- On a visit to Francis' dude ranch Hal can't help being disappointed in Francis' success, Reese and Malcolm fear Francis has turned into an overly responsible grownup, and Gretchen punishes Dewey for breaking a valuable doll.
- Hal and the boys visit Francis at the holiday ranch. A doting Hal sees Francis in a new light as a now maturing person and is amazed at his change in attitude and acceptance of responsibility. So much so that he compliments Otto and becomes pally with him. The boys are taken on a desperately boring horse ride with some 5 year olds and cannot believe how lame Francis has actually become. After they trick Hal in to signing a consent form for some Quad bikes and, inevitably crash them (Malcolm is trying to discover just how off road they are and Dewey ends upside down in a tree). A fuming Francis lectures them and states "Mum is Right", you can't be trusted. The boys are horrified and Reese screams at him to "take it back". Meanwhile Otto and Hal go for a horse ride late at night, into the dessert, and get drunk. After firing their pistols vertically and having to dodge the returning bullets, the horses run off and they are stranded and clueless what to do. Otto leads them off in the wrong direction stating the other way is "certain death". Malcolm then hatches a plan to snap Francis out of his newly found senses. This involves buying fireworks (with Hal's credit card of course) and trying to get Francis to light them. At first he refuses and lectures them again about responsibilities and married life. However Malcolm has ignited a spark in his head. Without consciously realising it and still saying no, Francis lights the blue touch paper and with a returned air of indifference just says "eh, interesting". The fireworks are of course huge and spectacular culminating with the Komodo which turns night in to day leaving the four boys temporarily blind, Reese states the box says up to two days. Francis signs himself back in to the boys trust with "totally worth it". The fireworks alert Otto and Hal to the direction of the ranch and they get back safely with Hal thinking Francis and the boys rescued them.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content