Malcolm In The Middle: Season 2 DVD Review

12th Nov 2012

So I’ve been called upon once again to watch the show Malcolm in the Middle and let you know my views. Hopefully you’ll have had a glance at my season 1 review and know that I had forgotten how impressive, funny and refreshing this show is. There are seven season in total and I don’t foresee the quality lasting throughout but I now have the opportunity to consider season 2 for you.

Does it hold up against the quality of season 1? Quick answer is yes, however that should be expected, shows like this tend to peak through season 2-5 then begin the decline of fresh ideas and quality writing. Season 2 though is still a gem. Not much has changed from season 1; we still have our dysfunctional family of parents Lois (Jane Kaczmarek) and Hal (Bryan Cranston) and their four sons Francis (James Masterson), Reese (Justin Berfield), Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) and Dewy (Erik Per Sullivan). We follow the random and ridiculous events that happen in their lives accompanied by the side characters of friends.

So what is new in this season? Well it is the beginning of puberty for Malcolm and this is notably acknowledged with an increase in the interactions with girls that Malcolm has. One of these new interests for Malcolm is introduced as his odd non-girlfriend Cynthia, a nice addition to his geeky group of friends. For those who notice these things the actress is Alex from Lost. It is one of my oddities that I quite enjoy playing spot that actor when watching various American TV shows, season 2 of Malcolm in the Middle has a great Twilight actors episode with both a very tiny Dakota Fanning and Michael Welch featuring as brother and sister. This geek spot aside note this (New Neighbours) is a very funny episode.

We also get introduced to Lois’ parents in this season. I’m not overly impressed with these but thankfully they only stick around for one episode. Other than these characters we have no new re-occurring people to get to know but what does clearly shift in this season is the focus from Malcolm to other characters. Whilst I am yet to watch season 3-7 I would summarise this season as Lois and Hal centric whilst season 1 was more Malcolm. They are given not only more screen-time but more story focus. The last episode of the season will side sweep you with how touching it is and you’ll find you’ve become really fond of these two people.

Real stand out episodes is what makes this season very strong. There are some great ideas starting with the opening episode Traffic Jam. Following on from where season 1 left off we kind of find out what happens when Dewy is given freedom. The Bully and Traffic Ticket are two particular stand-outs which have the bizarre combination of character development and comedy down perfectly. Bowling uses the ingenious idea of following what happens with each parent in parallel worlds. Whilst in my previous review I mentioned that Malcolm in the Middle was a forerunner in addressing the camera, non-studio, no laughing track, dysfunctional family style we are more familiar with nowadays and it is this season I really started to spot how it has inspired other shows, notably Modern Family.

I really enjoyed season 2, more so than season 1, would once again recommend getting this boxset and am looking forward to season 3. Only downside is the lack of extras. Whilst not top of my list to purchase boxsets you do feel a bit cheated when there are basically none.