Home Alone 4 (Malcolm in the Middle episode)
| "Home Alone 4 (Malcolm in the Middle episode)" |
|---|
"Home Alone 4" is episode 3 of the first season of the television series Malcolm in the Middle. It originally aired on January 23, 2000.
Cold Opening
The family are having a pleasant dinner. It was revealed by Malcolm that once every 17.4 dinners, his family actually has a good meal together. They continue to make jokes but it all stops when Reese holds a spoon with food on it and prepares to flick it at Lois. Lois tells Reese to put the spoon down but Reese says he wasn't going to. The confrontation stops when Hal flicks some food at Lois. It turns out that Lois thinks it is funny. Malcolm says that it is still considered a good dinner.
Plot
Hal and Lois are invited to a wedding and leave the house and the boys in the hands of Francis, who has a free weekend from the military academy. Before they leave, Malcolm overhears Hal and Lois are talking and thinks that Francis might stay at home if the weekend passes without major incidents.
Francis' old friends also find out that he's back in town and they pay a visit after Hal and Lois leave. The house is left in dissaray. They even get dragged of by the police while very drunk. The attempts to clean go badly until Malcolm reveals that Francis might be allowed to stay home if the weekend goes well. The house is cleaned but ends up being cleaner then it ever has been. The boys make a little mess so Hal and Lois do not suspect anything.
Malcolm puts some crumbled corn chips on an otherwise decent looking shelf. The shelf breaks and Malcolm suffers a head injury. He mist be taken to the hospital. It is revealed the staff there know the boys very well. Meanwhile Lois and Hal have spoiled the wedding by kissing intensively during the ceremony and in the limousine after that.
Since the boys don't have any money and they don't want to call their parents because it might ruin the chance for Francis to stay home. Malcolm decides to call Caroline, his teacher, to ask her to lend them money. She declines and Francis and Dewey give an impassionate depressing speech to her. Malcolm gets the surgery and the boys are home just in time to meet Hal and Lois. They are found out but the parents are so relaxed with each other they don't punish them too severely. Francis still has some time at millitary school, though.
At the show's end, Reese gets ready to jump over Malcolm and Dewey on his bike, leeding to another injury.
Music
- "Afternoon Delight" by Starland Vocal Band — Hal and Lois' car ride
- "Till My Head Falls Off" by They Might Be Giants — cleaning up the house
- "Right Place, Wrong Time" by the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies — the family's medical "history"
- "Lovely Day" by Lit — Last few minutes of the episode
Guest cast
- Will Jennings - Eraserhead
- Todd Giebenhain - Richie
- Aloma Wright - Nurse
- Justin Pierce - Justin
- Scott Haven - Groom
- Tom Virtue - Priest
- Richard Penn - Doctor
- Parker Mills - Circus