History YMMV / MalcolmintheMiddle

*** Not quite, since Reese was psychologically ruined after they pranked him, it was really when Malcolm tried to talk them out of doing all of those sociopathic pranks and Lois then decided to [[spoiler: tie Malcolm to the car]].

* WickedCultured: Dewey is clearly the second most intelligent member of his family, the most cultured and sophisticated, and arguably the most devious.

* MoralEventHorizon: If Lois ever crossed it, she did have a few milestones.

** In "Red Dress", she tortured the boys just to find out who burnt her red dress from her wedding anniversary. By the time she forces them to hear the song "Nice is Good, Mean is Bad", you can tell that she's gone too far.

* MoralEventHorizon: Some can say Lois and Hal crossed it in the series finale when they forced Malcolm to work extremely hard in college to help him understand about financial struggles. To elaborate: [[spoiler: As soon as Malcolm finishes High School, he is offered a six figure job working for a computer company. However, Hal and Lois refuse to let him take it, saying they have other plans for him. When he calls them out later on this, they reveal that they intend for him to work as a janitor while going through law school, to work his way up to become District Attorney, win a place on the senate, and then become President of the United States, while at the same time knowing that despite all of this, he will never be respected for any of it.]]

* WhatAnIdiot: Lots of examples, but Malcolm's conclusion is notable. Any sane person whose family has such intentions as his would have told them all to shove it up their ass. Malcolm just rolled with everything, even aware that the decisions they made for him were rightfully his to make. It's not even like he was completely trapped; Francis took control of his own life at some point in the series, and so could he if he wanted to.
** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint The whole point of that conclusion was a Family Unfriendly Aesop about just how much your family means to you and sometimes you have to give up your happiness in order to please them]]. They also put him through all that hardship so he'll eventually stop being such a InsufferableGenius and use his gifts for good. Also Francis never really takes control of his life, he still blames Lois for many of his faults and only takes control at the end of last episode - getting a steady job, something his mother wanted for him for years. Even then, he probably only did so because he wanted to further get the entertainment of ticking off his mom by claiming he was still unemployed to his mom even when it wasn't true.

* FunnyAneurysmMoment / HarsherInHindsight: In one of the episodes, Hayden Panettiere's character attempts to convince Reese and Malcolm that the other is gay as a means to manipulate them. Years later, in ''{{Series.Heroes}}'', her character Claire Bennet ended up having her orientation inexplicably changed to becoming lesbian/bisexual in what turned out to be the final season for both the show and the series itself.

* MoralEventHorizon: Some can say Lois and Hal crossed it in the series finale when they forced Malcolm to work extremely hard in college to help him understand about financial struggles.

* JerkassWoobie: Malcolm. He is an outcast at school, he is bullied by his older brothers, he is separated from most of his friends in High School, and his mother and father treat him like crap. It's pretty hard not to feel sorry for him.

** DakotaFanning played a neighbor girl with [[{{Twilight}} a fond habit of biting Reese]].

* HoYay: Plenty. Dabney has a pretty explicit crush on Malcolm. And Reese and Craig in the last episode. Even Reese and Malcolm have some of this.