Clue-Less is the twenty second episode of Lizzie McGuire's second season.
Summary
Lizzie's friends and family play a murder mystery party game at her house. Lizzie solves the mystery first but lets Gordo believe that she solved it first. In the end, Gordo is about to ask Lizzie out, but Sam interrupts and ruins their special moment.
Plot
What's this? Lizzie in a wedding dress, walking down the aisle? Gordo, Kate, Tudgeman, Cousin Amy and Veruca are all in the audience, but they're dressed strangely in old fashioned clothes. And now we see that Lizzie's about to marry Ethan!?!? Just before "I do," Jo McGuire comes rushing in wearing a maid's uniform, shouting in a near-incomprehensible Cockney accent about someone being murdered!! Whaaaa?
Let's go back a few days...
Ethan tells Lizzie that he can't use his own house for a party he had planned, so she volunteers her own house, hoping to get his attention, as always. It's going to be a 1920's murder-mystery party, where all the guests play a character and compete to solve the mystery. When everyone gathers to pick their parts, Lizzie can't believe her luck: she picked Ethan's wife-to-be! Gordo, on the other hand, is disappointed. He tells Lizzie that once again he'll be the "low-key" friend that no one notices. Lizzie assures him that people do notice him, and that one way to get her attention would be to solve the mystery at the party. She doesn't think he has much chance, though, since she's sure her "Nancy Drew training" will make her the winner.
The aforementioned people all gather at Lizzie's house, all of them in costume and in character. Also there is Ethan's stepmom Tawny, who is so "clue-less" she makes Ethan look like a brain by comparison! Matt shows up uninvited in a Sherlock Holmes outfit, proclaiming he's going to solve the crime. And Mr. McGuire is there too, playing the murder victim, though this "corpse" is not too interested in laying on the ground for very long.
Lizzie goes right to work on trying to solve the mystery, but every time she finds a clue, Gordo tries to steal it so he can solve it himself. Lizzie wonders out loud to Kate why Gordo is being so competitive about this. Kate has been playing a sweet character all evening, and some of it must have rubbed off on her, because she take Lizzie aside and flatly tells her that Gordo is trying to impress nobody but her. She says that everyone else has know for a long time that Gordo has had a big crush on Lizzie. Lizzie is flabbergasted by this news. Flustered, she says she has to go reveal the identity of the killer to the rest of the group.
Lizzie is still reeling from this new information. She knows how important it is for Gordo to win, so should she let him? But if she lets him, does that mean she likes Gordo the same way he likes her? As Lizzie reveals to the group how she solved the mystery, she can see that Gordo is obviously disappointed that he won't win the game and impress her. So at the last minute, Lizzie deliberately names the wrong person, Tudgeman, as the killer. (Tudge has had a little romantic interlude of his own that night with Veruca.) Gordo immediately jumps up and correctly solves the mystery. He recieves congratulations from all.
As the party breaks up, Gordo and Lizzie spend a few moments alone on the front porch, with a great deal of romantic tension hanging in the air. Lizzie tells Gordo she was very impressed with him. He's happy to hear this, but tries to hide just how happy he is. The two spend a few more awkward moments talking, then Gordo seems to be getting up the nerve to ask Lizzie out--like a girlfriend. But Sam McGuire makes an untimely appearance at the front door, and the moment is gone. Lizzie and Gordo part as "just friends," like always. Yet after Gordo leaves, Lizzie knows that her feelings are telling her that things aren't going to be the same after this night.