Spoilers, obviously.
1.) The series takes a good long time to find its groove, not least because the first few episodes focus a lot on Michael, and as the show gradually decided that Michael was just as bad as the rest of his family he stopped being the straight man in the midst of madness, which was always how the series operated best. (Which should not be surprising, since farce always needs a straight man to really soar.) Now, however, George Michael seems to have adopted Michael’s role as the one who is basically decent but not perfect, and it’s not for nothing that the show gets better and better as it goes on and the last few episodes focus much more heavily on George Michael. Episodes one and two are kind of blah with a few good moments; three and four are okay but nothing special.
2.) That having been said, I agree with those who say that episode 5 – focusing on Tobias – is where the show finds its old form. It helps that this is the point where the incredibly dense plotting of the season really starts to kick in, but I suspect it’s more because Tobias is and always has been easily the funniest character in the entire series, and between David Cross’ performance and the writers willing to go to new lengths to sell Tobias’ ambitious stupidity the whole thing just clicks and suddenly it’s like six years ago all over again.
3.) Speaking of that incredibly dense plotting – wow. This season is like Rashomon on steroids, and it’s one of the reasons the show gets better as it progresses through the story – Arrested Development has always been a show that relied heavily on running gags for comedy, and essentially it started out season four by creating a bunch of new ones.
4.) But the problem is that the writing, while very clever, relies overly on the repetition factor to get laughs. That doesn’t make it not funny – it still is, because the repeats are very clever – but there’s a difference in repeating a moderately amusing reference smartly and repeating, say, David Cross painting himself blue and hiding on blue things. (Which, needless to say, also gets called back, because that was always the single best and most iconic gag of the series and it would be stupid not to call back to it.) In the first place, you’re laughing because something is being cleverly repeated. In the second, you’re laughing because something hilarious is being cleverly repeated. There is a difference. (MAJOR EXCEPTION: the “registered sexual offender” gags, which are dark as fuck and entirely brilliant.)
5.) Arrested Development was also always a show that wasn’t afraid to get openly sentimental even though most of its characters were awful, awful people, and that is yet another reason that this season gets better towards the end (because at that point, the sentimental moments are earned, and the writing wisely stacks those towards the back of the run). The Gob storyline, of all of them, turns out to be one of the saddest and sweetest, and that is a bold choice when it involves what I think was unintentional gay sex. (That will make sense in context, trust me.)
6.) I don’t think Buster works any more as a character in this show. His episode has some of the funniest moments in the run (the bit where the military realizes they’re not behind a one-way mirror is probably the best visual gag in the entire season), but Buster has become tonally different from the rest of the show in that everybody else in the series has a sense of agency and Buster just doesn’t, because he is an idiot in the purest sense of the word. That’s fine when you’re using him as an occasional gag generator, but he can’t sustain narrative on his own because, come on, it’s Buster and nobody gives a fuck about him, both in the show’s universe and in ours. Alan Hale is a great actor; he deserves better.
7.) Conversely, I think Maeby is too good as a character to be in this show; her plotline is almost entirely divorced from the show’s larger story (and only joins up with it in the slimmest and least necessary of ways), just as her storylines in the original show were always digressions from the larger story as well, and her character is probably the most believable of all of them in a “real” context other than George Michael. I would totally vote for a Maeby spinoff show where she schemes her way into power – basically, a comedic take on House of Cards, except unlike House of Cards it would not be terrible. George Michael could come along too, because although the show actually veers away from the George Michael/Maeby romance, Alia Shawkat and Michael Cera have amazing chemistry together on so many levels – not just romantic, I’m talking the interplay here between mostly amoral Maeby and mostly moral George Michael – and I was disappointed not to see them have more screen time together.
8.) DISCLAIMER: I may be biased re: a Maeby series because I think Alia Shawkat is stunningly pretty, but in fairness I also feel guilty about that because, paraphrasing the underrated Ted Demme Beautiful Girls, the girl was a zygote when I was in ninth grade.
9.) I was a bit irritated that the Lucille 2 plotline wasn’t revealed because it seems too obvious a plea for a fifth season or movie or whatever. I mean, setting up Lindsay as Lucille: The Next Generation is fine because that’s mapping out a character’s future past the show. But not resolving who killed Lucille 2 (assuming someone did and she didn’t just fall down the stairs, or maybe a wacky misunderstanding involving some pig blood or something) or for that matter what happens to George Michael when FakeBlock finally crumbles – as you know it will – or leaving the question of who Rebel ends up with, if anybody (which she might not – see the Marta precedent) all up in the air when there’s no definitive fifth season yet? Irritating.
10.) That having been said, I think the season’s ending – with George Michael belting Michael in the face – is a cathartic end to it, since Michael fucking deserved to get belted in the face. It would be a bit of an unsatisfying ending if there’s no eventual emotional reunion – mostly because we know George Michael is a good person and would ultimately forgive his dad – but it’s a great payoff. All in all, I’d rank this season as slightly better than the third, but nowhere near the heights of the second.
11.) Ron Howard should play himself more often.
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They got way more mileage out of some of the guest stars than I expected, particularly Andy Richter, Maria Bamford, and Terry Crews.
Random joke I found hilarious: the reveal that Gob and Tobias are eating parmesan cheese and mustard, and the later callback to it with Maeby.
Alan Hale certainly is a great actor. I’ll always love The Skipper.
Tony Hale’s good too.
The fifth episode starting with THAT scene is when the season goes from good to incredible. David Cross looks so happy to be in something truly good, and he even manages to produce actual heartwarming moments with Debris (incidentally, the Fantastic Four musical is the most insane running gag ever) that cement Cross as a great actor, period!
Also, Mr. F was out of this world hilarious!
My main issue with this season was the narration. There was just waaaaaay too much of it. I get that it’s probably there in case the show is ever shown on TV but there were times when it was utterly unnecessary and just plain distracting.
Also, the end of the George Sr. plot made no sense to me (guessing it’s set up for the movie/next season but still)
Same amount as in the series. Just that we got ten extra minutes of footage so the narration got a 30% bump accordingly.
Personally, I thought the season had some excellent highlights–it absolutely did pick up steam once Tobias re-entered the picture, and I love how it doubled down on mixing it up with political issues. The third season especially touched on the Iraq War, but here, we’ve got the housing bubble, immigration, drone fighters, among many others. Granted, they didn’t have a lot to say directly about most of the issues, but even acknowledging their existence puts them ahead of most sitcoms these days.
The GOB story arc is great, especially since it starts off from a not so great place. Lindsay’s story was a little eye-rolling, in how she was caught between two men personifying the two extremes of her character, but the pay-off was worth it. I think Lucille’s might actually have been my favorite, especially from the point of the musical on.
Buster’s definitely on the extreme end of the characters on the show, but I don’t think he’s too far off the scale. The bigger problem is that his story is really dull, as they went for the most obvious story arc–his problem is that he’s too attached to his mother,and he becomes less attached. It’s exactly what’s expected to happen. If you take the character away from the Oedipal side, what you’ve basically got is a sheltered innocent realizing he’s in over his head, and that’s workable enough. (It’s also George Michael’s story, so that would be a bit of a different problem.)
I think part of what makes the Maeby and George Michael episodes so satisfying, even apart from the chemistry between the actors and the quality of said acting, is that the overall narrative “saved” them for so long. At that point, the viewer had spent a lot of mental energy on extrapolating what their lives have become, and there’s a gratification on seeing what happened–similar to how a whodunit gets its narrative oomph. (And with the way the season’s written, it’s trained us at that point to be making those guesses.)
I know the Michael/George Michael relationship is the crux of this season (and the show, really), but I was really expecting something more comprehensive in episode 15. Personally, I would have preferred a scene where the whole family drew back together, but even failing that, a quick montage of everyone’s “end state” in the “Next On” would have done it.
I nearly died twice. First at “Daddy needs to get his rocks off!” and again when the MST3K crew (with Joel, no less!) showed up.
They definitely left a lot of stuff up in the air for another season, but I would guess it would be an issue of scheduling.
That said, it did seem that the style of the season was not just clever in terms of interweaving the stories, but also in terms of juggling a lot of schedules. Some characters, like George Micheal and Maeby, only needed a few ties to the other stories to still make it seem like it was all in the same place even though they did not really interact with most of the main cast.
Buster’s problem is that he seems to only have the one story repeated constantly. I would think the end of this season could give them a chance to have a Buster story that isn’t Lucille based. Even if that gets resolved very fast, they could team him up with Oscar to explore that relationship instead of going back to the Motherboy thing.
Jim, that’s Alan Hale Jr. Alan Hale’s the actor of astonishing range who played Little John in the 1922 classic “Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood”. He later stretched his acting muscles with the iconic role of Little John in 1939’s “The Adventures of Robin Hood” with Errol Flynn. Ah, but who could forget his classic appearance alongside John Derek in the year 1950, when he played Little John in “Rogues of Sherwood Forest”?
That’s a very unique subset of typecasting to cover 28 years with. Years later, in a TV movie about the making of Gilligan’s Island, his son was played by the guy who played Little John in “Men in Tights”. Weird.
I just have to ask…what was so bad about House of Cards? I liked it, and thought Kevin Spacey was brilliant.
Seeing as how Buster found Lucille 2, and then she disappeared, any future story is going to delve into “I’m a monster” in him being framed for her “murder.” Hence the “you’re a crook, Captain Hook” scene with the “watch out, Loose Shield” part.
This show is so brilliant it hurts!
Categorically your assessment and your commenters assessments are terribly off base. George Michael was absolutely a terrible and awkward character evolution that had little to no humor. I think it is interesting that Buster’s story to y’all was stale, as your beloved Tobias is clearly the most overplayed hand in the game. We get it, you are gay and you want to be an actor. Buster’s appeal was a clear cut contention. Lucille and Buster have one of the most dynamic comical relationships we have seen in decades, of the caliber of: Lucy and Ethel, the skipper and Gillian, Maude and Archie, and Dorothy and Sophia. Why does Michael need to be punched in the face? The fantastic 4 reference was a square peg in a round hole, it was exhausting and pretty much forced in so Tobias could make a flamer joke… And the Captain Hook scene does not say “watch out for LOOSE SHEILD…” It says “…loose seal…” As in the seal of the court… Come on! Also piracy is tried in the U.S. Senate.
Oh snap… it just dawned on me. George and Oscar actually switch places symbolically and actually. In the flashback, Barry tells George and Lucille never to sign anything. In the present, “Oscar” tells Michael to go to Hell when he asks for a signature, and “George” signs it willingly.
Absolutely brilliant writing.
I think Duh pinpoints the season’s key dilemma. Arrested Development has a large number of comic characters and elements, and different people like different things. In the original run the show’s interlocking plot structure within each episode stopped the show from spending full episodes with any single style that the viewer finds tiresome. But the conceit of the fourth season means MGK has to struggle through a Buster episode (which I love BTW), while Duh has to struggle through Tobias (which I found spotty), and I have to struggle through Michael being an unpleasant asshole. This was the only option for scheduling reasons, and man do I respect the structural ambition, but there was no way this wouldn’t lead to episodes of inconsistent effectiveness.
I do want to add that the Fantastic Four bit was in no way, shape, or form purely an excuse for a flaming pun. It was a set-up for Tommy Tune to play Mr. Fantastic in a musical, which is something I had no idea I had waited my whole life to see. It enabled Lucille’s final revelation and (obviously temporary) turn from villainy. And it helped to highlight Buster’s monstrousness. This is still Arrested Development- plot elements are multi-use.
Wow, for your bashing of House of Cards, I hope that Maeby becomes a character on that show.
You are right Duh, the Tobias is gay thing is played out. Of course, apart from him finding out that it’s the running joke of the family, they didn’t actually do anything with it in the season. Instead he got a female love interest. And while he was still on his acting kick, he also got to go back to being a doctor. The Fantastic Four thing wasn’t all a massive “flamer” set up … it also let them bring back Mr. F as a theme song, it allowed them to make the Fantasticks reference, while also having a “crappy super hero musical” that brings to mind the whole Spider-man debacle, not to mention the costume thing let them tie it into the aspiring actors making money as lookalikes/costumed characters bit. And, the “crappy Fantastic Four flick that was done just to keep the rights” is based on an actual Roger Corman film that is famous on the Comic Convention/bookleg circuit.
So, it did allow for a silly flamer joke, but it also has a ton of other reasons for being the Fantastic Four instead of something else. It references the Corman movie, Spider-man Turn off the Dark, works as both a musical and as costumed characters taking pictures on the street, and the lawfirm number 4 thing makes more sense than most other similar situations would. [They could have went with the X-men perhaps, and tied that in to stuff like George Sr’s story, and gotten some transgender jokes out of it].
Just finished the Arrested Development season four. I know the Rashomon-style storytelling was probably as much a result of actors’ availability as anything else but I liked it. It’s funny that the original series spent so much time showing that, while he seemed normal, Michael was just as bad is the rest of the family. Season four did the same thing with George Michael. Likewise it was fun to see Lindsey become her mother … but this season still had WAY too much Lindsey and not enough Lucille.