Catch up with the Bluths before you bust out ‘Arrested’
Prepare to blue yourselves, Arrested Development fans: Your favorite dysfunctional family is back for another season on Netflix Tuesday. So where do we pick up with the Bluths? Allow us to bring you up to speed:
❚ Michael (Jason Bateman) When the season picks up, Michael hasn’t spoken to anyone in his family for two months and is happily working for a company that looks a lot like Google. But he gets roped back into the Bluths’ shenanigans when they host a Family of the Year award ceremony, honoring themselves with a fake trophy to help Lindsay’s (Portia de Rossi) congressional campaign. “It’s sort of like the White House,” Bateman says. “They didn’t really want it, but they’re giving it to themselves anyway.”
❚ Gob (Will Arnett)
After his tryst with rival magician Tony Wonder (Ben Stiller) last season, Gob struggles to accept that he actually might be in love with Tony. “It’s really about him looking for connection, but he doesn’t have the emotional bandwidth to figure out that discomfort,” Arnett says. “Tony becomes the object of that and they do this kind of dance — quite literally, at some points — trying to figure that out.”
❚ Buster (Tony Hale)
The youngest Bluth son — who lost his hand in a “loose seal” accident — is accused of murdering former girlfriend Lucille Austero (Liza Minnelli), a social rival of his mother, Lucille Bluth (Jessica Walter), to whom he is overly attached. Thrown in jail without either Lucille is “rough,” Hale says. “For someone like Buster, who lives in a state of paralyzing fear, putting him in prison brings a lot of challenges,” as do his assortment of new fake hands.
❚ George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) and Lucille (Jessica Walter)
Gob isn’t the only one whose love life is in question: Lucille starts seeing a new man after asking George for a divorce the previous season, which he is secretly heartsick over. “She’s more the alpha this year and running the show,” Tambor says. “He’s trying to catch up and figure out what’s going on.”
❚ Maeby Fünke (Alia Shawkat) After learning her teenage boyfriend is an undercover cop, Maeby attempts to go into hiding and tries on a variety of disguises. She eventually moves in with a guy at a retirement community and takes on the persona of an old woman named Annette. “I had a full costume and fake teeth,” Shawkat says. “I really turned into someone else when I’d wear it. It was really fun.”
❚ George-Michael (Michael Cera) George-Michael came to blows with his dad, Michael, in the Season 4 finale over actress Rebel Alley (Isla Fisher), whom they were both dating. They’re still not speaking when the season picks up, so George-Michael awkwardly attempts to carry on his relationship with Rebel, which makes cousin/love interest Maeby jealous.
❚ Tobias (David Cross) and Lindsay Fünke (Portia de Rossi)
With Lindsay running for Congress and filing for divorce, Tobias tries to find a way to stay in the Bluth clan. Given his theatrical background, he decides the best way to do this is by dressing up and acting like members of the family, including George-Michael and George Sr.