Development Arrested

"Development Arrested"
Arrested Development episode
Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 13
Directed by	John Fortenberry
Teleplay by	Chuck Tatham Jim Vallely
Story by	Richard Day Mitchell Hurwitz
Production code	3AJD13
Original air date	February 10, 2006
Guest stars
Mae Whitman as Ann Justin Lee as Annyong Jeff Garlin as Mort Meyers Ed Begley, Jr. as Stan Sitwell Jim Cramer as himself Charlie Hartsock as Ted Ron Howard as himself
Season 3 episodes
September 2005 – February 2006 The Cabin Show For British Eyes Only Forget-Me-Now Notapusy Mr. F The Ocean Walker Prison Break-In Making a Stand S.O.B.s Fakin' It Family Ties Exit Strategy Development Arrested
All Arrested Development episodes

"Development Arrested" is the 53rd episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. It is the season finale for Season 3, as well as the series finale before the announcement of Season 4 over five years later.

Episode

"Development Arrested" was previously titled "Harboring Resentment" in press releases, though its listed title was changed to "Development Arrested" several days before it aired, becoming its official title (as it was also referred to at the 2006 Emmy Awards, as well as on the Season 3 DVD released days later). It was the last of four episodes screened in a two-hour season finale aired on Fox.

Unlike the other season finales, which ended with "On the next season of Arrested Development", this episode ends with "On the epilogue". However, when this was broadcast, closed captioning had "On some future Arrested Development" as this line. The episode earned writers Chuck Tatham, Jim Vallely, Richard Day and Mitchell Hurwitz an Emmy Nomination For Outstanding Writing In A Comedy Series.

Synopsis

The episode opens with Michael Bluth being honored by his family for his work in getting the treason charges against his father dropped. At the party, Michael breaks into tears, which the narrator says is because his family will now be part of his life for a long, long time.

The day before, Michael woke up to find George Michael in his bed. George Michael has fled his bedroom because, having reached "second base" with Maeby, has realized that she still intends to progress on their relationship in the privacy of their bedroom. The distracted Michael ponders aloud why his father, in addition to the treason charges (of which he was innocent), beat the embezzlement charges as well (of which George was guilty). Meanwhile, on the television show Mad Money, Jim Cramer upgrades Bluth Co. from "Don't Buy" to "Risky". Michael asks his son if he has anything on his mind, and George Michael suggests moving out of town without explaining why.

The family gathers at the penthouse for brunch. Lucille suggests throwing a party on the same boat to name Michael CEO. Michael actually expresses hope for the future and mentions in passing that the family can now sell their stock for $2 million each, although they shouldn't, since the company is moving forward.

Lindsay privately tells Michael she wants to sell her shares since she is almost 40 and wants to remarry. George Sr. also tells Michael he wants to cash out and move down to Cabo San Lucas. Michael assures them both that the honestly run family business will generate plenty of money, but George Sr. warns his son that there is no way Lucille will allow a clean business. She even stole the idea of selling frozen bananas from a Korean immigrant and then had him deported when he threatened to sue.

Down at the harbor, Michael finds Gob trying to flee on a boat that he has been living on. Michael asks Gob how he plans to pay for the boat and Gob replies that Stan Sitwell made a generous offer for his stock.

Michael calls his mother for advice. Her idea is to lease the boat to Gob through the company to show the shareholders the family is united. George Michael visits his father at the office, wanting to talk about moving. Michael tells his son the party is important to show how close the family is. This causes George Michael to finally confess that he and Maeby made out. In his astonishment, Michael tells his son to no longer act on his feelings. Still needing to keep the family together, Michael reluctantly suggests that George Michael try to get back together with his ex girlfriend Ann Veal, a girl Michael can't stand.

Lindsay tells Stan Sitwell that she refuses to sell her share of the company, even though he hasn't made an actual offer. Sitwell expresses surprise that Lucille gave Lindsay less of the company than she gave her actual children. Lindsay is just as surprised to find out that she is adopted. Sitwell apologizes, assuming Lindsay already knew, but she is overjoyed to hear that she isn't related to the Bluths. However, she then discovers that she is three years older than she thought and is, in fact, 40. She doesn't take this news nearly as well.

Maeby, meanwhile, heads to Tantamount Studios, where word is out she is about to be replaced. She finds out that she is not going to be fired, and the studio has received ten offers on Maeby's life story. The only catch is that she needs to get her family to sign their rights away.

Michael is having trouble sleeping after having compromised his morals and is surprised to find Lindsay sharing his bed. Michael begins to tell Lindsay about George Michael and Maeby before Lindsay pins him to the bed. Lindsay happily tells him the news of her adoption and propositions him, claiming that if she does not get divorced and remarried in a month, she is going to sell her shares. She asks Michael to marry her but even he cannot sell out that much. Michael matter-of-factly tells Lindsay that he "just isn't into older women" and Lindsay attacks him.

The next morning, Michael awakes to find Tobias in his bed, to his exasperation. He tells Michael that he is fed up with Lindsay and also wants to sell his shares and move on. Michael tells Tobias that if he can find another venue for the upcoming party, one that is not a boat, perhaps he can put Tobias on the company payroll as Events Coordinator.

George Michael visits Ann's to win her back. Her Uncle Paul answers the door and tells him that Ann has moved in with her new boyfriend. George Michael decides to seek out his own creepy uncle. At the same time, Michael confronts Lucille about Lindsay's adoption, which she openly admits to.

Michael says this is a problem, because it makes it harder for him to keep the family from selling their shares. Lucille suggests a payoff called an accrued cash dividend. The family will not get their money until they sign an agreement promising not to sell their shares for ten years. This maneuver is illegal.

Tobias catches up with Michael and tells him he has booked the Queen Mary, thinking this was a chain of nightclubs and not a luxury ocean liner permanently docked south of Los Angeles. He has also booked Gob's old stripper troupe, the Hot Cops. Buster begins to dread the party due to his fear of the open ocean, second only to his fear of seals.

George Michael catches up with Gob and finds out that Gob has been dating his ex-girlfriend Ann. Gob gloats to George Michael that Ann needed a man. Furious, George Michael punches Gob and knocks him out, which distresses Ann.

Maeby is trying to get the family to sign away their TV rights to her story. Lucille is trying to get signatures from the family too that would prevent them from selling their stock. And Gob, after hearing Lindsay say she is adopted, and upset that Michael sent George Michael to the docks, goes into "a sort of knee-jerk revenge mode" and tries to proposition Lindsay as "a younger man". She violently refuses.

Lucille asks Maeby to collect signatures for her, offering each family member $100,000. This solves Maeby's TV rights problem as she can trick them into signing away their TV rights. Michael addresses the gathered crowd. While lauding each member of the family, Michael realizes that all of his efforts to keep them together have paid off and he begins to cry. The tears shown at the beginning of the episode are not tears of sorrow, but in fact tears of joy.

After the speech, Gob tells Michael of his run in with George Michael and how he offered to let the boy have the yacht if he didn't hit him again. Upset that his son is fleeing, Michael leaves the party. Lucille tries to stop him by reminding him that fleeing will not look good to the investors. Michael finally realizes how much he sold out, and promptly leaves the party to find George Michael.

Stan Sitwell approaches Lucille. After a quick negotiation, Lucille agrees to sell Stan the company for 12% above the market value. Using one of the telescopes on the ship, Michael spots the C-Word in the harbor. Rushing to a rubber dinghy, Michael chases after his son.

Gob notices something too: SEC police boats approaching the party. Lucille wonders who tipped off the feds to the company's latest misdealings. That's when the informant steps forward. Annyong, Lucille's adopted son, reveals that he turned them in as revenge for his grandfather, the man Lucille stole the banana stand idea from. Lucille doesn't want to go peacefully though. Lucille makes the claim that the reasons all the charges of embezzlement were strangely dropped from George Sr. was because he "sold her out," but quickly finds that the man she is accosting is actually Oscar, who has once again been tricked into posing as his brother.

George Michael explains that with Ann dating Gob and Maeby being his cousin, he can not stay in Newport. Michael informs him that Maeby is not actually his cousin. He then argues that he still shouldn't be with Maeby because he's only 15 (although this is a mistake, see below) and, even though she isn't a blood relative, she's still family.

Suddenly, the yacht is rocked by a huge wave (after the phrase "don't rock the boat" has been said) as Lucille tries to power the Queen Mary off the dock and into the open sea. The boat's rocking sends Buster overboard and into the ocean, his second greatest fear. He is soon confronted by his greatest fear as the seal who bit off his hand surfaces beside him.

The Queen Mary and C-Word both make a break for it. George Michael motions to go back and stick with the family, but Michael stops him, realizing that his son is the most important thing in his life. He decides to let the family handle their own problems while he spends time with his son. Michael pushes the throttle forward and he and his son motor off into the sunset, with the narrator saying "It WAS Arrested Development".

Epilogue

Michael and George Michael finally arrive in Cabo, and the next morning Michael wakes up. However, Michael receives another surprise bedfellow: his father, who asks how the party was.

Maeby and her agent attempt to pitch their idea to "a Hollywood icon", the real Ron Howard (who had been narrating the series throughout its run). Howard tells them that he does not see the concept working as a series. Howard then says the final lines of Arrested Development: "Maybe a movie."

Cultural references

• Mad Money: Jim Cramer bumps up the Bluth Company from “Don’t Buy” (as heard in "The Cabin Show") to “Risky.”
• Risky Business Ted is dressed like Tom Cruise in Risky Business (sunglasses, collar up, no pants) under the "Risky Business" banner. He can be heard saying "I couldn't see through the glasses and I slid into the ladder", implying he (unsuccessfully) attempted to re-create the famous "sliding in front of the stairs" scene from the movie, in front of the ladder and knocked over his co-worker that was on the ladder.
• Skating With Celebrities:
  • Maeby’s taxi drives by a billboard for the show Skating with Celebrities, which has the tagline “Train Wreck on Ice!” Skating With Celebrities is the show that replaced Arrested Development in its Monday timeslot.
  • Buster says he prefers that show when Maeby attempts to get him to sign away rights for a series. (Skating With Celebrities not only took Arrested Development's Monday night time slot, but also increased the Monday ratings considerably.)
  • Maeby later circulates a "petition to help improve television," referencing the numerous petitions requesting that FOX keep Arrested Development on the air.

Character cameos

• Ann (Mae Whitman) has a brief cameo in this episode. This is her second appearance in the third season, her first being in "Notapusy" (though she'd been mentioned several times throughout Season 3, sometimes just by Gob referring to his 'religious girlfriend', whose identity at the time was unknown to the audience).
• Ed Begley, Jr. makes his first (and only) appearance in the third season as Stan Sitwell, who was a recurring character throughout Season 2.
• Jim Cramer has another cameo as himself, hosting Mad Money. He first did this in "The Cabin Show".
• Justin Lee returns again as Annyong. This is his second appearance in the third season of the show, his first being a brief cameo at the end of "Mr. F".
• This is Oscar's third appearance in Season 3. His first two were in "The Cabin Show" and "Prison Break-In".
• Uncle Paul (Ann's uncle, as seen in "Afternoon Delight" and "Burning Love") makes a brief cameo in this episode, and while he does have a speaking role, none of his lines are audible as the Narrator is talking over them.
• After narrating the entire series, Ron Howard finally makes a physical appearance in the epilogue.

Sources

• FOX
• Quotes for this episode on WikiQuote