2.2 "MitM" - "Halloween Approximately" Quiz

Answer: Eating and drinking expired items

The episode opens with Malcolm and Reese standing next to their open fridge, challenging each other to eat or drink expired foods and beverages. The first drink is orange juice that expired 9 days ago. The second item is a months-old cottage cheese, which both brothers also reluctantly ingest. Finally, Malcolm refuses to drink eggnog so old that they think it was there before the birth of their brother Dewey. Reese does drink the eggnog, prompting Malcolm to say that "this is a game that has no winners".

Answer: One week

Malcolm and the Krelboynes are gathered in the Wilkerson backyard studying astronomy. While Reese eats Halloween candy, Lloyd explains that he doesn't envy the cavities Reese will likely develop. The Krelboynes want Malcolm to go to the Leonid meteor shower that would occur in the coming days, but Malcolm says he can't.

Inside the house, young Dewey appears wearing a costume that consists of a bedsheet with two holes where the eyes are. Lois removes the disguise from Dewey, indicating that it must be dirty because he has been wearing it for a whole week. Since Dewey wasn't wearing anything else beneath the sheet, he has to go put on some clothes.

Answer: Blue

Hal hugs Lois provocatively but immediately stops when he sees a speeding blue car go by his house. Hal is annoyed because this is the third time the car "joyrides" past his home, and calling the police has not helped. Lois tells her husband that he shouldn't let the situation get to him, but it looks like it's too late for that. Coincidentally, the shirt and tie that Hal was wearing in this scene were also blue.

Azure is a bright shade of blue.

Answer: Marshmallow

Malcolm explains that they were expecting Francis to come back for Halloween but he got in trouble at school. This meant they had to go trick-or-treating "like little kids". Malcolm is dressed as a "beat-up hillbilly", though he doesn't look too excited about it. Reese didn't even bother to wear a costume and just wanted candy. Finally, a man giving them candy assumes Dewey's disguise is meant to represent a ghost. Dewey corrects him and replies that he is a marshmallow (which admittedly, is also white).

The man jokingly says he wants to "roast him until he is nice and crispy" as if he were a real marshmallow, which really scares Dewey.

Answer: No

Hal explains that the driver of the car represents a menace to the whole neighborhood. His plea for help is unsuccessful though, given that no one in the neighborhood likes the Wilkersons. The fellow residents complain that Hal doesn't clean his yard and claim that his children should be in jail.

They say that their dream of living in a nice neighborhood was destroyed by the three "monsters". Hal proposes a sign-up sheet to look out for the car, but once the paper is thrown back at him, he leaves frustrated.

Answer: His key breaks in half

Hal appears more determined than ever to catch this guy, even forgetting to pick up Francis from the bus station. He sets up a lookout inside his car while smoking a cigar. Unfortunately for him, he falls asleep, and the blue car speeds by at that exact moment. Hal wakes up flustered and tries to pursue the other vehicle, but when he tries to put the key inside the ignition to start the car, half of the key gets stuck inside the ignition, and the other half breaks, rendering the pursuit impossible.

Hal then attempts to deter his new nemesis by constructing a speed bump with homemade cement, but it doesn't work either.

Answer: Salsa

Francis sheds more light on why he was punished at Marlin Academy: he placed a novelty bumper sticker on Commandant Spangler's fake leg. While his brothers are disappointed that they couldn't go out and be naughty on Halloween, Francis says that they don't need to wait for a specific date to have fun. He then presents his siblings with a plan to build a slingshot capable of throwing objects from a long distance, making it impossible for the victim to know where the objects came from.

While they assemble the slingshot, Francis has put together an arsenal of rotten eggs, shaving cream, and water balloons. Nevertheless, Francis believes these are "standard" and wants to make something way worse. The boys collect arguably more disgusting tools, like nacho cheese, mud from the roof, and dirty diapers.

Answer: Leslie David Baker

The police finally visit Hal, but rather than helping him, they make him take down the speed bump. Hal apparently lied to the emergency operator about being held at gunpoint to get the police to come. The officer is not very happy with this lie and refuses to be of any help. The police officer is played by Leslie David Baker, who is better known for his role as Stanley Hudson in "The Office".

This was not the only time Baker appeared in a minor role in "Malcolm in the Middle": he also played a customer in the season 4 episode "Stereo Store". Besides "The Office", Baker has also appeared in shows like "The Guardian", "Still the King", and "Puppy Dog Pals".

Answer: Dabney

The brothers prepare their evil prank from the roof of their house and divide duties: Malcolm will be the "aimer", Reese will load objects into the slingshot, and Dewey will screech as loud as he can if he sees their parents. Lucky for them, both their parents are now chasing after the blue car. Once they find it (and a secret key), Hal and Lois steal the car and are surprised at how fast it can go.

To test out the slingshot, the brothers start with a small water balloon. The launch is successful and they hit Dabney, one of the Krelboynes in Malcolm's class. They were busy preparing their telescope for the meteor showers, but the telescope is now broken.

Answer: Krelboynes

The slingshot works out great for the boys. They launch a variety of other items causing trouble all over town. However, they fail to calculate that their first victims are gifted children with tools at their disposal to build their own slingshot. Even worse, they can also make mathematical calculations to aim their projectiles with precision. Francis, Reese, Malcolm, and Dewey desperately try to fight back, but they are decisively defeated by the Krelboynes. Lloyd is especially happy to do this as revenge for all the times he has been bullied.

Meanwhile, nervous about the crime they just committed, Hal and Lois fantasize about running away to Mexico. Knowing that the car was probably reported as stolen and that their DNA could be found inside, they decide to throw the car into a body of water and walk back home.

Thus, the episode ends as many in this wonderful series do: with every member of the Wilkerson family getting into chaotic yet hilarious situations.