Although Malcolm’s future looked bright inThe Neighborhood’s season 7 ending, the CBS sitcom has already introduced a character who could ruin his entire arc.The Neighborhood’s cast of charactersare all compelling, but Sheaun McKinney’s Malcolm is one of the CBS sitcom’s breakout stars. Calvin’s oldest son is a former baseball player who spent years trying to find his purpose.
This meant living with his parents for a lot longer than Malcolm would have liked, so it was a welcome surprise whenThe Neighborhoodseason 7’s ending saw Malcolm and Martymove out to Venice Beach. Malcolm used the advance for his first book to buy a fixer-upper in the trendy neighborhood, thus ironically flipping the meaning of the show’s title.
When the Johnsons moved into the show’s central eponymous neighborhood, Cedric the Entertainer’s irascible Cavin Butler had to welcome this white Midwestern family to his historically Black neighborhood. In season 7, episode 22, “Welcome to Venice,” Malcolm struggles to ingratiate himself among some zany white neighbors in the wild environs of Venice Beach.
Justin Long’s Bruce Tried to Buy Malcolm’s House In The Neighborhood Season 7’s Ending
The Tech Bro Hoped to Demolish the Fixer Upper
On one side of Malcolm’s new home was influencer Matisse and her activist friend Bellamy, two party animals who soon took a shine to Malcolm and Marty. Although the pair were friendly, their love of loud music and late-night parties might end up rubbing the comparatively mature Malcolm up the wrong way.
However, it was Malcolm’s other neighbor that he really needed to watch out for. Justin Long’s persnickety tech bro Bruce was an irritating presence whose blunt demeanor and unfriendly nature clashed both with Malcolm and with Matisse and Bellamy. Matisse and Bellamy wanted to stop Bruce and his ilk from taking over the beachfront by buying out existing homeowners.
Skye Townsend
Courtney
AlthoughMarty and Courtney’s relationship inThe Neighborhoodseason 8was seemingly threatened by Bellamy’s flirtation with him, it was Bruce who posed a true existential threat to Malcolm’s new setup.Bruce told Calvin he would pay 20% over the asking price for Malcolm’s new home, and he openly admitted that he planned to demolish the house to extend his own mansion.
Malcolm brokered an uneasy truce between his two sets of neighbors, but Bruce made it clear that he would still do everything in his power to buy Malcolm’s new house.
Never one to dismiss a good deal, Calvin almost shook on this only for Malcolm to shut the deal down. Malcolm brokered an uneasy truce between his two sets of neighbors, but Bruce made it clear that he would still do everything in his power to buy the house.
Malcolm’s New Home and Job Are His Biggest The Neighborhood Season 8 Challenge
The Character Was Originally Intended to Receive a Spinoff Show
SinceThe Neighborhoodseason 8 is the show’s final outing, it isn’t looking good for Malcolm’s future in the fixer-upper. Originally, Malcolm was going to use the money from his book to fix up the house, which Calvin and he soon discovered was a money pit as Malcolm’s father inspected the property.
However, Malcolm’s literary agent informed him that any royalties from his book would be a long time coming, and he might not see them for months or years. She offered him a job ghostwriting a book for one of the Real Housewives, and he took the role, but this still leaves him in a precarious financial position.
Cedric the Entertainer toldTVLinethat Malcolm’s planned spinoff plot would now be part ofThe Neighborhoodseason 8’s story.
Malcolm’s money struggles and problems with his neighbors were clearly intended to be the focus ofThe Neighborhood’s spinoff, but it is tough to see how the show will give these plots adequate screen time and story focus now that the show is no longer happening. Cedric the Entertainer toldTVLinethat Malcolm’s planned spinoff plot would now be part ofThe Neighborhoodseason 8’s story.
While this might technically be true, it is still tough to see the show forgetting about Calvin, his wife Tina, and Dave and Gemma Johnson in its final outing. This is the last season of the CBS series, so it wouldn’t make sense for the show to suddenly change its main characters completely by centering entirely on Malcolm.
What seems much more likely is thatThe Neighborhoodwon’t flip its premise on its headas season 7’s ending promised, and will instead deliver a truncated, watered-down version of Malcolm’s planned plot. His money woes and professional problems will still figure into the show’s final outing, but won’t be its main focus.
The Neighborhoodis available to stream on Paramount+
From the outside, this may not seem like a bad compromise. However, it makes the odds of Bruce successfully buying Malcolm’s home a lot higher. After all, Bruce had already said he wanted to buym, and was willing to pay way over its value. Malcolm had just realized how much work his home needed, and his busy professional life prevented him from doing this work himself.
The Neighborhood Shouldn’t End With Malcolm Leaving Venice Beach
Malcolm Leaving Home Was A Hard-Won Milestone
As such,it would make perfect sense for Malcolm to sell his new homeinThe Neighborhoodseason 8. This would be a crushingly pointless ending to the show, but afterCBS scrappedThe Neighborhood’s spinoff, it does seem like the smartest thing for the character to do. Malcolm is a sensible guy who doesn’t want to waste his burgeoning writing career.
Malcolm could just take Bruce up on his offer and move out of Venice Beach, living with the Butlers again until he can find a new place.
As such, it doesn’t make sense for him to spend his days quelling fights between his neighbors and fixing up his new home while also simultaneously penning a memoir for an infamously unstable celebrity. Malcolm could just take Bruce up on his offer and move out of Venice Beach, living with the Butlers again until he can find a new place.
However, while this makes a lot of logical sense, it feels pointless in terms of Malcolm’s character growth. Putting him through the work of writing a book, getting an agent, securing an advance, and using it to get on the property ladder, only to undo all of this immediately, seems like a terrible ending for the character.
WhileThe Neighborhood’s season 8 setupcan’t pan out the way it was going to back when Malcolm and Marty had an entire separate spinoff show of their own, Malcolm should still stay in Venice Beach in the show’s final outing.The Neighborhood’s season 8 owes its hero a win after so many years of struggling to find his role in the world.
