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Arrested Development: reviews

Does the Bluth family still have what it takes?

2013-05-27_1544The new season of Arrested Development has been released in the US, reuniting the entire cast in new episodes.

There are 15 episodes in Season 4, all of which were released by Netflix just as it did for House of Cards. With no previews given to critics it’s taking some time for episodes to be reviewed, but there are a few early birds off the mark.

As far as Australian broadcasts are concerned, it won’t be coming to Seven, but there is speculation it may wind up with Foxtel. Keep you posted….

Here are some of the early reviews:

Variety:
Beyond Jason Bateman — who has established a busy film resume since the show — the producers have also stocked these episodes with plenty of celebrity cameos, which are alternatively amusing and distracting. Chalk that up, perhaps, to the “Arrested Development” movie that was discussed before the producers settled on this long-delayed “fourth season,” which, given the cultish limits, probably made more sense. All told, it’s hard to fault anyone involved for making this happen — from Netflix for cashing in on the name to Hurwitz for revisiting the best gig he’s likely to ever have to the cast, who have almost uniformly stayed busy since the show ended but clearly appear to relish re-inhabiting these roles. Still, wading through the episodes themselves, it’s hard to enthusiastically applaud them for it either. From that perspective, “Arrested Development’s” long-awaited encore is like a lot of TV development — namely, an interesting idea that was more exciting on paper.

Los Angeles Times:
As previously, the show has fun with sex, race and money, and often runs to the edge of tastelessness, but in a nice way. The action moves from spa prison to desert camp, Hollywood board room to college dorm room, far India to the familiar lonely Bluth penthouse and model home, now surrounded by other homes, all of them are empty, as the development stands stand 20 miles from any services or amenities. It begins with a sly admission of the passage of time, with Howard clearing his throat in voice-over. It’simpossible, if you are familiar with the series, not to note how the characters have aged, even though the actors have been constantly in the public eye in the years since. (Noting that you’re noticing, there is a joke about the agelessness of Jason Bateman, who plays the more or less normal Bluth, Michael — though the current season finds him in a state of crisis. The series’ signatures, all still in place, are a self-consciousness that extends beyond the frame; cutaways to magazine covers and clippings and web sites to advance the story, and often to assert the falsity of something a character just asserted to be true; and a taste for double-entendres the speaker does not understand.

TV.com:
The cast’s delivery is still there, the writing is still sharp, and there were enough mentions of running gags (“loose seal,” the Charlie Brown walk, the door handle in Phoenix being hot like the Cornballer) to blend with the Arrested Development of old. But at first glance, I felt like even those gags were pulling focus from the rest of the episode, like everyone was trying too hard to get us to remember. The second time I watched it, however, it was a different experience. After actually re-watching some episodes from Season 3, including “Development Arrested,” “Flight of the Phoenix” felt more cohesive, more directed, and less distracted. I was able to forgive some of the blatant “take note of this!” moments I mentioned above, especially when you consider that it’s fitting for Michael’s episode to have to set up the rest of the series and support the other characters’ episodes. He’s the one who has to hold everything together, so it makes sense that his episode is the terminus through which so many must cross.
So even though I was slightly turned off by the episode’s disjointedness on my first pass, I ultimately embraced it. This is still Arrested Development, after all.

SF Chronicle:
The fourth season begins with an episode called “Flight of the Phoenix,” which refers in the show’s context to both the city of Phoenix and the online University of Phoenix. However, the myth of the phoenix is that it was a bird that rose from the ashes, and that pretty much describes the history of “Arrested Development” too. I don’t want to spoil too much for anyone who didn’t stay up all night binge-watching the 15 new episodes, but they quickly establish that while some things have changed, the Bluth family’s craziness is as rampant as ever, and Michael has little hope of escaping them. The umbrella story arc has to do with getting the family together to testify on Lucille’s behalf at her upcoming trial for stealing the Queen Mary. Meanwhile, George senior’s twin, Oscar (both played by Tambor), has set up a sweat lodge on the U.S.-Mexican border that George commandeers and turns into something he calls “Sweat ‘n Squeeze” – a way to con money out of rich guys. The compound includes “visitor yurts.”

Hypable:
Because of how each episode in Arrested Development season 4 focuses on one character, it’s hard to compare the show to seasons 1 through 3. The good news is that the actors are still on top of their characters, and Mitch’s writing is as creative as ever. We’ll need more time to digest (and watch!) the episodes, but for now we can safely say that the magic of the original show has indeed been brought back. And, it was wise for Netflix to have unmade a huge mistake.

11 Responses

  1. The SMH reports today that Foxtel will show AD later in the year.

    From their review each episode only features a couple of cast members (i.e. they couldn’t get the cast to commit for a full season so have had to film episodes based around individual characters).

    Could be interesting to see a story done that way, but could get tiresome for a whole season and it will miss the ensemble feel.

  2. A normal, linear, series would have served the story better. There is an awful lot of repetition the way it has been set out (which fourth time fourth and fifth time around gets boring) and there are far too many celebrity cameos.
    It’s still one of the best shows ever made, though.

  3. Amazed with all the complaints on the net over the watermark.Either the people who complained are new to the show and don’t get the gag or they’re just dumb.

  4. The local rights should have been sorted months ago, seriously this is a cult show thus more fan are likely not to wait for them. It should have been fast tracked and maybe the whole season released on iView or iTunes (at a price) for a legal option this week!

  5. Thank you for compiling these reviews, David.
    There are some seriously dedicated AD fans reading this site, so ’twas time well spent.
    All the reviews seem consistent in that the new series is more of the same. Not really surprising, it would be a brave writer who would stray too far from the original magic. And yes, it sounds like good advice to view S3 again before sitting down to watch S4 (with a plate of still warm ‘cornholes’, a Bluth double-dipped frozen banana and a Virgin Daquiri). Not pleased to read that it may go to PayTV – looks like I’ll have to wait and buy the DVDs.

  6. Tim Goodman (Hollywood reporter), who with Alan Sepinwall from HITFIX.com are my two go to TV critics, gave it a rave review hollywoodreporter.com/review/arrested-development-tv-review-558733

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