Warning: Major spoilers ahead

Malcolm is still running after being surprised by his parents. He stops by a horse paddock and calls his old school friend Stevie while a horse eats at his collar. Stevie, famed for his slow-talking and natural wheeze, is now married to a male partner and they have a son. He tells him there’s no escape from his family and advises him to face them.

The next morning, after a downhearted Lois and Hal have returned home, Francis greets them by happily announcing that Piama is pregnant, showing off the positive test. But Lois barely acknowledges this and tells everyone that Malcolm has a teenage daughter he’s been hiding.

Among the chaos, Kelly pulls Reese away to confront him about ‘Professor Dumb-Dumb’ – a YouTube channel he’s created which captures Hal suffering embarrassing accidents during their DIY sessions. He’s been making some serious cash from it, as well as merch sales, but Kelly threatens to snitch and tell their parents.

Reese warns that Hal won’t be able to take it after what’s happened with Malcolm, but it’s too late – Hal’s in the doorway. Having seen and heard everything, he gets overwhelmed and curls up into a ball on the floor, leaving the family to roll him into his bedroom.

Back at Malcolm’s, Leah is there waiting for him. She says she can handle her mum being crazy, but that’s because he’s not. She asks what else he’s been hiding – particularly around the family she’s only just discovered exists.

When Leah says Tristan is amazing, Malcolm says she’s perfect and wants her to stay that way – but the family is like the moon and they’re werewolves. He makes her promise not to speak to them until he’s figured out what to do.

That night, while Hal is asleep, Reese creeps into his bedroom and starts whispering in his ear in a bid to influence his opinion of him after what’s been revealed.

Lois is in the kitchen reading one of the 40 love letters Hal has written to her for their anniversary, and Francis confronts her about not celebrating their baby. She apologises, but says she has a million different things going on – and he’s eight on the priority list. She confesses there’s a part of her that thinks he saved the announcement for the worst possible time on purpose just to make her feel bad.

Dejected, Francis shares his frustrations with Piama In bed. She says she actually understands what’s going on with Lois but promises not to be like that with their kids.

At school, Leah finds out the resident mean girl, Alice, that everyone is having pizza after finals, but she’s not invited. The girl told her deliberately to upset her and she knows it.

Next morning, Hal is still catatonic, and Lois continues to try and comfort him. She urges him to let it go for a little while and tries to tempt him with sex. When even that doesn’t work, she begins to get worried about him.

Malcolm calls Tristan and leaves multiple voice notes, none of which she’s been returning. He lies and says he’s gone to a therapist, googling a medication that “explains his mood” before trying to put emotional pressure on her by bringing up Leah’s abandoned mother. He tells the audience he’ll “feel bad about it later”.

Against her dad’s wishes, Leah has a zoom call with all the family members, saying Malcolm insisted. However, one by one they all drop out until just Francis, Piama and Kelly remain. Leah shares that she’s not got any friends at school, and Piama urges her to be kind, which is not the same as being nice as it involves empathy.

Lois receives her latest present from Hank – a battallion of pink soldiers that shoot confetti cannons at her – but Hank still can’t shake Reese and Malcolm’s betrayal and it fails to cheer him up.

The next day at school, Leah is teased by Alice again, and has a chance to get her own back when she notices a booger on her chin. She considers making a fool out of Alice but instead tries kindness and quietly helps her clear it up before it’s noticed. This is spotted by one boy, who tells her what she did was “noble” because he would have made fun of her. His name is Jason, and she gets excited that it’s had an impact.

Tristan agrees to meet with Malcolm. He plans to gaslight her, but instead he listens. She urges him to make peace with his family – not just for his sake, but for Leah’s. But he says he can’t because he doesn’t know how. He lets slip that he has five siblings, and she walks out.

He tries to argue that he’s a good guy because he runs a charity and cares about social issues, but she tells him she can’t be around him until she can trust him again.

With the party in 32 hours, Lois is in extra-neurotic mode – and Hal decides to take matters into his own hands to get his mojo back.

Accompanied by his best friend Abe, they visit a psychedelic therapy centre, and are surprised to find it’s being run by Francis’ old pal Richie. Hal agrees to a micro-dosing session in a bid to shake off his depression. Things go south quickly when Richie brings out a bowl of pills, and Hal knocks back the entire lot – enough to wipe out an elephant.

While Abe tells him he needs to get his stomach pumped, Hal insists he’ll tough it out, and heads into a room where there’s nothing but a chair and a sick bucket.