Malcolm in the Middle is one of the greatest TV shows of all time, it is hilarious, loveable and it's able to make its characters despicable but not hateable, that is a very fine line to walk. In the late 90's and early 2000's the big TV sitcom was the low middle-class family of America, the ones that had to struggle to get by and didn't have all the big luxuries in life and didn't always get along. After the big boom of LOOK HOW RICH WE ARE in the late 80's and 90's, we started to get sick of all of the sitcoms that we had to admire and instead went for the ones we could relate to, the ones where things aren't always perfect and sometimes things don't go the way you want, in fact they rarely go the way you want. But the problem with this is the ending of these shows is normally disappointing, we loved these characters because they were the relatable losers, but conventional sitcoms states that they would get a happy ending, and in all honesty we want the characters to have a happy ending, they deserve it. However once they finally win they're suddenly unrelatable, they're not what we fell in love with. Take Roseanne for example, another low middle-class family of America that everyone loved, in the final season, they won the lottery and were rich, and suddenly, we didn't like them anymore, they weren't what we remembered, then of course the final episode which I wont spoil was total shit.
But this brings me to Malcolm in the Middle, this show got it right, they gave us the ending we deserve but also the one it needed. It's not a happy ending, it's not a depressing ending, it's a bitter sweet ending, everyone gets something good but it comes with a price, they're not happy, they're contempt, they've accepted that their good situation does have a downside, and they're fine with that. Malcolm has gone off to university, but he also works as a janitor, Reese has moved out of his parents house but lives with annoying Craig and has a low income and thankless job (which he adores). Dewey now has all the power as the older brother in the house, but that also means he gets most of the punishment. Francis is still arguing with his mother and has a simple boring job, but his life is now together and functioning normally. Hal & Lois have gotten rid of most of their kids, just to turn pregnant with another one. Everyone gets something good and something bad, they know this, they've accepted this and they're happy.
This is how the low middle-class family of America sitcom should end, not with a happy ending, but with a bitter-sweet one. And it is perfect.
-Danny
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