Scarlett Larry

Season 1, Episode 26, Aired

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Lizzie finds out in square-dancing class that a guy has a crush on her--but it's Larry Tudgeman! She asks her mom's advice about how to get rid of him, but Mom suggests she find out what he's all about first, intimating that her dad was kind of a geek when she first met him. This isn't what Lizzie wants to hear, but she doesn't want to be mean and consents to go out with Larry. To her surprise, he shows up for the date looking very nice, and--bigger surprise--she actually has fun on their trip to the science museum. Still, Lizzie doesn't want to be Larry's girlfriend, but at school the next day, Larry assumes that she is. The situation isn't helped when Kate broadcasts to the whole school that Lizzie and Larry are an item. After talking to Miranda and Gordo, Lizzie decides to let Larry down easy. After a day of letting him act like her boyfriend, Lizzie tells Larry that she doesn't think they are right for each other. Unexpectedly, he agrees, but tells Lizzie she's "the nicest person I know." Then he asks about Miranda! Also, Jo insists that Sam and Matt clean up all the junk accumulating around the house. The guys find Sam's old Soap-Box Derby racer and, along with Gordo, they work to restore it. They get it in shape to run, but Sam accidentally crashes it, putting an end to they guys' racing days.moreless
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  • This episode was cute.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By sweet_jane, Apr 07, 2007
    I very much enjoyed this episode. We all got to know Larry Tudgeman a lot more. In previous episodes, we just knew him as the geek of the school, and sometimes, he didn't seem very nice. Well, when he and Lizzie are dating, we find out a different side to him, and Lizzie learns the same. At first, she does not really want to go out with him. Then, when she finally decides to go on a date with him, she ends up having a good time with him. I think when you don't know someone that well, and they ask you out, you should give them at least one chance to get to know them before rejecting them.moreless

  • I relate to this episode so well

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By Twitty2000, Jan 27, 2007
    Every geek deserves his day and Larry Tudgeman got his in this episode. Ive always loved this episode from the first time I saw it. It was very funny and it gives us some insight on the people we don't notice. The ones we think are outcasts. They are actually really cool and sweet people. I wish people could see that more. Lizzie saw the cool side of Larry. Even if he was still a geek back at school. Lizzie did a good thing going out with him. A big risk but hey sometimes good deeds have consequences. Maybe if people see this episode they will see how some people shouldn't judge others. Feelings can get hurt!!!moreless

  • 10
    "Perfect"
    By FABULUZPHILLY, Dec 17, 2005
    Lizzie finds out in square-dancing class that a guy has a crush on her--but it's Larry Tudgeman! She asks her mom's advice about how to get rid of him, but Mom suggests she find out what he's all about first, intimating that her dad was kind of a geek when she first met him. This isn't what Lizzie wants to hear, but she doesn't want to be mean and consents to go out with Larry. To her surprise, he shows up for the date looking very nice, and--bigger surprise--she actually has fun on their trip to the science museum.

    Still, Lizzie doesn't want to be Larry's girlfriend, but at school the next day, Larry assumes that she is. The situation isn't helped when Kate broadcasts to the whole school that Lizzie and Larry are an item. After talking to Miranda and Gordo, Lizzie decides to let Larry down easy. After a day of letting him act like her boyfriend, Lizzie tells Larry that she doesn't think they are right for each other. Unexpectedly, he agrees, but tells Lizzie she's "the nicest person I know." Then he asks about Miranda!

    Also, Jo insists that Sam and Matt clean up all the junk accumulating around the house. The guys find Sam's old Soap-Box Derby racer and, along with Gordo, they work to restore it. They get it in shape to run, but Sam accidentally crashes it, putting an end to they guys' racing days.moreless

  • Spotlight For A Secondary Character.

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By The_Match_Maker, Jul 24, 2005
    While it can be argued, for my money Larry Tudgeman is the most popular of the show's secondary characters. And it would seem the producers agree. No fewer than two episodes have been created for the sole purpose of showcasing him (this one and "My Fair Larry"). In addition to that, he has been given substantial character moments in other episodes ("And the Winner Is", "She Said, He Said, She Said", "Dear Lizzie").

    "The Tudge" is an intriguing character. Complex even. Sometime foil, most time friend, all time 'nerd'. He's self-aware. He sees himself as being a cool guy (potentially suave even), yet beneath it all he's fully aware of how others see himand it hurts. A secret pain that comes to the surface every now and again. A needed touch of pathos to offset the occasional antagonistic streak.

    At the end of the day Tudge is like every other smart middle school kid with neat hobbieshe's singled out and ostracized from his peers because he is different. But unlike his bland (and doomed to work at a drive in) schoolmates, he radiates himself. He has taken to heart Shakespeare's line of "To thine own self be true". Even though it is a detriment socially.

    To be oneself in the face of overwhelming conformity is not only brave (and desirable), but also something to be applauded for. He dresses as he likes (one kind of shirt), speaks as he likes (in Klingon no less), and does what he likes (Dwarflord). He is himself even when it would be advantageous not to be. You the man Tudge! Youtheman! ;-)

    In this episode Tudge has a crush on Lizzie (who doesn't? ;-). Lizzie, horrified that his lack of social stature will bring her down (from whatever little she has), turns him down (with Miranda's fervent approval). However, Lizzie's better half (i.e. Gordo, Jo) convince her to "do the right thing", and give Tudgeman a shot (much to Miranda's virulent disapproval).

    Lizzie finds out during the course of a date with him (at the science museum) that Tudgeman's not bad at all. He's really smart (which she knew), but he's also deepdedicated to being who he is and not what others would have him be.

    In the end, she comes away with a liking (though 'not in that way') and respect for Larry that continues on through the series.

    Once the two mutually decide to "go their separate ways" romantically, he then asks what his chances are with Miranda! And it is in this that we see the genesis of the 'Larry likes Miranda' story thread that would culminate in "My Fair Larry". In retrospect, one wonders if Tudgeman's affections towards her were the reason she resisted inviting him to her party in the aforementioned episode. Hmmm.

    The subplot here involves Sam, Matt and Gordo renovating an old soapbox racer. Not bad stuff. It's light enough to offset the main plot, but not too heavy handed as to seem intrusive.

    Really, this is Tudgeman's story. This episode lends humanity, gravity, to a character that until now was nothing more than a one-dimensional foil. This episode truly shows that there's "more than meets the eye".moreless
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Trivia, Notes, Quotes and Allusions

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  • TRIVIA (11)

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    • In the scene where Kate is making the announcement about Lizzie and Larry, her name is listed as Katie in the closed captioning.

    • In the opening scene, when Kate tells Lizzie that someone has a crush on her, Toon Lizzie states, "A crush on me? I'm the crushee, not the crusher." This is actually stated backwards. Lizzie is the one who has the crush on Ethan which makes her the crusher and Ethan would be the crushee.

    • In the Lizzie McGuire book Totally Crushed, it states that the square dancers are eighth graders, when in reality, they are seventh graders in the episode!

    • After Sam crashes the soap box racer, he falls into a dirt/grassy area. When he first gets up, the front of his shirt is stained and dirty, but in the next shot, his shirt has very little grass on it.

    • In the sequence where Lizzie is pretending to be Larry's girlfriend, you can see that the boy playing the violin isn't really playing it because he's not even touching the strings.

    • Is Ethan some sort of deaf-mute? When Lizzie's talking about her possible "crushers", she mentions, excitedly, and therefore rather loudly, Ethan Craft. And Ethan is standing right there, dancing with the rest of them. Shouldn't he have heard her?

    • Jo McGuire says that it's a curse in her family to marry geeky men, but she says it's the "McGuire" curse. McGuire is her married name, not her maiden one.

    • Tudgeman is supposed to have been wearing the same shirt since the second or third grade, but it fits him now as a seventh grader.

    • In this episode while Lizzie is walking in the hallway with Gordo and Miranda, she looks at the bulletin board. But in "Gordo's Video" she said she didn't even know the school had one. ["Gordo's Video" was filmed before this episode, but was not aired until after it--Ed.]

    • How does Kate get away with wearing a gym uniform with a bare midriff when super-strict Coach Kelly is the gym instructor?

    • In "Between a Rock and a Bra Place", Gordo said he was in all of Lizzie's classes, "except for gym." But in this episode, he's in her "co-ed" gym class. Although, as one viewer pointed out, some schools place the boys and girls together for a dance class.

  • QUOTES (10)

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  • NOTES (12)

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    • The title of this episode is likely taken from the book The Scarlet Letter (1850) by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

    • Two of the cheerleaders Sam scatters in his unexpected trip on his old soapbox racer were Julie Adair and Nancy Thurston. Julie was Hilary Duff's stunt double in the episodes "Those Freaky McGuires" and Nancy was her stunt double in "Rated Aargh" and "Lizzie's Eleven."

    • This episode can also be found in the paperback novelization book Totally Crushed. It is on Vol. 4 of the Lizzie McGuire DVD Collection entitled "Totally Crushed" released on Mar. 16, 2004.

    • The scene where Sam takes an unexpected ride on his racer appears to have been filmed at Lizzie's school. In the background of one shot is an entrance similar to those seen in still photos of the school's exterior. Also, the group of cheerleaders that he scatters are dressed as the ones from her school.

    • Stunt double: Clay Cullen (for Sam).

    • Characters with no lines: Winston and Quinton? (Quinal?), two of the "possible crushes" Lizzie speculates about in the opening scene.

    • Some viewers think that Hilary Duff (Lizzie) sounded ill with a cold in this episode. During the blooper reel we see a take or two ruined because of her coughing.

    • Aired on ABC on Feb. 17, 2002 after being held back for two weeks.

    • During the scene where the guys are working on the car, the music played is "Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner (see the note for "Rated Aargh").

    • Lizzie and Tudgeman are shown playing with a theremin in the Science Museum. The theremin was a primitive electronic instrument introduced in the early 1920s. It is played by moving your hands over its metal antennae which affects the sound's pitch and volume. The Beach Boys ("Good Vibrations") and Led Zeppelin used the theremin in their music.

    • Filming dates: April 19-23, 2001. The clapboards shown on the blooper reel at the end of the show are dated April 20 and 23, 2001.

    • Music heard includes the songs "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" by The Rubinoos, "Get Another Boyfriend " by the Backstreet Boys and "Start the Commotion" by the Wiseguys. "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" is from the 1977 album The Rubinoos. It's played during the scene where Larry and Lizzie are at the science museum. "Get Another Boyfriend" from the Backstreet Boys 2000 album Black & Blue. It's played during the scene showing Lizzie pretending to be Larry's girlfriend at school. "Start the Commotion" by the Wiseguys, an English techno-dance band, is from their 1998 album The Antidote. It's heard when Sam is hurtling downhill in the soap-box racer. It was also heard in the 2001 film Zoolander starring Ben Stiller and it's been used in a Mitsubishi Eclipse commercial.

  • ALLUSIONS (1)

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    • Gordo: I hear you have a gentleman caller.
      The old-fashioned phrase "gentleman caller" is hardly ever used today. It's most likely to be heard in present times in the Tennessee Williams play The Glass Menagerie.

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