User:Nothin' at all/MITM/403
| "Family Reunion" | |
|---|---|
| Malcolm in the Middle episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 3 |
| Directed by | Ken Kwapis |
| Written by | Alex Reid |
| Production code | 06-02-403 |
| Original air dates | November 17, 2002 |
| Guest appearance | |
| Christopher Lloyd as Walter Wilkerson | |
"Family Reunion" is episode 3 of the fourth season of the television series Malcolm in the Middle. It first aired on November 17, 2002.
Plot
[edit]Francis and his wife Piama come home to visit, and Hal's sister calls to invite them to a family reunion. Lois, who is still unhappy with Francis for his unannounced marriage, subjects Piama to relentless verbal abuse both at home and in the course of the drive to Hal's father's house. On the way, Reese arranges for Dewey to ingratiate himself to Hal's father due to a large inheritance at stake, having failed to do so himself at a younger age.
Upon arriving at the opulent home, Lois herself quickly becomes a subject of verbal abuse at the hands of Hal's family. Concerned with their disrespect for his wife, Hal tries several times to speak to his father (played by Christopher Lloyd) on her behalf, but each time his father dodges the issue with antics which range from making silly faces to tickling. Meanwhile, Malcolm is singled out by Hal's father, an avid Civil War reenactor, and spends much of his time unenthusiastically participating in his grandfather's hobby while Reese and Dewey find themselves in competition with the other grandchildren over the potential inheritance. Francis, who had hoped to spend some personal time with his wife, was singled out early on by Hal's father as a target for the amusement of the other grandchildren and fails repeatedly to make them leave him alone.
As Hal's family prepares for a group photo, Lois breaks into a panic when she realizes she left behind her dress shoes. When two of Hal's relatives trick her into missing out on the photo shoot, she locks herself in the bathroom and cries. In response, Hal shields himself with five jackets and faces down his father who, being unable to tickle him, is soon subject to his own treatment. The boys, meanwhile, plot their own revenge. As Piama looks on, Francis, Reese, Malcolm, and Dewey steal the golf cart which had been meant as a birthday gift to Hal's father and run over the collapsible picnic tables where everyone is eating, dragging the tablecloth behind them and driving the cart straight into the swimming pool.
Following a hasty departure from the estate, Hal sternly warns the boys that there will be consequences the next time that they drive a golf cart over a buffet table and into a pool. Dewey reveals to Reese that he convinced their grandfather he had been tied to the cart, leaving the possibility of inheriting their grandfather's fortune open in spite of what happened, and Lois surprises them all by finally being respectful to Piama.