Malcolm knows she's hurt, and in his heart of hearts he can't blame her for it, even if he didn't mean to be hurtful by anything that he said. Surely she knows exactly what he means by her needing a bit of polishing before meeting his mother. He wants his mother to like her, which means she needs to make a good first impression, both visually and conversationally. He knows they can do that without changing too much of who Harley really is, especially because he likes who Harley is.

It takes her a while to get to his apartment after he calls, and he's briefly worried that something has happened to her before she finally shows up. When she goes right for Sunshine, Malcolm rolls his eyes. Sunshine eats it up though, nipping playfully at Harley's fingers and chirping at her.

Malcolm wanders off to the kitchen to pour them some drinks. "You know," he says, "the silent treatment is a form of passive-aggressive manipulative punishment. It actually started as a real treatment in prisons back in the 1800s. The theory was that if prisoners were subjected to silence it would encourage them to reflect on their crimes."

If she's going to go silent on him, he's going to go textbook on her. Malcolm can be a little bitch sometimes and can't resist being sassy when it's called for.