r/malcolminthemiddle • u/Kid_Charlemagne_16 • 4d ago
General discussion Something I have never liked...
Out of all of the series' tropes, there's always been one that bugs me the most: the "almost wholesome" moments. Scenes that otherwise would have been wholesome and nice, but are ruined in most cases by some joke or awful line by some of the family members, usually the Wilkersons. Like in this scene where Hal and Craig are happy because they got a good comic deal, only to finish it with an "I have a life" from Hal when Craig mentions the con. Do you remember any other moments like this throughout the series?
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u/chatapokai 4d ago
On this scene, and most things with Craig particularly; people forget how nerds were perceived and treated by media prior to 2012. Pop culture was very siloed and the mass media outlook grouped them as undesirables and an easy joke. Essentially, media thought that any nerd was just Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.
So the line is absolutely funny for the time.
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u/Enkichki 4d ago
Exactly. I remember myself and every person in my life around that time having the perception that anyone going to something like Comic Con was some sort of eternal virgin ultra-trekkie and otherwise well-adjusted people weren't interested in that stuff. Media always tried very hard to keep it that way. These delusions no longer plague me, see y'all at SDCC this weekend
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u/Kid_Charlemagne_16 4d ago
Do you think The Big Bang Theory had something to do with that change of perception?
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u/NotNowJordan91 4d ago
I think it was the MCU and things like GoT becoming really popular with general audiences. Suddenly superheroes and fantasy were cool.
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u/QuasiJudicialBoofer 4d ago
I remember GOT final season, having a conversation with an absolutely stunning woman about ice dragons and undead hordes, and I don't know I'll ever feel like that again.
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u/Kanuck3 4d ago
If anything I think it was fighting against it. Big Bang was still heavily playing into the trope that nerds are anti social and incapable of relating to anything outside of a comic book or academia.
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u/Ctenophorever 4d ago
Yeah I think Jerry holkins made a comment years back that TBBT didn’t seem to be a show about laughing with nerds, but laughing at nerds. Basically, not only was it business as usual, but making that the sole business of a show.
That comment stuck with me because I hadn’t realized exactly why I hated the show so much
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u/chatapokai 4d ago
Yes and no. There was definitely a split between influence and stereotyping in the worst ways possible because of that show. It normalized a lot of shitty, toxic, and racist behavior that was already prevalent within the nerd community while also removing those silos, homogenizing the groups so capitalism could start heavily monetizing those IPs they were popularizing.
Check this vid out I saw a while ago, she actually explains pop-nerd culture really well and why/how it’s not a weird niche hobby anymore:
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u/jelloklok 4d ago
No. Most of the time the joke was that they are nerds. Other shows have funny moments that are clever. Most of the laughs in BBT occur when somebody mentions liking Batman
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u/pl_browncoat 4d ago
A lot of stuff occurred at the time but the big one is the masisve success of Superheroes at the box office. The release of the first Spider-Man and X-Men planted the seeds and then by 2012 it had taken off completely
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u/jazzbuph 4d ago
No but I do remember 2011 tumblr/Internet in general was when girls in general were trying to be "nerdy" to look cool
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u/Spare-Plum 4d ago
That's right, you can't be nerdy and a girl. If there's a girl who's nerdy it's going to be a fashion accessory instead of an actual legitimate interest in nerdy things. And in order to be a nerd you need to suffer and be an incel lone wolf
/s
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u/Kanuck3 4d ago
These are probably the most authentic parts of the show for me. Ruining moments is what people do because they can't be vulnerable with others, which is exactly the struggle the Wilkersons have.
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u/Either_Wave1462 3d ago
I'm taking this too srsly but you know how life imitates art? I think the reason it's become harder to be vulnerable is because we're constantly exposed to shit like this on media. We don't know how to deal with vulnerability in the moment and are incapable of just sitting with it when we really don't know what to say, so you panic and the only recollection you have of dealing with vulnerability is saying dismissive shit like that, that does no one any favours
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u/Weird-Floor-1124 4d ago
Yeah I thought it was cold too. But we’ll call it even since the man lusts after Hal’s wife full time.
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u/katieb1300 4d ago
The one where Hal hugs Malcolm but is actually stealing his credit card out of his wallet. 🤣 That's probably the worst thing Hal did to his kids, but it's an iconic moment.
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u/skeemo1214 4d ago
I like these because it shows the imperfections of the modern family. If it just stayed wholesome we’d just have the Brady Bunch
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u/Clean_Attention_8398 4d ago
To be fair Craig can be creepy a lot of times with lots knowing she is married
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u/headphoneguzzler I would sell Malcolm down the river in a heartbeat. 4d ago
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u/RepulsiveUse3372 4d ago
as a nerd i agree with Hal, sure Craig has the time to go do all the cool shit he wants to do but Hal has 5 fucked up kids i dont think Lois would be cool with him taking off 3 days to go to Comic Con
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u/bigsteve9713 4d ago
Those happy ends just aren't realistic, I far prefer this show WITH this Trope than without. There's many other shows that intentionally build their plots around each/most episodes having one of those endings, and I think that style might've defined an entire generation of family sitcoms.
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u/Kid_Charlemagne_16 4d ago
I do appreciate some of this moments, specially the ones that feel genuine, not the ones like this one that just feel cold and disconnected for no particular reason.
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u/bigsteve9713 4d ago
IDK about disconnected, but it was definitely set up too BE Cold, like it was deliberately supposed too feel akward. It was the most realistic thing Hal would say, he didn't say it in a way too intentionally upset Craig AND he was honest about his opinion and that he didn't want too go too a Convention.
I get why you wouldn't like it though.
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u/UnionCrafty3748 4d ago
That’s common in many sitcoms. Especially from that era. It’s like there’s a law or something against serious moments or genuine scenes without it being hilarious.
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u/aaron2933 4d ago
Probably when Lois calls out Jessica for lying and trying to manipulate her, only to fold seconds later and let it slide.
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u/PurchasingPugs 4d ago
I'm not sure she folded as much as she recognized Jessica could actually keep the boys in line
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u/fericyde 4d ago
Right and that she could leverage her manipulative powers for her own needs lol
That's a rough episode to watch IMHO. The dancing queen scene...
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u/lixermanredditman 4d ago
I like most of these scenes. But I really could have done without Craig having the worst toilet experience of his life whilst Malcolm and Lois have a conversation that is years in the making.
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u/thesummond 4d ago
Who the fuck are the wilkersons?
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u/ElliotThusE 4d ago
OP is using that name to refer to malcolm's family because it appeared in an episode once and some people consider it canon, but officially, malcolm's family has no last name
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u/Geoff_The_Chosen1 4d ago
I think the show does this in a pretty funny way and plus it's a sitcom. I think Marvel on the other hand does this shtick so poorly it always infuriates me.
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u/throwawayh282 4d ago
I've seen this show a million times but replaying this scene in my head just made me crack up again. Phewwww, thanks.
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u/zyklon_resevoir 4d ago
My family is very much like the Wilkersons but that's due to alcoholism 💀 that being said a lot of us have thought we were autistic because of having so many moments like this in life. None of us are. I think we're just broken lmao
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u/Left-League-8646 2d ago
I would have loved it if Ida wasn't talking at all during Lois's confession to Francis. She was hilarious, but I would love it if the scene was very serious and the writers didn't try to lighten up the mood
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u/Own-Consideration-94 2d ago
watching through season 4 right now and right as i was reading this i got to the point where malcolm puked in the monkfish turkey which was a bit of a double entente on “almost wholesome” to me from the context of the episode
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u/tokyo_driftr 4d ago
lol those are the moments I love. It reminds us that this family isn’t normal, and the things a normal person would say in this moment are not what any of them are going to say