Arrested to Arrested Development: 104 - Key Decisions

"To prove my worthiness into the Alliance, I will incarcerate myself in the same prison that holds my own father, only to escape 24 hours later! No shackles can hold these hands!... Say that to them in Spanish."


We finally start to see some true rounded character development in one of the show's more memorable events. It's nice to be able to pick up on which characters are in the spotlight while we may or may not notice which characters are sidelined for these 22 minutes and the magic act of this episode is performed by our very own Gob Bluth, conjuring up Will Arnett's first truly great episode.


The episode is full of classic moments you almost forget which episode they were in, for example, the introduction of Liza Minelli's Lucille Austero, her affection for Buster, blinded without his glasses ("they make him look like a lizard") whom in return initially mistakes a food stand topped with a sombrero as his counterpart...("Como Estoy")...While Michael falls for Gob's previous not-quite love interest/hispanic girlfriend, Marta during which Gob does his time. Love is in the air and confusion is all around. But "That's what you do when life hands you a chance to be with someone special," as Buster puts. "You just... grab that brownish area by its points (what he made up of the other Lucille through his blind vision) and you don't let go no matter what your mom says."

This episode also marks the first appearance of another special guest.

"I haven't hired a limo."
"I don't mind."
"...I think you might."



And while Lindsay protests knocking down a tree since she loves nature (though wearing Ostrich-skin boots since she cares not for ostriches), in the end it's Gob who shines as he refuses to pass his key without the privacy of a bathroom boarded up by walls, rather than defecating in the presence of his father who reminds him he can't use a private stall since the guards have, ya know, been locking the cell doors lately. By demanding the stair car be brought so he can jump over the enormous wall and plotting to use Michael to break his fall when he doesn't bring it, it is through other life-threatening means that may allow Gob to pull off his greatest trick yet...

"Am I still in prison?"
"You're in the hospital."

"Ta-da."

...Earning the respect of his father.

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