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The W - Movies & TV - Arrested Development 4x15 - "Blockheads"
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John Orquiola
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Since: 28.2.02
From: Boston

Since last post: 3560 days
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#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.46
And so, in a way, the entire series culminates in one moment of George Michael, now a man, punching his father Michael in the face.

As for Michael's movie, I guess there's not gonna be one after all. (Maeby was the last one Michael kicked out of the movie before apparently deciding not to do it.)

George Michael's second Arrested Development fit together the last pieces of the puzzle regarding both he and his father dating Rebel Alley and what happened at Cinco (Mongolians started the riot when Gob couldn't pay them to put up the Wall.) All of the Bluths were at Cinco, some crossed paths, and now we know what each Bluth was doing there and why.

What the final episode doesn't resolve includes the mystery over the bloody stair car and where Lucille Austero went, what happens afterwards now that it seems Sally Sitwell is running against Lindsay Bluth-Funke, and if the Wall ever does get put up. Are these the threads for the (real life) movie or season 5?

Sparing me the hassle of writing a long diatribe overview of the season, The AV Club (avclub.com) did just that and it's notable for me personally for being a piece that I 99% agree with. My thoughts, joys, concerns and disappointments are there, as well as being sympatico for which episodes I liked best (it's still "Senoritis" for me above all) and which guest stars I liked best.

I also kind of have a thing for Rebel Alley Howard now.

Oh, the reveal from the opening scenes of "It Gets Better" that George Michael was surrounded by sex offenders in Sudden Valley and has a Twister for every day of the week now was amazing.

So, my favorite episodes of the season:

Senoritis
Colony Control
It Gets Better
The B. Team
Queen B.

Least favorite:
Smashed

I love Tobias but I learned in season 4 a lot of him is too much for me. And I could do without ever seeing Marky Bark and DeBrie ever again.

(edited by John Orquiola on 28.5.13 1310)


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It's False
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Since: 20.6.02
From: I am the Tag Team Champions!

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#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.37
    Originally posted by John Orquiola
    And so, in a way, the entire series culminates in one moment of George Michael, now a man, punching his father Michael in the face.


And of course, in true George Michael fashion, it's more of a lovetap than an actual punch.

I guess it's safe to say we're getting more AD, because there are so many unanswered questions at the end of this season. Where did Lucille 2 end up? What happened to Tobias after the boat blew up? Is Gob really in charge of the company now? Is Buster going to jail for Lucille 2's "murder"? Is Maeby IN jail now as a sex offender? Are George Sr. and Lucille really getting divorced?

At least the third season felt like a sense of closure, but aside from George Michael's big moment, I feel like this season just gave a whole handful of questions and open-ended storylines. I don't know whether that sets up the fabled AD movie or another Netflix season, but I'm excited for it.

But if they are going to do Netflix again, they really should consider just doing the weekly episodic format, because marathoning that whole season was kind of exhausting.

(edited by It's False on 28.5.13 1308)


EddieBurkett
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Since: 3.1.02
From: GA in person, NJ in heart

Since last post: 63 days
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#3 Posted on
I thought this was great up until the unresolved ending. As much as we'd like to think that's a guarantee of more to come, plenty of shows have gone out on even more daring cliffhangers.

I'll concede the point that the series would have worked better with a little trimming. Case in point being the back-and-forth between Michael and George Michael about being stuck in traffic. Still, I look forward to watching this again to pick up on all the little cross-refences that I missed the first time around. I couldn't tell you what my favorites or least favorite episodes were. I think the second GOB episode through the end is just one awesome blur. Overall, I enjoyed this. I kinda want to see Hurwitz attempt something this insane again, as now he's got one attempt under his belt, and he theoretically should be able to hit again.

I enjoyed how George Michael would have the exact same reactions to things as Michael (for example, Lindsay in the wig).

In hindsight, I'm surprised it took George Michael until college to consider changing his name.

The Sitwells have to be behind the disappearance of Lucille 2, right? Buster, Lucille, George Sr, Tobias, and now Maeby... how many of the Bluths have yet to be arrested? I just figure that Maeby is going to get stuck living in Sudden Valley with George Michael. As nice as it was to see the two of them mature independently this season, they would have to wind up together in the end, right? Was there someone else living with George Sr when he answered the door as a female? Was Sally always suffering with Allopecia or is this a new development?

I feel like I need to rewatch the entire series, not just this past season. Outstanding!





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JustinShapiro
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Since: 12.12.01

Since last post: 1764 days
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#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.79
Wow. My brain is still, like my Netflix, rebuffering all I've taken in. This is a major achievement, and a groundbreaking one, and I think it's going to be weeks before it fully reveals all its wonders. Friends have been completely blowing my mind telling me things to me about the plot dovetails and hidden jokes, and then I them. (For instance, the-w.com user OMG its Feely just told me that Michael sings "hey I met a girl to-day, and her name is--SH[bleep]" to the tune of Get Away Getaway, which GOB plants in his head when he almost hits him with his limo.)

Even knowing that this was all a prologue to get everyone where they needed to be for the movie, I was definitely deflated when it ended like it did since the entire time I've been expecting a big climactic convergence at Cinco. Hurwitz has always been so big on structure, structure, structure (gee, you think?), so I was surprised there was nothing full circular or comprehensive about episode 15 in the way that Let Them Eat Cake or Righteous Brothers or Development Arrested were. I wonder if that's by design -- the Bluths are all in disarray and worse off than ever before (Michael in particular), and for their sakes the movie will have no choice but to put them all back together.

The episode definitely ends on something intended to be taken as a major deal -- the fakeout of the usual Michael & son resolution, right down to the usual episode-ending wrap-up moment music, then that dramatic and unprecedented cut right to the credits before you get the comic release of some more On The Next. Whatever the case, I'm more confident than ever before that there's going to be more, whether that's a movie, or a season 5 on Netflix, or a made-for-"TV" movie on Netflix.

Even after seeing the whole thing, I still come back to the idea that it's amazing that it exists. It may not have been as perfect as Arrested 1.0, but it was as ambitious and rewarding as ever. It wasn't just a return to the vast AD world, it established a new one that's been inhabited for six years. Just really impressive, especially when they could've easily just done 10 mostly straightforward episodes coasting on crowd-pleasing callbacks.

So the only thing Annyong did was take the rap for that $700 tab. Ha.

Good god. So we saw Lindsay made Lucille 2's banner on the back of the original "YOU'RE KILLING ME, BUSTER" banner ... which Buster is then standing on in security footage of him discovering Lucille 2's body. Yep, time to start rewatching.

JST
Toulouse








Since: 20.1.02
From: Quebec City, CAN

Since last post: 2237 days
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#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.00
Man, all these callbacks to the show and not ONE sighting of Franklin.

:(



My side is the side of love, peace and submachine guns.
JustinShapiro
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Since: 12.12.01

Since last post: 1764 days
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#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.79
    Originally posted by JST
    After watching all of it, sadly 07734/HELLO doesn't pay off.

    ...yet?


Annyong and Pete the mailman were the two characters I kept expecting to double back to. But it does set the stage for Buster and Annyong to be cellmates -- I assume that's possible under AD law logic.

I just started watching a second time and everything changes. Lines that just sat there before have context, many are callbacks/call-forwards (hot mess, cry in your pie). The season's like one big roofie circle that starts with the first credits.

LOOK AT THIS.



(edited by JustinShapiro on 1.6.13 1551)
JST
Toulouse








Since: 20.1.02
From: Quebec City, CAN

Since last post: 2237 days
Last activity: 703 days
#7 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.00
Maeby's several yearbook photos?

Same as her opening credits photos.

https://twitter.com/Sarcasticsapien/status/342455305889787905/photo/1



My side is the side of love, peace and submachine guns.
JustinShapiro
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Since: 12.12.01

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#8 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.79


I just finished my second trip around. Anyone want to take a stab at the season-ending mysteries? I like the idea that the only thing Michael is ashamed of as the season begins/ends is that he was the one playing the Thing in the Fantastic Four musical. Lucille 2's disappearance was orchestrated by Sally Sitwell, perpetrated by Gene Parmesan, based on the sussed out Clue clues: characters eat parmesan & mustard, Gene Parmesan played Colonel Mustard in Clue, Michael and GOB find Colonel Mustard with the knife next to the ball room, Gene was at Cinco ...

None of that is my original thinking. People are just way too well-trained after going through H. Maddas, ARM OFF, and Rita. In fact ...

    Originally posted by Mitch Hurwitz
    Hurwitz discussed the decision to finally show Tracey Bluth (Maria Thayer), the deceased wife of Michael (Jason Bateman) and mother of George Michael (Michael Cera) who was referenced but never seen in the old series. “We just wanted to kind of sneak it in there, and we wanted to also kind of slyly point out that… Isla Fisher’s character, Rebel Alley was a pretty close match for Tracey,” said Hurwitz, “And there a couple of other reasons that have yet to be revealed, so I can’t tell you.”


Before he said this there was already a pretty plausible-sounding theory that


Spoiler Below: Highlight text to read
Tracey and Rebel (her spitting image) are related (a Red Hairing). Possibly that Rebel is the illegitimate daughter of an alley tryst between Ron Howard and Tracey's twin sister. Twin club. "We're like twins!" Rebel was in Les Cousins. Ron has a predilection for redheads, had his assistant (with benefits?) Kitty dye her hair dark red, thinks it would be fun to see Michael's wife die. Which would mean ... George Michael f***ked his cousin.


(edited by JustinShapiro on 10.6.13 1908)
EddieBurkett
Boudin blanc








Since: 3.1.02
From: GA in person, NJ in heart

Since last post: 63 days
Last activity: 23 hours
#9 Posted on
I might be grasping at straws but I just finished my second viewing and I noticed something. In It Gets Better, when George Michael commits to the lie about Fakeblock in front of Michael and Maeby, the narrator talks about, "a long inbred instinct for lying. A Bluth taking his first steps in deceit.". Is it possible that the entire Blyth clan is inbred, possibly stemming from one House of Usher style pair of cousins? Lucille admitted to seeing something traumatic as a kid before Tobias cut her off in Queen B. Could that be a clue that she and George (and Oscar) are all cousins?



Mash Those Buttons -- by gamers, for gamers, about gamers gaming (mashthosebuttons.com)



WoW! Thoughts! (mashthosebuttons.com)
Stefonics
Frankfurter








Since: 17.3.02
From: New Jerusalem

Since last post: 2395 days
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#10 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.88
Not to speak for the writers, but I don't think they meant this:

in·bred [in-bred]
adjective
2.
resulting from or involved in inbreeding.

As much as they meant this:

in·bred [in-bred] Show IPA
adjective
1.
naturally inherent; innate; native: her inbred grace.

EddieBurkett
Boudin blanc








Since: 3.1.02
From: GA in person, NJ in heart

Since last post: 63 days
Last activity: 23 hours
#11 Posted on
That's exactly my point, though. I interpreted the meaning as definition 1 on my first viewing, but how many times has this show overloaded sentences by using homonyms that only became apparent after further information was provided?

Its probably just a crazy theory. We'll have to see what happens next season/in the movie.

(edited by EddieBurkett on 29.6.13 1338)


Mash Those Buttons -- by gamers, for gamers, about gamers gaming (mashthosebuttons.com)



WoW! Thoughts! (mashthosebuttons.com)
Stefonics
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Since: 17.3.02
From: New Jerusalem

Since last post: 2395 days
Last activity: 261 days
#12 Posted on | Instant Rating: 5.88
Agreed. And I didn't mean to be Dictionary Douche, but it was more concise than using words and sentences.
KJames199
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Since: 10.12.01
From: #yqr

Since last post: 226 days
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#13 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.53
I just learned that Lucille Bluth was the mom on Dinosaurs and I can't reconcile this in my head and everything feels wrong.
samoflange
Lap cheong








Since: 22.2.04
From: Cambridge, MA

Since last post: 3815 days
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#14 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.32
    Originally posted by KJames199
    I just learned that Lucille Bluth was the mom on Dinosaurs and I can't reconcile this in my head and everything feels wrong.


Mind blown as well. I just watched a few clips on Youtube and, yeah, holy shit.
Kei Posiskunk
Kolbasz








Since: 7.1.02
From: Central PA, USA

Since last post: 684 days
Last activity: 680 days
#15 Posted on | Instant Rating: 4.13
It seemed to me like the Stinger gag at the end of ep. 15 was paying off Buster's throwaway line from Season 2 about "I'LL KILL HER FIRST!!!", but maybe not...






My username is kind of inaccurate, now...
theremin
Boerewors








Since: 31.1.12

Since last post: 2208 days
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#16 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.69
The reveal that the pool-party/bouncy castle wasn't for fakeblock, but for all the neighborhood perverts was hilarious, but my singular favorite line of the season was probably when George Michael tells his dad that, "Put it in Bluth" is a saying around the neighborhood.

Also, that shot of the kid jumping into the water was amazing.

theremin
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Since: 31.1.12

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#17 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.69
    Originally posted by JustinShapiro
      Originally posted by JST
      After watching all of it, sadly 07734/HELLO doesn't pay off.

      ...yet?


    Annyong and Pete the mailman were the two characters I kept expecting to double back to.


07734 = HELLO = Annyong = The person that got Lucille put in jail to begin with.
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