15. Garage Sale

Complete story — includes the ending

Home from a visit with her sister, Susan, who had called her "hopeless," Lois puts Reese in charge of the family garage sale to build his character, but he gets carried away with the authority. When Reese sells Dewey's piggy bank that had $16 inside it for a fraction of said money, and Lois refuses to do anything about it, Dewey takes revenge on the family by selling all the valuable items inside the house (TV, stereo, bookshelf, etc.) Hal finds his old pirate radio transmitter and restarts the station he ran in college under the pseudonym Kid Charlemagne. However, he ends up in trouble with the FCC. Malcolm finds an old computer worth thousands of dollars and arranges to sell it to Craig. At the last second, Hal pulls Craig away to help continue transmitting his radio show, and Reese intentionally destroys the computer. After learning how much the computer was worth, Lois severely punishes Reese for his behavior. At the ranch, Otto becomes more and more depressed whilst dealing with his estrangement from his son, Rutger, worrying Francis and Gretchen dearly. Note: This is the first appearance of Lois after a three episode absence.