3x01 The Cabin Show

[8.0/10] A great season premiere, that reminds the audience where things stand after last season and sets things up nicely for the season to come.

I think my favorite storyline in this one was GOB’s multi-directional daddy issues. His shtick with feeling bad about how George Sr. never invited him to stay at the family cabin and then failed to make good on the promise is the exact kind of tortured pretzel logic that feels true to the character. Ron Howard’s narration delivery of lines like “GOB was growing up” was perfect, and the “taste the sadness/taste the happy” bits were suitably bizarre.

But I love his doltish obliviousness with Steve Holt. Their gags about going on a “son and son” camping trip and misunderstanding a father/son statue was a hoot. The two make a great pair, and GOB bailing as soon as he learns what’s really going on was true to form.

That said, next on the list has to be the Lucille/Buster storyline. It is dark and hell, but a great showcase for Jessica Walter. Her scowls are fantastic here, and the running gags of “__ hours without medication” had me cracking up. Her efforts to escape Buster’s snoring and avoid her own infanticidal impulses are a weird combo, but lead to some all time classic deliveries of “Good for her” and “That was a freebie!”

The weakest storyline was probably Lindsay and Tobias’s. The gags about Lindsay only wanting what she can’t have go a little cartoonish, and the misadventures at Swallows, the half-restaurant half-sex club, are a little out there as well. That said, there’s still some nice bits involved. I particularly enjoyed Tobias identifying Kitty’s infidelity via blue handprints, Lindsay’s accidental misuse of the copier, and the weird fakeout attempt to make her jealous with Tobias playing Kitty and Barry Zuckercorn playing Tobias.

I also enjoyed the storyline with the kids. It’s understandably awkward for them after their kiss in the last episode, and it’s TGIF-like but still chuckle-worthy how much they try to avoid one another and yet keep finding themselves thrown together anyway. On the comedy front, I got a kick out of Maeby choosing to make out with Steve Holt when it seems her cousin has stood her up, only for Steve to turn out to be her cousin as well. It’s a weird form of irony, but that may as well be Arrested Development’s calling card.

But on a more dramatic front, I actually really liked Michael and George Michael’s conversation here. George Michael is strangely sympathetic in his laments to his dad that he’s facing a “problem without an answer” and Michael is honestly pretty heartwarming in his resolve that they can figure anything out together. I always forget that from time to time this show would get real, especially with Michael and his son, and could do a pretty darn good job of it.

Last but not least, I like the use of George Sr. and Oscar here, which ties into the theme of parents not being there for their children in the episode. For one thing, I just love the fact that the tipoff for Michael that the man in prison is his uncle and not his father comes down to Oscar telling him that his child has to come first. More to the point, I like the instant reversal of Michael declaring that this time, his family’s not going to drag him away, only for George Sr. to literally drive him off.

Overall, a bucket of laughs in this one, some neat interlocking storylines and running gags, and the other comic good stuff you expect from AD.