Over the hills and far away in alt.tv.malcolm-in-themiddle, Santa Claws
came to play...
>>the fact that Malcolm is learning to drive in season 4, he must be 14 at
>>the start of the season, and 15 as the season progresses.
>
> They don't say what state this is set in. I figured driving age was
> 16. As I understood it, Malcolm's birthday is early in the season. He
> will be 16 in season 5. That would make him able to get his learners
> permit some time over the current break between seasons 4 and 5 (about
> now actually!). I kind of expected them to deal with this in season 5.
I'm not privy to the laws in the States, but I do understand from the
sources of other people that there are some states where the age is 15.
There is actually another piece of evidence to back this up. In the
episode "Hal Coaches", Reese is referred to as "a fifteen year old boy."
This episode comes after the episode where he learns to drive. Unless
they've made a big mistake, I can only assume that he is 15 for this
series... except what you said above is right. He started season 4 aged
14, but his birthday is almost straight away.
> Where in season 4 is Malcolm learning to drive?? I don't remember this
> at all. If he was it would mean whichever state this is, driving age
> is 15... are there any?
I'm not sure if he's actually learning, but in the first episode, IIRC,
there are specific mentions to him raising the money for the insurance.
Unless I'm getting confused. In the 2nd episode as well, he actually
drives Hal's car when he's attempting to smash it into Lois' car.
> Now to complicate the issue I remember Reese taking his first and only
> driving lesson in season 3. In season 4 they point out that his public
> defender wouldn't even try the insanity plea, so he has no license.
> Malcolm is pissed because he figures there is no chance he will ever
> be allowed to drive after that...
Yes, Reese never passed his test. He probably was never allowed to take
another lesson again by his parents after the way things turned out in
that episode !
> If the age for driving is 15, Reese driving in season 3 and being in
> his freshman year works. So Malcolm should have been driving all of
> season 4, unless of course Reese's actions did indeed mean he was
> never allowed to drive). BUT, that would mean 'Flashback' is wrong,
> because there would only be a 9 month (!) age gap between Malcolm and
> Reese.
>
> The truth is I think they tried to keep the characters ages vague in
> the early seasons, and they have no choice but to contradict
> themselves now.
I think that's probably the best way of looking at it. Yes, they've tried
hard and have usually been pretty good with the character ages and
history, but some of that continuity is not following now, so they're
making minor corrections. Their prerogative, I suppose :-)
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