2, and he may have thought back to a month after his birthday
>when Hal first got it and wondered if that was in place of his birthday
>present.
Except then at best the poker set had to have been bought at least a
month after his birthday. At the time of the birthday, Hal wouldn't
have even known Abe was going to invite him to the first poker game.
>Judging from the way that Reese
>just really didn't want Dewey around, I might say it was slightly more
than
>the typical power trip - it may have been more of Reese (and maybe
Malcolm)
>wanting to be totally alone with those girls and have no reminder of his
>little brother around. (I think Reese's line went something like "I
don't
>want your whining to ruin it!!!".) They say that when teen boys get,
well,
>"*****" if you will, they seem to throw all good instincts or principles
out
>the window.
That would pretty much be the way I read it.
>I guess if he really, really wants to be with a girl he will be come
equally
>put off by any distraction. I was equally uncomfortable with Malcolm
>looking on in silent approval the whole time. On some rare occasions
>Malcolm will stand up to Reese on various things or take up for Dewey.
>Maybe I am reading a shade too much into it, but in this instance it
almost
>looked like Reese domineered over Malcolm in a sense.
I think it was more Malcolm just figured he was set to get lucky as
well. Remember they knew about Chandra bringing her friend Kristen at
this point. Malcolm expected to be making out with a girl and no more
wanted Dewey around than Reese did.
And to be honest, I wouldn't want Dewey around if I was making out
with a girl! Serious mood killer, sorry.
>Well, that and the Clip Shows - to me those are major letdowns because
>you're expecting something new when Sunday night rolls around, and seeing
>parts of what you have already seen kills the anticipation for me.
I hate clip shows. But, I did like the framing stories they did. For
the few lines they added, the kids describing themselves to the
therapist was a lot of fun. And Reese's description of Malcolm as the
one who sorts out their problems and fixes everything 'kind of like
the gay kid on Scooby Doo' was a great line. And touching how Reese
and Dewey moments after an all out fist fight are jumping up to defend
Malcolm when the therapist suggests sending him away to a special
school.
And the second clip show, where Hal finally shouts Lois down over the
way she treats Francis. Finally saying to her face that maybe she is
partly to blame for Francis's behavior. Forget the clips, that was a
great moment of revelation for the characters.
I know what you mean though. Waiting for an 'all new' episode only to
get a 'slightly less than half new' episode does suck. Even if the
part that is new is pretty decent. Did I say I hate clip shows?
With two clip shows over the last two seasons, I kind of hope they are
done on their quota for that now.
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