Marta Complex
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Marta Complex" | |
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| Episode No | 1AJD11 |
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| Airdate | February 8, 2004 |
| Writer(s) | John Levenstein and Jim Vallely |
| Director | Joe Russo |
| On the next: | “George Michael begins an investigation, Tobias faces his greatest acting challenge, and Buster rebounds from Lucille 2.” |
| Guest star(s) | Patricia Velasquez as Marta Estrella Liza Minnelli as Lucille Austero Carl Weathers as Himself BW Gonzales as Lupe Oliver Patrick Sandino as Amable Casey Sandino as Cortesio |
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Arrested Development Season 1 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Marta Complex" was the twelfth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Michael Bluth convinces his mother to throw what she thinks is a Valentine's Day party, but is, in fact, a party to celebrate the anniversary of Tobias and Lindsay. In attendance is G.O.B.'s girlfriend Marta, who is impressed by the romantic side of Michael when she finds out he's responsible for the party.
Like his father, George Michael is also harboring a secret crush, on his cousin. He searches for a sign using the messages stamped on candy hearts. After some digging, he finds one that reads "Maybe Tonight" and considers that to be a sign. He shows it to Maeby, who grabs it and chucks it at Tobias' head. When he turns around, he sees George Michael standing there by himself. And Lucille, still trying to break up the relationship between Buster and Lucille Austero, sets up Lucille with Carl Weathers, who is there as Tobias's acting coach, on a night Buster has class.
Michael gives a stirring toast to each couple and to love in general, and that's when Marta realizes that Michael is the one she should be with, not G.O.B. The next morning, Lindsay says the party finally woke her up. She needs a divorce. Tobias's Never Nude affliction is too much of a burden to bear.
Meanwhile, G.O.B. thinks Marta is cheating on him with a man named Hermano after overhearing her on the phone talking to her mother. What he doesn't realize is that "hermano" is the Spanish word for brother, and Marta was actually talking about Michael. But neither Michael nor G.O.B. realize this, and the two agree to work together to find Hermano. In other love news, Lindsay breaks the news that she and George Michael will be switching roommates. He'll be bunking with Tobias now, and she with Maeby. George Michael fears that this is because Tobias saw the Maybe Tonight candy heart and figured out his cousin crush.
Buster, finally fed up with Lucille's nagging, decides to move out of his mother's place, but when he knocks on Lucille 2's door, Carl Weathers answers. Lucille 2 doesn't want to be Buster's substitute mother, so she doesn't allow him to move in. But Lucille, hurt by Buster's attempt to move out, refuses to let him move back.
Michael follows Marta around all day in an effort to track down the mysterious "Hermano." Visiting the set of her show, he asks around for Hermano and gets directed back and forth between two brothers. Elsewhere, Lucille visits George Sr. in prison for some advice. Seems that with Buster moving out, she's living alone for the first time ever and she's a little nervous. George Sr., who has just released a self-help video about his learning experiences in prison, advises her to learn to find happiness in being alone.
Having nowhere else to go, Buster arrives at the model home, where Tobias is expressing excitement about his audition for a part in a movie as "Frightened Inmate #2." Marta drops by, and Buster immediately falls in love with her. Michael, who had been following Marta, arrives shortly after, and is surprised to see both Buster and Marta. Michael agrees to let Buster stay with him for a while, but since there's no more room, they'll have to share a bed. And Marta asks Michael if they can go out to dinner to have a talk. G.O.B., who has also been tailing Marta, calls Michael from outside the house, and Michael agrees to get to the bottom of the Hermano situation over dinner.
Upstairs, Lindsay confesses to Maeby that she and Tobias are having trouble. In the next room, Tobias confesses to George Michael that he hasn't made love to Lindsay in years. He also mentions that they couldn't conceive, which makes George Michael wonder if Maeby isn't a blood relative. But before he can ask Tobias about it, Carl Weathers calls to tell him that he had gotten the role he auditioned for.
At dinner at Marta's home, Marta and Michael talk at cross purposes: she alludes to her attraction to Michael, while he implies that he "knows" she's cheating on G.O.B. When Marta steps away for a moment, Michael asks her son if Marta loves Hermano. The son confirms that she does, and tells Michael that he's sleeping in the next room. Michael calls out Marta for her affair and, taken aback, she asks him to leave. Then he notices a gift he had seen her buy while following her around the day before. It is a tuxedo with a note addressed to him. Realizing he did something wrong, Michael asks Marta's son what hermano means, and finally realizes that, in fact, he was the very man he had been looking for.
[edit] Episode notes
- This episode was intended as the Valentine's Day episode, and several decorations can be seen throughout the episode.
- This episode's title is a reference to the term "Martyr Complex."
- When Arrested Development was first picked up by FOX, it was for only 13 episodes, so this episode was largely intended only to set up the next episode, Beef Consommé, which continues the storylines involving Marta, George Michael searching for Maeby's parentage, and Lindsay's marital difficulties with Tobias, and was designed to possibly serve as the series finale.
[edit] References
- Action Jackson - Maeby references this film starring Carl Weathers.
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - Lucille's comment while inviting Carl Weathers to dine with Lucille Austero references this 1967 film about a white American woman who brings her African-American fiancee home to meet her parents.
- Gypsy - The music played while Lucille learns to enjoy being alone is "Rose's Turn" from this musical based on the life of Gypsy Rose Lee. This musical would again be referenced in the next episode, Beef Consommé.
- The scene where Lucille is dancing to Rose's Turn is later mirrored by Buster in Spring Breakout.
- Predator - When introducing Carl Weathers, a clip is shown from his role in that movie.
[edit] Callbacks/Running Jokes
- Blow myself - Buster's line "I can blow myself" when Lucille holds a tissue under his nose mimics Tobias's line, "I just blue myself" from The One Where Michael Leaves.
- Buster says Hey - Buster says, "hey, brother" to Michael, and "hey, brother-in-law" to Tobias, again demonstrating his tendency to refer to people by their relationship to him instead of their name, first seen in Key Decisions.
- Caged Wisdom - This is the first time we see George Sr.'s home video he creates and markets while in prison.
- Carl Weathers is Cheap - We see more instances of Carl Weather's thriftiness.
- He tells Tobias not to throw out a bone, as it can be made into a stew with a couple of potatoes and some broth.
- While working on a movie set, he tells Tobias about taking leftovers from the craft service table and making a stew out of them.
- Chanting - The family all chant "speech", as they do in several more episodes, such as Development Arrested
- El Amor Prohibido - This is the first time we see the set of the soap opera that Marta appears in.
- Hermano - GOB would later refer to Michael as "hermano" in Best Man for the GOB, and George Sr. can't remember the Spanish word for brother in The One Where They Build a House.
- "I've made a huge mistake" - Several characters are seen saying this line, first seen in Key Decisions.
- G.O.B. says it in two flashbacks from the earlier episode.
- Marta says it after realizing she is in love with Michael.
- Michael says it after realizing Marta is in love with him.
- Never-nude - Another instance of Tobias' incapability of being completely nude.
- "No. I love it." - The line Carl Weathers says about ham would be used again by Steve Holt about magic in For British Eyes Only.
- Party - Lucille throws yet another party in this episode, this time for Valentine's Day, though she later finds it was intended as Lindsay and Tobias's anniversary party.
- Tobias is gay - More jokes are made at the expense of Tobias's sexuality.
- Maeby says that he has a "big-boy crush on Action Jackson", meaning Carl Weathers.
- Between Tobias and Lindsay is Carl Weathers, similar to the group of hot sailors between Tobias and Lindsay in Development Arrested
- Tobias reveals that he hasn't made love to Lindsay in quite some time.
- The Spanish Language - In both this episode and the following episode, much of the plot is predicated on numerous characters misinterpreting the Spanish language, the specific detail being both Michael and G.O.B.'s misunderstanding of the word 'Hermano'.
- Gob says "Typical".
[edit] Hidden/Background Jokes
- Class - When Buster says "I thought you had class" to Lucille 2, the word "class" has two meanings. The first being as in dignity, poise, etc. and the second one referring to her Spin Class, which we later find out about in Ready, Aim, Marry Me.
- Lupe's wrong-season sweatshirt - During the Valentine's Day party, Lupe is wearing a Thanksgiving-themed sweatshirt, which mirrors her Halloween shirt during the Christmas party.
- Maeby can be heard several times during the party blowing bubbles into her soda.
[edit] Character Cameos
- Liza Minnelli's character, Lucille Austero, left the show after this episode, but both her character and her romance with Buster would be rekindled in Season 2's Queen for a Day.
- This was the second time real-life brothers Oliver Patrick Sandino and Casey Sandino appeared as Marta's children, Amable and Cortesio, but the first time they appeared for more than just a cameo.
- This would be Carl Weathers last performance as himself on the show until he returned in Season 2's Motherboy XXX, though he would continue to be mentioned on several occasions.
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- Frightened Inmate #2 - Tobias's role would be a subject in several more episodes, most notably in Staff Infection, when he has himself incarcerated in George Sr.'s prison for research.
- Maeby's Parents - This is the first indication we receive that Maeby might not be George Michael's biological cousin, a concept that would come up several more times over the span of the series.
[edit] Sources
