The Malcolm in the Middle reboot made me sob uncontrollably

Michael Patrick King recently said that his Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That, would ‘age well.’

It might be the biggest car crash of modern television now, but one day, years from now, he thinks we will all look back and realise we were wrong and that it was actually a masterpiece.

Perhaps he’ll be proven right, but ideally, I want to enjoy watching a show the first time around because, sorry Michael, I never want to put myself through And Just Like That ever again.

It was enough to give the word ‘reboot’ a haunting quality, filling anyone who harks back to the early 00s as a golden age of everything that was great with the world (even if the recent surge of documentaries about 00s television would say otherwise) with dread.

Thank God, then, Bryan Cranston spent years spearheading a potential Malcolm in the Middle reboot – initially as a movie, but now finally about to arrive on Disney Plus as four episodes, almost 20 years after the original series ended.

It’s the reboot to restore faith in reboots, which is particularly remarkable for a show whose entire premise was grounded in the merciless chaos of youth – or at least that’s what I thought at the time as a kid, almost exactly the same age as Malcolm, when it first aired.

This will restore your faith in revivals and reboots (Picture: Disney)

Actually, it turns out that deeply infuriating relationships with family follow you well into adulthood. Life is still unfair.

When celebrating the greatest sitcoms of the last 30 years, Malcolm in the Middle often gets criminally overlooked.

It was infuriatingly absent from streaming until just three years ago, gathering dust on the shelf of underrated television relics until Disney Plus came along and not only welcomed Malcolm and his unruly family back, but promised more episodes.

So many reboots completely miss the mark because they fail to capture what was truly magical about the original – which, almost every single time, is the chemistry between characters.

And Just Like That often felt like watching total strangers living lives so far removed from the ones we were so invested in that it just became sad.

Frasier’s equally disastrous 2023 revival, too, was unrecognisable – completely out of rhythm, missing every single punchline when it was so razor-sharp 20 years before.

Malcolm in the Middle’s success was largely down to its relatable but cartoonish humour that, at times, almost felt like watching a live-action episode of The Simpsons.

Malcolm has found success… for now (Picture: David Bukach/Disney via AP)

Watching it back now, I’m still absolutely staggered by every single child’s performance. And – forget Walter White – Bryan Cranston’s greatest triumph will always be Hal.

Every cast member slips back into character as if they’ve carried them every day for the last 20 years.

Malcolm, with his genius IQ of 165, is now wildly successful after escaping the clutches of his controlling mother, living miles away as a single dad with his daughter and perfect girlfriend.

Dewey is now a touring musician, largely popping up on Zoom calls – presumably to distract from the recasting of Erik Per Sullivan, who turned down ‘buckets of money’ to step back into showbiz after leaving the industry to study literature.

Hal and Lois always find a way to cause chaos (Picture: David Bukach/Disney via AP)

Elsewhere, almost everyone else feels like they’re in exactly the same place we left them. Francis and his wife Piama are living in Hal and Lois’ garage; Reese, we learn, has been in and out of prison, is still completely directionless, and his lone talent remains destruction.

Lois’ dictatorship has spiralled out of control with the looming arrival of her 40th wedding anniversary celebration with Hal, who is still an adorable bumbling mess.

Their fifth child, Jamie, was still a toddler when Malcolm in the Middle ended. He is, of course, not anymore, and has followed Francis into being exiled to military school.

Lois revealed she was pregnant again in the series finale, and now we’re introduced to Kelly, their studious non-binary youngest child, with the smarts of Malcolm and the same thirst for destruction as Reese.

The whole family are back! (Picture: Disney)

The four episodes were quite clearly written as a film, which is partly why it works so well.

Everyone has their own thread with the space and class to unravel exactly as it should, while every decision with almost every character feels correct because they haven’t evolved even a little bit.

My only gripe is with Malcolm, who is kept so far away from his roots – spending almost every scene with his daughter – that it’s only with snippets of his explosive relationship with Lois that it feels like we’re truly back in the room with him in quite the same way as we are with everyone else.

Without giving too much away, the final episode brings back so many familiar faces I didn’t even realise I’d missed so much, culminating in a guaranteed weep-fest for anyone who grew up loving the original.

I sobbed uncontrollably in the closing minutes – not only because I’m still a toddler when it comes to goodbyes, but because it’s so refreshing to see a show recognise what is so special about itself and celebrate it so successfully.

If this is goodbye to Malcolm in the Middle for good, then it’s ending on the perfect note – something so many distressed reboots have tried and completely failed to land.

It sets the benchmark for how to execute the notoriously difficult reboot, and feels like it was written with impenetrable love for both the characters and its fans.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life Is Unfair is available to stream on Disney Plus from April 10

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