Date of airing: February 9, 2001 (Disney Channel)
Here is to hoping that the show will get better from the previous episodes onwards. Because this half hour of comedy television, albeit not as good as how good the actual pilot episode, was more entertaining than the first three episodes of the series. Lizzie was part of a real story with proper morale, and the writers even managed to give Kate enough material and have her shine not necessarily as the evil bully of junior high school. Or is this middle school? America, what is the difference between middle school and junior high? Is there even a difference? As a character who could turn into a friendly figure of sorts, or someone who does everything she can to keep her popularity status above the water level, Kate could certainly develop into a better character in future episodes.
The original pilot established that Kate was once friends with Lizzie and then Kate grew boobs and was able to buy her first bra, which will immediately give you 1000 fame points among junior high (or middle) schoolers who can’t think about anything but status, therefore Kate can’t be best friends with a more childish and happy-go-lucky Lizzie anymore. But this episode gave me the feeling this is just a phase and Kate won’t always be the antagonist in Lizzie’s stories. Besides that, the writers did the right thing by depicting Kate through her jealousy for Lizzie, even if her standing as the villain who could have had a bucket of pigs blood dropped on Lizzie during the performance was a little too evil for my taste.
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| Radioactive Kate is coming to ruin it all for Lizzie. |
Apropos me delivering a reference to CARRIE, what is up with the
movie references in this show? One of the earlier animation sequences
was a huge nod to the first MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE movie, and another
episode mentioned THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. This episode went with a
reference to both SCREAM and the Dirty Harry film series, while the
story in the third act was clearly a resemblance to CARRIE. All films
are violent and gruesome enough not to be put into a kids’ show as
references and punchlines for jokes (besides being R-rated, with the
exception of the found-footage horror film that is still too scary for
the Disney Channel youth to watch), because in a way, the writers were
putting the notion into the show that their target audience must have
seen the referenced movies to understand what the characters were
talking about. It makes me wonder if the producers didn’t care and just
let the references stand, knowing that kids will be kids and they will
get to see those R-rated movies, even though they aren’t supposed to be
doing that. Is LIZZIE McGUIRE a show that expects its target audience to
not behave as the network wants them to (turning to a cable channel to
watch an R-rated movie at 10 p.m.), or is that just a thing the writers
decided to do, because why the heck not? I don’t mind film references at
all, but after five episodes, those references have been clear-cut
towards mature movies. Has Miranda seen Clint Eastwood movies for her to
quote a line to Larry? Has she also seen SCREAM to notice that Lizzie
looked like Neve Campbell after she almost got stabbed multiple times? And how many of the Disney Channel viewers understood those references in 2001?
The story was great, however. Lizzie finding something she is good at, just to realize later that she hates her newfound talent, makes for a nice moral-of-the-week story, and I did appreciate that it was also used to put Kate front and center and give her more depth. What a shame that the show must not have had a big-enough budget though, or Lizzie’s performance could have resembled a non-violent 80s movie about violently dancing to generic 80s dance music. I was thinking of Kevin Bacon’s hardcore gymnastics dance in FOOTLOOSE for Lizzie during her regional performance, because the song she performed to was suited for that. But alas, Hilary Duff didn’t have a lot to do (I believe a stunt actor was used for some of the shots) and maybe there wasn’t enough time to put on a more elaborate choreography. Just a little bit of hula hooping and the thing with the ribbon – it looked fine for a low-budget show, but yes, it could have been something much better with a little bit of money.
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| Fortunately, there was no pigs blood available. |
Plus points for Dot-Marie Jones appearing as Lizzie’s gym teacher in this show. She was credited before this episode, but I didn’t notice her until she was put front and center during the athletics scenes here. She almost makes me want to watch GLEE again, but I don’t think I will ever get back to that show. The second season was utterly alienating for me and now that the show has three cast members that have passed away, one by accident, one by drug overdose, and the third by suicide after being charged with receiving and possessing child pornography, it will be even harder to watch the show I’ve had such a huge obsession with during the latter stages of 2009 and early 2010.
