Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair Review

Malcolm in the Middle is the most important show in my life. I am a sitcom fanatic and have been since I was old enough to change channels on a TV myself. Every Sunday, I would sit down to watch the entire line up of shows on Fox. I grew up with the Wilkersons like they were my own weird, loud, and quirky family. I didn’t watch Breaking Bad until Season 4 because I refused to see Bryan Cranston in that light. I have rewatched the entire show once a year since it ended.

So when rumors of a sequel started swirling, I was on the edge of my seat. How could they make more Malcolm in the Middle without losing the charm of the original? I am estatic to say Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair does it. Linwood Boomer returns triumphantly with most of the original cast to deliever a 4 part story that isn’t just a love letter to the original but a modern continuation for today. I have watched the 4-part special six times, I am literally on my seventh watch while I write this, and I will watch it again when it premieres. I feel like I have been reunited with my family after so long.

Since we last saw the family, Malcolm has done everything to seperate himself from his siblings and parents. He’s a succesful father who is running a buisness to make the world a better place. But as Lois and Hal’s 40th anniversary party looms closer and closer, it draws him back into his family.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair picks up perfectly after so much time. Every character is older but no one has lost their personality in the slightest. But I want to steer away from details as much as I can because I cannot spoil this show. Instead I want to focus on something that makes the original and this special special, it’s heart.

Malcolm in the Middle has and will always be “woke”. It was ahead of it’s time by never being afraid to talk freely about how the police aren’t your friends, everyone matters, and that you have to be the kindness you want in the world. You see it so much through Malcolm and Dewey in the original series when they constantly fight for the people around them who are picked on and put down. No one is a punchline because Linwood Boomer writes everyone as a fleshed out character instead of a joke.

Stevie is a prime example of how Boomer wanted to just show the world as it is. Stevie isn’t ever written with cruelty even if his breathing makes his talking comedic. It’s never cast as laughing AT Stevie. Lois treats him like another one of her kids. With his return, he’s a father with a husband but he is still Malcolm’s best friend who takes extra long to get out what he wants to say. The world exists as it does, there is nothing that is ignored. The youngest of the family is working through their own identity which leads to a scene in the finale that made me cry for ten minutes. The sequel is interested in the story of the modern world as it is which is why it rings as true as the original.

My fear was that people would talk about the reboot with a negative conotation because it’s “woke” but it always has been. Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair carries the sensitivity and the heart of the original series through all of its storylines. Hal and Lois celebrating 40 years of marriage gives a special chance for Lois to show how much she loves Hal. Hal is typically the one crying and wearing his heart on his sleeve so she wants the chance to show him what he means to her. Hal’s journey in the special is everything I had dreamed of when I heard Malcolm was coming back.

The show and it’s cut aways are just as funny as ever. There is a war between the youngest sibling and Reece that harkens back to Malcolm, Reece, and Dewey in their childhood. But with Kelly and Leah being the youngest of the cast, they both set up a huge level of potential for more. Their stories beg to be followed after this special and I hope we get to see it. This special is just a wonderful continuation of the original and could continue for years to come if Boomer is at the helm.

I didn’t mention the avalanche of references to the original, cameos, and everything that will make fans scream with joy. There is one cameo in the finale that made me literally jump out of my seat. Everything is here. The Francis and Lois turmoil, Craig being in love with Lois, and so many other classic Malcolm in the Middle pillars are in the specials. All of my fears have been crushed because Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair repeats the question and answers it the only way they can, with a show full of love, comedy, and people barely holding it all together.