2.11 "Malcolm in the Middle" - "Old Mrs. Old" Quiz

Answer: Chess

Every time Hal tried to make a move, Malcolm stared at him and indicated with his stare that it wasn't a good move. When Hal finally made a move he was satisfied with, Malcolm smiled and made him repeat "checkmate". Hal was very happy and ran to the bedroom to tell Lois that he had just beaten Malcolm, the family's genius, at chess.

It was very apparent that Malcolm let his dad win. Malcolm then said: "hey, he lets me win at basketball".

Answer: Cars and fire hydrants

Reese is seen explaining Malcolm and other children in the neighborhood the rules for a new game he invented. As he holds a tennis ball, he explains that a car is worth 2 points and a fire hydrant is worth 3 points. Malcolm points out that he thinks it's impressive that Reese is bad at math when at school, but is capable of inventing fun games that involve math.

Answer: Malcolm

Malcolm hits the ball while playing Reese's new game, but the ball accidentally goes into Mrs. Griffin's yard. This clearly is not good news: the boys describe her as "old and mean". Malcolm develops the courage to go in, telling Reese that she doesn't have the right to keep their balls. Malcolm then jumps the fence into Mrs. Griffin's yard.

Answer: Her arm broke

When Malcolm was just about to grab the ball, he was surprised by Mrs. Griffin. The old lady grabbed his hand and sternly argued: "my property, my ball". She then pulled Malcolm's hair and the two struggled. Malcolm ended up pushing her, which according to Lois, broke the woman's arm.

Answer: They don't have anything of value in the house

Lois is irate after learning that Malcolm broke Mrs. Griffin's arm for a ball. She says that she is relieved that Mrs. Griffin is not suing them. She then tells Malcolm that he should be grateful that his family has nothing of value in the house, presumably because that is the reason why Mrs. Griffin didn't even bother to sue them. Lois also said that Malcolm would have to go to the old lady's house every day to help her out until her injuries healed.

Answer: Kicking it into a lawn mower

Dewey is walking on the sidewalk with Reese and Malcolm behind him. We see him kicking his backpack, presumably because it is too heavy for him to carry on his shoulders. At one point, he kicks the backpack into a lawn mower that was on, completely destroying the backpack.

He asks Lois for a new backpack, and she is shocked that Dewey has ruined yet another one. She refuses to buy him a new one and tells him to find something in the closet.

Answer: Wine

Malcolm is having a terrible time while being forced to take care of Mrs. Griffin. He has to organize her newspapers, take care of her cats, and rub lotion on her feet. Mrs. Griffin complains that her pills aren't working as she downs them with a hefty glass of red wine. Malcolm points out that it's probably not good to mix the medicines with alcohol, but Mrs. Griffin doesn't care.

Malcolm then explodes and yells at Mrs. Griffin that he hates her. Luckily for him, she was asleep and didn't hear him. He calls the Krelboynes into the house while she sleeps so they can figure out if she died or just passed out from mixing alcohol and drugs.

Answer: Yes

While Mrs. Griffin is knocked out, the Krelboynes and Malcolm play the lady's piano, eat ice cream, and stage a show using the cats as puppets. Lloyd says that between their brains and Malcolm's capacity for "reckless, antisocial behavior", they could think of more things to do while Mrs. Griffin sleeps. They decide to take her car out for a drive.

Unfortunately, Lois happens to drive by exactly when Malcolm was driving. He panics and goes back to Mrs. Griffin's house. She is waiting for him and accuses him of being a thief. Scared of his mother, Malcolm begs Mrs. Griffin to help him out. Lois apologizes, but Mrs. Griffin lies and tells Lois that she was in the car too and Malcolm was driving her to get her medications. Mrs. Griffin doesn't do this for free though: she gets Malcolm to go help her before school too.

Answer: Richie

At the beginning of the episode, we see Richie shaking at Marlin Academy in Alabama. Richie is Francis' friend from home, but he had never been to the military school before. We then learn that Lois spoke to Richie's mom and gave her the idea to send him to the same place where Francis was. Richie has a hard time adapting; for instance, he sleeps when he's not supposed to and fails to stand up upon Commandant Spangler's arrival.

Surprisingly, Spangler is less strict toward Richie, even letting him go to class in a bathrobe. Spangler then explains to Francis that he is being nice to him on purpose so that the other cadets get angry at Richie. That way, they would force him out of the academy without Spangler directly intervening.

Answer: A brick

Dewey found one of his mom's purses in the closet and decided to use it as a backpack. Reese begged him to use something else because he would get beaten up for wearing a woman's purse. Reese even got him a new backpack, but Dewey refused to use it.

At the end of the episode, Reese sees a group of boys bullying Dewey because of his purse. Dewey calls it a book bag and seems unbothered by the kids surrounding him. Then, Dewey swings the bag around, hitting the bullies and making them go away. Dewey reveals that he had a brick inside the bag. Reese is impressed with his little brother and they walk away, thus ending the episode.