Well, this is it: my one hundredth review, officially making me a prolific author. I thought it would be fitting to make the review on the show I've already written a lot about, Arrested Development. Today's subject: SOBs, a highlight of season 3.
When Futurama came back with the straight-to-DVD movie Bender's Big Score, they made thinly veiled jokes about being canceled and returning. They were trying to be clever, but AD had already done it better. The makers of the show used this episode to comment on AD's inevitable and fast-approaching cancellation. I don't have to tell you a lot because the first guy to write a review on this episode already talks a bit about it. It will suffice to note the guest stars, the references to HBO or Showtime picking up the show, the narrator asking viewers to tell their friends about the show. What the other reviewer didn't mention is that AD also pointed a finger at itself: it posed the question of whether the Bluths failed to be likable and relatable.
There's more to the episode than this, though. Note the character development- there's a reference here about Michael never crying, which has come up before and comes back in the last episode. This ties into the issue of whether George Michael can express his emotions too; Michael puts him in an unconventional school and George Michael reads something Maeby wrote about her dad. Touching on the sensitive issue of Michael's wife's death, and with Michael watching and thinking the writing is about him, George Michael's homework got an "Oh my god" not only from Michael and George Michael's teacher but from me as well. On the side we have rare bonding between Buster and Lindsay, over "hot ham water" which has become a famous joke among fans. Then we have GOB "accidentally" getting a job and learning what it's like.
We also have an exaggerated view of George Sr., sending poison muffins to teachers he dislikes. Personally, I think AD would be going too far if it started doing jokes about killing people (particularly if it were Michael or George Michael), but I don't mind this for a few reasons: (1) It's not said whether the poison was fatal; (2) It's George Sr. rather than the good guys Michael or George Michael doing it; (3) it's so over the top that it's probably not even canon. Other things strike me as being so silly that I don't think they're canon: the tomato throwing, the old woman dying at the party (I think they'd be a little more disturbed if that actually happened), Buster saying Lindsay looks hot. The last is the least subtle incest joke AD has ever done, but they seem to have done it just to make a comment on whether the characters actually are relatable. And that's the kind of complexity we love AD for.
When Futurama came back with the straight-to-DVD movie Bender's Big Score, they made thinly veiled jokes about being canceled and returning. They were trying to be clever, but AD had already done it better. The makers of the show used this episode to comment on AD's inevitable and fast-approaching cancellation. I don't have to tell you a lot because the first guy to write a review on this episode already talks a bit about it. It will suffice to note the guest stars, the references to HBO or Showtime picking up the show, the narrator asking viewers to tell their friends about the show. What the other reviewer didn't mention is that AD also pointed a finger at itself: it posed the question of whether the Bluths failed to be likable and relatable.
There's more to the episode than this, though. Note the character development- there's a reference here about Michael never crying, which has come up before and comes back in the last episode. This ties into the issue of whether George Michael can express his emotions too; Michael puts him in an unconventional school and George Michael reads something Maeby wrote about her dad. Touching on the sensitive issue of Michael's wife's death, and with Michael watching and thinking the writing is about him, George Michael's homework got an "Oh my god" not only from Michael and George Michael's teacher but from me as well. On the side we have rare bonding between Buster and Lindsay, over "hot ham water" which has become a famous joke among fans. Then we have GOB "accidentally" getting a job and learning what it's like.
We also have an exaggerated view of George Sr., sending poison muffins to teachers he dislikes. Personally, I think AD would be going too far if it started doing jokes about killing people (particularly if it were Michael or George Michael), but I don't mind this for a few reasons: (1) It's not said whether the poison was fatal; (2) It's George Sr. rather than the good guys Michael or George Michael doing it; (3) it's so over the top that it's probably not even canon. Other things strike me as being so silly that I don't think they're canon: the tomato throwing, the old woman dying at the party (I think they'd be a little more disturbed if that actually happened), Buster saying Lindsay looks hot. The last is the least subtle incest joke AD has ever done, but they seem to have done it just to make a comment on whether the characters actually are relatable. And that's the kind of complexity we love AD for.