The show went off the air in 2006.
The fourth season ofArrested Developmentwas strange, ambitious in its architecture, somehow never-ending without ever beginning.
Season 4 wanted to push the family past its breaking point.
Credit: Sam Urdank/Netflix
The season had a complex timeline when you lined everything up in a binge.
And it was unexpectedly hilarious to watchAlia Shawkat’s Maeby spiral downward into young adulthood.
In the original series, she’d been precociousand, past a certain point, rather sidelined.
(Shawkat’s desperate performance was an early prelude of her demolishing performance onSearch Party.)
Now, as a final unexpected feat of strength, creatorMitchell Hurwitzhas returned to re-edit the entire season.
I rewatched every episode of the original series at least twice.
Whenever I attempt to figure out the audience for thisRemix, the whole thing starts to feel cosmically pointless.
There’s a curious erasure happening here, though, worth noting.
On Netflix right now, theRemixis the only obvious version of season 4.
And the opening narration has changed.
The different words offer a different promise.
“No choice but to come back together”: There’s the concept forseason 5, presumably.
It’s just some opening-credits narration, I know.
