Arrested Development Recap: Was That the Series Finale? Plus: The Fallout From the Wall — Grade It!
Netflix on Friday released what was likely the series finale of Arrested Development, bringing the revived comedy to a fitting — and, let’s face it, long overdue — end.
As previously reported, the odds are not in Arrested‘s favor to return for a sixth season (particularly in the wake of that disastrous New York Times piece). “I’ve learned to say ‘never say never,'” co-star David Cross recently remarked, “but I can’t see it happening again, I think for a number of reasons.”
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Beyond the real-life controversies, it’s hard to imagine how series creator Mitch Hurwitz would expand upon the Bluths’ story in a hypothetical Season 6, especially given where we leave Michael et al. at the end of Episode 16.
MICHAEL & GEORGE MICHAEL | Father and son bury the hatchet after exchanging fisticuffs at the border wall prototype reveal. With George Michael and Gob temporarily incapacitated, Michael goes ahead and sells FakeBlock to the Chinese government. Then, having put the family back together, he and George Michael hop in the stair car and drive far, far away. It’s time for anustart.
GEORGE SR. & LUCILLE | Thanks to Michael, George and Lucille can rest easy knowing that the Chinese won’t be looking for them to repay their debt. And now that the deal for the border wall is off, George Sr. assumes that no one will ever get around to building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. “According to the succeeding New York Times, Donald Trump doesn’t even have a chance of winning that election,” he says. “I don’t know,” Lucille replies. “Don’t count out his likability.” (2015, am I right?!?)
LINDSAY, TOBIAS & MAEBY | Lindsay, who in the previous episode was revealed not to be Lucille’s daughter, but her sister, returns to the family and reunites with Tobias and Maeby. Her return comes at a perfect time for Tobias, who has just been abandoned by his girlfriend Debrie and his son, Murphy Brown, both of whom had betrayed him and become lovers.
GOB | With Buster’s help, Gob pulls off his closet reversal trick at the wall prototype reveal, where he is reunited with a very-much-alive Tony Wonder. Tony tells Gob that he’s trying to make it work with Sally Sitwell and has agreed to oversee her missing father’s construction business. That makes the illusionists business rivals. As a result, they can’t be friends… but they can occasionally get together and do “hand stuff.”
BUSTER | Motherboy did in fact kill Lucille’s mom when he was just 8-years-old. He also killed Lucille Austero, which is confirmed when her corpse is dug out of the cement wall. “OK, I did it,” Buster admits, surrounded by his family. He then takes a good look at Lucille II’s lifeless body and comes to a realization 16 years in the making: “Doesn’t she remind you of Mom?”
What did you think of Arrested Development‘s potential series finale (and Season 5 overall)? Do you want a Season 6, or is it time to call it quits? Weigh in via the following polls, then flesh out your thoughts in the comments.
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