Malcolm



Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) is the third oldest child of Hal and Lois. He is the second oldest of the boys at home secong to Reese. Malcolm started in an original class but was then classified as a child genius with an IQ of 165. He is best friends with Stevie Kenarben. Malcolm's lack of friends and unpopularity is mostly due to his own egotistical behavior, smug arrogance, and constant complaining. When he was first on the basketball team he obnoxiously stated everything wrong with the coach's game plan and got booted off. Trying to keep his thoughts to himself he listened to what people had to say and kept his mouth shut (while angrily berating them in his mind) resulted in a peptic ulcer.

In the final episode it is revealed that Malcolm's parents do not plan for him to be happy in life. Because Malcolm consistently exceeds his parents' expectations, by the time he graduates high school, they have the highest of expectations for him: that he will become President of the United States. Pursuant to this, instead of letting Malcolm take a six-figure job out of high school, his parents force him to follow through on plans to attend Harvard as part of an elaborate plan for his future. Lois says that at Harvard, Malcolm will have to work harder than his classmates and will accomplish more than they do, but they will continue to look down on him. When Malcolm argues that he could have taken the job and "bought (his) way into office", Lois concludes that Malcolm "wouldn't have suffered enough". Because of the struggles he's forced to endure, Malcolm will realize that there is more to life than showing off how smart he is. After college, the plan provides for him to channel his energies into a political career, and after starting off as a district attorney or running a foundation, he will be electedgovernor of a mid-size state and then President. Lois and Hal envision that he would then become one of the greatest Presidents ever because he would represent, understand, and, more importantly, show empathy with the interests of people like his family, which, his parents say, no other President has. It appears that his brothers and grandmother are aware of these plans, as when Malcolm looks around at his family after being told this, they all nod at him, and Francis says simply, "Thought you knew." Although Malcolm recognizes that his parents' plans are outlandish and improbable and complains that they are making decisions for him that are rightfully his to make, he signals that he has accepted their vision for him and will carry it in his valedictorian speech at his high-school graduation.

The character was originally written to be nine-years-old, and Frankie Muniz was sure this would prevent him from getting the role, as he himself was thirteen at the time. However, the makers of the show liked his acting so much that they bumped up the age of the character to twelve.