3x09 S.O.B.s

[9.0/10] I am a sucker for meta humor and good god, this episode is chock full of it. I adore all of the meta references to the way that Arrested Development was on the bubble at the time this episode aired. The discussions of possible leaps to HBO and Showtime, the Narrator asking the audience to “please tell your friends about this show” and Michael planning ways for the family to “make it past the next few weeks” are all the sort of fourth wall-nudging gags that I enjoy.

I also appreciate “S.O.B.s”’s spoof of classic desperation moves from flailing sitcoms. The promise that a character will die (replete with the fake out that it’s some minor nobody), the use of 3-D, and the gimmick of a live ending are all true-to-life ways that shows teetering on the edge try to gose some interest.

But my favorite metacommentary in this one has to do with the descriptions of the show itself and, more specifically, it’s characters. Michael is right. The bluths are self-centered and not terribly likable. That’s what makes the show so funny for much of the time -- these are ridiculous people who deserve the insane things that happen to them -- but it’s not necessarily something that endears them to a general audience. The show tangles with weird and complicated problems, from bizarre incest plots to knotty father-son relationship issues, which lack easy answers, in contrast to clear cut scenarios with the potential for comedy. The truth is that as great as it was, Arrested Development was never going to attract a broad audience, and this episode seizes on why.

But it’s also a hoot! Oh man, everything in this works. I love the way GOB manages to, in fact, accidentally work a day in his life. Him waitering at the club as a joke, only to accidentally be a half-decent waiter is a great setup. And the fact that the jig is up when he accidentally tries to flirt with Lucille, replete with a classic “COME ON!” is great. Likewise, Lucille trying to drum up support for the Save Our Bluths benefit by taking lunches that eclub, only to use up their credit and thus dissuade the club from catering the event, is more clockwork comedy from the show.

There’s tons of laughs to be had from Tobias trying to be a “discipline daddy” with Maeby by enlisting her in stalking and vaguely threatening casting directors. Her using her film executive job to get him out of her hair is a nice resolution. Lindsay trying to be a housewife and stumbling onto great recipes like “hot ham water” and “chicken with chicken sauce” brings the yuks, especially with Buster glomming onto her once she’s more mom-like.

That just leaves Michael and his son. George Michael being sent to “Openings”, a “feel goodery” school to learn to express himself is a fun premise, and George Michael cribbing off of Maeby to overcome that inability leads to some amusingly dark escalation. Andy Richter is a delight in a series of role that spoof his forgotten show, Quintuplets, and the gags about his brother Emmett not wanting to be shown are particularly fantastic. George Michael as the Muffin Man is a trademark dark gag from the show. Plus hey, the celebrity guests (some of whom hadn’t made their main appearance on the show yet!) are a lot of fun.

What sticks with me though is Michael’s final speeches -- he’s right that he doesn’t listen (most frequently to his son), and that the Bluths have had plenty of chances. I love Arrested Development. I think it’s one of the top comedies of all time. But it’s not for everyone, and despite some hurdles, it’s hard to blame the network for having trouble getting general viewers to connect with the show this off-the-wall and, frankly, avant garde for network T.V. in 2006. There’s some self-awareness in this one, without sacrificing any laughs, and it’s one of the things that makes the series great, even if it was destined to be a cult series rather than a widely popular success.