Stars: 5/5
“Arrested Development” ends its fifth, and possibly their final season with their best magic trick yet.
The sitcom which is now a Netflix Original premiered on Fox in 2003 with little success. In 2013 Netflix picked up the show and it soon became more popular than it ever had been with meme-worthy scenes and quotable jokes.
The fifth season picks up right where the fourth season left off with all of the Bluth family’s crazy antics.
Gob (Will Arnett), dealing with appearing gay and the disappearance of Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller), George Michael (Michael Cera), masking the lie of FakeBlock, Buster (Tony Hale), on the run, George (Jeffrey Tambor), and Lucille (Jessica Walter) dealing with building the wall, and Michael (Jason Bateman) having to clean up all of their messes as usual.
As always, the show never fails to be outrageous and ridiculously hilarious. The quick and effortless jokes are always funny while Ron Howard’s narration is priceless and perfectly matches the tone of the sitcom.
The show has a star-studded cast who are all perfect for their roles. No matter how long fans have to wait for a new season, we can always expect the actors to come back and flawlessly embody their characters, making it feel like you never stopped watching the show. I always get so excited to see each character on the screen again, especially Walter playing, almost as excited as she would get to see Gene Parmesan, private investigator.
“Arrested Development” also has a good way of discussing touchy topics and sliding in their opinions while including witty jokes. Racism with the border wall and Donald Trump, sexual identity with Gob and Tony, the gay mafia and conversion therapy, and issues in the acting world like the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
The cast had to deal with a scandal of their own when Jeffrey Tambor, who plays George and Oscar Bluth, was accused of harassing one of his cast members on set of Amazon’s “Transparent”. The actor got fired from the show right before it’s fifth and final season.
There was a lot of speculation on whether Tambor would stay on “Arrested Development”, and fans as well as his fellow cast members all had mixed emotions. Jason Bateman shared his support for the actor, while Alia Shawkat, who plays Maeby shared she supported both the actor and those who came forward with the allegations.
After such a long break and a scandal, fans didn’t know where the show would stand and if a fifth season would even really happen. Michael Cera , who shared he gave serious consideration to continuing the show after the scandal, admitted that the show was always skating on thin ice.
Before, and it seems possibly even after, Netflix picked up the show the actors were never certain that they would return for another season. Now, with Netflix cancellation jokes included in the final episodes, fans are wondering if this is the end for the Bluth family.
The last episodes delivers the long-awaited Lucille 2 case and border wall reveal event, which finally allows us to find out what happens to Lucille 2…partially.
The finale was arguably the best episode of the season, especially the ending, which concluded the season in typical Bluth fashion. The family comes together after solving one problem, just to find out they’ve created another one and Michael and George Michael ride off into the sunset vowing to leave and never come back.
There was magic and surprises behind every corner of this season, and it appears as if the magic may be over. Even though the show finishes open-ended, most of the story line is wrapped up pretty well.
This is one of my all-time favorite shows, and as surprised as I am to say this, I would be OK if this was how the series ended. It’s been a long ride for the cast and the fans, and I think the show should end as strong as it can to give the series as a whole justice. No matter what, I’ll always be bananas for the Bluth Family.
