Blackout is the seventh episode of season seven of Malcolm in the Middle.
Plot
Francis sneaks home to take a giant fish from the garage and accidentally allows Jamie to lose a balloon which causes a blackout. In the midst of getting the fish he gets caught and makes up a lie to Lois so she won't know the truth as to why he is there.
Malcolm tries to avoid getting caught with three Dutch girls. Hal and Reese attempt to cook two pieces of Kobe beef. Reese thinks that he is getting one, but Hal really plans on giving the other one to Lois because it is their anniversary. Dewey is upset after he is promised he could pick dinner but doesn't get his way.
First, we see Lois and Hal's bedroom, which Hal remarks when the power goes out to Reese that even God wants their evil plan to work. Shortly after Reese leaves the room, a clatter can be heard from outside. Hal goes to check it out while Lois stays inside. Francis somehow manages to sneak past his father and get behind the dresser, but in seconds, is discovered by Lois. She wants to know what he is doing there and he ends up lying to Lois saying that he thinks his marriage is over. She looks gravely concerned, but is interrupted by Hal, she leaves, and Francis tries to escape the room, but is confronted by Dewey. Dewey says to him that Hal had promised that he could pick dinner if he emptied the rat traps in the crawlspace, but that very night, he had cheated Dewey out of his promise. Francis instead says that if he tells anyone that he is here then he will punch him so hard in the stomach that he won't be able to eat cereal for two days. Dewey leaves just as Lois announces very loudly that Hal is coming into the bedroom. Francis freezes and Lois pulls Hal into a long kiss in the doorway to let Francis get away. Lois claims that she was just trying to celebrate their marriage. Later, Hal answers the phone because it was ringing, it is Malcolm saying that he is drunk at a party 100 mi down the freeway. Hal and Lois angrily get ready to go offscreen. Meanwhile, Malcolm along with three blonde dutch girls tiptoe into the room. Malcolm says that he has about 5 hrs to live before his parents bust him
Trivia
- This is only the second time we hear Jamie speak on the show when he says 'Francis'. The first time was 'shut up' when Lois wouldn't stop talking. (Reese vs. Stevie)
- This episode has three different segments that take place simultaneously while the house is blacked out in different parts of the house, all having a relation to one another. They all come back together after the power returns.
- Malcolm does not aside in this episode.
Quotes
- Reese (to Hal): What's going on?
- Hal: Kobe.
- Reese: What?
- Hal: I have Kobe beef.
- Reese: No way.
- Hal: Yes!
- Reese: That's like $60 an ounce.
- Hal: I know. I won it in a Minesweeper tournament at work. Years of practicing eight hours a day has finally paid off.
- Reese: Wow, I've never even seen Kobe beef. It's like meeting the Pope, but you get to eat him!
- Hal: Exactly. But this is treated much better than any pope was or ever will be. It lives on beer and ice cream. And right up until the moment of slaughter, its rump and thighs are massaged by geishas.
- Reese: It should be eating us!
- Dewey (to Hal): You promised!
- Hal: Dewey, if I kept half the promises I make, this family would plunge into chaos.
- Reese (to Malcolm): I'll take the easy-looking one on the left.
- "Easy-looking Dutch Girl" (to Reese): We all speak English!
- Reese: I know