Hand to God (Arrested Development episode)
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Hand to God" | |
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| Episode No | 2AJD12 |
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| Airdate | March 6, 2005 |
| Writer(s) | Chuck Martin and Mitchell Hurwitz |
| Director | Joe Russo |
| On the next: | "Buster and G.O.B. find themselves closer than ever. And Maggie gets a big surprise." |
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Arrested Development Season 2 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Hand To God" was the 34th episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Michael finds George Michael in his room and tells him about Maggie's baby, a baby which Michael thinks is his. After getting George Michael's hopes up for being a big brother Michael lets him know it's not going to happen because Maggie wants nothing to do with him. As Michael and George Michael's conversation ends Lucille calls Michael starting the conversation with a scream. She tells Michael that she's on her way to the hospital because Buster lost his hand.
Michael and George Michael meet Lucille and Oscar at the hospital. Busters doctor is the "wordsmith" doctor that George Sr. had. He announces that Buster is going to be "all right", meaning he's lost his left hand. We learn that the attack has affected Buster's memory, as he doesn't remember why he went in the ocean or that he learnt the truth about his real father. Buster and Michael have a talk about the baby that's on the way, with Buster telling Michael to go to Maggie since he obviously still has feelings for her. During the conversation Buster makes several 'missing hand' jokes and Michael awkwardly forces laughter but when Michael makes a hand joke Buster loses it and tells him to "get the [bleep] out of [his] room!"
Michael goes to the courthouse to try to win Maggie back. He meets Barry who tells him that she's at Miss Temples, so Michael heads over there. When Michael and Maggie are talking they are interrupted by two police officers who checked Maggie's house after the break in and they tell her to call them if there's anything else. Maggie tells Michael that he's not the father of the baby and that she used a sperm bank telling him that the father is some guy from Harvard. Maggie asks him if he's "that great of a guy" enough to raise someone else baby, Michael replies yes but immediately regrets it mouthing "what is wrong with me?".
The next day when Buster returns from the hospital to a banner which reads "Welcome Home, Buster" but is really just the "You're killing me, Buster" banner covered up. Buster has a temporary hand (a metal hook prosthetic) on. As he enters the room he says "let's give me a big hand", everyone does some awkward forced laughter. Later when G.O.B. comes to the party he is scared by Buster's hook. Buster tells him that his hand has bitten off by a seal wearing a yellow bow-tie. Tobias says that Buster is just a shock victim saying that a seal would never attack a human unless it has acquired a taste for mammal blood. We are shown a clip of G.O.B. performing a magic show with a seal when a cat jumps in the box and screeches. Lucille confesses to Michael that she prayed for God to take anything from them to stop Buster from going to war. G.O.B. also confesses to Michael that he released a seal into the ocean after giving it the taste for mammal blood. At the party Michael tells Lindsay about staying with Maggie for the baby but is still not convinced that she's not lying. Michael asks Lindsay to go break into Maggie's house to find some evidence that someone else is involved with Maggie, when she refuses Michael gets George Michael to help him, taking George Michael away from Buster who was sleeping on his lap with hook near George Michael's face.
Maeby was not at the party because she was on the set of her film project "The Old Man and the Sea".
Michael and George Michael go to Maggie's house to try to find some evidence of another man. Michael tries to send George Michael in alone using the excuse that he can't fit through the doggy door adding that he'll risk being caught outside. As Michael is getting back into the car George Michael runs in and tries to get Michael to flee the scene saying that he got a phone number that was taped to the door. As Michael is trying to convince George Michael to head back a policeman knocks on the windows of the stair car and asks what they're doing there. The officer tells them that he's making sure theres not another break in adding that his partner is inside with his gun drawn. After the officer leaves Michael apologizes to a stunned George Michael. Michael reads the letter from the door, it reads "really eager to hear from you", Michael thinks that might be something a guy that got dumped by his baby's mother would say.
G.O.B. goes to the docks to try to find Buster's hand. He's brought several animal boxes that say "terminally ill" on them. G.O.B. gets a boat to bring him out to find the "seal who's got the taste for kitty's blood". They head out and G.O.B. tries to through the cats in the water to lure the seal he's interrupted when he hears Maeby call his name, it turns out the skipper had already rented his boat to the film Maeby was filming.
Using Gene Parmesan to trace the phone number he had found on the door, Michael heads to the house it belongs to. He leaves George Michael in the car saying that "this one could get a little ugly". Michael knocks on the door and the same policeman from Maggie's house opens the door. It turns out that Maggie's baby belongs to the policeman and his gay partner David. They had given Maggie a "mixed cocktail, two parts Taylor and two parts Carter and let her do her thing" saying that they don't want to know who the biological father is (Officer Taylor is white, Officer Carter is black). Michael decides to help the cops get their baby from Maggie.
It is revealed that Maggie's client wasn't really fat; she's pregnant and when Tobias and Lindsay tested the urine it was hers not Maggie's. The fat suit was in fact Maggie's but she had upgraded to a latex model (which is what Michael saw). At the courthouse during the trial Maggie's client's water breaks and Maggie fakes labor too.
Back at the film set G.O.B. and Maeby are talking and G.O.B. confesses that he's probably responsible for Buster's hand. Maeby gives G.O.B. the advice that he should tell Buster the truth adding that Buster will respect him for it. (as soon as G.O.B. leaves, Maeby smiles to herself and says, "Okay, now I'm just lying for no reason.")
Buster forgets about his claw and tries to give Oscar and massage causing him to stab Oscar in the shoulder. Once Buster realizes what his done he screams "I'm a monster!!" and goes on a rampage trashing Lucille's apartment. During Buster's fit G.O.B. walks in and confesses to Buster that he's responsible for Buster's hand. G.O.B. is subsequently attacked.
Michael learns that Maggie is at the hospital and calls the policemen to meet him there. Michael rushes into Maggie's room and grabs the baby she's cuddling and delivers it to the cops. Once the cops get the 'baby' it's revealed that it is in fact Maggie's fat suit. Michael and the cops go to confront Maggie and they learn that Maggie 'outsourced' the pregnency to her client that she was working on the fat case with.
Michael talks to Maggie afterward and they agree to no more lies or sex but they end up having sex in the room, which results in Maggie actually becoming pregnant with what we can assume is Michael's baby. It's is unknown what happens to the child, as it is never referenced again in the series.
[edit] Episode Notes
[edit] References
- Nip/Tuck - George Michael says that Ann is out protesting Nip/Tuck because of "something about God wanting people to age naturally", though adding that he finds it ironic that she likes Lucille.
- Ford Bronco / O.J. Simpson / Ford Escape - When George Sr. is at the car dealership the salesman says that the Bronco has been discontinued because the car company is "trying to shed that whole 'fugitive on the run' thing", saying that the car George Sr. is looking at is the Escape. The Bronco is what O.J. Simpson used on his flee from justice.
- Harvard / The Simpsons - Maggie tells Michael that the father of the baby is "some guy from Harvard" to which Michael replies "He's probably some geek Simpsons writer's kid." There have been 21 Simpsons writers who are also Harvard alumni. [1]
- Google - We are shown a google search for the word "Sacremende" which found no results when Lindsey announces that she know where Maeby was, that she was gone to Sacremende with the debate team. Since the show a google search of Sacremende will turn up over 10,000 results.
- The Old Man and the Sea - We see filming for Maeby's project, a remake of "The Old Man and the Sea". Called "The Young Man and the Beach"
- Terms of Endearment - Lucille frantically screaming "Give my son the juice!" is reminiscent of Aurora's cry of "Give my daughter the drugs!" in Terms of Endearment.
[edit] Callbacks/Running Jokes
- Literal Doctor - At the hospital the doctor says that Buster is going to be "all right" meaning he's lost his left hand and he'll be "all right" from now on.
- Come on
- When Maggie tells Michael that the baby isn't his he says "Come on"
- When Michael finds out that the number that was posted on Maggie's door belongs to the police officers he drops the famous phrase.
- Maggie says "come on" when she asks Michael if he still really wants her even if the kid isn't his.
- Banner - When Buster returns from home he's greeted by the "You're killing me, Buster" which has the words "you're killing" covered by "welcome ho" so that it read "welcome home, Buster"
- Opposites - As with Maeby and Surely and Sitwell and Standpoor, Maeby's film is called "The Young Man and the Beach" which is the opposite of "The Old Man and the Sea"
- Uncle Jack - When Michael is talking to George Michael about the adventure they're going to have breaking into Maggie's house he says "We're like Red McGibbon and Bullet". This is the team of heroes which Uncle Jack played a member of on radio and TV.
- I'm a monster!! - This is the first episode that Buster uses this line. Buster forgets about his claw and tries to give Oscar a massage by doing so he stabs Oscar. Once Buster realizes what he's done he yells "I'm a monster!!"
- Her? - When Michael tells George Michael that he met up with Maggie again, George Michael says, "Her?" This goes back to what Michael would often say about George Michael's girlfriend, Ann.
[edit] Hidden/Background Jokes
- When Lucille passes a pillar with a "Buckle Up" sign and a cardboard cutout man with his hand out, she clips the cutout and breaks off the hand. At the same time, she is telling Michael on a cell phone that Buster is at the hospital because he had lost some body part.
- On her way to the hospital Lucille says "Oh that George. God only knows where he is." and Oscar yells "The car!" because she's about to run into a car pulling out. We later learn the George Sr. was driving the other car.
- When Michael goes to the policemen's house the music in the background is about the Hot Cops.
- When G.O.B. releases the seal into the ocean, he says, "You're not going to be hand-fed anymore!" A joke as the seal eats Buster's hand.
- When Buster is in the ocean, just before he gets attacked by the seal someone on the beach yells a "Watch out, a loose seal", a reference to Lucille (homophones).
- The boat Gob gets on while trying to hunt for the seal that at Buster's hand is called "El Pescador," which is Spanish for "The Fisherman."
[edit] Character Cameos
- Chuck Martin, one of the writers for this shows, can be seen at the far right of the scene where Maeby directs The Old Man and the Sea.
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- When Lucille passes a pillar with a "Buckle Up" sign and a cardboard cutout man with his hand out, she clips the cutout and breaks off the hand. This is of course a reference to Buster losing his hand in the episode.
- One of the police officers says that his partner is in the house. While this initially seems as though he's simply talking about a partner in the police force sense, we find out that he is in fact referring to the man as his "life partner" as well.
[edit] Goofs
When Barry wrongly accuses Maggie's client of wearing a fat suit, Maggie moves for the trial to be thrown out. This would be a strange move considering that Maggie and her client were the plaintiffs and seemed to be winning.
