Hal and Lois intercept a college application cheque for Malcolm - for $10,000 - and argue about what they should do with it. Meanwhile, Malcolm obsesses on getting the perfect picture day photo and Reese enjoys himself at a retirement home.
Tropes associated with this episode:
- Abuse of Return Policy: Subverted. While the family might have been able to get their money back by giving back the dollhouse Lois spent the cheque money on, it catches fire due to its real electric lights. Hal is unable to put out the fire due to the house's faulty pipes and they all have to watch it go up in flames, well and truly losing the money.
- All for Nothing: From the $10,000 given to Malcolm, Hal, Lois, and Dewey merely recover around 3,000. Malcolm doesn't notice that there should be more and is still happy about it... and then he spends it all in a photo session to have a "cool yearbook photo".
- Disproportionate Retribution: In a truly sociopathic manner, the old lady Reese befriends seduces her rival's husband as payback for said rival using her sewing kit without asking first.
- Hypocrite: At first, Malcolm doesn't want to dress up for his yearbook photo, claiming that he doesn't care to keep up appearances for something that shallow, but later regrets this when the other students explain that they want to look good for their future children when they show their pictures, and it doesn't get better when the photographer recognizes Malcolm as another teen who tries to be "the unconventional one". Malcolm clearly cares about what people think of him in both instances.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Hal, while wanting the money for himself, states that they shouldn't give it to Malcolm in the first place, since he's a teenage boy and liable to blow it on his latest fancy. Sure enough, when Malcolm does get the "cheque", he immediately spends it on a high-price photo shoot.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After planning to keep the money from Malcolm and spend it on themselves, when they end up losing it all, Hal, Lois and Dewey have to sacrifice their possessions and dignity to try and pay it back.
- Moment of Weakness: Lois is adamant for using the money to fix the house's pipes but when she goes to cash in the cheque, she sees an antique dollhouse in a store window. Before she wraps her head around it, she's taken it home. Given what's been described of her horrendous childhood, the aching for a real toy must have gotten to her.
- Oblivious to Their Own Description: Malcolm thinks high-priced photographs - where he poses as a rocker, surrounded by pretty women and holding a falcon - will make him look less dorky to his future grandchildren.
- Won't Take "Yes" for an Answer: Even when Malcolm gets himself an objectively good photo taken, he still thinks it makes him look awful for no discernible reason.
