Okay, before I go into this review, let me just say I wasn’t an avid viewer of the original show, Malcolm in the Middle. It’s not like I didn’t dislike the show or anything. It’s just that, when it was shown here on local cable, it was on at a rather awkward time. It was either on too early or it was competing with another show. I can’t really remember. I do remember catching some of the replays when it was re-broadcast after midnight.

I never was a religious viewer of the show. But I would still catch some glimpses of the antics of Malcolm, the genius prodigy born into a dysfunctional but loving family. I do remember it being a wacky but still funny show but that’s about it. I do remember the heck out of the theme song, though.

So, when Disney announced they were developing a sequel/revival called Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, I thought to myself, “Aww, that’s good.” I mean, I don’t have any strong feelings for the show either way but I thought it was nice thing for fans. I wasn’t actually going to watch it because I thought I wouldn’t understand the references or have the nostalgia feels for it.

But I then found out this wasn’t actually a new series. Rather, it was a miniseries consisting of four half-hour programs. That’s not a big chunk of time and it was something I could binge watch in an afternoon. So, that’s what I did. I sat down and blasted through all four episodes in one sitting. So, how does Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair sit with someone who wasn’t a fan of the original Malcolm in the Middle? Read on to find out!

Oh, but before you do, I will have to mention that this review will have some MINOR SPOILERS about the overall setup. I normally try to avoid this kind of thing for something that was just released. But, in this instance, I can’t really do that because it was one thing that actually bothered me a whole lot and I have to mention it here. So, yeah. There will be some MINOR SPOILERS.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair takes place a couple of decades after the events of the finale of the original show. Malcolm (still played by Frankie Muniz) now lives a fulfilling life. He now has a really good job, a good relationship with his daughter and a strong relationship with his girlfriend. He’s managed to get all of this by doing one simple thing: avoiding his family. However, with the 40th wedding anniversary of his parents, Lois and Hal (also still played by Jane Kaczmarek and Bryan Cranston, respectively), coming up in a couple of days and his parents demanding Malcolm attend, it’s getting harder and harder to keep his old life and new life from crashing into each other.

First off, despite my having very rather limited knowledge of the show, I was able to catch on to the entire situation and the characters. They don’t really spell everything out with long exposition or anything like that. All they did was to get the characters do what they do and you’ll quickly adapt even if you’re playing catch up like me. Well, it worked for me most of the time anyway. Malcolm’s family is quite large and some of them, like Dewey and Jamie, didn’t add anything of substance. It felt more like they were given very superficial roles because, hey, they were in the original show! They had to be written in somehow!

In fact, the newer characters, namely Malcolm’s daughter, Leah, and Lois and Hal’s youngest child, Kelly, were given much more screen time. I’m not complaining because they do seem like they were written with a lot of care. Leah has the same “habit” of breaking the fourth wall and relaying her thoughts to the viewer of her father. Kelly comes off as the “normal” one in the family but mostly because she’s doesn’t fall prey to the chaotic nature of the family.

Now, as there are a lot of characters, there are also a lot of subplots attached to them. The problem is hardly any one of these character subplots actually are resolved or is given any closure! I get that the main focus of this miniseries is all about Malcolm trying to avoid his family as well as the chaos revolving about Lois trying to put together the best anniversary celebration for Hal but is struggling as Hal was always the one who used to do it. Those are given proper endings. The rest, like Reese and Kelly’s feud as well as Francis wanting to feel more important, don’t get the proper denouement they need. There are times when I feel this is more like a backdoor pilot rather than a miniseries because they’re planning to focus on these storylines in the “actual” series.

I also have another problem with, well, with how the miniseries is actually written. As I mentioned earlier, a major plot point deals with Malcolm trying to avoid his family for as long as possible. The problem is he’s too good at it and, because of that, Malcolm hardly interacts with his family. The show was called “Malcolm in the Middle” and, yet, in Life’s Still Unfair, Malcolm isn’t in the middle! He’s not even close to being in the middle of things and he’s so far away from everything! There were times when it felt like the parts where Malcolm and his daughter were shown was a different sitcom altogether!

While that was a major bummer, what wasn’t a bummer was the actual gags. Like I said, I never watched the original show seriously but I do recall the writing to be snappy. The jokes had some bite to them. The stories actually had a logical flow to them, despite the rather surrealistic nature to some scenes. The same thing can be said for Life’s Still Unfair. A lot of the writing is witty and smart but still very funny. There are crass moments but they are very fun crass moments! There were moments were I did honestly laugh out loud! And I don’t usually laugh out loud when watching a sitcom!

Also, I have to give kudos to all of the actors here. I’m guessing a lot of you mostly know Bryan Cranston from his role as Walter White in Breaking Bad. I was actually concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get the image of him as the callous intelligent high school science teacher turned criminal kingpin. But Bryan Cranston was able to ease into his Hal persona very easily and I never got the inkling he was Heisenberg! That’s a testament to his acting skill.

Then again, everyone in the cast was great! Frankie Muniz is fun as he slowly unravels with the chaos slowly coming back to haunt him. Jane Kaczmarek is also great as the very bossy and headstrong Lois. The rest of the cast were also great but I can’t really say much about them as they’re not the focus and even their subplots don’t go anywhere. As such, they don’t really get much screen time but, from the minutes that they did get, they were still phenomenal.

So, how does Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair fare for someone who wasn’t a fan of the original Malcolm in the Middle? Honestly, very well. It’s put together well enough so that, even if you only have a passing connection to the original series, it works well enough so that you can get a good understanding of the characters quickly. The writing is smart and funny overall as well. However, does this make me want to watch the original show, as it is also available on Disney Plus? Hmmm. Not really. I mean, I would like to. But seeing there’s around seven seasons and more than a hundred episodes, I don’t think I can devote that much time to an older series at the moment. In a way, that seems unfair but hey! That’s how the show’s theme song goes.

Have you seen Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair? How does it compare to the original series? Let me know in the comments section below!