Therapy is the eighth episode of Season 2 of Malcolm in the Middle and the twenty-fourth episode overall of the show.
Plot[]
Malcolm fakes an emotional breakdown in order to get out of the Krelboyne class' Medieval Week. Hal and Lois clean out a packed closet and find that it is actually a second bathroom. Meanwhile, Francis put on laundry duty after being caught for an unspecified prank by Spangler. He originally starts off with good intentions, but then lets the power get to his head. Dewey has a talent for table skittles, but refuses to pursue that gift after finding out how boring the game is.
Summary[]
While cleaning out the closet, Lois is dismayed to find underpants and realizes she must not threaten Hal and the boys enough. Hal finds his old game of English alley table skittles and shows them to Dewey, who quickly proves to be a natural at the game. Lois continues cleaning the closet and finds coffee grounds and garbage along with photo albums belonging to "The Petersons" family whom they don't know.
Today is the Krelboyne class's Medieval Week, but Malcolm doesn't want to attend because of how boring it is and is being forced to by Lois. When he learns that a classmate is excused each time Medieval Week rolls around due to personal issues by Dabney, he sees a way out of it. Malcolm feigns a mental breakdown to skip that week and bonds with the school's psychologist, Dr. Christie. He manages to keep his secret trip there to himself for a few days. But when Reese discovers this, he blackmails Malcolm for favors to keep the secret.
Meanwhile after being caught for an unspecified prank by Spangler, Francis is put on laundry duty to serve out his punishment. When a cadet named Johnny mentions about the deals that Spangler gets from the supplier to take the expired laundry detergents off their hands, he gets annoyed. Francis asks about liquid fabric softener, dryer sheets and fresh detergent. Johnny mentions the expired stuff works just as great. Francis orders him to get out of the laundry room, proceeds the get rid of the expired laundry supplies and replace them with new supplies of fresh laundry supplies. The next day, the cadets thanks him for replacing that nasty detergent. Drew mentions that he's had a serious skin reaction each time because of it. Soon Francis lets the whole thing get to his head and tries to charge them. Eric and the others are fed up thinking Francis is hiding in a pile of laundry sacks, he tries to sneak off by hiding in a sack but is stopped quickly by a cadet, and they beat him senseless.
Dewey has a talent for table skittles. When Hal tries to display this, it seemingly goes away. Dewey tells him off that although he may have a talent for skittles he finds the activity boring and has no interest in pursuing it professionally. Hal explains with his talent he could be another Chap Sanders and wonders if Dewey is willing to turn his back on what might be his one true talent, Dewey says yes, before he leaves he asks if he can do one last flopper for him, but Dewey refuses and walks off.
Lois is angry at Malcolm and Reese for their deception as she forces Reese to kneel in front of the wall with his hands behind his head for pretending to need therapy. Before Lois can tell Malcolm what she plans to do for his punishment, Dr. Christie arrives. She asks if Lois is willing to hear Malcolm out because he's been mentioning serious problems between them for a long time. During their sessions, she discovers how much he hates her putting so much stress on him with all the extra credit classes she signed him up for in addition having to help Reese and Dewey with their homework as well. Lois says she only wants him to live up to his potential with Malcolm saying that’s exactly the kind of pressure that stresses him out when all he wants is to be a normal teen. Lois finally understands how overbearing she was being towards him and she and Malcolm have an emotional heartfelt apology ending with them both sobbing and hugging each other. Reese seeing that Lois is distracted having her moment with Malcolm he joins the hug and tells her she really pissed him off for taking away his hockey stick because he was hitting Dewey with it and he’ll go up to the attic and get it later.
Later on, Hal and Lois finish cleaning out the closet after finding another box from the Petersons and a box of records from the 1960's with Hal forgetting that LBJ had his gall bladder removed. Lois questions if they bothered to clean out the closet when they first moved into the house, Hal's response is "Apparently not." Just as they go to remove an old toilet that is the final object left in the closet they find that it's connected and after flushing it they realize that the closet has actually been a second bathroom they were unaware of for years. Hal tells Lois if they don't tell the boys, it'll be their own little secret as they start putting all of the boxes back into the closet so they'll never know.
Cast[]
- Jane Kaczmerek as Lois
- Bryan Cranston as Hal
- Christopher Kennedy Masterson as Francis
- Justin Berfield as Reese
- Erik Per Sullivan as Dewey
- Frankie Muniz as Malcolm
Guest Stars[]
Recurring[]
- Craig Lamar Taylor as Stevie
- Kyle Sullivan as Dabney
- Evan Matthew Cohen as Lloyd
- Eric Nenninger as Eric
- Kristin Quick as Flora Mayesh
- Arjay Smith as Finley
- Kasan Butcher as Joe
- Drew Powell as Drew Horton
Cameos[]
- Catherine Lloyd Burns as Caroline Miller
- Johnny Lewis as Martin
- Nancy Lenehan as Dr. Christie
Trivia[]
- In one scene during the montage when Malcolm is in his room, a Squirtle plush can be on a shelf above his bed.
- The Squirtle plush would reappear in the cold opening in the episode Day Care as Reese's pillow.
- Caroline is pregnant in this episode.
- Dewey's incredible skill at skittles can be seen as foreshadowing that he is a child prodigy.
- Reese's "Davy" fake alter-ego is a reference to the movie The Shining
- In one scene behind Francis during the laundry time there is a Sega Dreamcast next to a Ray-o-Vac workhorse lantern.
- While cleaning out the closet Hal mentions LBJ (Lyndon Baines Johnson) the 36th President of the United States and mentions how he had surgery on his gall bladder.
- In the original ending, Dewey finds out about Hal and Lois's secret and lets the older boys know.
- This episode marks the only time Malcolm and Reese are suspended from school.
- The line "I should've given birth to Chimps" is referenced from Traffic Jam.
- This is one of the few times Lois accepts responsibility for herself in her attitude.
Errors[]
- In the widescreen version of this episode, you can see studio equipment in the background above the ceiling of the interior of the house while Hal is showing Dewey how to play Skittles. This is not the first time the studio can be seen in the background as it was also seen and mentioned in Home Alone 4.
- 8'05'' in, as Lois and Hal are clearing the closet, you can see a person from the crew talking with other people on the left of the screen in the kitchen of the house along with the missing ceiling as mentioned above.