About

There Is No Leaving The Path or Once You Start There's No Going Back is a reaction and GIF caption meme format based on a scene from Malcolm In The Middle in which Malcolm (played by Frankie Muniz) asks his father (Bryan Cranston) if he'd teach him to rollerskate. The father gives a dramatic warning to Malcolm as the lighting darkens around them, saying that once he sets out on "the path" (of learning to rollerskate), he will be unable to leave it. The video has since been used as a parody warning in memes about diving into deep fandoms, hobbies and other activities.

Origin

The scene originates from season one, episode 13 of the TV series Malcolm In The Middle, titled "Rollerskates," which first aired on April 30th, 2000^[1] (May 29th, 2021, upload of the scene by Average Moose on YouTube shown below).

Malcolm: Dad… I want skating lessons.

Hal: Son, do you know, once you start there's no going back?

Malcolm: I know.

Hal: This means total commitment. Once you begin the path, there is no leaving the path. Are you sure you're ready for that? I mean really ready?

Malcolm: I-I guess so.

Hal: Neat. We'll start tomorrow. Come on, dig in before they harden.

On December 26th, 2021, Redditor jinrex015 posted the earliest known meme using the clip with a caption making it about Dark Souls, gaining over 1,600 points in /r/darksoulsmemes in roughly two years (shown below).^[4]

Spread

On July 21st, 2022, the template was added to Kapwing,^[3] allowing others to easily edit the meme.

On April 4th, 2023 the Redditor __Spin360__ posted this scene on /r/PCmasterrace.^[2] The user removed the sound and instead added subtitles to adjust the content, changing Hal's lines to "Once you go PCMR… there is no leaving the path. 144fps, M/KB and modding… until games stop working" (shown below). The post gained over 21,000 points in five months.

In 2023, the scene saw some use in TikTok memes. For example, on May 7th of that year, user unknowngymrat_1 edited the video with a caption about going to the gym, gaining over 6,700 likes in three months (shown below, left). It has also been used for inspirational content about improving one's life. For example, on March 2nd, user @mad.nificent posted a weight loss video using edited audio of the quote, gaining over 406,000 likes in five months (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References