pension333: Arrested Development recap: season four, episodes 6-10

With each instalment focusing on single character we're getting to know the Bluths very well now. Perhaps too well ? but what's that? A Lucille episode? Bring it on

? The return of the greatest sitcom ever

SPOILER ALERT: This blog is for people watching season four of Arrested Development on Netflix. Catch up with Hadley Freeman's recap of episodes one to five here

Episode 6 ? George Senior

Another George Senior episode? I never in a million years thought I'd say this about a character played by the brilliant Jeffrey Tambor but enough with the George Senior. This, I think, is the biggest problem with having the episodes devoted to one character at a time. Each Bluth is such an extreme personality that a whole 35 mins of them makes you understand why none of them can live with one another.

George Senior goes to an event in honour of Herbert Love ? a rightwing politician who is running against Lucille Austero and an obvious parody of failed Republican candidate Herman Cain ? to get money for the wall. He bumps into Lindsay and convinces her to hand over a cheque she found from her mother to Maeby for $50,000. He then uses it to bribe Herbert to support the wall, only to then realise that the land he bought to screw the deal isn't on the US/Mexican border but in Mexico and therefore useless.

Oscar, pretending to be George, visits Lucille and has passionate sex with her. Gob comes to visit the sweat colony and his bees escape and take over the sweat lodge. George goes to see Dr Norman to find out why he no longer has any libido. "You know, the Hopi Indians think that if you manipulate this bit it can stimulate the sexual organs," says Dr Norman. "You know that's my penis, right?" replies George. Dr Norman sends George to Orange County Imaging to leave a sample, and we now understand why George walked into Michael's office ? Orange County Imaging ? with a bag full of porn. We also learn ? although Michael does not ? that it was Oscar he saw making out with Lucille 2, not George. George tells Michael he will sign the movie release form if he gives Gob a job "where his incompetence won't be out of place". Michael and Gob reunite in Sudden Valley and we learn again ? although Michael does not ? that Rebel is Ron Howard's daughter and we see some very funny flashbacks to Rebel appearing in Terrence Malick and Woody Allen movies.

George makes a video with Buster pretending he has built the wall to fool investors. At Cinco de Cuatro, Dr Norman tells George that he has no testosterone but tonnes of oestrogen. The Mexicans raid the festival, George finds a discarded red headed woman's wig and puts it on and it feels disturbingly right.

It still feels like there is too much plotting going ? a dizzying amount, really ? with not enough time to let the characters, jokes and audience members breathe. But the way various scenes intersect and explain events from past episodes is fun and oddly Pulp Fiction-like. Still, there's not enough Lucille, Gob or Buster for my liking and not enough interaction between the family members. Also, as funny as those Malick and Woody Allen pastiches were, Rebel is no Bluth.

Episode seven ? Gob

Gob! I had high hopes for this episode. Luckily, Will Arnett rarely disappoints.

We begin with a flashback to the end of the third series when George Michael finds out about Gob and Ann. Ann says Gob needs to obtain George Michael's forgiveness if he wants to get to fourth base with her, and Gob duly forces it out of George Michael. Gob realises in horror that this means he and Ann are now in a relationship, but decides to sleep with her before breaking up with her. He tries to do it the morning after ? "Do you think the guy in the $32 pyjamas ? the guy in the $3400 suit ? the guy ?" ? but he can't. He jokingly proposes to her and she accepts. He collapses, Christ-like, among the Veals.

Gob announces on Mr Veal's evangelical show that the wedding will happen on TV and he will do an amazing magic illusion: "so great that you will put no god before me". None of Gob's family attend the wedding, except Tobias, who thinks it's an acting job. For the illusion, Gob appears as Christ on the cross and the only person in the audience who enjoys it is Tony Wonder. Sadly, the illusion goes wrong as someone rigged Gob's cave and he ends up trapped in a fake boulder for two weeks, after which Ann dumps him. He then decides to meet Steve Holt in a bar but doesn't recognise him for 90 minutes because he has aged so much. Gob then stays on in the bar and joins up with Mark Cherry's entourage and becomes known as "Getaway". He also makes out with Rebel.

Johnny Bark calls to tell him the bee colony is dying; DeBrie accidentally gets into Mark Cherry's car one night and accidentally (again) releases the bee colony in the car and everyone goes to hospital. Gob is fired from the entourage, but he still goes to Mark Cherry's event that night, sees Tony Wonder will be on the bill that night and rigs his illusion so he won't be able to jump out of the wooden box.

OK, now this is feeling like Arrested Development. Arnett is just brilliant in this, both hilarious and pathetic, and even though it is just as plot-heavy as any of the other episodes, it feels as if the show is settling down a little. Watching this was like watching a mini-movie about Gob, which is always a good thing with me. This is an episode I would happily watch again and again. Incidentally ? topless Gob? Who knew failed musicians kept in such extraordinary shape?

Episode eight ? Lindsay

Lindsay again? At this point it seems as if we are never going to get to Buster and Lucille. Still, I love Portia de Rossi, so I have faith.

Lindsay is living in the desert with Marky Bark, his mother and their ostrich farm, which happens to be next to the sweat colony. She realises that since her mother is in prison she can live in Balboa Towers, and she brings Marky and an ostrich called Cindy with her. Marky starts plotting against Herbert Love, and Lindsay agrees to help him disrupt the rally with a glitter bomb. However, at the rally ? where she gives her father the cheque and then bumps into Maeby ? she meets Love and, not realising it's him, starts flirting with him. She gets so distracted she forgets to help Marky with the glitter bomb and he gets arrested. Lindsay, in despair, goes to the model home to live with Maeby.

Lindsay starts having an affair with Herbert Love. Michael gets her to sign the movie release and persuade Herbert to speak out against the wall in return for helping to get Marky out of prison. Lindsay begins to think that Herbert is the love the shaman promised her. She and Herbert and Michael and Rebel end up on an accidental double-date at the Balboa Club. It does not go well.

Lindsay leaves the Balboa Club and bumps into Marky who says he is planning to plant a bomb at Cinco de Cuatro to blow up Herbert. Herbert dumps Lindsay at the festival. Lindsay offers to help Lucille 2's campaign but she has already hired Sally Sitwell who tells Lindsay they have incriminating photos of Herbert with "mysterious redhead hooker." Love goes missing and Lindsay agrees to speak on the podium in his place. Her speech becomes increasingly rightwing and she is hailed as "a game changer."

I am further convinced that the season is on track now, although the jokes about Cain and "game-changer" feel a little dated. Hurwitz has said that for the past seven years he kept thinking of things that would be great for the Arrested characters and it's as if he threw all of those ideas into these episodes. Still, the show is finding its rhythm now that there isn't quite so much exposition and the characters are coming more and more together.

Episode nine ? Tobias

OK, we still don't have an episode devoted to Lucille or Buster ? but I'm always happy to have a piece of Tobias to chew on. I think I just blue myself.

After Tobias is arrested for being a sex offender, he agrees to go work at Lucille 2's rehab clinic, Austerity. Mark Cherry is in his therapy group, as is DeBrie, whom Tobias loves. Tobias and Lucille's brother Argyll decide to put on a musical of the Fantastic Four. Unfortunately, DeBrie can neither sing nor dance.

Argyll tells Michael at the Balboa Club he needs to pay Lucille 2 back the $700,000 he owes her so they can put on the musical properly. Michael and Tobias go for a meeting with Ron Howard in which Michael finally realises that Rebel is Ron's daughter, not mistress, and Tobias roundly fails to get the rights for the Fantastic Four from Ron. But he lies to the Austerity clinic and says he has, just so they can make the musical and he can keep spending time with DeBrie. Lucille suddenly arrives at the clinic and she is now in the musical, too, causing havoc.

The patients all go to Cinco de Cuatro where they will put on the play on a boat. DeBrie sees Dr Norman throwing away his pills, takes them all and passes out. Tobias decides to stand in for her by wearing a wig and blue-ing himself. Unfortunately, he gets on the wrong boat ? Marky's boat.

I'm relaxing now ? this is good. I'm getting used to the mini-movies, although I maintain that some characters are more fun to spend 35 solid minutes with than others. David Cross is someone whom I could watch for hours and it is a delight to see him blue-ing himself again. I must confess to being a little tired of this wall plot by now, but if it acts as a background to jokes such as "Mr F" (For British Eyes Only!), I can deal.

Episode 10 ? Lucille

Yes! Lucille! Girlfriend ? bring it on.

In this episode we finally learn why Lucille turned the boat around at the end of the third series: she was trying to give Lucille 2 the finger. She tries to persuade Buster to lie for her in court, saying she was turning the boat around to save him, but in the end no one comes to her court appearance and the only witness she can produce is Lucille 2. That does not go well and Lucille 2 is sent to Orange County Corrections LITE. There, she is taken in by the Jade Triad Gang, and one of them says her husband will help the Blutha build the wall: "And who better than the Chinese to help build a wall?" But the government puts the wall on hold and this frustrates the Chinese. A fight breaks out between Lucille and the gang, all captured for the show Real Orange County Prison Housewives, and Lucille decides to go to Lucille 2's rehab centre.

Lucille goes for a session with Tobias: "You look as swishy as Ryan Seacrest in that suit," she tells him. "Ryan Seacrest is straight," Tobias retorts. "And I'm 40!" she screams. Lucille is not a very cooperative patient but, spotting an escape opportunity, she volunteers to be in Tobias' play. She auditions and is ? what else? ? amazing.

Oscar, pretending to be George, calls Lucille and she tells him about her planned escape at Cinco de Cuatro and that Gene Parmesan has photos of Herbert with "some redheaded whore" and they can blackmail him.

Michael visits his mother and she signs the movie contract. She also convinces Michael that Gob is dating Rebel and that Gene Parmesan should tail him.

At Cinco de Cuatro, Lucille bumps into George, realises the brothers have been tricking her and tells George she wants a divorce. She nearly runs off with Oscar but realises he has been making out with Lucille 2. Tobias offers her the part of the invisible girl, telling her she no longer has to be the villain. Lucille gratefully agrees ? but then goes off and appears to blow up Lucille 2.

Gene Parmesan! And Lucille's scream on seeing Gene Parmesan! That was a happy sight and sound. This episode worked, too: it was fun to spend some proper time with Lucille, although I did worry at certain points that Hurwitz was going to sentimentalise her. The Real Housewives thing was great ? Lucille was made for Real Housewives ? and I cannot for the life of me imagine how they got away with that line about Ryan Seacrest. Also, Jessica Walter has the most amazing legs I have ever seen. Fact.

Hadley Freeman

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2013/may/27/arrested-development-recap-season-four-episodes-6-10

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