Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair TV Review – The sitcom returns for a satisfying revival

Plot: After shielding himself and his daughter from his family for over a decade, Malcolm is dragged back into their orbit when Hal and Lois demand his presence at their 40th anniversary party.

Review: It has been twenty years since Malcolm in the Middle premiered on FOX, giving us an iconic sitcom that has stood the test of time. I wrote a retrospective on the series nine years ago that reminded me of how innovative it was in depicting a dysfunctional family whose shenanigans often felt like a live-action The Simpsons. In the decades since it was on the air, star Frankie Muniz has become a professional stock car driver and Bryan Cranston delivered one of the most iconic characters of all time in Breaking Bad. Now, the entire cast has had their wish of a revival granted, and the resulting mini-series, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, proves that you don’t have to overstay your welcome to create a satisfying reunion. At just four half-hour episodes, the limited series is a quick watch that brings back the chaos that made the original Malcolm in the Middle so much fun to watch while also incorporating the changes to everyone over the years.

In the original series, Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) was the intellectually gifted middle child of Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), who would always get pulled into schemes with his older brothers Francis (Chris Masterson) and Reese (Justin Barfield) and his younger brother Dewey (Erik Per Sullivan in the original run). The family struggled to make ends meet, leading to all sorts of shenanigans that tested the patience of the good-natured Hal and the quick-to-anger Lois. The new series finds Malcolm having found peace in his life by cutting his parents and siblings out of it. Working for a non-profit and being a single dad to his teenage daughter, Leah (Keeley Karsten), Malcolm has found happiness with his girlfriend, Tristan (Kiana Madeira), until his parents crash back in to celebrate their fortieth anniversary. Forced to face the triggers that brought out the worst in him, Malcolm must contend with being a part of his dysfunctional clan once again, and despite everyone being much older, it still makes for charming television.

The four half-hour episodes of Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair are not standalone entries but work as a full-length movie chopped into chapters. Because of the episodic nature of the original series, I was disappointed at first to find that this was not a true revival but more of a one-off. As I watched each episode, I felt more and more nostalgic about returning to the world of these characters, and I was glad to find they did not miss a beat. While Dewey, now played by Caleb Ellsworth-Clark, is present mostly via Zoom calls due to his global musical touring and youngest son Jamie (Anthony Timpano) does the same as he is enlisted in the military, the core trio of Malcolm, Reese, and Francis are joined by sixth child, Kelly (Vaughn Murrae), who was teased in the original series finale. Kelly joins the family and serves as a surrogate for Dewey’s role, and she is a nice addition. The same can be said of Leah, who has the same fourth-wall-breaking ability as her father, although neither knows that the other offers narration to the camera. Leah has some subplots involving her struggles to fit in at school, which makes for a nice new generational shift for the series, should this get extended beyond a mini-series.

Without spoiling any of the surprises in store for fans, I can say that original series supporting characters do return in different capacities, ranging from cameos to integral parts of the story. Because the series is only four episodes by the time you get to the last chapter, a lot of the surprises that are in store for audiences really do pay off. I found that as I was watching it, I had a smile on my face but did not expect that final episode to be as emotional as it was. Bryan Cranston and Jane Kaczmarek do a phenomenal job, and this really does feel like it’s more of a showcase for them rather than for the kids. Bryan Cranston, who has always been a solid talent, as much comedically as he is dramatically, gets to do some fun things with his character of Hal here, including an extended, bizarre sequence involving drugs and mysticism that you will find to be absolutely one of the highlights that he has had in the entirety of Malcolm in the Middle, both original and this new one.While all of the kids get a good amount of screen time, the majority of it is Frankie Muniz, and he spends most of the series on his own, interacting with his daughter and his girlfriend, and talking about his family rather than getting into hijinks with them. Not to give anything away plot-wise, but you really do need to watch all 4 of them together to really appreciate the overall story.

Original series creator Linwood Boomer returns to script all four episodes of the Life is Unfair miniseries. Boomer is joined by writers Michael Glouberman, Matthew Carlson, Gary Murphy, and Al Higgins, who co-wrote episodes three episodes. Ken Kwapis, who directed multiple episodes of the original series, helmed all four episodes as well. The tone and style of this series feels right in line with the original. The sense, the style, the sets all look exactly the same as what we saw in the original seven seasons. Other than everyone being older, the other change is that Life is Unfair is airing on Hulu which allows for profanity, something that never happened when Malcolm in the Middle aired on FOX. While the series stays away from any f-bombs, there is some casual profanity that shows the series has aged up along with the cast. You will get the sense that this series is both a nice way to revisit the original Malcolm in the Middle as well as a potential pivot to a new sequel series focused on Malcolm and Leah with the opportunity for the occassional drop-in from the rest of Malcolm’s family.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life is Unfair is a really satisfying return to a series that had a solid following when it originally aired on network television. Seeing these characters come back, this is one of those shows that does not feel like a cash grab and it does not feel artificial thanks to the involvement of the entire original cast and creative talent behind the scenes. Malcolm in the Middle: Life is Unfair is the most satisfying revival since Scrubs just a few weeks ago. I love this series, and I really did have a great time watching it. I do hope that it does return for another full season that expands on this four-episode run. Nobody in the cast has missed a step in the years since this show was originally on the air. And these four episodes, while it does feel like a feature film broken into four chapters, is still one of the most satisfying shows I’ve seen this year and does serve as a follow-up to the original series that maintains the spirit, the tone, and the emotional heart that made Malcolm in the Middle one of the better sitcoms of the early 2000s.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair premieres on Hulu on April 10th.