‘Arrested Development’: Take The Forget-Me-Not Roofies & Cherish Those Memory Of The Show You Once Loved [Season 5 Review]

And now the story of a beloved comedy series that lost everything and the eccentric, determined creator who felt he had no choice, but to keep the show running, way past its prime and beyond the point of being funny. It’s “Arrested Development.”

To recap, “Arrested Development,” in its precarious, always-on-the-edge-of-cancelation Fox years, was your favorite comedy series. Critically-acclaimed, Emmy-respected, ‘AD,’ had little viewership, but soon developed a huge comedy following and was cherished by humor geeks and famous comedians. It also made bankable names of its then-little-known-cast making stars out of actors like Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Michael Cera, Alia Shawkat, Will Arnett, David Cross, and nearly all the cast has gone on to lead or star in some form of TV show since. It was beloved, so of course, it was canceled prematurely in 2006.

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Fast forward the better part of a decade and years of promises and the advent of original Netflix programming and showrunner/creator/writer and tireless “Arrested Development” advocate Mitch Hurwitz finally found a benefactor in Ted Sarandos and his then-fledgling streaming empire. But “Arrested Development” season four (2013), having to figure out the complex mathematical schedules of actors that were all now busy and famous was a mess, more geometry then comedy, that separated most of the cast for the duration of the season, only reuniting them ever-so-briefly. Audiences screeched “Come ON!” in frustration.

Narrators voice: No one was really happy.

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Hurwitz, in a bid to regain critical favor, re-edited the entire season, untangling its dense, crisscrossing, algorithm, presenting the entire season in a linear, more digestible fashion. But audiences found it about as memorable and engaging as the girl George Michael once dated who sometimes put littles squirt packs of mayonnaise in her mouth, mixed them with eggs and called it mayonegg.

Narrators voice: Well, it’s not like Netflix really promoted it to be fair.

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Cut to season five, which Netflix aired in 2018, and someone made the unfortunate tiny huge mistake decision to delay the inevitable and cut the fifth season in half. No one really liked part 1, either. It regrouped the cast, but was still picking up the narrative thread of season four—something convoluted about a murder mystery, a father and son breakup, some painfully misjudged gay panic and of course, more Bluth family business entanglements that threaten to undo the family and possibly leave several of its members in lengthy prison stints.

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And woefully, “Arrested Development” part 2 of season five ends with all of the magic of a whimpering, pathetic Gob Bluth illusion show. Not something you quite detest—because it’s strangely hypnotic and semi-amusing to watch something exert so much energy and effort and yet offer so little results—but something that’s a sad little creature you once adored that you’d love to see go away for good and maybe one day find its dignity again.

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One theme of season five is the “Asian idea,” as some of the characters put it anyhow, of saving face, and Hurwitz’s final hurrah with “Arrested Development”—because let’s face it, not even content-thirsty Netflix is putting this show back on the air—certainly does not rescue or salvage any kind of self-respect.

The plot, such as there is one, continues to be a misguidedly multifaceted labyrinth that once supposes has a kind of reward at the end (coherence?), but it’s such a slog, you barely care. Tragically, everything that was once so funny, now feels so strained and typical. Hurwitz misjudges his recipe, frankly, falsely believing there’s plenty of meat on the bone of his material for more stew. But no amount of new broth or potatoes, masks the fact that he’s basically got the same dated stew going.

Mostly, it’s more of the same—the cruel, hilariously ironic logic in “well-intentioned” lies and deceptions often made in the name of hurting our families (sometimes)—minus the funny. George Michael, still hoping to make his father proud and make amends for the shocking facepunch of season four, is still lying about his privacy software, FakeBlock; Maeby is masquerading as an old lady to avoid her parents and family; Gob’s gay confusion is still a thing (easily the most tone-deaf element of the show), George Sr. desperately wants Lucille back and the entire family is united, if only briefly, in order to keep their hapless brother Buster out of jail for the alleged death of Lucille Austero (Linsday Bluth all but vanishes from the show too. Perhaps, she read the scripts in advance). The show, if you must pin it to something, hinges around who killed Lucille, but if you’re looking for a satisfactory conclusion, a fun, Gene Parmesan-like surprise, or a “that’s why you don’t use a one-armed person to scare someone” twist, you’ve really come to the wrong place.

Narrator voice: This is depressing.

“Arrested Development” in its final moments is really just a huge mistake of trying to up and oversell the same joke, gags, and goofs over and over again. Like a disappointing band reunion which makes you wish the band would have simply called it quits after a Balls In The Air-like great album, Hurwitz and Co., just go to the well fatefully one too many times. In the end, it’s all just painfully tiresome and exhausting with very few enjoyable laughs to justify its existence. There’s always money in the banana stand they said, but turns out all the expiration on tasty Bluth Family treats passed years ago. [C-]