Gordo's Bar Mitzvah is the thirty first and last episode of Lizzie McGuire's first season.
Synopsis[]
Gordo feels self-conscious when he sees Ethan Craft and other boys growing up sooner than he is. He tries to be "manly" by trying to do manly things but in the end he decides to have a Bar Mitzvah which would initiate him into adult life. Meanwhile, fed up with all the complaints about Matt's pranks, Jo decides to hand over the task of disciplining the kids to Sam
Plot[]
Gordo is feeling a little left behind: the girls are going crazy over Ethan Craft, who gets a new dirtbike for his 14th birthday, just like all the "men" in his family have. Even Larry Tudgeman is shaving now, though not very well! Gordo now wishes he had celebrated his bar mitzvah, the Jewish ceremony performed on the 13th birthday that marks the passage of a boy into manhood.
Concerned about what makes a boy a man, Gordo takes his camera interviews many different men to get their experiences. He tries several different "manly" things that they mentioned, even going to a tattoo parlor! But he decides they are not for him. He asks his parents why they didn't insist on a bar mitzvah for him. They tell him they trusted his judgment then, and that at the time he didn't think it was necessary or important. But Gordo has made up his mind now--he wants to be bar mitzvahed. The ceremony is held with all his family and friends in attendance.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Robinson brings home Matt after she's caught him stealing oranges from her tree once again. When his dad Sam doesn't seem to think he deserves much punishment, Jo McGuire is outraged. She tells Sam she's going on strike; disciplining the kids will be his problem.
Sam doesn't prove to be up to the task as a slew of neighbors complain about Matt's bad behavior. But later Matt tells his Mom that his dad doesn't get it: he punishes him for accidental mistakes he made, yet lets him get away with the bigger stuff. Matt asks his mom to take over handing out his punishment again.
Trivia[]
- The clapboard seen on the blooper reel at the end of the show gives the date of production as May 14, 2001.
- This episode was first broadcast in the United Kingdom and Canada in 2001 (several months before its premiere in the United States).
- In interviews with Gordo, Sam McGuire says he was 15-and-a-half years old in 1976 and Edward Sanchez says he was 18 years old in 1974.
- This is the only episode in which Lizzie, Gordo and Miranda's parents all appear.
- In the scene where Gordo's family is eating, some of the plates that they put in the sink have a good deal of food on them.
Songs[]
- "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" by the Beach Boys
- "Bad Boys" by Inner Circle