Date of airing: June 22, 2001 (Disney Channel)
written by: Melissa Gould
directed by: Jace Alexander
The episode’s title confused me for a few seconds. I was hoping for it to be a bit more of a more real episode, as Lizzie would deal with literal and actual nightmares, but nada, it turned out to be an effort to give Matt and Lizzie some brother/sister time instead, which I may have appreciated, but was a little bit off-topic from what I was expecting. Although it does make me wonder if Lizzie working through a nightmare and having debates about it with her friends and parents would make for an equally good episode, and if movie quotes like THE EXORCIST (animated Lizzie moving her head 360 degrees while the bed is shaking up and down, and left and right) would have filled such an episode to the max.
Anyway, the show has not done much with the Lizzie/Matt pairing until
now, and I would not mind seeing more episodes that have the two
together, maybe even scheming things to get their parents to do
something for them, or something in that realm. You can only go so far
and be this repetitive with Lizzie always hating on her little and
annoying brother, but at one point in the characters’ lives, it might be
best to have an episode in which they love and accept and appreciate
each other and go into an adventure that is not them sneaking into the
production of a music video, or Lizzie having to babysit Matt. All I
secretly want from LIZZIE McGUIRE is an episode during which Lizzie
realizes she loves her little brother and all the craziness that comes
with him. That had to have been a premise for the revival series though. What a shame it never came out of the gates.
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| Ethan has found his new best friend. |
Besides that, Matt was a less annoying character in this episode. The kid actually went with an idea he suddenly and randomly got and became famous, beloved, and cool, which is something I would not have expected from previous episodes’ versions of Matt. As long as this episode gave the writers cause to bring the kid into Lizzie’s stories on a more regular note (which is something the show needed to do at this point), this half hour might even be a soft reboot for the character, as he turned from the annoying little kid in a cheap 1990s television movie for kids to a kid that can be respected by characters twice his age. Also, for the first time in the series, Sam and Jo were thinking about not giving the kid a moral lesson and instead tried to punish him for real after being worried sick about his well-being for half of the episode. Because really, it seems like Matt was written as the kid who decided to grow up a year or two and be more mischievous while also being respective somehow.
I loved the notion of Lizzie living the least perfect life imaginable with her brother around, and therefore creating a competition. Lizzie tried her best to have Matt’s antics blow up in his face (having the principal call the parents, calling in the police, trying to convince the school that Matt is a liar who has never worked with Steven Spielberg). On the other hand, Matt tried his best to remain cool and be an intriguing personality for most of the school, and positively work on his persona, almost becoming a new person in the process. Yes, the episode never went into a direct competition between Lizzie and Matt (which by itself could have been a genius premise, especially with no one but Miranda and Gordo knowing who Matt is), but it was one stop short of becoming that episode, and it would have been a great half hour of LIZZIE McGUIRE.
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| Before you call 9-1-1, maybe check your answering machine first. |
By the way, maybe the episode could have been better if using an entirely different premise: The scene in the school bus made me realize that there is potential in Matt becoming best friends with Ethan, all while Lizzie was trying to score a lunch date with the pretty boy. There is potential in Ethan liking Lizzie even more because her brother happens to be a funny little genius, while behind closed doors, Matt and Lizzie could not be hating each other any more than they already do. A friendship between Ethan and Matt could have brought a huge stepping stone in Lizzie’s attempt to score some teenage love points with Ethan, considering how much she hates her brother. Especially with Gordo in the background, who as a boy cannot understand what the appeal of Ethan is (same, Gordo, same), which is hopefully a question Gordo asks himself repeatedly, without ever getting an answer. It is a solid running joke.
