Lee Chaolan
Member
I felt so bad for Michael this whole season. Gob is my favorite character, but Michael's like a close second. It hurt man. The feels.
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Arrested Development |OT| Season 4 - May 26 - Netflix Unmakes A Huge Mistake
- Thread starter FantasticMrFoxdie
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I felt so bad for Michael this whole season. Gob is my favorite character, but Michael's like a close second. It hurt man. The feels.
Zoramon089
Banned
Also didn't the little kid who saw her and Tobias dressed as F4 characters on the street think she was a guy?
Lee Chaolan
Member
Yep, there were tons of knee jerk reactions, and a lot of scorned journalists, as they perhaps felt betrayed that they weren't able to see the show beforehand, so maybe some of that hostility carried over into the brand new format. It's possible. There have already been a couple recensions on a couple of the early reviews, saying they enjoyed it better, and yes, it required an additional viewing.
Also as for "Netflick medium" Didn't Maeby name drop Netflix at one point, or say Netflick? lol.
Fantastical
Death Prophet
"The Netflick."
Netflix was also mentioned by George Michael talking about Rebel's remake of the Dangerous Cousins.
I assume you don't have any insider info for Netflix?
Seven Force
Banned
It shouldn't have taken me until Episode 15 to realize the "Leave a note!" sign on George Michael's dorm door, haha.
George Michael was about to do one in his episode too when talking to his roommate. He said "block block block" and was about to do some more, but he got interrupted.
Lee Chaolan
Member
One thing about this season that is kind of jarring, you can really tell when they dub an actor's voice when they're back is turned to the camera as they're speaking.
It's something that could have easily been fixed in editing, instead it sticks out like a sore thumb every time they had to re-record some audio.
It's something that could have easily been fixed in editing, instead it sticks out like a sore thumb every time they had to re-record some audio.
It's done so poorly I thought it was a joke I wasn't getting.
Lee Chaolan
Member
Have we figured out who the Anonymous guys are in the masks that didn't want George Michael to go forward with his speech at Quatro, or was that another Social Network joke, as I never saw the movie?
Hobbestetrician
Member
GOB 2 is even better, probably the best of the run. GOB definitely wins my MVP despite not showing up for the first few episodes.
I'm fairly certain it's...Anonymous. The 4chan thing. They're all about free speech, and Maharis' fake software will hinder that.
See You Next Wednesday
Banned
Watched the 1st 3 episodes, does it get funnier?
So far so good, pretty much on-par with where they left off in writing quality, but I haven't laughed like I did with the classic episodes from AD yet.
The show seems more focused on the story continuation/arc than anything else.
So far so good, pretty much on-par with where they left off in writing quality, but I haven't laughed like I did with the classic episodes from AD yet.
The show seems more focused on the story continuation/arc than anything else.
BomberMouse
Member
I'm up to ep 10 and have been enjoying it so far. The time jumping get waaaay confusing though, it really is too much.
Yep thats it.
Oh boy, I lost it when Anonymous showed up!
I think it's deliberate.real, but exaggerated.
brianjones
Member
its brutal that they make us wait 7 episodes for gob to show up while george sr. has 2 duds
Yeah I'm enjoying it more in hindsight than I think I did at any point in the moment. Stuff like revealing what FakeBlock actually was after so many episodes of misleading you is just great.
Zoramon089
Banned
Trust me, when you reach the end it clicks. I'm seriously not exaggerating even slighty. Everything just comes together perfectly and all the plot threads make sense.
Also, am I the only person who loves the song at the end of the last ep?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5DPcc13mFA
So fitting if you listen to the lyrics
timetokill
Banned
It happened in the first three seasons all the time, too.
i think it's just a thing they're willing to put up with if better jokes come along.
Lee Chaolan
Member
LOL. Thanks. It just keeps getting more Brilliant. The cheap knockoff mask, is pretty funny.
One thing I love in the rewatch is in GM's 2nd episode (number 13)...it opens with the communal pool and everyone partying and treating him like he's the best.
The narration forces the viewer to think it was a company party, he keeps describing how happy they are to 'be in his company'. And everything they say to him makes the viewer think that they're referring to him as a boss.
But it's all because he's a 22 year old man in a 15 year old's body, and he's living with a bunch of sexual offenders.
When I first watched it, I just assumed his company was big and he was the new boss (much like Michael was, only he wasn't a slave driver).
Awesome stuff.
The narration forces the viewer to think it was a company party, he keeps describing how happy they are to 'be in his company'. And everything they say to him makes the viewer think that they're referring to him as a boss.
But it's all because he's a 22 year old man in a 15 year old's body, and he's living with a bunch of sexual offenders.
When I first watched it, I just assumed his company was big and he was the new boss (much like Michael was, only he wasn't a slave driver).
Awesome stuff.
Lee Chaolan
Member
It definitely gets funnier. It really get into the groove during your first watch at around episode 5 or so, Tobias, and then Gob. Then everything is so much rewarding with your new knowledge from the later episodes when you rewatch the other ones. Still, it's definitely a darker series and has a good drama dynamic to it.
jacob armitage
Banned
I didn't find it any more jarring than the original run. I think we're just aware they do it and look it for a little more.
I'm just thankful the green screening was never too bad.
Lee Chaolan
Member
Hey Goby....it's Tony! I almost spit out my drink laughing when I heard that again. haha.
metalslimer
Member
The Abortion Story: It was almost a wonderful life had me in tears.
Lee Chaolan
Member
I'm watching it again now to try to see, but something funny that caught my attention, the name of the Knife shop, that Gob and Michael plowed through the wall of is called "Thin Wally's Knife Store." Hahaha.
Yes. Michael IS a boomerang, basically!
"I'm done with this family!"
One thing I really liked was those scenes where George Micheal just stood there while the narrator explained what he was thinking, and then the narrator immediately calls him out on how weird that was
I was crying. I need to rewatch that episode again. The whole church scene was wonderfully awkward.
A good 2000 posts behind on the thread because I didn't want to be spoiled. So I don't know how people felt yet. Here's my reaction:
On Sunday I was telling people to chill out, that the show got better around eps 4/5/6. I spoke too soon. Season 4 was definitely the worst thing Arrested Development has done. Still fine, mind you, but certainly a disappointment.
So Arrested Development was always lauded for its complexity. It was like someone was putting together complex 3D figures or something, and you were often unable to see how each detail came into being. But it was never incomprehensible, and it always ended up being something you could understand, even take in your hands and examine pretty easily to figure out better.
Season 4 is like someone's trying to depict a 4D shape in a 3D space, and it's just constantly changing and it's utterly beyond comprehension. You can get glimpses of stuff that sort of makes sense, but if you think you can understand the full figure you're lying or a genius. What's more is that the person rendering that figure isn't trying to make it easier for you. They're not attempting to make this high-dimension shape easier to understand. They're constantly changing perspective and then snatching it away from you, and rubbing your face in how hard it is to follow. As if we'll be so in awe at its unfathomable complexity we'll drop to our knees and take a chubby. It's more impressed with itself than we could ever be.
Where the layered narrative of seasons 1-3 brought delayed gratification, the overwrought form of season 4 simply denies it. I didn't really like never understanding the timeframe on the entire thing (so it was 5 years? but I thought they said 7? but then at other times it seemed like a character's entire story would be like 3 months?), or having to create a notepad doc just to remember where each character had been last. However it's not just that the narrative is too hard to follow at times, it's that its structure factually denies so many of the show's good qualities. The main one: the ensemble. We were warned about this one, doesn't make it sting any less. It sucks that the characters spend so little time together. Really badly. Audience love family. So I wanted to see them do a lot together, naturally. You put all those funny characters in a room, funny stuff happens. It's basic ensemble sitcom stuff. You want sparks flying between the whole cast. The structure of season 4 goes out of its way to deny that, almost never giving us more than two main characters at a time. Tied closely to that: joke density suffers. The show, due to it constantly shifting locations or explaining what's going on with a character or how much time has passed, doesn't have as much time for jokes. Well actually, I'd say it has the same amount of time for jokes as it did in previous seasons, but that's 21ish minutes and then you have about 10 minutes of narrative grunt work. It's exhausting. The jokes that are there are pretty hysterical. ANUSTART. Maria Bamford everything. BabyTock. Buster and his giant hand (favorite: punching the picture of Love with his real hand, then smacking himself in the head with the monster hand). Gob and Tony Wonder hitting it off. Marky Bark's face blindness. Maeby's amazing reaction to the ostrich. See, now that I'm thinking back on it, there's a ton here that's riotously funny. But it's so spread out and obscured that in the moment the laughter is dulled.
Beyond surface narrative and humor stuff is a little more concerning though. Like, the original series had the family in deals with Iraqis, it had them be offensive to other races, so on. But they seemed sorry about it or simply unaware of their horribleness. In season 4 they so willingly do evil and the show so gleefully throws out racist jokes. Did anyone think asian people pronouncing words wrong was funny? Not even thinking about it on a race level it's such a basic, tired joke. The show puts it out there like it's a hysterical bit to be lingered on. There was a lot that made me uncomfortable in a bad way throughout the season.
Truthfully though, that's not as important as the narrative and comedic problems. Those really did neuter the show to me. It was a fine experiment, structuring a show like this. It's aiming high. Maybe someday someone will do it right. Hurwitz and co. missed the target. Whatever's next, new season or movie, I hope the problems with season 4 are understood and fixed.
a quick note: I already hate how Hurwitz is tweeting basically about how REAL fans are accepting the structure and stuffy ~~critics~~ are disliking it. It's ignorant, plainly. For someone who's so clearly smart to fall into hyperdefensive modes of dividing the audience so cleanly is silly. He had to have known when trying such an obtuse experiment that there was a chance it would fail, or that many would see it as a failure. He apparently didn't toughen up enough for that.
On Sunday I was telling people to chill out, that the show got better around eps 4/5/6. I spoke too soon. Season 4 was definitely the worst thing Arrested Development has done. Still fine, mind you, but certainly a disappointment.
So Arrested Development was always lauded for its complexity. It was like someone was putting together complex 3D figures or something, and you were often unable to see how each detail came into being. But it was never incomprehensible, and it always ended up being something you could understand, even take in your hands and examine pretty easily to figure out better.
Season 4 is like someone's trying to depict a 4D shape in a 3D space, and it's just constantly changing and it's utterly beyond comprehension. You can get glimpses of stuff that sort of makes sense, but if you think you can understand the full figure you're lying or a genius. What's more is that the person rendering that figure isn't trying to make it easier for you. They're not attempting to make this high-dimension shape easier to understand. They're constantly changing perspective and then snatching it away from you, and rubbing your face in how hard it is to follow. As if we'll be so in awe at its unfathomable complexity we'll drop to our knees and take a chubby. It's more impressed with itself than we could ever be.
Where the layered narrative of seasons 1-3 brought delayed gratification, the overwrought form of season 4 simply denies it. I didn't really like never understanding the timeframe on the entire thing (so it was 5 years? but I thought they said 7? but then at other times it seemed like a character's entire story would be like 3 months?), or having to create a notepad doc just to remember where each character had been last. However it's not just that the narrative is too hard to follow at times, it's that its structure factually denies so many of the show's good qualities. The main one: the ensemble. We were warned about this one, doesn't make it sting any less. It sucks that the characters spend so little time together. Really badly. Audience love family. So I wanted to see them do a lot together, naturally. You put all those funny characters in a room, funny stuff happens. It's basic ensemble sitcom stuff. You want sparks flying between the whole cast. The structure of season 4 goes out of its way to deny that, almost never giving us more than two main characters at a time. Tied closely to that: joke density suffers. The show, due to it constantly shifting locations or explaining what's going on with a character or how much time has passed, doesn't have as much time for jokes. Well actually, I'd say it has the same amount of time for jokes as it did in previous seasons, but that's 21ish minutes and then you have about 10 minutes of narrative grunt work. It's exhausting. The jokes that are there are pretty hysterical. ANUSTART. Maria Bamford everything. BabyTock. Buster and his giant hand (favorite: punching the picture of Love with his real hand, then smacking himself in the head with the monster hand). Gob and Tony Wonder hitting it off. Marky Bark's face blindness. Maeby's amazing reaction to the ostrich. See, now that I'm thinking back on it, there's a ton here that's riotously funny. But it's so spread out and obscured that in the moment the laughter is dulled.
Beyond surface narrative and humor stuff is a little more concerning though. Like, the original series had the family in deals with Iraqis, it had them be offensive to other races, so on. But they seemed sorry about it or simply unaware of their horribleness. In season 4 they so willingly do evil and the show so gleefully throws out racist jokes. Did anyone think asian people pronouncing words wrong was funny? Not even thinking about it on a race level it's such a basic, tired joke. The show puts it out there like it's a hysterical bit to be lingered on. There was a lot that made me uncomfortable in a bad way throughout the season.
Truthfully though, that's not as important as the narrative and comedic problems. Those really did neuter the show to me. It was a fine experiment, structuring a show like this. It's aiming high. Maybe someday someone will do it right. Hurwitz and co. missed the target. Whatever's next, new season or movie, I hope the problems with season 4 are understood and fixed.
a quick note: I already hate how Hurwitz is tweeting basically about how REAL fans are accepting the structure and stuffy ~~critics~~ are disliking it. It's ignorant, plainly. For someone who's so clearly smart to fall into hyperdefensive modes of dividing the audience so cleanly is silly. He had to have known when trying such an obtuse experiment that there was a chance it would fail, or that many would see it as a failure. He apparently didn't toughen up enough for that.
FantasticMrFoxdie
Mumber
Found a timeline thats still a work in progress:
I really want to see what the writers room was like.
http://i2.wp.com/remarked.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Screen-Shot-2013-05-28-at-21.53.09.png
I really want to see what the writers room was like.
Amazing how this season progresses from really bad to start to super amazing. I had my doubts about the season being one really long episode but it worked so well. I suspect the first three episodes will get a lot better too on a rewatch.
Also, who was it in the end that sealed Gob's secret compartment in his Jesus cave?
Also, who was it in the end that sealed Gob's secret compartment in his Jesus cave?
Lee Chaolan
Member
Nope, didn't see anything in the Lobby of My Litle Ballroom that looked like a Franklin Tribute 
Just a Monkey in a t-shirt.
I don't believe that's been answered yet. Could be Ann's Dad, although I love how Gob saw the cross, and thought it was a "t" for Tony Wonder. haha.
Just a Monkey in a t-shirt.
I don't believe that's been answered yet. Could be Ann's Dad, although I love how Gob saw the cross, and thought it was a "t" for Tony Wonder. haha.
brianjones
Member
that's more confusing than the chart for primer
Oh, and the Rogen/Wiig thing? Didn't get better, only got worse. If you HAD to cast younger Bluth parents, they're decent choices. But why stray from the show's usual practice of putting the characters in wigs? It was distracting more than anything.
Ann, I thought. Gob just thought it was Tony because he doesn't get the cross, he's that bad a Christian. edit: who knows.
Ann, I thought. Gob just thought it was Tony because he doesn't get the cross, he's that bad a Christian. edit: who knows.
Zoramon089
Banned
It's okay because watching this was infinitely more enjoyable
I'm going to skip the rest of this post because I haven't finished, but--
I sympathize with him. When you spend as much time as he did crafting this and then to have Variety write a review lamenting how it was released as a fault of the show itself, I'd be frustrated too. And the social media consensus seems to be far friendlier to the new season than critics (and hey, a 74 on meta critic is not bad).
Should he have said it as he did? No. I'm sure Hurwitz realizes the problems with the season. But have critics been focusing too much on the idea of "what is binge watching and how do we review it?" far too much? Yes. And that's disappointing.
EDIT: I would also say that not only is television criticism one of the most amateurish forms of criticism beyond a few notable examples, but there has also been a hive mind mentality with television critics compared to other art forms that I can't quite comprehend. Also, concepts like Netflix and their non traditional attitude towards traditional release schedules or ratings seem to frustrate critics more than necessary. It's been an interesting phenomena with House of Cards and now with Arrested.
Looked like it might be wearing a Franklin-esque wig.Nope, didn't see anything in the Lobby of My Litle Ballroom that looked like a Franklin Tribute
Just a Monkey in a t-shirt.
Lee Chaolan
Member
Thanks for that, pretty cool. Also like how it says Gob has "normal" sex with
Tony Wonder
Franklin was such a bundle of little joy. Everything just seemed so down and out for everyone this season that Franklin didn't have a chance to come out. It's a shame.
I still noticed it but it wasn't nearly as bad as in the original seasons. Still not great, but some of George Sr's lines in seasons 2 and 3 were inserted sooooo badly.
Lee Chaolan
Member
You can never have enough Gob. It was a crime though at the lack of Buster. You BARELY saw him up until episode freaking 14. Then the fact he only had one episode was sad when others got more
I probably did react to his reaction too quickly, as I don't have all of the context yet. I haven't really been reading others reactions or press reviews or thinkpieces. You're probably right in that what they were writing about necessitated him to act like that.
And now that I look at his twitter again, it looks like he's trying to say that he's fine with people who aren't entirely with it as long as they're not being too negative about it. So he does seem pretty measured.
rewatched half of it before watching season 4, it's better. And when I say half I don't mean i skipped the Mr. F arc that many hate, I watched a couple episodes from each half of the season. 2=1>3>4.
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