Jessica Walter, Will Arnett and Jeffrey Tambor
Avid followers of “Arrested Development” are in for more surprising and even confounding twists when Season 5’s eight-episode second half resumes on March 15.
The Netflix show is so fast-paced and loopy that it can get discombobulating if you miss a breezily delivered but crucial zinger from any of its wacky cast members.
Portia de Rossi won’t be seen much because her character, activist-turned-politician Lindsay, has gone missing after she lost the election. In reality, Ellen DeGeneres’ lovely wife has decided to quit acting last year to pursue art curation and publishing, instead.
But her character looms large throughout the rest of the season, as flashbacks and footage of George Bluth (Jeffrey Tambor), his wife Lucille (Jessica Walter), and their children are idiosyncratically “dramatized” to resolve long-festering grudges and recriminations. This awkwardly brings up not just Buster’s “child criminal” past, but also Lindsay’s real identity.
Yes, we know Lindsay isn’t really Michael’s (Jason Bateman) twin sister—she was just adopted by the Bluths. This time, however, we learn how “closely related” she is to the dysfunctional family who raised her, and why Lucille hasn’t been as affectionate a mother as she should have been.
Portia de Rossi
As Buster (Tony Hale) prepares for his day in court—apparently for the murder of Lucille Austero aka Lucille 2 (Liza Minnelli)—Michael finds himself in a struggle for power with his brother Gob (Will Arnett), now the company president.
Gob himself has a tough row to hoe because he’s preparing for a big magic trick that he thought would convince people that ex-rival Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller) wasn’t really his lover and that, well, he isn’t a homosexual after all!
Yes, Gob was merely forced by the Gay Mafia, headed by Lucille 2’s brother Argyle (Tommy Tune), to pretend he’s gay … for seven years!
For his part, Michael, the sticky white glue that holds the loony Bluths together, still can’t abandon his once-wealthy and now-deeply troubled family, so he does everything to keep their dwindling finances afloat.
Unfortunately, George, Lucille and their grandson George-Michael (Michael Cera) are in a bigger mess now more than ever, especially after their respective projects—the US-Mexican border wall, and the fake privacy software company—don’t work out as planned.
Jason Bateman
If they can’t find a way out of this mess, it won’t be easy to mollify their increasingly impatient Chinese investors.
Buster is also in big trouble. And while Michael thinks he has an ace up his sleeve to help his brother escape incarceration, Buster refuses to turn against his mom. Worse, Buster is being defended in court by Dusty Radler (Dermot Mulroney), who turns out to be a nervous wreck and a wildly incompetent defense attorney!
The staging of this hilarious sequence is a must-see for the show’s fans and followers.
Sure, “Arrested Development” can get confusing at times, but when the Bluths finally come together despite the “synchronized chaos” they consistently inspire, they prove that nothing is impossible when people do something out of love—and grudging affection.