Motherboy XXX

"Motherboy XXX"
Arrested Development episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 13
Directed by	Joe Russo
Written by	Mitchell Hurwitz Jim Vallely
Production code	2AJD13
Original air date	March 13, 2005
Guest stars
Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn Carl Weathers as himself Amy Poehler as Gob's wife Dave Attell as himself
Season 2 episodes
November 2004 – June 2005 The One Where Michael Leaves The One Where They Build a House ¡Amigos! Good Grief Sad Sack Afternoon Delight Switch Hitter Queen for a Day Burning Love Ready, Aim, Marry Me Out on a Limb Hand to God Motherboy XXX The Immaculate Election Sword of Destiny Meat the Veals Spring Breakout Righteous Brothers
All Arrested Development episodes

"Motherboy XXX" (pronounced as "Motherboy Thirty") is the thirty-fifth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.

Plot

"Michael Bluth got up early in the hopes of avoiding his family. His mother, however, was already dressed, made up and waiting for him. Which put her wake-up time in the 3:00, 3:30 area." Lucille always has trouble sleeping this time of year because she gets excited before Motherboy, a dinner dance aimed at promoting mother/son bonding. Lucille has gone with Buster over 25 times, and on several occasions they have won "Cutest Couple". But for Motherboy XXX, Lucille wants to take Michael, because Buster has become moody after losing his hand. Michael chides his mother for not being there for Buster the one time that he finally needed her. Lindsay is also up early, upset that Tobias has re-connected with acting coach Carl Weathers. Tobias is excited about a possible role in Carl Weathers' latest television project, but Lindsay complains that Tobias always blows these chances and that he's not a take-charge husband. Up in the attic, George Sr. has to hide when Maeby and George Michael come up looking for camping gear for George Michael's upcoming Christian camping trip with Ann. Michael later catches news of the trip from George Sr., who overhears everything while hiding.

Michael tries to talk his son out of going, but when Maeby hears that George Michael would be missing school for this trip, she decides to join him. Michael tells George Michael that he thinks he should spend time with Uncle Buster instead. At the office, Michael runs into Gob, who wants to know if Barry has mentioned his divorce case. He also mentions that his soon-to-be ex-wife is claiming that the seal Gob released into the ocean (which later bit off Buster's hand) was worth $250,000. Michael tells Gob that if he admits he never consummated the marriage, he can have it annulled. But Gob can't admit that, not even to Michael. Barry arrives and announces that the seal has been tracked and caught. If Buster's hand is still intact, a transplant may be possible. Tobias meets with Carl Weathers at Burger King. Carl announces that he's directing an episode of Scandalmakers. It will be about the Bluths, and Carl will appear as Ice. He doesn't want Tobias for a role, only to sign a release, but he is willing to give him the role of George Sr. in exchange for that signature. George Michael spends an afternoon with Buster, and Lucille sees an opportunity to take a new boy to Motherboy.

Michael and Gob set out to find the seal. Buster finds out and joins them. At home, Tobias begins to do some research on George Sr. in the attic. Angry that Tobias can't master his voice, George Sr. appears and threatens Tobias, which makes Tobias see the power in the man. Tobias asks George Sr. to teach him this power. Down at the docks, the search continues for Buster's hand, but they find only the seal's left flipper, which was probably bitten off by a shark. Michael argues that, like Buster, the seal couldn't survive in the real world. They set off to save George Michael from Lucille instead. Lindsay sees Tobias with the raw power of George Sr., which she is immediately attracted to. Buster and Michael arrive at the hotel in which Motherboy is being held. Seeing another matching sailor outfit, Buster knows that Lucille is in her room changing outfits. He also knows that she will make George Michael wait on a balcony. Barry prepares Gob to meet with his wife.

Michael and Buster survey the hotel looking for a bored-looking young man on a balcony. Spotting a Sonny Bono, Buster decides to zip line over to balcony. But he immediately falls, crashing through a skylight. His hook continues on the line and crashes into Lucille's room. She decides that they need to change rooms and costumes. Tobias begins work on the set of Scandalmakers. At the courthouse, Gob finally meets with his wife. He threatens to lie about not consummating the marriage, which greatly attracts her, and they finally consummate it. Back at Motherboy XXX, Lucille is finding her new partner an asset. Michael and Buster are staking out the ballroom after having retrieved Buster's hook. Buster goes to unplug the lights to create a diversion, but catches his hook on a sandbag. He slides down to the stage just as Lucille and George Michael come out to dance. Michael tries to drag his son offstage, but Lucille won't allow it. Buster, finally hearing the truth about Lucille's desired Motherboy XXX date, offers to dance with her so that Michael can save his son from a life of being sheltered.

Cultural references

• Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse When Gob's wife presents the picture of the two of them in the office, it resembles one of the images from Abu Ghraib, with Gob's shirt over his head and his wife posed as Lynndie England.
• Arrested Development While referring to the Motherboy dance, the narrator says that he is legally required to make the distinction between the dance and the fictional band named Motherboy. This parodies the lawsuit brought against the show by the alternative hip hop group Arrested Development.
• George W. Bush When Gob's wife says that she "misunderestimated" him refers to a famous Bushism.
• Burger King The fast food chain underwrites the Scandalmakers show in exchange for a scene being set there. This mirrors the real-life deal between Arrested Development and Burger King. The episode makes many unsubtle references to this:
  • Carl Weathers says "Burger King" often during his initial conversation with Tobias. He also asks Tobias if he knew that, "you can get a refill on any drink here? And it's free!" We have already learned that Carl is frugal.
  • Upon hearing of the deal between 'Scandalmakers' and Burger King, Tobias says "So long as you don't draw attention to it", a direct reference to the exaggerated plugging of Burger King in the episode.
  • Tobias declares Burger King to be "a wonderful restaurant", which is then seconded by the narrator; the scene transition includes a shot of a poster advertising Burger King's new breakfast menu before cutting to Michael and Barry.
  • Barry says that he skipped breakfast and leaves a meeting to eat at Burger King.
  • At the end of the episode, Michael and George Michael are drinking from Burger King cups in the staircar.
• Captain Hook Lucille and Buster pretend that Buster's hook is part of a costume, referring to the villain from Peter Pan.
• House One of Tobias's vanity license plates says "DRHOUSE", referring to the role played by Hugh Laurie, the role that David Cross had unsuccessfully auditioned for himself.
• Jumping the shark Barry jumps over a shark on his way to Burger King, a reference to both his character Fonzie doing so on Happy Days and the phrase "jumping the shark", which describes a point when a television show has run out of ideas and is now no longer considered relevant or has done something gimmicky to increase falling audiences (which originated from the aforementioned Happy Days incident).
• Lucille and George Michael dress as the famous husband and wife entertainment duo, Sonny and Cher. Lucille asks George Michael if it's too soon (referring to Sonny Bono's accidental death) to which he replies, "Who?".

Callbacks/Running Jokes

• When Buster has an episode in the middle of the night he partially covers the 'ALARM OFF' on his digital clock so that it says 'ARM OFF'. This is a similar reference to the bench in "Out on a Limb"

Cameos

• Judge Ping appears briefly in this episode. He presided over the Bluth's trial in Season 1 and Barry's fat case in "Out on a Limb" and "Hand to God".
• Dave Attell appears as himself playing Tobias on an episode of Scandalmakers.
• Amy Poehler, real-life wife of Will Arnett, appears as GOB's wife.

Foreshadowing

• Michael and Buster's "Operation Hot Mother" mission is turned into a movie script in "Meat the Veals". The two brothers also undertake "Operation Hot Brother" when rescuing Gob from an Iraqi prison in the Season 3 episode "Exit Strategy".
• George Sr. apologizes to Tobias and the dolls whose names he mixed up (Polly and Nellie). The family refers to Tobias as "Nellie", which also is to be the name Stan Sitwell had picked out for Lindsay.

Notes

• The fast food restaurant chain Burger King paid Fox for product placement in this episode, which the writers decided to exploit as much as possible. The original title of the episode was "Tendercrisp Chicken Comedy Half-Hour", referring to the "Tendercrisp Chicken Sandwich" that Burger King was heavily promoting at the time.^{[citation needed]}
• A camera crew member can be seen onscreen in this episode. During the scene in the attic where Michael expresses his concern about the risk of keeping his father in hiding, a crew member holding a video camera appears on the left side of the screen very briefly. This occurs at around the 4:11 time mark.
• Gob mispronounces the word "consummated" as "sonsummated" in the "On the next..." segment, continuing the running joke of his mispronouncing big words as well as mixing up words that contain the letter 'c' with the letter 's' (which he also does when he tries to pronounce 'circumvent' as 'sirsumvent').
• Michael hits his head on the door when he and Buster sneak into the Motherboy reception room. This was actually a filming accident that was left in.^[1]
• The members of the band Motherboy (itself a reference to the real band Loverboy) seen in the photograph are actually Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Jeffrey Tambor, Tony Hale, and Michael Cera, all heavily made-up.

External links

• The-OP.com
• FOX
• for this episode on WikiQuote

References

1. ^ http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/tv/409/the-whole-bluth