Movin' On Up is the seventeenth episode of Lizzie McGuire's second season.
Summary[]
Gordo skips a grade and gets promoted to high school. After initial euphoria, Lizzie and Miranda start to miss Gordo. Gordo too feels lonely at the high school but pretends to like it in front of Lizzie and Miranda. In the end, he returns back to middle school. Meanwhile, Matt and Lanny plan to try out for the cheerleading squad at school but Sam feels that it's not a "manly" thing to do. Sam tries to lean away Matt from cheerleading by doing some "manly" things with him, but in the end he changes his mind and encourages Matt to try for cheerleading.
Plot[]
Gordo has received some big news: he has the chance to skip the eighth grade and start high school immediately. When Lizzie and Miranda hear this, they strongly encourage him to do it, saying high school is so much cooler than junior high. But Gordo isn't sure about it, and when he points out that a move to high school will split up the trio, the girls all of a sudden have something serious to think about too. Lizzie and Miranda now decide they don't want their best friend leaving them, but they are shocked when they find Gordo cleaning out his locker the next day--he's going to high school. Miranda recovers quickly and wishes him the best, but Lizzie is clearly stunned and her alter ego Toon Lizzie urges her to say something to Gordo to try to make him stay, but she doesn't.
On Gordo's first day at high school, Lizzie is still terribly troubled by his absence. Miranda is more realistic. She'll miss him too, but she knows it's what he wants and it's something that is good for him. For his part, Gordo has a rough time in his new school, not academically, but socially, one of his problems being that he's about a head and a half shorter than most everyone else. After being taken advantage of by a high schooler who sells him a fake elevator pass, he heads home on the bus, and is surprised to find Lizzie waiting for him at his stop. When she asks how his day went, he tells her everything was fine. Again Lizzie is dying to tell Gordo how she feels about his leaving, but she doesn't. Later at her house, Lizzie talks to Miranda, still unable to come to terms with Gordo's absence. Unexpectedly, Gordo drops in and tells the girls he's not going to stay in high school. The girls are glad, but Lizzie presses him to tell her why. Gordo gives several reasons before finally telling Lizzie what she wants to hear--that he misses her and Miranda. The three friends seem to be closer than ever before.
Meanwhile, Matt and Lanny plan to try out for the cheerleading squad at school. Matt's dad Sam, perhaps feeling a bit insecure after his wife Jo fixed the kitchen sink when he couldn't, is not so sure this is a "manly" enough venture for his son, so he tries taking him on several "male bonding" adventures, which of course end up disastrously. When Matt and Lanny arrive for the tryouts, they're told there is only one spot open for a boy, but they audition as a pair anyway. The boys do a spectacular routine (and no, Lanny doesn't cheer out loud!), but rather than split up their duo, both of them refuse the spot on the squad.
Trivia[]
- The filming dates for this episode took place between September 17-21, 2001.
- The clothes that Lizzie, Miranda and Gordo are wearing in the scrapbook photos are the same ones they wore in the hallway scene of "Just Like Lizzie" when Miranda and Gordo have their first conversation with Andie. This makes sense because "Just Like Lizzie" was filmed the week before "Movin' On Up."
- The stock footage of the high school Gordo attends is the same one used for John Adams High in "Boy Meets World."
- The cheer that Matt and Lanny did won "Best Cheer" in the voting on "A Raven New Year's Eve," the Disney Channel's year-end viewer voting.
- Lizzie's 7th grade class picture from the first-season episode "Picture Day" is briefly shown.
- In one of the "Toon Lizzie" segments, Gordo is represented by a frog. This is also done in the episode "Gordo and the Girl."
Goofs[]
- During his day in high school, Gordo wears an open brown shirt over a grey t-shirt with an open heavier light brown or beige shirt worn over those, but in the pictures where a girl is patting him on the head, the brown shirt is being worn over the lighter-colored one.
- Matt states that he and Lanny got a standing ovation for their performance. Actually, when the boys finished their routine the others in the gym gave them an ovation, but no one was standing.
- Sam and Matt are throwing a football around, but when Matt makes the last catch, another football is seen bouncing around in the background.
Music[]
- Macho Man by the Village People (while Sam and Matt are doing some "male bonding")
- Everybody Hurts by REM (played during Gordo's first day in high school)