1.15 "Malcolm in the Middle" - "Smunday" Quiz

Answer: Poured water on his boxers

The episode opens in Malcolm and Reese's bedroom during a dark, quiet night. Malcolm tells us he learned a "trick" in camp last year while he puts Reese's hand in a bucket of water. Then, an excited Malcolm lifts up Reese's sheets and pours the water on his brother's boxers! Malcolm quickly runs back to his bed and pretends to be asleep, while an embarrassed Reese hides because he thinks he just wet himself.

Answer: Monday

As the alarm clock goes off at 7:45 am, Malcolm realizes what day it is and excitedly shakes Dewey to wake him up, telling him "it's Monday morning". Dewey immediately wakes up and exclaims: "hurray!" Malcolm explains that he wouldn't normally be happy about a Monday, but this one marked the end of two months of being grounded. Reese isn't as excited as his brothers because, despite having all weekend to do so, he was rushing to finish his History homework.

"Manic Monday" was one of the most popular songs released by the American pop rock band The Bangles. The song was released as a single in 1986 and gained great popularity, reaching as high as the second spot " on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts. "Manic Monday" was part of the album "Different Light", which also included hits like "Walk Like an Egyptian" and "Walking Down Your Street".

Answer: Dog food

Malcolm and Reese think their mom "went overboard" with their punishment. We then see what they did to earn it: the Wilkerson brothers agreed that if Circus ate a wet dog food sandwich, they would give away Dewey's bike. Without hesitation, Circus places an entire can of dog food in between two pieces of bread and eats the whole thing! Dewey says that it was worth it, after which Malcolm realizes the trouble they would get in when their mom Lois finds out about this.

They unsuccessfully try to tell Lois that Dewey's bike was stolen while the youngest of the Wilkerson family cries. Of course, Louis doesn't believe them and hence, the boys were grounded for two long months.

Answer: Flu

Hal, the father in the Wilkerson house, comes out of his bedroom carrying a tray of food and covering his nose with his tie. He tells the boys that Lois has a temperature of 104° Fahrenheit (40° Celsius) and that he has never seen her this sick. Malcolm then tells us that Lois has been sick with the flu all weekend, but he doesn't feel sorry for her because he just spent two months grounded without TV. Apparently, Hal hasn't been able to use the TV either, so he asks the boys to behave while he's at work. That way, Hal can plug in the TV again when he comes back from work.

Answer: Porsche

In the middle of a boring drive to work, Hal spots a Porsche dealership that immediately catches his attention. He starts daydreaming about owning a shiny red Porsche car; more specifically, he envisions images of him washing the car while he dances as his neighbors watch.

A classic and hilarious Bryan Cranston scene! Hal goes into the dealership and briefly looks at a car. Before he leaves for work, a salesman approaches him and offers a brochure, as he clearly is trying to sell the car to Hal.

Answer: Southern Alabama State University

Malcolm, Reese, and Dewey realize they might have made a mistake in lying to Lois. They can't go outside because someone may see them skipping school, and they are bored indoors because they can't use the TV. While they try to figure out what to do next, they get a call from Francis who immediately starts shouting "I had nothing to do with it" thinking Lois answered the call. Once he realizes it's his brothers, he asks Malcolm to find a letter from Southern Alabama State. Francis explains that he (somehow) drove a backhoe into their swimming pool and flooded their gym. Since Francis thinks the letter will get him in trouble with his parents, he wants Malcolm to hide it so Lois doesn't see it.

Francis also tells the kids they could go to a nearby arcade so they're not bored, especially since the manager "has a pretty enlightened outlook about a kid's right to choose his own school hours". They try to get money from Lois without her noticing, but instead, she accidentally reveals where it is. Lois is so ill that she can't help telling the boys the truth about anything they ask.

Answer: Phone

While the situation at the Wilkerson house progresses, Hal is still at the Porsche dealership. The salesman tries to convince Hal to buy a car by saying that both his lifemate and him have Porsches despite not being wealthy. Hal tells him "she's a very lucky lady", only to find a picture of the salesman with another man. Hal makes it clear that he doesn't have the money to pay for a Porsche but the salesman doesn't quit. He offers Hal to take a car for a test drive, but Hal isn't convinced because he would need to call work. The salesman points out that there's a phone in the car, which appears to change Hal's mind. After the test drive, Hal claims those were the best 12 minutes of his life.

Later in the episode, Hal resists the pressure from the salesmen to buy the car, and even ends up vomiting into one of the Porsches!

Answer: In the VCR

Lois tells her children that she found out they were lying about Dewey's bike because Francis told her. The brothers have a hard time believing that Francis "ratted" on them, especially little Dewey. Malcolm and Reese threaten to tell their mom about the letter to get back at Francis. However, Francis decides to send Richie and his friends to retrieve the letter. He warns them not to let Malcolm out of their sight because he is "too smart", but before Richie can turn around, Malcolm had already hidden the letter. Malcolm tells Reese that he put the letter in their VCR. Remember those?

Richie suggests setting the house on fire to get back the letter. Instead, Francis asks him to stare incessantly at Reese. His eyes go toward the VCR and Francis's friends celebrate that they found it. When they leave, Malcolm reveals he knew all along that this would happen, so he hid a fake letter in the VCR to trick Richie.

Answer: Dewey put it under her pillow

Malcolm's plan went perfectly except for one thing: he gave the real letter to Dewey thinking no one would ever think the youngest brother had it. Unfortunately, Dewey's innocence backfires since he decided to hide the letter under Lois's pillow! Next, we see an enraged Lois reading the letter in shock.

The anger apparently is enough for her to get over the illness, as she repeatedly exclaims "I'm going to kill him". Reese tries to trick her into thinking this is all a dream, but it doesn't work. Lois gets a brochure for a work farm in Arizona, thinking military school may not be tough enough to straighten Francis up.

Answer: Throw things their parents like from the roof

The brothers apologize to each other after the cover-up fails to work. Francis explains that he had to tell Lois about Dewey's bike so that he could go home in the summer. Malcolm comes up with another idea: since Lois only thinks about whatever she's mad about when she gets angry, they could make her forget about Francis by getting in a lot of trouble. That way, she would be mad at Malcolm, Reese, and Dewey, and forget all about sending Francis to Arizona.

The boys put things like a microwave, their dad's skating trophy, a wedding portrait, and their mother's favorite lamp on a cart they will push down the roof. Dewey tries to put a toy in but Malcolm explains that they're breaking things their mom likes, not them. To make things even worse, Reese adds red paint to the pile of items. Standing on the roof, the boys eat what they think will be the last candy bars of their childhood and wait for Lois to come out.

Their plan works even when something unexpected happens: the car salesman, driving Hal home in a Porsche, pulls into the garage at the exact time the objects and the paint are falling from the sky. We don't see the moment when the objects impact the car, but we can only imagine the damage they caused! The episode ends in a standoff between Lois and the boys, who refuse to go down from the roof fearing what she would to do them.