History Headscratchers / MalcolmInTheMiddle

* Pretty minor, but in the episode where one of Francis' coworkers in Alaska (really old guy) sends for a mail-order bride [[spoiler: and it turns out to be an inflatable likeness of some actress]], he says he must have misread the product. My question: how could someone misread [[spoiler: blow-up doll]] as bride?

** RuleOfFunny. Though there is probably a quote about the difference between being intelligent and being smart. There are plenty of episodes where Malcolm doing something stupid despite his intelligence like trying to destroy a gun instead of going to the police.

** RuleOfFunny. Though there is probably a quote about the difference between being intelligent and being smart. There are plenty of episodes where Malcolm doing something stupid despite his intelligence like trying to destroy a gun instead of going to the police.
* How are Malcolm and Reese in the same grade? Malcolm starts the show of 11 and Reese starts of 13. 11-12 is the age range for 6th grade and 12-13 is the age range for 7th grade. Yet they both graduate high school the same year? Its very possible Reese stayed behind a grade or was enrolled VERY late but that's never explicitly said.

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* In the Season 3 episode where Francis visits Ida for Christmas, he finds a picture of Victor as a young man where he looks identical to Francis except with massive comedic eyebrows (which Francis hopes are genetic). While unlikely, this is fairly normal within sitcom logic. But later, we find out Victor was never actually Lois’ biological father, which makes this downright bizarre.

* At the end of Season 2 Eric turns 18 and goes to Alaska, Francis gets emancipated and does the same. Erik and Francis being roommates it's reasonable to assume they're roughly the same age, that is to say Francis, which means Francis probably turned 18 when he was in Alaska. This is reinforced when he parries Piama without parental consent, meaning at that point he must be 18. It also backs up with a statement from somewhere else I don't remember where Francis says he was shipped off to Military School when he was fifteen and also somewhere stated he spent two and a half years there. However Lois and Hal don't have their twentieth anniversary until Season 6, and Francis was born on their wedding day. So if Francis turns 18 part way through Season 3, how can he only be nineteen going on twenty at the start of season 6? He spent some time married to Piama before they were forced to leave Alaska and they also spent some time travelling and wasting their money before getting employed. And we know he spent at least one year at the ranch since Otto and Gretchen throw him an anniversary. The only way it works is we assume Francis got fired not long after that early season 5 episode where he's been there for a year and we're seeing some stuff out of order. Which also means he spends significantly less time at the ranch then it seems. The other possibility is that he faked his age for his marriage certificate and was less than 18 at the time, but this contradicts other references to his age and would also make him seventeen when he has that line about not being a stupid sixteen year old anymore when the boys go to visit him at the ranch, which would be a bit weird. It would also make his marriage illegal. Unless emancipation law allows marriage without parental consent, but that's something I have no clue of.