Development, Un-Arrested: A Season 4 Review

As you may or may not know, I am a huge Arrested Development fan.  I own and have watched each of the first three seasons numerous times.  I've even watched episodes with the cast/crew commentary on.  Yes, I am that person.  So when it was announced that the show was returning for a new season on Netflix, I was excited.  I tried to temper my expectations.  Surely they would not be able to recreate the magic of its original run.  I read the articles with quotes from cast members talking about it, praising the script, I grew cautiously optimistic.

Well, the day has finally come and gone, and here are my thoughts, episode by episode.  If you haven't watched them yet, you may not want to read on as, while I am not recanting the plot of each episode, I am also not making any effort to avoid "spoilers."





Episode 1: Michael.

And we're off.  Not a bad start.  The episode was generally funny, and contained some classic Arrested Development-style humor.  I especially enjoyed the "ShowStealer Pro Trial Version" watermark on the scenes from the original seasons.  If I had to be critical, I would say that Michael did some stuff that seemed out of character for him, given that he is the closest thing to a "straight man" in the show, and generally shows pretty good common sense (although he has always had a blind spot on George-Michael related issues).  Still, all in all I'm pleased and I think it bodes well for the season to come.  It's not as good as the original, but it should do.

Episode 2: George, Sr.

Oof.  Not so good.  This episode has brought me back to reality a little bit.  The magic has definitely not been recaptured.  The most depressing part for me, strangely, is not the lack of laughs produced by this episode, but rather the fact that the "US-Mexico border" set was so obviously a sound-stage.  I mean, they couldn't find a desert to film at in Southern California?  This, I think, says a lot about the commitment to producing a quality show.

Episode 3: Lindsay

Um. What happened to Lindsay's face?  That is not her face.  She must have had some work done.  I can't get over this.  They need to acknowledge that that is not the same face she used to have.  It is creeping me out.  And what was with that sex scene?  For a second I thought they might actually show her nipples.  It was... uncharacteristic of the show.  Watching it made me a little uncomfortable.

Episode 4: Michael

Phew.  This episode has renewed my faith that this season won't be a complete disaster.  Still not as good as the original, but at least this episode resembled it.  The most notable thing about the episode to me was the parade of guest-stars trotted out in this episode: Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Isla Fisher, John Krasinski, and Conan O'Brien all made appearances, as well as Arrested Development regulars Andy Richter, Carl Weathers, Judy Greer, and James Lipton.

Episode 5: Tobias

Another above average episode.  This episode had me thinking for the first time that this "each episode focused on one character during the same time-frame" format might actually work (although I think it exposes some of the more minor characters (like Lindsay and George Sr.) as not being that interesting).

Episode 6: George Sr.

While this episode was leaps and bounds better than the first George Sr. episode, I still think this story line is a little weak.  But they actually made a reference to Portia de Rossi's (Lindsay) plastic surgery! It was glorious.  Maybe the best sign that the writers haven't completely lost it that I've seen so far.

Episode 7: GOB

With every episode past the first three, this season is looking more and more like it won't be a huge mistake.  The heavy hitters of Michael, Tobias, and GOB have all had quality episodes (Buster and George-Michael are the other top-tier characters).  This is probably my favorite episode so far.  Well done.

Episode 8: Lindsay

A vast improvement over the first Lindsay episode.  I'm even getting used to Lindsay's new face.  It is much less jarring than in previous episodes.  It is, however, still a little weird to see Lindsay having all this sex.  At least this time it wasn't as explicit.

Episode 9: Tobias

The season is really humming along now.  I would say the quality level of the episodes has leveled out, and while that level is far below the level of the original series, it is still high enough that it should be acceptable to most Arrested Development fans.  At this point we've got a pretty clear picture of the story, but it feels incomplete, like it's building to something that will be revealed in the final episode.  I sure hope it's glorious.

Episode 10: Lucille

We haven't seen a whole lot of Lucille (likewise Buster, George-Michael, and Maeby), so it was a nice change to introduce some new story instead of just revealing more details about the main story-line.  I am now convinced that there must be some sort of big ending that all this is leading up to.

Episode 11: GOB

This was a good one, folks.  The whole GOB-Tony Wonder both pretending to be gay story line was pretty classic.  The one thing I will say is that now I'm a little confused about the timeline of which events take place "5 years ago" and which ones take place in the present.

Episode 12: Maeby

We finally get Maeby's episode, leaving George-Michael and Buster as the only two whose stories are still in the dark.  The season seems to get stronger with every episode, which makes me very excited to see the last three.Who else is going to be a sex offender?  Will Buster and Tobias get laid like everyone else?  Will there be a ending to bring all the story lines together in one climactic scene?

Episode 13: George-Michael

Pretty great. All sorts of references to the original run, and even to other Michael Cera projects. I mean, that mustache has to be a reference to Youth In Revolt, right?

Episode 14: Buster

With Buster's episode, we have finally seen every character. At this point, I don't have much to say other than I am excited to see the finale, because if the trend continues, it will be the best episode. Oh, and Buster did get laid.

Episode 15: George-Michael

Huh. It just kind of ended. No resolution really at all. I mean, the episode was good and all, but what the hell? They HAVE to do something after this. The only question is, will it be another season, or a movie? Or is this just some cruel joke by the writers? Only time will tell.

OVERALL RATING: A strong showing, considering all the time off. I never expected it to recapture the absolute magic of the original run, and, I was right. But it was good enough that I would not mind if they made more. It's kind of like the Dune series, and this season was God Emperor of Dune. Now, if more Arrested Development is made, let's hope it doesn't descend into the Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson Dune book territory. That would just be awful.