Season synopsis
Contains spoilers for this season and earlier seasons.
Reese panics after parachuting into Afghanistan and deserts the Army. Lois sells the family car to finance a search that eventually finds him in India, while Malcolm volunteers at a veterans’ hospital out of guilt over Reese’s departure. Back home, Lois regains her Lucky Aide job and argues with Malcolm over a racist advertising display. Hal, temporarily unemployed, teaches everyday skills to a group of bodybuilders who repay him with favors.
Dewey tries to move out of the Busey class, but his classmates run away and hide near his home because they cannot cope without him. He chooses to stay after seeing how much they need his help. Later, he realizes his brother Francis has been borrowing his game ideas for a camp for children with disabilities. The Buseys take their teacher hostage, while Reese fails his exams so badly that summer school cannot rescue his academic year.
Francis has lost his ranch job and struggles to tell the family how badly things have gone. Malcolm’s store work brings a humiliating assignment as Uncle Sam on stilts; Reese volunteers for paid drug trials and steals a police horse. Hal accidentally leaves a premium-rate hotline connected overnight, creating a huge bill. In the finale, the boys enter Lois in a beauty pageant as a prank, then hear other contestants insulting her and decide to help her win.