Season 4 was the fourth season of Fox's Malcolm in the Middle which ran from November 3, 2002 to May 18, 2003, for a total of twenty-two episodes.
Season plot
Malcolm has graduated middle school and is going onto high school. However, Lois embarasses on his first day, earning him the nickname "Stain". Malcolm tries multiple things in attempt to avoid going through this for the rest of high school, but nicknames are forever. Cynthia, concerned for his safety, tells him that if he continues to beat himself up over this, she'll never have sex with him again. (despite the fact that they've never had sex before), which puts Malcolm right back on the popularity list again. Later on, Malcolm and Reese get serious about dating and both get long-term girlfriends. Reese gets an equally dim-witted girl named Alison and Malcolm gets an adventurous, rule-bending rebel named Nicki. Both relationships, unfortunately come to an end through, as both of the boys make their mistakes. Malcolm end up only talking about himself and ignoring all of Nicki's needs, leading her to abandon him, and Reese intentionally gets Alison to break up with him just before prom, so he can dramatically ask her out during prom, which is only as disastrous as it sounds.
Hal and Lois are forced to work for the school, in order to boost their self image. We meet Hal's father, Walter for the first time and learn that his father has never been there for him, throughout his entire life. Lois's dreadful mother, Ida, slips on a leaf, while visiting the house and gets in a neck brace. She not only lives with the family until she is healed, but also sues the family for being responsible for her injury. As is that wasn't enough, Lois also hears that she's pregnant, with yet another child. She has to go through with having this baby and leaves the house for a few weeks. In the end, she successfully gives birth to a baby, whose gender is left ambiguous for the remainder of the season.
After leaving the log cabin, Francis and Piama's car breaks down in the middle of nowhere. They are helped by two very nice people named Gretchen and Otto, who own a Cattle Ranch, called The Grotto. They also get hired to work there, and unlike with Francis' last two jobs, Gretchen and Otto are extremely nice to him and their politeness is even taken to ridiculous extremes, with them letting him get away with whatever he wants.
Episodes
| No. in
series |
No. in
season |
Title | Original air date | Prod. Code |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | 1 | Zoo | November 3, 2002 | 401 |
| 65 | 2 | Humilithon | November 10, 2002 | 402 |
| 66 | 3 | Family Reunion | November 17, 2002 | 403 |
| 67 | 4 | Stupid Girl | November 24, 2002 | 404 |
| 68 | 5 | Forwards Backwards | December 1, 2002 | 406 |
| 69 | 6 | Forbidden Girlfriend | December 15, 2002 | 405 |
| 70 | 7 | Malcolm Holds His Tongue | January 5, 2003 | 410 |
| 71 | 8 | Boys At Ranch | January 12, 2003 | 412 |
| 72 | 9 | Grandma Sues | February 2, 2003 | 407 |
| 73 | 10 | If Boys Were Girls | February 9, 2003 | 408 |
| 74 | 11 | Long Drive | March 2, 2003 | 409 |
| 75 | 12 | Kicked Out | March 9, 2003 | 413 |
| 76 | 13 | Stereo Store | March 16, 2003 | 414 |
| 77 | 14 | Hal's Friend | March 30, 2003 | 415 |
| 78 | 15 | Garage Sale | April 6, 2003 | 416 |
| 79 | 16 | Academic Octathalon | April 13, 2003 | 411 |
| 80 | 17 | Clip Show #2 | April 20, 2003 | 422 |
| 81 | 18 | Reese's Party | April 27, 2003 | 418 |
| 82 | 19 | Future Malcolm | May 4, 2003 | 417 |
| 83 | 20 | Baby Part 1 | May 11, 2003 | 419 |
| 84 | 21 | Baby Part 2 | May 18, 2003 | 420 |
| 85 | 22 | Day Care | May 18, 2003 | 421 |