JustinShapiro
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|  #1 Posted on 8.11.05 1528.26
Reposted on: 8.11.12 1529.01 | In the tradition of the Saddam Hussein conspiracy in season 1 and Buster losing his hand in season 2, there was lots of delicious clues in the four episodes leading up to the big reveal that Rita was a mentally retarded female. As a small labor of love, I have collected them here, for British eyes only:
- The name "Rita" is a soundalike for Retard. Basically, any line she ever delivered quirkily as a droll Brit or cryptically like a spy was meant entirely literally and only sounded that way because she was slow.
Episode 2: THE BRITISH BOMBSHELL
- George Michael tells Michael he has a "stupid girl problem," foreshadowing the beginning of Michael's own stupid girl problem.
- Rita goes to Slowbrook, the private preschool. Michael asks if she teaches kids, Rita says she likes to think they teach her. "How to eat crayons, throw tantrums?" "Not when I'm there, I'm very good."
- Rita's uncle asks Michael, "How would you like someone going after some stupid person in your family?" Michael thinks he's threatening Buster, but he's actually talking about Rita.
- Michael visits Rita at Slowbrook and finds her fingerpainting with her fellow students (not teaching them how to fingerpaint).
- Narrator: "For you see, Rita had a secret of her own."
Episode 3: FORGET ME NOW
- Rita's uncle tells Rita that her fun and carefree act is only going to fool Michael for so long, and if he finds out what she really is he might not make things so simple for her.
- Michael arrives late for his date with Rita and finds her on the spaceship ride. He apologizes and she says "No bother, I'm having such fun on this spaceship." Michael assumes she's being sarcastic, but she's serious.
- Michael: "I'll bet men ask you out constantly."
Rita: "Not men like you. I seem to only meet little boys."
Michael: "Part of that might be because you spend your day at a preschool."
Rita: "And they think the stupidest things are funny."
- When Michael finds Rita sitting on the WEE BRITAIN bench, she's covering up the middle two letters so that it reads "WEE BRAIN."
Episode 4: NOTAPUSY
- Rita's uncle drops her off at the train station, gives her written instructions on how to take a train, and tells her to call him if she gets in over her head. Rita swallows the instructions because she doesn't want Michael to know that she needs them.
- Rita tells Michael she was in the (Special) Olympics and won a silver medal.
- At the Church & State Fair, Rita obliviously walks out of the men's bathroom and then splashes through an inflatable pool.
Episode 5: MR F
- Rita's uncle tells her "we're here [in America] to learn things, not fall in love."
- Rita is sick of her uncle's instructions and letters and little missions and stupid assignments. "You do the math, Rita."
- Rita made a pledge to do anything in exchange for a lovely lovely prize, which is eventually revealed to be a piece of chocolate wrapped in gold foil.
- Rita wears a suspicious bracelet that reads MR F, to identify her as a Mentally Retarded Female. | Promote this thread! |             | John Orquiola
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| #2 Posted on 8.11.05 1536.53
Reposted on: 8.11.12 1537.50 | | Justin, this is awesome. When the big reveal happened last night that Rita was a(n) MRF, I slapped my forehead because the clues were there all along. Thanks for compiling them. I'll be rewatching all the Rita episodes now with the knowledge of what to look for, amazed all along that it was all right there in front of our faces since the start. Good work. | geemoney
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| #3 Posted on 8.11.05 1620.32
Reposted on: 8.11.12 1623.12 | Wow, I thought she was "special" from the very beginning. She just didn't seem "quite right," and I figured the school was a big hint.
I thought the first episode was stronger than the second, and I did like George Sr. accidentally going into the wrong "Scared Straight" tent and doing his speech.
(edited by geemoney on 8.11.05 1904) | krakken2000
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| #4 Posted on 8.11.05 1629.06
Reposted on: 8.11.12 1629.37 | | David Cross has my vote for mvp of this season. The locker room scenes were awesome: "I'm glad you went first" | SchippeWreck
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| #5 Posted on 8.11.05 1701.03
Reposted on: 8.11.12 1701.09 | As cheap as the gag was, I don't think I've EVER laughed as hard as I did at the Mole vs. Jetpack George-Michael scene. Probably because I just didn't see it coming.
Now the clues all make sense (Thanks Justin!). I was spending most of my time trying to figure out why Rita dressed so weird. | Super Shane Spear
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| #6 Posted on 8.11.05 1923.34
Reposted on: 8.11.12 1923.51 | Also, in Notapusy, there's a cutaway of Rita leaving the Men's bathroom.
I remember this because I thought I was FINALLY going to out-smart this show by finding a clue that she was a man. | Big Bad
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|  #7 Posted on 9.11.05 0013.23
Reposted on: 9.11.12 0017.21 | This 'big reveal' was pretty obvious, I thought. Certainly not as well-hidden as Buster losing his hand last season, and not really even up to par with the great build-up to the Mole vs. Spaceman fight in "Mr. F"
BTW, after a month off, it was a joy to get AD back on the air, and with two instant classic episodes to boot. My only qualm about the show is that they haven't had a Lindsey-heavy episode in about a season and a half. | Tribal Prophet
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| #8 Posted on 9.11.05 0020.33
Reposted on: 9.11.12 0029.02 | Anyone else notice when George Sr. found the vent behind the fridge and was trying to use it to escape the house without setting off the sensors? Ron Howard says something like "that's when he found a way to slip by the sensors" and then Buster immediately says "If mother sees this she will blow a cow"
That's genious!
And of course Annyong at the end (Wait for it):
Annyong: "Annyong?"
Subtitles: "Hello?"
Annyong: "Hello?"
Subtitles: "Annyong?"
Everyone remember, there's no "I" in "Win".
Tribal Prophet | JustinShapiro
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| #9 Posted on 9.11.05 0130.18
Reposted on: 9.11.12 0131.21 | Originally posted by Big Bad
This 'big reveal' was pretty obvious, I thought. Certainly not as well-hidden as Buster losing his hand last season
I didn't mean to suggest that it was buried, like the throwaway lines in the first three episodes about Buster's hand that turned out to be clues. But the fact that they had a character whose entire existence carried two different meanings at once (spy and MRF) in practically every scene she was in was some very impressive writing.
Originally posted by Prophet$
Everyone remember, there's no "I" in "Win".
Don't ask "can I?" Ask "I can."
(edited by JustinShapiro on 9.11.05 0231) | britishiles
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| #10 Posted on 9.11.05 0907.35
Reposted on: 9.11.12 0907.39 | I never laughed so hard on pussy bleeping and the fact the word was blurred in the dictionary. Plus Ron Howard's dry delivery of "I can't believe we actually had to bleep that" was priceless.
And I had been wondering what happened to Oonyong. Makes sense now. :-) | OndaGrande
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| #11 Posted on 9.11.05 1604.54
Reposted on: 9.11.12 1605.21 | Originally posted by britishiles
br>And I had been wondering what happened to Oonyong. Makes sense now. :-)
Mother sent him off to camp to teach him a lesson, but she couldn't remember what lesson. | evophile
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| #12 Posted on 9.11.05 2219.29
Reposted on: 9.11.12 2219.31 | Originally posted by OndaGrande
Originally posted by britishiles
br>And I had been wondering what happened to Oonyong. Makes sense now. :-)
Mother sent him off to camp to teach him a lesson, but she couldn't remember what lesson.
Supposedly he was supposed to be in some of the episodes that were cut from last season. Hopefully we'll see more of him, I liked the character. "Take this fatty!"
| Wolfram J. Paulovich
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| #13 Posted on 9.11.05 2356.11
Reposted on: 9.11.12 2356.12 | Originally posted by evophile
Supposedly he was supposed to be in some of the episodes that were cut from last season.
I maintain that Annyong was in every episode from this season and last season. The problem is, he went to a school where children are neither seen nor heard, so at this point it's almost impossible to detect his presence.
You can always tell a Milford man!
(edited by Jeb Tennyson Lund on 10.11.05 0056) | britishiles
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| #14 Posted on 10.11.05 1306.35
Reposted on: 10.11.12 1307.03 | The best part about Oonyong was the first 5 episodes with him that was all he said.
Then he spoke perfect English. Hilarious! | BizMoney
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| #15 Posted on 10.11.05 1516.48
Reposted on: 10.11.12 1516.50 | Originally posted by TVGuide.com
ARRESTED NO, PRISON YES: Variety is reporting that Fox has cut back its episode order for the Emmy-winning yet ratings-anemic Arrested Development, has advised Kitchen Confidential execs that the freshman series will not be picked up for a full season, and — here comes the salt — is pulling both shows from the schedule for at least the remainder of November sweeps. Fox will air Prison Break repeats in the 8 pm/ET Monday slot for the time being, unless, that is, Jason Bateman gives up Fibonacci.
Originally posted by Variety.com
It's not looking good for "Arrested Development""Arrested Development" or frosh laffer "Kitchen Confidential."
Fox has cut back its episode order on the critically-admired "Arrested" to just 13 segs, down from 22. Producers of "Kitchen," meanwhile, have been told the show won't be getting a full-season pickup.
More worrisome: Fox is pulling both shows from the schedule, effective immediately. "Arrested" returned from a month-long hiatus this week, while "Kitchen""Kitchen" was slated to return Monday.
Instead of the two laffers, Fox will air repeats of drama "Prison Break" in the 8-9 p.m. Monday slot for the rest of the November sweeps. It's presumed "Arrested" and "Kitchen" will return to finish out the remainder of their runs in December. Come January, net has long planned to move "House" into the Monday slot.
Fox wasn't commenting Thursday morning, and for now, nobody's using the word "cancellation." But in the case of "Arrested," the handwriting appears to be on the wall.
While numbers for "Arrested" were underwhelming this week, it's worth noting that a number of returning laffers -- including Fox's "Stacked" -- aren't doing much better.
So... angry... | JustinShapiro
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| #16 Posted on 10.11.05 1615.36
Reposted on: 10.11.12 1616.02 | Gah. my being.
I read in an interview with Mitch Hurwitz that he knew they weren't going to get the full 22, so the episode reduction doesn't kill me as much as it did last year. Even though 13 was my worst case number, and way smaller than 18 and 22.
Pulling it from November is a kick to the face because after waiting all through October, they said we'd be rewarded for our patience with five episodes in November. Instead, we'll get something like two episodes in nine weeks.
All of this would be borderline fine if Fox decided that they could do 13 episode seasons buried in the netherregions of their schedule for many years to come. That's an okay tradeoff in that we get to keep the show, Fox uses it as a loss leader for network cachet and big DVD sales, and Fox can ignore both the responsibility to promote it and the negativity when it gets bad ratings.
It's this stop-go business, the old reacharound, that is most infuriating. In which they hang them out to dry, out to dry in no man's land, where they're expected to do good numbers while at the same time getting next to no promotion (gotta put that effort towards STACKED) and disappears from the schedule for long stretches. That is a no win situation and it ravages my soul.
But we'll see. They've cheated death before. Most important, I suppose, is that they at least know in advance so that they can properly tell all their stories in the alloted time. And hey, maybe there's a Firefly/Serenity kind of deal we can dream about. | BizMoney
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| #17 Posted on 10.11.05 1634.07
Reposted on: 10.11.12 1635.37 | Originally posted by JustinShapiro
It's this stop-go business, the old reacharound, that is most infuriating.
A valid point AND a GOB reference in one sentence. Awesome. | Tenken347
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| #18 Posted on 10.11.05 1743.16
Reposted on: 10.11.12 1743.49 | | Honestly, I'm surprised that the show's been around as long as it has already. In the first season, I described the show to friends as "so clever, you'll have to watch the last episode on DVD because it'll never see air." To get not one, but two more seasons when it's been apparent from day one that FOX didn't want the show around. After moving it to Mondays, they finally have the low-ratings ammunition they wanted to cancel it. | geemoney
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| #19 Posted on 10.11.05 1812.29
Reposted on: 10.11.12 1812.40 | Originally posted by Tenken347
After moving it to Mondays, they finally have the low-ratings ammunition they wanted to cancel it.
They had the low-ratings ammunition in season one, didn't they? | Roy.
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| #20 Posted on 11.11.05 1058.12
Reposted on: 11.11.12 1059.01 | Well, it's gone (news.yahoo.com) now. FOX is keeping it off the schedule until Dec 5, so they can show Prison Break repeats for sweeps. Then the final episodes will be shown (the order was cut to 13).
Dang. While I wasn't a huge diehard like some on this board, I enjoyed the show and tried to watch it every week. I'm sure the "move it to FX/HBO/other channel" calls will start, but I can't see them doing that because of the money it would take. I guess DVD sales could bring it back (see Family Guy). |
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