Is this the end ofArrested Development?
Sad to say, I hope so.
The second half of the fifth season lands on Netflix today.
Credit: Netflix
In the season (series?)
finale, a long 45-minute-ish episode, there is an 80-second Ron Howard narration montage.
Its a recap of key plot points from a few episodes earlier.
The jokes werent funny the first time.
The newest reboot is worried that you missed a gigantic plot moment screamed through a megaphone.
Exposition in quotation marks is still exposition.
And theres an extended spoof of true-crime documentaries, literally the funniest idea of twoAmerican Vandals ago.
AndJeffrey Tamborgives two bad performances, sometimes in the same scene.
Are we having fun yet?
Tambor once again plays two Bluths: befuddled patriarch George Senior and befuddled uncle Oscar.
He looks physically befuddled, wondering how two distinctive characters became emotionally identical gagbots.
Its not just a Tambor problem.
Theres an uncanny-valley point where comedic repetition feels less smart than lazy.
Michael (Jason Bateman) and G.O.B.
are, briefly, co-presidenting at the Bluth company… again!
In last years midseason finale, Ben Stillers Tony Wonder was seemingly killed in a cement mishap.
Its old-school desperate, a celebrity cameo clipshowed into a supporting role.
As matriarch Lucille,Jessica Waltertries hard to bring back her acidic magic.
In the first three seasons, Lucille was a glorious grotesque of Orange County upper-classless aristocracy.
The original season 3 finale revealed that Lucille was also the dominating influence in the Bluths business affairs.
Now shes just one of many characters plotting elaborate real-estate deals.
Credit creator Mitchell Hurwitz for crafting art insane enough to inspire our insane real life.
Season 5s Trump stuff feels less inspired than dutiful, though.
Was there another plan?
Portia de Rossis Lindsay was running for Congress at the start of season 5.
But de Rossi barely appears in the new batch of episodes.
Then again, Hurwitz decided season 5 would be a period piece, set in some eternal 2015.
Maybe thats why the new episodes feel so immediately dated.
In this glorious past, the money-grubbing Bluths are falling.
In 2019, various real-world Bluths are doing just fine.
Is there a future for this series?
Its worth noting thatArrested Developmentlaunched the careers of two flavors of millennial icon.
You get the vibe that the show doesnt really know what to do with the younger characters.
Or much of anything, really.
The wordplay this go-round feels back-of-the-napkin: Mistrial!
Yes, yes, Imissedyourtrial!
The ADR is invasive, like every conversation was written in post-production to make room for more exposition.
Everyone knowsArrested Developmentended 13 years ago.D
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