Re-watching Lizzie Mcguire: Episode 1.16 (Obsession)
- This episode starts off on a positive note; Lizzie and Miranda are congratulated by their teacher, Miss Moran for a job well done on the food drive they organised at school.
- Lizzie’s parents and Matt are also there and we come to find out that Matt is the new hall monitor in his school. Lizzie makes fun of him because apparently being a hall monitor means being thrown in the trash can a lot. Even Sam can attest to this, based on his past memory:
Those thick rimmed glasses look huge on his tiny head lol
The Science Olympics
- Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda are talking to each other on the phone and Lizzie asks Gordo why he wasn’t at the food drive. He tells them he was busy preparing for the upcoming ‘Science Olympics’ that week, which includes:-
1. Long-distance paper airplane contest
2. The egg drop
3. Slow bicycle race
- Larry Tudgeman has always been the champion of the ‘Science Olympics’ but Gordo is determined to win this year. Lizzie is annoyed because Gordo won’t be able to help them with their next volunteering project. Gordo should be able to do whatever he wants Lizzie. She seems to be a little too headstrong and determined about doing these volunteering projects, which relays back to the title of this episode, ‘Obsession’. In contrast, Miranda isn’t too excited about helping out.
Lizzie’ Recycling Project
- At dinner in the Mcguire household, which they’re having fried chicken with salad served on the side (that looks yummy), Matt is describing to Jo and Sam his day as a school hall monitor and he seems pretty into it. Lizzie arrives a little late for dinner and Matt uses this opportunity to I guess ‘flex’ his hall monitor status and write her a ticket.
I gotta say this again, their fried chicken looks good
- Lizzie has her own announcement to make; She and Miranda are going to start a recycling project at the Digital Bean. She plans to separate out the garbage into plastic, paper and glass. But where’s aluminium/metal? That’s pretty important to sort out too. She is also thinking of implementing this practice in their own home, which doesn’t seem to make her parents too thrilled about the idea.
- We skip straight to the Digital Bean and we see Lizzie and Miranda busy sorting out garbage. Miranda isn’t fond of going through the garbage and I don’t blame her, especially when it’s not your own house garbage. Umm, and why are they not wearing any gloves? That’s just nasty because we don’t even know what’s inside the trash cans of the Digital Bean!
I recommend you two wear some gloves!
- Lizzie goes a little overboard when she’s explaining to Miranda the point of recycling the different items they’re sorting. But I actually like how passionate Lizzie is about saving the planet because this issue is still relevant, even more so today. Plus, seeing how clueless Miranda is about recycling and our Earth, Lizzie is kinda justified in how she’s acting.
Long Time No See Parker!
- As both girls are about to have their lunch, Parker Mackenzie pops up and lets them know how impressed she is with their recycling project.
I didn’t know Parker was a so-called ‘Green Warrior’
- Parker spots Lizzie’s beef burger on the table and starts questioning why she’s going to eat a “poor dead animal’. She then unexpectedly shouts at Lizzie and calls her a ‘meat eater’. This girl has no chill whatsoever. Lizzie now feels bad and thinks she should become a vegetarian from now on.
- My opinion on all of this is simple. If a person wants to go vegan or become a vegetarian, go for it. But please don’t judge those who didn’t make the same decision due to factors like socioeconomic status or health conditions. We all are able to play a part in helping our environment, even meat-eaters like myself. I for one, support sustainable farming practices and will only buy products derived from them. So, just because I eat meat, it doesn’t mean I’m reckless about our planet’s dwindling resources.
Gordo vs Larry
- We switch things over to Gordo’s ‘Science Olympics’ plot and we see Gordo and Larry studying for the upcoming competition in a classroom. They are sitting opposite to one another and are staring down at each other with extreme competitiveness.
The tension between the two looks very deep lol
- Larry is trying to get under Gordo’s skin by reminding him of all the times he lost to him in previous competitions. But Gordo stands up for himself and also does his part to intimidate Larry by saying that he is in his head? Mmkay...
“I own you” The tension is real y’all!
Lizzie Gets Carried Away
Lizzie is taking on another volunteer project and this time, it’s a clothing drive. She’s planning to give away a bunch of her own clothes to the homeless and she’s even gotten to the point where she wants to give away the food that Jo wants to cook. Now that’s pretty extreme...
- Lizzie even gets an attitude when Sam doesn’t sort out the garbage for recycling as she tasked him to do. I love how Sam actually called her out on her behaviour.
- Miranda shows up at the house and she’s proudly modeling her new leather jacket to Lizzie. But Lizzie isn’t happy about this either because leather jackets are made from cows and since Lizzie’s now a vegetarian, she doesn’t support Miranda’s fashion choice. Miranda thinks that Lizzie is totally overreacting and they are at odds with each other once again....
“Fine, so don’t eat my jacket” OMG I’m hollering!
- Miranda finds Gordo in a classroom, who is exhausted from throwing paper airplanes all day and tries to vent to him about Lizzie but he is too focused on the paper airplane competition after school. Suddenly, Lizzie shows up and she’s horrified by all the paper Gordo had used/wasted to test out his airplane designs.
Matt Gets Carried Away
- Well, it seems like being a hall monitor is getting to Matt’s head. He’s been giving people too many citations for no good reason. But judging from the montage I just watched of him giving these citations, they seem appropriate? I mean, the signs on the walls do say “Buckle Up” and “Walk Don’t Run”. So, isn’t Matt just following these rules? Unless, of course, he actually posted those rules himself.
I know that this is a Disney show but that’s a pretty physical thing for a teacher to do to a student.
Lizzie in Burlap
- After a strange ‘cowboy’ style stare-down between Larry and Gordo, we find out that Larry had won the egg drop and Gordo won the long distance airplane contest. Therefore, the slow bicycle race will decide who the winner of the ‘Science Olympics’ is. However, things aren’t looking so good for Gordo because is so sleepy from all the prep he’s been doing.
- Miranda is trying her hardest to get Lizzie to snap out of her over-the-top ‘Let’s Save The Planet’ mindset but she just won’t listen to her. She’s even wearing clothes made out of burlap because it’s eco-friendly. But I think she still looks cute in that outfit.
- They’re about to sit for a pop quiz but Lizzie has something to say to Miss Moran about the way she has printed out their quiz on only one side of the paper. Woah, she’s so brave to talk to her teacher like that. Anyways, she isn’t having any of her attitude and sends Lizzie to pack up her things and go home.
Is this another episode of ‘Bad Girl Mcguire’ or what?
The Mcguire Kids Get Sent Home Early
- As you can see from the title, both Lizzie and Matt are sent home from school earlier than usual because of their respective ‘commitments’. Matt seems to be very power-hungry and he just can’t stand the fact that he isn’t able to issue more citations in school.
- Sam and Jo advise Lizzie to not be so concerned about saving the environment because it’s gotten to the point where she’s alienating everyone around her and not taking care of herself. They want her to pick just one thing to take on and focus on that. Lizzie also admits she’s been a terrible friend to both Miranda and Gordo and she wants to go back to school to support Gordo in the slow bicycle race.
The Slow Bicycle Race
Gordo as an Aerodynamic Elvis Presley
- Next, we are taken to the Slow-Speed Bicycle Race between Gordo and Larry. Both Lizzie and Miranda are there to support Gordo, who is dressed up as Elvis Presley in an aerodynamically designed costume to increase his wind resistance.
- The race begins and Gordo is winning because he’s behind Larry. But, Gordo is starting to become sleepy again and actually falls off his bike just before Larry is about to cross the finish line and lose. This means that Gordo is disqualified from the race, unfortunately.
Poor Gordo! But at least he still looks good after falling
- The last scene is Lizzie apologising to Gordo and Miranda for the way she’s been acting. But Lizzie did leave an impact on Miranda and her family because they’re now cutting up their 6 packs. Larry swoops past them on his bike and makes fun of Gordo’s height but luck did not stay by his side this time because he crashed into something lol.
Overall Thoughts
- The messaging in this episode definitely sticks out to me, which of course is about doing what we can to protect our planet and its resources. Young kids can definitely watch this episode and learn the basics of recycling and sustainability. I respect Lizzie’s commitment to the environment; It’s believable and I like how well-informed she is at that age.
- Obviously, she’s gotten carried away with her efforts but her heart is in the right place. Her parents also taught her a very good lesson of narrowing down her scope and focusing on 1 or 2 projects. Balance of responsibilities is definitely important and so is taking care of yourself.
- Matt’s storyline isn’t so bad because it relates a lot to Lizzie’s. Their story-lines definitely ran in parallel to one another and I like how Sam pointed out to Lizzie that she and Matt have more in common than she thinks. But I don’t think Matt is shown to have learned his lesson unlike Lizzie. Overall, it’s a very good episode.
