Afternoon Delight (Arrested Development episode)

Infobox Arrested Development episode
episode_name = Afternoon Delight
episode_no = 2AJD06
airdate = December 19th, 2004
writer = Abraham Higginbotham and Chuck Martin
director = Jason Bateman
on_the_next = "The Blue Man Group finally calls for Tobias with a life-changing opportunity. Unfortunately, he can't hear it, so his life stays the same."


season = 2

"Afternoon Delight" is the 28th episode aired of TV comedy series "Arrested Development".

ynopsis

Michael Bluth finds the frozen banana stand vandalized by teenagers, a local holiday tradition, and heads home to find his son, George Michael, to engage in their tradition of rebuilding the stand. He finds his son too busy to help him with the stand or to attend the upcoming Bluth family Christmas party. Instead, George Michael plans to attend Ann's family Christmas party. Maeby has been told not to attend by her mother, Lindsay, who has big plans of finding a man at the party. G.O.B. is excited for the Bluth celebration, because he believes his co-workers are going to toast him, but he has been alienating the employees by boasting about his expensive suits.

Michael begins rebuilding the stand alone and is soon joined by his niece. The two decide they should start spending more time together, as Maeby feels abandoned by her mother and Michael ignored by his son. The two make plans to attend the Christmas party together. They arrive at the party to find G.O.B. nervous about having kids at the party, because their sticky little fingers might touch his $2600 pants. Michael says that he's just there to have fun, and G.O.B. cautions they shouldn't have too much fun, because he's just given an explicit sexual harassment speech to his employees, threatening anyone who flirts with his sister. Lucille arrives, again in need of companionship after Buster has given her the false impression that Army is going well, showing her the fruits of his labors (stuffed animals he won playing the crane game). Michael decides to send Tobias over to Lucille's to give her some company, only to find that Tobias just "blue" himself - in case the Blue Man group needs him.

Michael visits his mother, finding her lonely with Buster gone to Army, Annyong sent to the Milford Academy, and Oscar having gone on his 420 mile walk along the coast (he's never made it past UC Irvine). However, Buster never made it to Army. When he changes the $100 bill Lucille gave him for the bus ride into a plethora of quarters, he becomes hooked playing with the nearby Skill Crane machine.

Michael begins rebuilding the stand alone and is soon joined by his niece. The two decide they should start spending more time together, as Maeby feels abandoned by her mother and Michael ignored by his son. The two make plans to attend the Christmas party together.

They arrive at the party to find G.O.B. nervous about having kids at the party, because their sticky little fingers might touch his $2600 pants. Michael says that he's just there to have fun, and G.O.B. cautions they shouldn't have too much fun, because he's just given an explicit sexual harassment speech to his employees, threatening anyone who flirts with his sister.

Lucille arrives, again in need of companionship after Buster has given her the false impression that Army is going well, showing her the fruits of his labors (stuffed animals he won playing the crane game). Michael decides to send Tobias over to Lucille's to give her some company, only he just blue himself in case the Blue Man group needs him.

As Michael and Maeby entertain themselves by sticking candy to the back of G.O.B.'s suit, Lindsay finds the party less enjoyable. Because of her brother's harsh warning to the employees, no one will flirt with her. George Michael shows up after a creepy experience with Ann's religious family. As George Michael and Lindsay watch Michael and Maeby perform karaoke together on stage, they feel abandoned, and both leave the party. They are not around to discover (as Michael and Maeby did), that the song "Afternoon Delight" isn't as innocent as the melody suggests. Michael cuts the song short and exits the stage, heading for G.O.B., who is eager to hear an employee roast him. He calls up a worker, Tom, but G.O.B. doesn't like what he hears. When he finds the entire staff is laughing at him, he fires them all.

Michael and G.O.B. decide to throw a new party and to return to their old way of doing things (Michael handling the business and G.O.B. being the fun party guy). Meanwhile, Tobias' visit to Lucille's did not go well, as she became afraid at the sight of a man covered in blue paint and blew an air horn into his ear.

Michael retrieves Oscar and asks him to give her some "Afternoon Delight" to relieve her stress. Oscar mistakenly believes that Michael is referring to a particular kind of marijuana ("Afternoone Deelite") and tells Michael that he'll put it in her brownie.

Lindsay and George Michael, meanwhile, decide they should be spending more time together, and opt to go to the second Bluth party together. The party begins at the docks by the banana stand, and G.O.B. shows up in the family's banana suit, looking to make his employees laugh.

Lindsay and George Michael decide to perform karaoke, but discover that "Afternoon Delight" is an adult-themed song. Lucille, under the affects of Oscar's "Afternoon Deelite", plows her car through the party and toward the banana stand, running over Tobias, who has been deafened by the air horn blow. She crashes into the banana stand, trapping G.O.B. inside.

Buster, who is nearby playing the skill crane, decides to be a hero. He spots a real crane on the docks and takes control, grabbing G.O.B. out of the crushed banana stand. As he's lifted up out of the stand, G.O.B. hears the sweet sound of laughter from the employees. Buster hadn't learned the art of lowering gently, and G.O.B. is abruptly released and plummets into the ocean.

Michael again takes to rebuilding the banana stand, happy to find that this time his son is by his side. Michael apologizes, acknowledging that George Michael has a right to spend time with Ann. The two reconstruct the stand while singing "Afternoon Delight" before realizing that, despite its catchiness, it's not the most appropriate song to sing.

Notes

*Jason Bateman directed this episode.

Callbacks/running jokes

*"Banana Suit" - This is the first appearance of the banana suit, which would later be seen again in "Making a Stand".
*"Big Yellow Joint" - The song from "Pier Pressure" is heard repeatedly (due to this episode's use of marijuana), and in new arrangements.
*"Bleeps" - G.O.B.'s bleep-filled sexual harassment speech is a callback to Buster's highly censored tirades in "Bringing Up Buster". It was later mirrored in a nearly identical scene in "Family Ties". When a character is on one of these tirades, a view of their mouth is continually obscured to mask what the actor is actually saying.
*"Blow Myself" - Tobias says, "Oh, I got blown," referring to Lucille's rape horn.
*"Come on" - G.O.B.'s "Come on!" is heavily used by himself and other characters through the remainder of the show. It is used again in "Switch Hitter".
*"Egg" - Michael once again forgets Ann's name, referring to her as "Yam".
*"Family First" - Michael says that it's "family first" at the holidays.
*"Hammer" - The family's inability to use a hammer (first displayed by G.O.B. in "Top Banana") is demonstrated again when Maeby damages the Banana Stand by swinging a hammer through the door. Michael can also be seen failing to hit a nail in the same scene.
*"Hey" - G.O.B. greets Buster with "Hey, Buster" to which Buster replies "Hey, brother."
*"Incest" - G.O.B. once again makes an unknowingly incestual comment when he says that he finally got into his dad's pants. He had previously made a comment about Lindsey sounding sexy on the phone in "Staff Infection". Also, Michael and Maeby sing (and later Lindsay and George Michael) sing "Afternoon Delight", a song with sexual content. G.O.B. refers to Michael "dirty dancing with his niece".
*"Marijuana" - Oscar is the source of many marijuana jokes throughout the series. His favorite brands of marijuana (in this case, "Afternoon Deelite"), come up again in "Prison Break-In" when he asks for some "Sweet Freedom".
*"Missed Phone Call" - This is the second time that Tobias misses an acting opportunity because he can't hear the phone ring. It first happened in "Top Banana".
*"Teaching Lessons" - G.O.B. says he fired everyone to teach a lesson "to the others".
**Lucille says that she adopted Annyong to teach Buster a lesson and sent Annyong to Milford Academy to teach him a lesson.
*"They're laughing with me" - This is the first use of G.O.B.'s line "They're laughing with me," later heard in "Spring Breakout".
*"Tracy" - George Sr. refers to her death as things "working themselves out". Dialogue treating Tracy with very little respect is delivered by Tobias in "¡Amigos!", Lindsay in "For British Eyes Only" and George Sr once again in "Prison Break-In".
*"Who wants to go to the hospital?" - Tobias is forced to go to the hospital twice in this episode. This is the fourth episode of the season in which Tobias goes to the hospital.
*"Wink" - Michael winks after telling George Michael that they "might even snatch a gift from the charity barrel", and George Michael shows discomfort similar to Michael's discomfort when Lucille winks at him.
*When Lucille runs over Tobias at the banana stand, she says, "What the hell was that?", exactly like Barry Zuckercorn in "The One Where Michael Leaves".
*"You're high"- This is the first episode we see Lucille and Oscar end a fight in "You're high!" then "You're drunk!". This is repeated in later episodes.

Hidden/Background Jokes

*"Acting Like a Man" - Tobias is reading the same book from "Whistler's Mother".
*After Tobias has been blown, he tells Lindsay he can't go to sleep for five hours or he might "die, or something". When Tobias falls asleep shortly after Lindsay, she lowers her voice instead of waking him up.
*"Blue Man Group" - A Blue Man Group advertisement at the gas station reads "Coming to Orange County".
*"Change machine" - The text on the change machine indicates it can return one or two $10 rolls of quarters. Buster puts in a $100 bill and loses $90.
*"Cloudmir" - G.O.B. takes boxes of alcohol (including Cloudmir) from Lucille's for the office party. At the party, after Lucille sees one of the Bluth company employees walk by with a case of Cloudmir vodka, she says, "Thank God they've got my brands here."
*"Go Lean" - Tobias is drinking a can of "Go Lean".
*"GOB's suit" - The price of G.O.B.'s suit gets progressively higher throughout the episode, from $3,000 to $4,000 to $5,000 to $6,300 to $7,000, until the Christmas party disaster where it goes down to $3,600.
*"Hornblower" - When Michael and his son reunite to rebuild the banana stand, a "Hornblower - Events and Cruises" ship can be seen in the background, possibly a reference to Lucille's rape horn.
*"Oceanside Wharf" - Unlike the goof in "Top Banana", the signs at Fisherman's Village (where the banana stand scenes are shot) have been replaced with "Oceanside Wharf" signs.
*"Poof" - Lindsay is thumbing through the pages of "Poof" magazine.
*"Sign" - When Michael is trying to talk Oscar into giving Lucille some Afternoon Delight, a sign reading "PARKING IN REAR" can be seen in the background when Oscar says, "Maybe I'll put it in her brownie."
*"Timeline" - This episode's flashbacks tie into one another.
**First, someone breaks into Lucille's house (later revealed to be G.O.B. stealing the liquor).
**When Buster returns to the penthouse, G.O.B. can be seen quickly going past the screen with Lucille's liquor.
**G.O.B. can be seen with Lucille's liquor at the Bluth company, saying "-king 63 hundred dollar suit. Come on!" to Al. In a later flashback, Al offers to carry the alcohol, and G.O.B. replies, "No, Al. I want to spill booze all over my fu..."
**And when at the party Lucille says she needs a drink, and then says 'Thank god they've got my brand.'
*"Zanotab" - There is a can of Zanotab, the drug which the Fünkes pushed in "Best Man for the GOB", on the company refrigerator.

Cultural references

*"420" - According to the Narrator, Oscar attempts a 420-mile walk from Newport Beach to Berkeley, California. 420 is a number often associated with marijuana and stoner culture.
*"Afternoon delight" - This episode is named after (and features) the sexually suggestive song from the Starland Vocal Band.
*"Blue Man Group" - Tobias mistakes caller ID for the "Bluth" company (written "BLU") as the Blue Man Group. Thinking they're calling him for a role, he paints himself blue in preparation.
**At the end of the episode, the Blue Man Group does call Tobias with a life-changing role, however, Tobias cannot hear the phone.
*"The Simpsons" - A Bart Simpson doll can be seen in the crane machine that Buster uses. Buster attempts to pick up this doll, but fails.

Cameos

*J. J. Wall makes his first appearance as Ann's uncle Paul. He returns in "Burning Love" and "Development Arrested".
*This is the first appearance of the awkward Bluth employee Tom (the man whom George Sr. fired in the flashback). Tom is played by staff member Tom Saunders, who wrote the Season 3 episode "Forget-Me-Now".
*Charlie Hartsock as Ted, an employee that Lindsay tries to flirt with at the Bluth Company Christmas party.

Foreshadowing/future references

*When the Banana Stand is being pulled up from the water, graffiti on it reads "I'll get you Bluth - Hello." In Season 3's finale "Development Arrested", it is revealed that Annyong's real name is "Hal-loh", and that he had a secret agenda to bring down the Bluth company after they stole the idea for the banana stand from his grandfather.
**It is also revealed in "Development Arrested" that "Hal-loh" translates to "One Day", so the graffiti on the Banana Stand can also be read as "I'll get you Bluth - One Day."
**The picture on the right shows the message partially as "-get you blu". In season three Rita says to Michael "I might get you blue."
*Seal attack Buster sees a plush seal in the skill crane, wearing a shirt that says "Good Luck". Buster then points to the seal and says, "That could be good for Army," implying that a seal with clothing will help him get out of the army, something that later happens in "Hand to God". The Narrator later says that Buster had "gotten "hooked" playing the skill crane," placing particular emphasis on the word "hooked", all the while the camera is zoomed in on Buster's hand that is operating the claw. The hand he's using is his left hand, which is the one he loses.

References

* [http://the-op.com/episode/206 The-OP.com]