Justice Is Blind
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Arrested Development" | |
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| Episode No | 1AJD17 |
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| Airdate | March 21, 2004 |
| Writer(s) | Abraham Higginbotham |
| Director | Jay Chandrasekhar |
| On the next: | “Barry gets a sign from God, and Maggie is replaced with a new, less generous prosecutor.” |
| Guest star(s) | Amy Poehler as Wife of Gob Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Maggie Lizer Ping Wu as Proctor |
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Arrested Development Season 1 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Justice is Blind" was the seventeenth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Following G.O.B.'s advice, Michael had recently set out to have an uncomplicated one-night stand with a woman. The woman he found was Maggie Lizer, blind attorney. Michael gave her a false identity, that of Jareth Cutestory, maritime attorney. And what started out as a no-strings-attached night of passion got complicated when Michael found out Maggie was blind, and she was also the prosecutor on his father's case. He went to her house to reveal his true identity, but before he could, Maggie handed him her summary for the Bluth case, asking him to read it for her. See Altar Egos for further details on what happened in the previous episode.
At school, George Michael accosts Maeby about her second identity, her ‘twin’ Surely, a wheelchair-bound sick girl suffering from BS. But Maeby is unapologetic about her money-making scheme. Meanwhile, Michael is wrestling with the dilemma of Maggie's case file when G.O.B. comes home. G.O.B., of course, wants to destroy the evidence. But Michael points out it is simply a list of evidence and apparently the prosecution has a lot of boxes of evidence against their father. George Michael, with a newly sprained elbow, and Maeby come in. Lindsay, upon hearing of George Michael injuring himself while carrying a handicapped girl up the bleachers at school, advises him to threaten to sue, like she was doing to get a Ten Commandments statue removed front the front of the county courthouse. Michael declares that his son will not be abusing the legal system, and at that moment realizes he has to do the right thing with Maggie's file.
Over drinks, Michael confesses that's he's not Jareth Cutestory, he's Michael Bluth. Maggie tells him she already knew that because she smelled him, and the filie was just a test. And anyway, the file is more of a wish list of evidence, not an actual list. Seems the prosecution hasn't found all of the evidence yet. But more importantly, Michael and Maggie can't ethically continue their relationship. Although they do.
Waking up the next morning at Maggie's, the happy couple realizes they have to keep their illicit relationship a dirty little secret. Over at the prison, George Sr. is meeting with G.O.B., Barry Zuckerkorn and Lucille. G.O.B. secretly stole the evidence list while Michael was busy chiding his family for abusing the legal system. And he was under the impression that the boxes of evidence were stashed at Maggie's place. While the adults meet, Buster and Annyong wait outside. Annyong tells Buster that George Sr. is about to take a plea and come home, meaning Buster would be moving out. Inside, George Sr. suggests the idea of having G.O.B. break into Maggie's and steal the evidence.
Michael and Maggie are enjoying a walk when a police officer pulls up. The officer needs to take Maggie to the station because a surprise witness has turned up. Michael offers to take Justice, Maggie's seeing-eye dog home for her. And G.O.B. decides to pass on his break-in assignment to Tobias. Desperate to finally impress George Sr., Tobias offers to put his legendary cat-like agility to use.
Michael, meanwhile, wants to see what Maggie's world is like. Closing his eyes, he allows Justice to lead him around. Justice, however, leads Michael directly into traffic and is hit by a car. Down at the station, Maggie meets with the surprise witness, Buster. Buster is willing to offer insider evidence in exchange for George Sr. being kept in prison and Annyong being sent back to Korea. But Buster's interview proves fruitless, as he knows nothing about his father's trips overseas or business associates, or anything much at all. However, when Maggie threatens to take away Buster's grilled cheese sandwich, he panics and offers up the only information he has: there are boxes of evidence in a house on Scenic View Drive. Where Maggie lives.
Tobias, meanwhile, uses his cat-like agility to sneak into Maggie's house. Unfortunately, it's just as Maggie returns home. Tobias, concerned about Maggie's heightened sense of smell, sets off to cloak himself in her scent. As Maggie stalks the house, suspicious of an intruder, Tobias repeatedly freezes in position.
Michael is at the vet's office. The vet reports that Justice is just fine, but dressing him up like a seeing-eye dog was a little cruel because Justice is blind. Michael realizes that if Justice is blind, then Maggie can't be. And in fact, she isn't, but has been pretending to be since she found it helpful in taking the LSAT because her instructor put his pencil over the correct answer in anticipation of Maggie’s response.
Finding it a tremendous use to her professional life, Maggie continued the ruse. Her secret ability to see, however, is currently proving a disadvantage to Tobias, who is finding her to be an uncannily difficult blind girl to outwit. Their game of cat and mouse continues until Michael shows up to return Justice. But when Maggie walks into the bathroom where Tobias is hiding, he panics and sprays her eyes with perfume.
Later, the family gathers at the courthouse to respond to the plea offer. Outside the courthouse, Surely Fünke is addressing the crowd about the injustice of the lack of ramps at her school. George Michael, accompanying Maeby, spots his father, and not wanting to appear as if he's abusing the legal system, hides behind the massive Ten Commandments statue. Michael, determined to expose Maggie in court, hides on the other side of the statue. But it's at that moment that Lindsay’s group lands their big legal victory, and the statue is lifted out by a crane, and the two see each other. And the Ten Commandments are dropped on Barry Zuckerkorn's car.
In court, Michael sets out to expose Maggie. Addressing the court, Michael picks up a Bible and throws it at Maggie, figuring she would duck and blow her cover. Unfortunately, Maggie was ironically blinded by Tobias’ spray of perfume. The Bible smacks her in the face, and Michael is led away.
Outside, meanwhile, George Michael is determined to expose Maeby's lie to the crowd, but when she credits him as her inspiration, he reverses course and leads the assembled in a chant of "No more BS!" Inside, Michael reunites with Maggie. They both apologize, with Maggie explaining that she will tell people that being struck with the Bible restored her sight, although that would require a bit of religious zealotry. Which she thinks could be fun.
[edit] Episode Notes
- This was the 18th episode produced, but the 17th to air.
- The Episode title title substitutes a real person (actually, dog) for the metaphor, Justice is Blind.
[edit] References
- While taking the LSAT exam fifteens years earlier, Maggie Lizer wore a Dukakis button.
- Tobias is making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen.
- Buster drinks chocolate milk with his grilled cheese sandwich.
[edit] Callbacks/running jokes
- Barry's secret life - Barry picks up a prostitute who is actually an undercover cop, and gets booked, hence the mug shots.
- Catlike Agility - Tobias shows off his catlike agility by breaking into Maggie's home.
- Misquoting Holy Books - Maggie and G.O.B. both misquote the 10 Commandments. In Fakin' It, George Michael similarly misquotes the Torah to serve his own purposes.
- Tobias is gay - Referencing his catlike agility he claims "I always ended up on all fours"
[edit] Hidden/background jokes
- The banner Maeby/Surely tows behind her wheelchair reads, “Surely Funke rolling 4 Treasurer. I would run 4 it, but I can’t.”
- The flyer that a protestor hands Lindsay outside the courthouse reads, “JOIN US in keeping our churches and courthouses separate. Meet today on the Courthouse steps. Let’s take back control of our rights. We shall not be abused. We SHALL overcome!”
- In the interrogation room, there is a chart that features everyone connected to the Bluths. The people on the chart were:
- The Bluth and Fünke Family
- Kitty
- Marta (Her face is crossed out)
- Annyong
- Carl Weathers
- Lucille Austero
- Surely Fünke
And a "No Photo Available" is seen near Marta. Theories for the picture are the following: G.O.B.'s wife, Michael's dead wife, G.O.B.'s illegitimate son Steve Holt, Oscar, the fifth Bluth sibling who didn't give their permission to be in the show (Mitch Hurwitz mentioned he was thinking of doing this in the commentary for Extended Pilot), or perhaps the narrator of the show. The "No Photo Available" picture looks exactly like (and most likely is) the photo IMDb used to use when there was no picture available of an actor in a profile.
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- Tobias' photo is one of the head-shots from Visiting Ours. It would later appear again in Not Without My Daughter.
- The painted walls in the veterinary office include a dog dreaming about a bone.
- The crane being used to remove the Ten Commandments statue from the front of the courthouse is affixed with multiple crosses.
- Maggie Lizer has a Cornballer tucked away on a shelf adjacent to her refrigerator.
- The new courtroom doors read, “No animals allowed except seeing eye dogs.”
[edit] Character cameos
- Wife of G.O.B. - This marks the second appearance of G.O.B.'s wife, who first appeared in the previous episode, Altar Egos. She would also appear in the next two episodes, followed by the Season 2 episode Motherboy XXX.
- Maggie Lizer - Second appearance of Maggie Lizer, who also first appeared in Altar Egos. After this episode, she wouldn't appear again until Season 2's Out on a Limb.
- Guest stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Ping Wu appeared together on several episodes of Seinfeld, starting with "The Tape". He played Ping, the Chinese food delivery boy who sued Elaine for opening a taxi door into his path when delivering via bicycle.
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- Lucille as Mastermind - As Lucille is reviewing the summary of evidence that G.O.B. stole from Maggie Lizer during the family's prison meeting with Barry Zuckerkorn, she accidentally blurts out, "Well, it certainly looks like they’ve got a lot on us... uh... you. I was raising the children." This seems to imply that she has a more central role in the Bluth company's various crimes, although this is not revealed explicitly until the series finale Development Arrested.
