After 20 years, Malcolm in the Middle is back with the four-part miniseries, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair. The revival series picks up with Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) now a fully functional and happy adult, complete with a loving girlfriend and teenage daughter. But there’s a problem – he’s built this perfect life completely in secret from his family.
Even worse, his parents, Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), are planning a big anniversary party, and despite Malcolm’s years of cleverly avoiding his family, this is one event they won’t allow him to miss. In the first episode, he tries to avoid the party, leading Hal and Lois to barge into his home…discovering his secret girlfriend and daughter.
Over the next three episodes, the family comes to grips with how broken they truly are, all while trying to repair their fractured relationships. Along the way, we’re treated to some seriously nostalgic Malcolm in the Middle madness.
Reese (Justin Berfield) and Francis (Christopher Masterson) are just as selfish and stupid as ever, and while Malcolm’s younger brothers, Dewey and Jamie, are bit players in Life’s Still Unfair, a new sibling is revealed. Kelly (Vaughan Murrae) is now the youngest sibling and was born after the conclusion of the original series. Now a teenager, they identify as nonbinary and have picked up traits from pretty much all of their big brothers – smart like Malcolm, a trickster like Reece, and selfish like Francis. Kelly adds a fresh dose of teenage madness to the show, bringing back vibes of the original series.
Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is mostly flawless
Honestly, there isn’t much wrong with Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair. It’s hard for revival series like this to stay true to the original while still feeling fresh and entertaining for modern viewers. But somehow, Malcolm in the Middle makes it work. You look at every single character and go, “That’s exactly how I remember them, and that’s exactly what I’d expect them to be like as an adult.”
It feels like a super genuine continuation of Malcolm in the Middle. It doesn’t feel forced or disjointed. It doesn’t feel inauthentic or dull. It’s basically everything you could want from a revival series. A big part of its success is bringing back the original cast, and for the characters that did have to get recast, like Dewey and Jamie, the show minimizes their roles as much as possible to not interfere with the great chemistry between the rest of the cast.
Outside of the core family, fans will also notice a few other familiar faces making appearances. Malcolm’s chronically asthmatic friend Stevie (Craig Lamar Taylor) reprises his role, as does his dad, Abe (Craig Lamar Taylor). Francis’ wife Piama (Emy Coligado) also reprises her role and even becomes one of the main characters in Life’s Still Unfair.
Bringing back so many familiar faces adds tons of nostalgia and fan service to the revival. But the real treat is just how easily everyone slipped back into their roles. All the characters are perfect and feel just like they did in the original show, which isn’t easy to do for a cast that hasn’t seen each other for 20 years.
There’s one problem holding the revival back from true perfection
While Life’s Still Unfair is mostly flawless, there is one issue that I couldn’t help but notice throughout: Malcolm’s family just kinda sucks.
As I said, the show picks up with Malcolm leading a great life…a great life he was able to build after he escaped the madness of his family. In the revival, nothing has really changed for the family; everyone is still basically the same they were in the original show. Lois is still obsessed with controlling others, Reese is still a selfish deadbeat, and Francis is still a bumbling moron. When you’re watching teenagers act this way, it’s one thing, but seeing them still act like this as 40-year-olds feels different.
As a sitcom, the show obviously wants to keep things lighthearted, and it portrays the situation with a blasé sense of “Well, family is family, what ya gonna do?” But if you look at Malcolm’s life, that just isn’t true. His life greatly improved without his family, and once we start seeing his family again (and seeing how none of them have changed)…it makes you wonder why exactly Malcolm should rebuild his relationship with them.
The show is meant to be funny, and a lot of the humor comes from how crappy everyone is. To a degree, that’s always been the show’s shtick. But again, it just doesn’t feel the same with everyone being adults now, knowing that after all this time, instead of sorting out their problems and growing up, they’ve just remained lost in their flaws. Stuck in time, unable to move forward.
For the most part, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair is a victory
Because the show is a lighthearted comedy, you can mostly overlook the glaring issues within the family. It feels a bit weird (and even a little sad) that after all these years, they’re still so selfish and crappy. But at the same time, that’s where a lot of the show’s humor comes from. So it’s relatively easy to let it slide.
Plus, with the family still being broken the way it is, and Malcolm’s neuroses flaring up every time he’s around them, it opens the door for more hijinks in the future. If the miniseries does well, we could potentially even see a full-blown revival series. Kaczmarek told Entertainment Weekly the door is definitely open for more, saying, “It's a whole new set of characters and circumstances that are ripe.”