1.7 "Malcolm in the Middle" - "Francis Escapes" Quiz

Answer: Takes off their bedsheets while they're still in bed

The episode begins with images of the three Wilkerson brothers peacefully sleeping. Suddenly, their mother Lois barges into their bedroom and abruptly opens the drapes, letting in bright sunlight that wakes Malcolm up. Lois then removes the children's bedsheets from under them because she needs to do laundry before going to work, and warns that she will take away their breakfast if they don't get there in five minutes. Malcolm then compares his situation to a kid he knows whose mom wakes him up with a kiss on the forehead.

Answer: Cheerios

Lois asks Malcolm, as she does every morning, what he is learning in his "genius class" (at the beginning of the season, Malcolm was placed in a classroom for gifted children). An annoyed Malcolm responds that it is the same as other classes, but that now he feels ostracized. As Hal is looking at the phone bills, he gasps in shock as he notices a big charge on the bill. He tries to play it off by saying he got a "sharp Cheerio" stuck in his throat, but Lois doesn't believe him and looks at the phone bill. She finds out that there is a $210 charge for a single call, as well as many other long phone calls. Their oldest son Francis, who is at a military academy, is the one making the calls to his girlfriend Beebee.

Cheerios is a brand of cereal that was first released in 1941 as CheeriOats. Cheerios have a round shape with a hole in the middle, similar to other breakfast cereals like Froot Loops and Lucky Charms. The cereal has developed multiple flavors over the years, including Honey Nut, Apple Cinnamon, and Very Berry. In 2019, Cheerios temporarily changed the shape of their cereal to a heart, in an effort to promote the health benefits of whole grains. Since then, the brand has also used hearts as part of their brand image.

Answer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer

This episode of "Malcolm in the Middle" was released in the year 2000, when "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was airing its fourth season. The latter TV show was based on the eponymous film that was released in 1992. Joss Whedon created both the film and the subsequent TV series, which were both based around a teenage girl (Buffy) who faced off against a wide array of supernatural and evil forces. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" ended in 2003 after 7 seasons and became a common pop culture reference.

Francis appears to be deeply infatuated with Beebee, describing the thought of being with her as the "only thing that keeps him going". Beebee tells him she feels the same way, but she is visibly disinterested as she is watching "Buffy" as they speak. Francis's phone call is cut short by Stanley, who explains that Commandant Spangler revoked his phone privileges for a month after Lois complained about the phone bills.

Answer: Thumb

After the Commandant orders Francis' phone privileges to be suspended, Stanley is tasked with preventing Francis from using the phone. Francis calls Malcolm to try to have his brother send him a cell phone, but Malcolm refuses. Then, Stanley catches Francis on the phone and we see Stanley's thumb approaching Francis' forehead.

In the next scene, Francis is hitchhiking with a bandaged finger, indicating his thumb was injured in the previous interaction.

Answer: Their pillows

Dewey loudly yells in the middle of the night, waking up his two brothers. Malcolm explains that this was largely Reese's and his fault because they told Dewey there was a monster under the bed. Now, Dewey keeps getting scared when he thinks the monster is going to eat him.

Their mom comes into the room and comforts Dewey, telling the two older brothers that she is taking away their Nintendo privileges (she doesn't specify which console, but she clearly wasn't referring to the Wii because that console was released six years after this episode aired!) Reese tells Lois that she had already grounded them from Nintendo, so her actions have no effect. Unfazed, Lois takes away Reese's and Malcolm's pillows and tells Dewey to let the monster eat his brain if it does show up.

Answer: Yes

The next morning, Malcolm sees several rocks arranged as an arrow in his backyard. He follows the arrow and finds Francis hiding behind some fences and trees. Francis tells Malcolm about his plans to see Beebee and then go to Canada together. Malcolm thinks this situation is crazy and that their mother will "kill" Francis when she catches him. Francis again asks Malcolm to help him, get him some food (since he claims not to have eaten anything in 36 hours), and keep his presence secret. Malcolm begrudgingly agrees.

At school, Malcolm is more irritable than usual. He tells Stevie about what happened earlier that morning and says he doesn't know what to do. Stevie suggests that Malcolm "squeal" and tell his parents about Francis, since he already told him. Malcolm responds that it would take Stevie (who has asthma) a long time to tell the story to anyone, to which Stevie calmly replies: "touche".

Answer: Shoplifting

Malcolm meets Beebee in a convenience store. Beebee is not particularly warm towards Malcolm, and calls him "that kid" even though she has met him before. While Malcolm gives Beebee a 3-page handwritten letter from Francis, Beebee is busy putting items into her clothes. Even worse, Beebee then stuffs more items into Malcolm's clothes, who uncomfortably walks out of the store while the clerk watches him.

Answer: Fate

The Wilkerson family seems to be having an unusually nice dinner. Lois had a great day at work and she is irradiating happiness as the family enjoys the food she cooked. It all comes to a halt when Lois gets a call and finds out that Francis escaped from the military school. Hal doesn't think calling the police will help because they won't look for anyone unless they are missing for 24 hours, so Lois suggests telling the police that Francis had drugs on him. Hal then tells his wife to leave it to fate, which is why she explains that fate is what one calls a situation "when you don't know the name of the person screwing you over".

Malcolm then makes a big mistake: he tells Lois that he's sure Francis is OK. That makes her suspicious and prompts her to extract a confession from Malcolm. Even though Malcolm ends up telling her the truth, he also tells his mom that Francis is in a park. That would at least serve as a temporary distraction while he tells Francis and figures out what to do next.

Answer: Throws rocks at the monster

When Malcolm tells Francis about what happened, Francis gets very upset. Malcolm then opines that Francis shouldn't even be so obsessed with her because, among other things, she is a thief and treats Francis badly. Francis responds that he knows all that, but that even so, no one has ever loved her the way he does. Beebee finally shows up, but before Francis can fully express his feelings, she says it's best to stop the relationship now. Beebee doesn't feel the same in person as when she spoke on the phone with Francis, so she prefers to end it now.

Francis drops to the floor and starts screaming in pain. Meanwhile, Dewey was sitting on a swing outside and heard all this noise. Minutes before, Dewey had caught Malcolm speaking to someone in the creek. To keep him quiet, Malcolm told Dewey that he was talking to the monster. Naturally, Dewey thought the screaming was coming from the monster, so he threw rocks at him as he yelled at the monster to get out of his home and leave him alone.

Answer: Hal

An enraged Lois arrives at the park but doesn't find Francis anywhere. Still, she yells at another couple and especially at a girl, claiming that she is young and pretty and won't care about eventually hurting her boyfriend. Francis tells Malcolm that Beebee broke up with him, but "there's a strange sense of peace that comes over you when you give up that last shred of dignity". Malcolm then asks Francis to punch him because he feels guilty about ratting on him, and Francis does!

We then see Francis walking and hitchhiking on the road again. When a car finally stops, it turns out to be his father Hal. Hal then candidly speaks to Francis about his breakup, closing the episode by saying: "I wish I could say it gets easier, but I honestly don't know... I've never been dumped".