In the first episode of AD's second season, Michael and George Michael are set to leave the family and begin a new life in Arizona, but things are complicated when their lawyer tells them they can't leave California, since the police want Michael after his father escaped from prison. Tobias and Lindsay decide to have an open marriage (meaning, they can have sex with other people), and Tobias aspires to become a Blue Man performer. When Tobias is hit by a car and the family goes to the hospital, Michael re-unites with his family.
This episode, like the Pilot and Let 'em Eat Cake, toys with the idea of Michael wanting to emancipate himself from his dysfunctional family- here portrayed through a great sequence of flashbacks of Michael calling it quits. But, as this episode demonstrates, Michael needs his family and they need him, and Michael will continue to be stuck with his family for a while. This episode is consistently funny, involving some subtle foreshadowing as Michael takes on the pseudonym of Dr. Blueman and a seal attack is mentioned on TV news. Some of the humour is embarrassing- like the police finding George Michael sitting on Michael's lap- and that's no surprise since this episode was co-written by the great Mitchell Hurwitz. Other bits of humour in this episode are delightfully ridiculous- GOB as a magician turned president of the Bluth company, Tobias' dubious reasoning that an open marriage might work, and the physical humour in which Tobias gets hit by a car. This leads to the hospital scene where it's nice to see the family is upset by Tobias' accident and apparent death. (In the terrible episode Prison Break-In, Tobias is dying and no one seems to care). It's good to mix humour with heart- though as always, Arrested Development has more of the former. A+
This episode, like the Pilot and Let 'em Eat Cake, toys with the idea of Michael wanting to emancipate himself from his dysfunctional family- here portrayed through a great sequence of flashbacks of Michael calling it quits. But, as this episode demonstrates, Michael needs his family and they need him, and Michael will continue to be stuck with his family for a while. This episode is consistently funny, involving some subtle foreshadowing as Michael takes on the pseudonym of Dr. Blueman and a seal attack is mentioned on TV news. Some of the humour is embarrassing- like the police finding George Michael sitting on Michael's lap- and that's no surprise since this episode was co-written by the great Mitchell Hurwitz. Other bits of humour in this episode are delightfully ridiculous- GOB as a magician turned president of the Bluth company, Tobias' dubious reasoning that an open marriage might work, and the physical humour in which Tobias gets hit by a car. This leads to the hospital scene where it's nice to see the family is upset by Tobias' accident and apparent death. (In the terrible episode Prison Break-In, Tobias is dying and no one seems to care). It's good to mix humour with heart- though as always, Arrested Development has more of the former. A+