I finally barreled my way through Season Four of Arrested Development, opting to go two episodes a week and then binge on the last five of the season. Like eating a Reese’s I don’t think there’s a wrong way to get out all my thoughts on this very unique season of television, so here’s a random list that will have things added as I think of them. If you haven’t watched the whole thing yet, there are obviously spoilers ahead.
- What the Mr. F was that ending? Surely this has to be a season finale and not the last we’ll ever see of the Bluths.
- Is Lucille Two dead? I think she fell down the staircar because of her vertigo. I do not suspect foul play.
- Michael might be the douchiest Bluth this season, with George-Michael a close second. Maeby and GOB are the most sympathetic.
- Has anyone done a supercut of Rebel’s hilarious PSAs yet?
- I still don’t know how I feel about having Ron Howard as a major character.
- “It Gets Better” was my favorite episode. “Indian Takers” was my least favorite.
- Was Cindi Lightballoon the only person from the first three seasons not to make an appearance in the fourth? Just her and ICE? And Rita and her dad, too. And I’m sure some others. Maybe they’ll appear in Season Five?
- Pretty sure every Bluth got laid only to have his/her partner leave for someone else, or at least have that relationship wreck everything.
- The first six episodes were the toughest to get through, but “Colony Collapse” turned everything around.
- Yes, Lindsay’s face looks weird. It’s not the worst plastic surgery I’ve ever seen —that would be Lara Flynn Boyle — but it’s still makes you do a double take.
- Between his cameo here and Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, the talk show host sure seems like a real prick.
- I can’t decide which food-based pun was more groan-inducing: “We got Olive Garden to give us unlimited bread” or “Now they’ve got a Mongolian beef with us.”
- Do I even want to know why Barry bought a stepladder to get into a locked playground?
- Having Lucille’s hearing at a seafood restaurant was a nice callback to both Mock Trial and Bud Court.
- Watching during the summer in Texas, I can relate to everything being “hooooottttttttt!”
- I needed more Ed Helms and his NINJA loans.
- Some meta crap I loved: For those that always try to see connections/callbacks/call-forwards: “What’s that from?” “That’s from nothing.” and how Buster won’t skip over the commercials on the TiVo because he feels guilty.
- Loved that everyone’s plan had to be immensely complicated, especially GOB and Tony Wonder’s plans to destroy each other’s careers.
- Steve Holt sure gained a lot of weight, didn’t he?
- I guess everyone just forgot about Oscar.
- I loved that Herbert Love was essentially every disastrous Republican candidate from 2012 all rolled into one. And his slogan was “All You Need is Herbert.”
- There was no Franklin. Not OK.
- Tommy Tune absolutely killed it as Argyle.
- I think the overall theme besides complicated schemes was how cheaply everything was made. (h/t Noel Murray)
- Fakeblock: Facebook:: Michael Cera: Jesse Eisenberg (h/t my friend Brian)
- Seth Rogen and Kristen Wiig? Great casting choices.
- I loved the whole joke about DeBrie (great name by the way, and played perfectly by Maria Bamford) being in a cheap Fantastic Four movie in the ’90s, since that’s a real thing.
- One of my favorite gags is every option George Michael has to change his name, it’s always someone else who was busted for soliciting gay sex (i.e. Boy George, George Maharis). (h/t Tumblr)
- I think maybe John Beard is now my favorite character.
- Favorite parody: To Entrap a Predator: Super Creeps.
- Was Tobias really that stupid to mistake a methadone clinic for an acting class?