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Arrested Development season 5 (Netflix)

This is an interesting article...

Jessica Walter Shamed by Male ‘Arrested Development’ Co-Stars Over Jeffrey Tambor’s ‘Harassment’

The original article and audio interview are here:

We Sat Down With the ‘Arrested Development’ Cast. It Got Raw.

It's kind of sad to hear that the boys all ganged up on her, since the issue was really between her and Tambor, who acknowledged his behavior to her was inexcusable and apologized for it. She was willing to forgive and drop it because it was a one-time thing, but they wouldn't let her have even that without trying to downplay it and make her look unreasonable.
 
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Yeah it seems like the three guys were all ready to be ultra defensive of Trambor when they should have just shut up and let a 77 year old woman have her opinion. David Cross seems like an asshole in general in real life with that whole "racist joke" thing he never really seemed to understand the problem with.
 
Well I got through all four seasons again. The first three are great, I don't have to tell you that. I watched the "Fateful Consequences" edit of season 4 and it's...not really any better? At firt I thought it was an impovement because you don't have to watch like a 40 minute not particularly funny episode of George Sr. in Mexico, because you just get a few minutes of each story at a time in this edit. And there's some funny new lines added to the narration. But then you start to notice that there's far too much narration and hand holding. The constant recaps just to make sure you got what just happened kill a lot of the jokes that actually worked the first time. And the weak material (Michael in Hollywood is pretty bad and Lucille in prison with a bunch of Asian stereotypes is terrible) is still weak! Really I'd suggest watcing the original edit instead but just watch the GOB episodes (which are great), the Maeby episode (which was very good) and maybe the George Michael and Buster episodes. And skip the rest.

But hey first eight episodes of season 5 tomorrow, hopefully it'll be better!
 
Here are my thoughts on the first four episodes, really mild spoilers below, don't read if you don't want really mild spoilers!

The first two episodes suffer a bit from recapping most of season four's storylines, but I guess that's fine for sensible people who skipped season four in their rewatch! There are still funny parts: the Michael/Buster scene, the Maeby/GM "rapists vs murderers" conversations (really all the Maeby/GM scenes have been the best stuff so far) and Steve Holt. Sadly it still feels a lot slower paced than the first three seasons but I guess that's just how it is now. Episodes 3 and 4 I think worked better for starting new storylines, though again some of the scenes go on too long (rewatching the first three seasons it really stands out how tight and snappy it all is.) Anyway I'll watch the next four tomorrow and give my full half season review BET YOU'RE EXCITED.
 
I have watched all eight, here are my full thoughts with spoilers, don't read, etc.

GOOD THINGS

+ Maeby is the best character now and Alia Shawkat is doing her best work since the start of the show (she was like fourteen when it started though, so that's probably to be expected!) She's the character who goes through actual character growth and her performance enhanced the material. Her story in the old folk's home with Stan Sitwell really worked because it was funny but also quite sweet and had pathos. If they made her the main character with the other (less available) actors as support I'd literally be happy!
+ Buster is pretty funny in all his appearances (though I think Tony Hale must have been busy with Veep because he disappears for a while.) The stuff about her Terminator hand was good.
+ I liked the weird fight scene between Michael and GM at the end of episode three.
+ The Ron Howard stuff was better than in season four (I hated it then.)
+ After a slow start things do get quite good for episodes six and seven. They're not original series quality or anything but if the whole season had been that good I would have felt "yeah, that was good!"
+ There's still some clever stuff in there like the "island for rapists and murderers" bit and some clever wordplay.
+ The GOB/Tony Wonder stuff is kind of sweet, when we actually get some.

BAD THINGS

- Portia de Rossi has retired from acting and only appeared briefly as a favour. And she obviously filmed her stuff seperately from the rest of the cast. It's hugely disappointing, her absence is felt greatly and the marketing made it look like the whole season would be about her senate run which was very misleading!
- Some scenes are so slow. I watched the first three seasons recently and it's so fast paced with funny lines coming so fast that you miss some because your'e still laughing at the last one. They never really achieved that here.
- They don't have a clue what to do with Tobias anymore and they managed to make possibly the funniest character from the oirignal seasons pretty unfunny! The stuff with him impersonating the family wasn't good and his weird bastard son wasn't funny.
- I really liked GOB's story in season four so it's a shame he's just treading water for like the first five episodes here (and Will Arnett looks rough.) Like I said in "good things" they do eventually get Ben Stiller to make an appearance (which seems like it was probably filmed seperately from Arnett, now that I think about it) but it's not enough.
- Michael Cera looks weird as an adult.
- Episode eight wasn't funny at all and was a bad place to end the season.
- There's no real over-arching story to the half season. I have no idea what's going on with Lucille 2 and I don't really care to find out.
- A lot of jokes miss.
- The timeline is more confusing than Twin Peaks. What year is this?
- Some of the callback jokes feel really strained.

I don't know, man, maybe the next eight will be better. Like I said it did get good in episodes 6 and 7 (and probably like 4 and 5 were decent too), but then got bad again in 8. Who knows! I definitely laughed at least once at each episode and there were some good parts (really the whole Maeby story was great.) So I'm not saying it's shit now or anything. But no it's not a return to form either.

ANYWAY WHAT DID EVERYONE ELSE THINK LOL.
 
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Wow I had a lot of thoughts about part 1 of season five and can hardly remember it now (except that Maebe was the best part.)



I'll probably be the only one watching part 2 so I'll try to keep my thoughts shorter I guess.
 
I watched the last eight here are my much shorter than last time thoughts, don't read if you don't want spoilers

GOOD THINGS

+ Maebe still great, Alia Shawkat still great. Would still watch a Maebe spin-off (it will never happen.)
+ I had very low expectations so I didn't find it disappointing. I actualy laughed a fair few times and the cast all have their moments.
+ Lucille squealing for Gene is always funny (and they even acknowledge that it's just repeating a thing from the original show again by having her say "that never gets old!")
+ We did find out what happened to Lucille 2! Buster murdered her! Umm, okay then.
+ Will Arnett got a few moments where he felt like the GOB of old.
+ The courtroom stuff ended up being quite good (the Michael/Lucille scene was probably the best of the season.)
+ I liked the joke about the lawyer show that got cancelled by Netflix because it felt like a reference to something and I couldn't figure out what.

BAD THINGS

- Eh, same as last time. Some jokes just too tired. Cast members disappear for a while.
- Worst being that Lyndsey is only in ONE SCENE. And Jason Bateman and Michael Cera aren't even in it, which makes me weirdly think that Portia de Rossi refused to work with one or both of them.
- The finale didn't really feel like the end of the entrie show. But I'm pretty sure it is.
- Ben Stiller obviously filmed his stuff seperately from everyone else...even his own wife.
- It was a bit weird how the GOB/Tony Wonder thing just ended with them both saying they're not gay and going their separate ways. Probably won't go down well on tumblr.
- Not enough Maebe.
- Not enough Isla Fisher.

Anyway, I was only watching it for completion's sake and I don't actually regret watching it. It wasn't so bad that it made me hate everyone involved and retroactively hate the first free season's. It was just, ultimately, a kind of pointless season, even more than season 4 (which at least tried something different), but with enough funny parts and good performances to be watchable if you don't have anything else to watch.

If anyone else ever watches it please post in this thread so I feel less alone.
 
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