Comedy Series Review: Arrested Development

Michael: “Tell me the truth. There's been a lot of lying in this family”

Lucille: “And a lot of love.”

Michael: “More lies.”

There's probably no better way to summarise the relationships within the Bluth family than the above quote. The Bluth family is the main family in the American classic Arrested Development. With the head of the family, George Bluth Sr indicted after years of “creative accounting” his son, Michael Bluth becomes the de facto head of the family and the Bluth corporation. Michael's authority is constantly being undermined by his incompetent and selfish older brother George Oscar 'Gob' Bluth. This leads to hilarious situations where Michael is desperately trying to do the good thing and keep the family together, while the rest is trying to fend for themselves.

Michael is a widowed single father, who has one son: George Michael Bluth. George Michael has many of the positive characteristics his father has, but is also less connected to the rest of the family. Throughout the development of the series, Michael's bad sides become more and more apparent and he is often seen ignoring his son's feelings and becoming more selfish and detached from the family.

Lucille Bluth, the family's mother

The series gets a lot of it's hilarity from the voice-over who tells the story in a dry manner and is often disillusioning whenever a positive development seems to come up. Also there are a lot of running jokes, such as George senior mentioning there is 'money in the banana stand'. After the banana stand is burned to the ground, he reveals he meant this literally: there was $250.000 cash lined in the stand's walls.  After finding out Michael burned the stand down, George Sr. becomes infuriated, trying to strangle Michael and demanding to know how he could be clearer when saying “There's always money in the banana stand”. Another running joke is a family member stating “I've made a huge mistake” whenever they get themselves in over their heads.

The story features a lot of 'archive footage' and 'home videos' which were often made with a handheld camera to create a feel of amateur videos. These are often used in flashbacks to the family's past, often before the series started. This sheds some light on the character's background and the family history.

The Bluth family, left to right:
GOB, George Sr. Lindsay, Tobias, Michael, Lucille, George Michael, Maybe, Buster

Because most of the family's assets were seized pending the investigation into George Sr.'s accounting, they are forced to live in a model home, which was intended for viewing and as such doesn't have real plumbing or a sewer connection. Also most of the furniture and appliances are cardboard models for show only and don't really work. This doesn't exactly contribute to the family's bonding. Also most of their cars have been seized, leaving them with only a stair car, which was originally used for boarding the private plane. The plane had also been sold to help deal with the financial trouble. This odd mode of transport contributed to many hilarious scenes as it was used to break people out of prison, take down homecoming banners and for promotional purposes during election campaigns.

The dysfunctionality of the Bluth family and their complex internal relationships with secrets everywhere make for a hilarious sitcom. With 68 episodes already aired, a 9.2/10 rating on IMDB and the creator hinting on a film and fifth series to come, this series is here to stay. And so it should.