Date of airing: August 24, 2001 (Disney Channel)
written by: Nina G. Bargiel, Jeremy J. Bargiel
directed by: Mark Rosman
It is time to move along with one of the more, uhm, romantic stories of the series. Not such a long time ago, the writers managed to have Gordo coupled with a random guest star, because for once the characters felt ready to be in a romantic relationship, even if just for one episode. But here is Lizzie, still dancing around Ethan, still not doing anything to get this dumb jock boy’s heart which can then be smashed into millions of little pieces, still not becoming a more mature person because she is still too young to have her heart fooled with. Because having Ethan be depicted like the high school jock he is, throwing eyes at all the girls, getting the naughty thoughts behind every corner, failing to be an actual friend, let alone being a good boyfriend, it is only obvious that Lizzie’s heart will get broken if she ever gets to date the boy with the pretty hair. If the revival series gets another shot on Disney+ (the chances for that are lower than next to nothing, thanks to HOW I MET YOUR FATHER and the whole debacle of Disney not wanting to pay their artists and writers), I hope that Ethan and Kate were dating and both turned out to be horrible failures at being humans in their thirties.
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| Miranda tried to get the hashtag fashion trend going before Twitter even existed. |
The episode was okay. I think it was a little forgettable, as it dealt with yet another conflict between Lizzie and Gordo, without the two ever figuring out how to move on from any of their conflicts and deciding to be friends. It is almost like Lizzie and Gordo are destined to not like each other every time one crosses the other, and it is like they are destined to argue every time the two do not see eye to eye, but need to find out how to become friends again. After 20 episodes, it has become somewhat of a generic and tiresome premise, but because LIZZIE McGUIRE is a show that has three seasons worth of episodes stacked into two seasons (so that the studio does not have to pay the cast and crew the money they would have gotten if they officially had produced a third season), I get the feeling more than half of those episodes will have a similar premise, and Lizzie will continue to fight with either Gordo or Miranda, because the writers could not figure out what else to do on the show, and whether to get out of the procedural funk and deal with some development and continuation.
At least Ethan becomes more and more involved in Lizzie’s life, almost becoming a friend to the group. A handful of episodes ago, he was just the hot dude who was obviously crush material only for the girls, but he started to interact with Lizzie, and even liked Matt for some reason (there is a story there, and it does not have to be Matt faking to be a Spielberg child star, and I am still hoping the writers were getting back to it). In a way, Ethan is good enough as a character to become a regular in the second season, or at least he could be used as a plot device to get the Lizzie/Gordo thing going, which is something I keep seeing will happen in the show at some point, as Lizzie gets more and more confrontational with Gordo and the other way around. Just look at this episode: The two were almost headbutting each other over how to tutor Ethan, and that usually means there is some form of romance blossoming, simply because kids do not behave that way if they are not “in like” with one another. That is why I want the show to develop and continue from here and just go with it. The show was not holding itself back to show romance, as the previous episode had Gordo locking lips with another girl already, so there is no reason not to go with it. If not Gordo, then Ethan. Because really, Ethan needs to become a better character. He cannot be the idiot jock for the entirety of the show’s run.
Finally, there were Matt’s superhero antics, which were yawn-inducing. The boy is still the worst character of the show, and I am still hoping he was about to get better stories in the future. I am crossing my fingers, but with almost every episode I am getting increasingly tired of this dumb kid’s antics. Even if something was amusing about him and Oscar stealing the bags of goodies from an old lady, because they thought they were helping her out. Even if he and Oscar throwing away a girl’s bicycle was equally enjoyable as a piece of comedy, all I want for Matt is to grow up just for a year and behave like a normal kid. But then again, this is the Disney Channel, and if either character starts to grow up, it would not be the same show any longer, eh?
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| Superheroes, they are not. Accidental thieves, maybe. |
By the way, if either Matt or Oscar had been a black kid, let it be guaranteed that they would have been shot by police at the end of the episode while they were continuing to play superheroes in this smalltown. Sometimes you cannot escape the real world by watching Disney Channel sitcoms, since the nightmare-ish real world is too prevalent every now and then.
Plus points for Sam’s little joke about the couch monster, which Jo giggled at out loud. It is almost like Hallie Todd and Robert Carradine decided to play the roles of a married couple with two kids who actually love each other still. There is some chemistry that I wished could have been more in the center of a storyline.
