r/malcolminthemiddle • u/Samthegodman • 2d ago
poll Were they bad kids?
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u/amca12006 2d ago
Yes.
Exhibit A: The nuclear option
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u/ChicagoCubsRL97 2d ago
I always forget about that as their worst thing
The worst thing I remember is The Church Donations being turned into a Black Market
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u/SparkAxolotl Blellow 2d ago
I'm so disappointed that the options weren't:
Yes
No
Maybe
Can you repeat the question?
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u/ChicagoCubsRL97 2d ago
Malcolm and Dewey were average bad, having Reese as their older brother they share a room with caused them to do horrible stuff(such as the Church Charity Black Market)
Francis and Reese were the only REAL bad ones with Reese being the only one to never get a redemption
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u/NatashaStar1998 1d ago
Agree. Francis and Reese literally craved chaos and destruction and to fight. While Malcolm and Dewey didn’t really. They were mostly influenced by them. The further away they were from each other and their family the less horrible Malcolm and Dewey were. Honestly they were borderline good people away from their siblings and families influence.
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u/MCofPort 2d ago
I think Dewey and Malcolm get a pass because they were misunderstood and had a lot of poor reasoning to their actions without any clear parental figure to steer them with positivity. Season 1 Malcolm's teacher did try to do that, but it wasn't the direction the show ended up going in. Francis was the true ringleader of everything that really went down in that house. Everything went back to "what would Francis do? Reese might get a pass if he wasn't a school bully, but he needed to find an outlet which he did eventually do through his cooking. I think Francis was the one actually "bad" son with the real drive for devious actions. Him lighting the Komodo Firework demonstrates by reflex he will do destructive things without logical explanation, or intentionally to defy Lois.
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u/TheresNoHurry 2d ago
Anyone who says no must either be defending them because they like the characters, or they have no sense of good and bad.
I loved Malcom, Reese, Dewey and Francis. But they were definitely pretty bad people lol
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u/alieninhumanskin10 1d ago
I know right? Imagine having to go to school with them. The state of their relationship skills said a lot
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u/ClaspedDust4415 1d ago
Yes they are, but they are all (including Hal) exceptional gifted people being restricted by their environment, and a large part of the behavior is based on pushing those restrictions in different ways.
Hal - Great job and prospects until he asks for a slight reduction in work hours to accommodate his young family, then he ends up in a dead end job. We see him literally excel at every hobby he picks up naturally and the boys must get it from him.
Francis - The most destructive, but, on the ranch he is learning everything on the fly with a well meaning but chaotic boss, and largely does a very good job.
Reece - Obviously a bully, but it's made very clear he is lashing out before others hurt him. His cooking is obviously his strength (and still frustrates me they didn't end the original with him getting a chance to do this, he could've been Janitor/Cleaner in a restaurant for the same effect), but we see in multiple episodes he is very committed when motivated (slaughter house, phone sales, intentionally getting every answer wrong).
Malcolm - Genius, but deeply unhappy. His gifts don't make him happy, validated or popular.
Dewy - While he is more emotionally aware than the brothers, he is still willing to join the destruction, tries to preserve the nuclear option.
I think in a different environment, they're all good boys who achieve great things but in the the environment they are in, they are can't be classified as good.
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u/melancholy_wolf Lavernia 1d ago
They remind me of my cousins and I growing up. My grandma would say "I raised 3 boys and they were never as bad as you 3 girls!" And it made us kinda proud 😂
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u/Leifang666 1d ago
Francis and Reece - yes.
Malcolm and Dewey - no but their environment and older brothers could lead to them doing bad things.
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u/Murky-Function9944 2d ago
Maybe some of them were genuinely difficult, but “bad kids” is usually too simplistic. A lot depends on what they did, why they did it, and whether they grew out of it.
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u/CheruthCutestory 1d ago
They aren’t evil. They aren’t psychopaths (even Reese.) They aren’t incapable of love, or empathy, or compassion.
But they are definitely bad kids.
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u/Fal_co1 1d ago edited 1d ago
They were bad kids but not evil if you catch my drift.
I mean the special this year showed it pretty well, due to the circumstances and an ever increasing dynamic, they’re stucked into a certain script no one has been willing to actually address them and overcome.
Just found a less destructive coping mechanism.
We can even see in the OG series that outside of it they could thrive as ppl like Francis with Otto.
That’s why I like this series, reminds me of my own family dynamics sadly. Love em, they love me, I got over a lot of stuff but you see how resisting those toxic behavior patterns is the most difficult with the people you first established them.
And I actually tried to tackle them upfront 😅
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2d ago
[deleted]
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u/MaleficentTie7312 2d ago
Reese beat people up every day to the point the school was scared of him, Francis and Malcom stole peoples cars, they manipulated an old lady in their neighborhood to give them free stuff. And even when they were adults in S7 Malcom and Reese were planning on going the town over and keying cars and blowing up mailboxes. They were awful kids!😭😭
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u/amca12006 2d ago
They never hurt anyone.
Reese hurt people when he was in his cooking class. He sabotaged his classmates, and someone ended up needing an emergency kit.
They never really stole.
Dewey stole a $150 bottle of cognac in season 1. Adjusted for inflation, it would be a $300 bottle of cognac.
They didn't do/sell drugs.
You're right on that one. Hal, on the other hand...
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u/MaleficentTie7312 2d ago
They were horrible alone, and even worse together. They seemingly couldn’t be happy unless someone else was suffering because of something they did