Reese (Malcolm in the Middle)

Reese is a fictional character from Malcolm in the Middle. He is played by Justin Berfield.

Reese is the second oldest of the children, and is also the least intelligent and most destructive. He even had a mean streak in the womb; while his mother Lois was in labour, he kicked her so hard that she forcefully gave 'pre-mature' birth to him. Immediately following his delivery he kicked the doctor in the nose. His obsession with violence horrifies the family and leaves him with few friends, partly as he is a bully at school. He bullies the "Krelboynes" in Malcolm's class, as well as his younger brothers, especially Dewey. Due to this, Reese is scene working out a lot to give himself a muscular build.

File:Reese on Malcolm in the Middle.jpg

Berfield as Reese in "Grandma Sues".

At an early age he learned how to get rid of his troubles by turning his brain off, or singing the "Minty Mint Song" in his head (Season 4, Episode "Stupid Girl," Original air date 11/24/2002).

He is an excellent chef and loves to cook; the only effective way his parents can find to punish him is banning him from the kitchen. He finds success in meat packing, but is fired after setting all the cows free to impress a girl.

He once got married to a girl who dominated the marriage by constantly shouting at him and refusing to have sex. Later in the same episode, Reese and Lois enter the garage and find her cheating on Reese with a man she had told him was her brother.

Reese is depicted as a virgin with limited sexual experience. In the penultimate episode, "Morp", a girl named Jeanie offers to pay Reese to take her to the senior prom because she had been too focused on getting into college to cultivate a social life and find a date by normal means. Jeanie says that she initially selected Reese because he isn't "completely hideous" and she knew he wouldn't have a date. However, Reese turns out to be a gentleman and sweeps her off her feet by being charming and considerate. Although Jeanie did not initially plan to do anything with Reese after the prom itself, she invites him to go to the beach with her and tells him, "I really want you." However, before Reese can accept the invitation, his watch alarm goes off, indicating that he is "off the clock", and he leaves, revealing that he was only nice to "satisfy his customer" and thereby passing up a chance to finally have sex.

After graduating high school, Reese moves in with Craig Feldspar and finally finds success, as an assistant janitor in his former high school. According to his phone call with Malcolm in the very last scene of the series, he tells Malcolm that when the principal found the peepholes in the bathroom, the head janitor was fired, and his job was given to Reese.

It has been hinted that Reese may also be a genius, like Dewey and Malcolm. At the end of his senior year of high school, he is seen studying all day and night multiple times. He says that the tests are a bunch of true-false questions. When his results on the final exams come back, it is found out that he missed every answer on every test. referring to this as his greatest work, because he had done so bad that he couldn't make it up in summer school, so he would have to repeat the year and thus, not move out or need to get a job.