Spring Breakout
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Spring Breakout" | |
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| Episode No | 2AJD17 |
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| Airdate | April 10, 2005 |
| Writer(s) | Barbara Feldman and Abraham Higginbotham |
| Director | Anthony Russo |
| On the next: | “Lucille gets some disturbing information, and Kitty finds what she's been looking for.” |
| Guest star(s) | Judy Greer as Kitty Jeff Garlin as Mort Meyers Zach Braff as Phillip Litt |
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Arrested Development Season 2 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Spring Breakout" was the thirty-ninth episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
The company has a meeting with Cal Cullen, who comments that the Bluths "did not come off well on last night's Scandalmakers." (Clips from Scandalmakers are then shown, including Tobias, as George Sr., giving away his hiding place.) Michael says that they are "scandal-free," at which point Lucille walks in drunk, having taken Buster's pain medication for a hangover, and misread an alcohol warning as an alcohol suggestion. Cullen refuses to do business with the Bluths, saying he "couldn't afford to end up on Scandalmakers." Lucille passes out in her chair, and Michael ends the meeting.
Michael suggests to Lindsay that they hold an intervention for Lucille, but Lindsay resists, flashing back to another intervention the previous year. The family had gotten drunk themselves out of fear, and by the time Lucille had arrived, they were too intoxicated to be effective, and it had turned into a party. G.O.B. appears and suggests rehab instead. Michael asks where he was in the meeting, but he replies that he was off for Spring Break, even though his reputation has been ruined by "that jerk Phillip Litt" filming his seven flubs in a magic act. Tobias appears and complains about being panned for his performance as George Sr. Maeby is ordered to find out how teenagers actually talk and revise the dialogue in "The Young Man and the Beach."
Knowing that Lucille won't go to rehab willingly, Michael offers her a trip to Cal Cullen's spa. She cannot take Oscar because his last pair of pants has fallen apart, so Michael decides to go with her instead. Upon arriving, Lucille realizes where she is going and runs, only to be subdued by the guards.
Kitty Sanchez finds George Sr. in the attic due to Tobias's line in Scandalmakers, "perhaps an attic shall I seek." Angry over being abandoned in Mexico, she kidnaps him, blackmailing him with a "cooler of evidence." Meanwhile, to get better dialogue, Maeby joining George Michael at the Banana Stand. A Freudian slip by George Michael reveals his persistent feelings for her. Phillip Litt uses the same lot to make his video, "Girls With Low Self-Esteem," despite an ineffectual protest led by Lindsay.
Kitty takes George Sr. to a motel and screams that he owes her a child. He comes to yearn for Lucille, as does Buster. Unable to sleep, he begins to drink from a large box of wine, mistaking it for a juicebox.
Michael meets with Cal Cullen again. Michael soon wins him over by pretending to have fond memories of Sugarfoot, despite the fact that it was off the air before he was born. However, Kitty interrupts, flashes her breasts, and threatens to "bring this corrupt company down" unless Lucille meets her in a certain bar.
While the family wonders how to get Lucille out of rehab, Lindsay complains about her brothers objectifying women. She comes up with the idea of filming men's privates, "Men With Low Self-Esteem." G.O.B. uses Oscar to distract the guards so that they can abduct Lucille, pretending that they're going for new pants. Kitty offers to trade her evidence for a sperm sample from George Sr., and Lucille puts it up to a drinking contest.
G.O.B. finds a cooler in the freezer that looks exactly like the evidence, and he and Michael plan to switch it with the evidence, despite knowing this to be ineffective. Maeby is frustrated by the immaturity of the teenagers at the Banana Stand. Nearby, her parents film "Men With Low Self-Esteem," bringing them into competition with Phillip Litt. When Litt accuses Lindsay of being ashamed of her body, Lindsay pulls down Litt's pants, exposing him as a never nude. Seeing this, Tobias takes off his own pants, revealing that he's "back in the cutoffs."
G.O.B., excited at the thought of Spring Break yet again, performs a wolf call in the hotel hallway. This inadvertently sets off a response by George Sr., allowing them to find his room. G.O.B. tries to vomit the handcuff key, and Michael forges the signature of Saddam Hussein on the cooler, promising to turn it in to the police. George Sr. outright tells Michael to turn it in, saying that the evidence exonerates him.
George Michael finds Maeby talking to a vapid boy. He says that she is like a "delicate flower" and that he doesn't "want her to be plucked by someone who doesn't even care that (she is) blossoming." Maeby says that this is what she wanted to hear and kisses George Michael on the cheek. George Michael takes this the wrong way, and calls up Ann, saying that they need to talk.
Lucille wins the drinking contest, despite drinking extra between rounds. She declines to have anything more, opting to go back to rehab instead. G.O.B. regains his self-confidence until falling into the pool, destroying the exonerating evidence. When Michael gets home, he finds out that the decoy cooler contained a sperm sample of George Sr.
[edit] Episode notes
[edit] References
- Girls with Low Self Esteem is an obvious parody of Girls Gone Wild. Zach Braff actually looks a good deal like Joe Francis.
- The cooler is signed H MADDAS.
- Shady Pines was also the name of the retirement home where Sophia Petrillo used to live on The Golden Girls. Arrested Development creator Mitchell Hurwitz used to be a writer on The Golden Girls.
[edit] Callbacks/Running Jokes
- Gypsy - When Buster tries alcohol for the first time, the scene is very similar to when Lucille is alone for the first time in Marta Complex. Even the song "Rose's Turn" from the musical Gypsy is playing. This musical would again be referenced in the next episode, Beef Consommé.
- Scandalmakers - Clips from the completed Scandalmakers (filmed in Motherboy XXX) can be seen throughout the episode, usually accompanied by snide comments from the narrator. The line "perhaps an attic shall I seek" reveals to most of the cast where George Sr. is hiding.
- Banana Grabber - In the opening of Scandalmakers, a picture of The Banana Grabber is seen.
- Chicken Dance - Lucille does her chicken dance for the first time after a potential investor backs out for fear of appearing on Scandalmakers.
- Never Nude - In the "intervention," Tobias can be seen dancing in just his cutoffs. Dave Attell is praised for his "risky decision" of wearing Tobias's cutoffs on Scandalmakers, although the show made it unclear as to why. Lindsay pulls down Phillip Litt's pants, exposing his cutoffs.
- Franklin - Franklin can be seen in the background of the "intervention."
- Dove - G.O.B. tries to release a dove during his act, but it falls to the floor dead, which happened first in Top Banana and most recently in The Immaculate Election. After the act, a dove can be heard cooing in his shirt until he accidentally stabs it with a pen.
- Young Man and the Beach - The film adaption of The Old Man and the Sea Maeby is working on in her secret life as a movie producer is what sends her to the Banana Stand to work for the day.
- Roomba - When Lucille and Michael leaves, Buster protests at being left alone, but stops when he sees the Roomba. Later, Buster can be seen "feeding" the Roomba.
- Motherboy - The song from the Motherboy competition in Motherboy XXX plays while Buster misses Lucille.
- Kitty's breasts - Kitty flashes her breasts, saying it will jog Michael's memory, then again yelling "Spring Break!"
- Kitty's crooked breasts - When she flashes, Cal Cullen can just barely be heard muttering "Ohh, they're crooked," which careful viewers would have noticed in Missing Kitty and (some) subsequent episodes.
- Tobias is gay - Tobias jumps at the chance to film men flashing, and Buster comments that he just wants to see young boys "linuses" (penises). Filming, he yells "let's see some bananas and nuts!"
- Linus - Buster says that Tobias "just wants to see other boys' linuses." This euphemism for "penis" is a reference to the use of "charlie browns" (another Peanuts character) earlier in the season.
- Laughing with me - Upon falling into the pool, G.O.B. yells: "They're laughing with me! They're laughing with me!"
- The Banana Stand - Lucille attacks Michael, yelling "there was 250cc of your father in that banana stand!" This is a reference to the $250,000 that George Sr. had hidden in the banana stand, which burned up in Top Banana.
- No Touching - Michael weakly responds, "no touching."
- Police Brutality - Surveillance footage at Shady Pines shows Oscar about to be clubbed with a police baton, as happened so many times in The One Where Michael Leaves.
- Crazy - George Sr admonishes himself "Never promise Crazy a baby!" referring to Kitty, as he did in Missing Kitty ("You don't fire Crazy!")
- GOB's Key - GOB tries desperately to throw up a handcuff key. He tried with great effort to swallow one in Key Decisions, and will throw up another key in Notapusy.
[edit] Hidden/Background Jokes
- Michael's hair - Michael appears to be wearing Franklin's wig in the "intervention."
- Narration - All the comments about poor narration are a reflexive joke of Ron Howard's narration of the show.
- Buster's Hand - Buster "plays" the piano in the "intervention" with only his right hand.
- Lucille uses Buster's hook to break ice. Buster is seen shortly thereafter with a stub.
- "I want to marry my mother" - Buster picks up this magazine briefly, missing Lucille.
- George Sr. winks at the Profollica, hinting that he has also mistaken the alcohol warning for an alcohol suggestion.
- When Tobias and Phillip Litt pull down their pants, a nearby girl looks at their legs and starts laughing.
- Flowers - Lucille's room at Shady Pines is filled with wilted flowers because the vases are filled with smuggled-in alcohol, a joke that's much more obvious in the deleted scenes.
[edit] Character Cameos
- Carl Weathers and Dave Attell can be seen in a flashback to the making of Scandalmakers.
- Zach Braff as Phillip Litt
- Dick Van Patten is the potential investor
[edit] Goofs
- Buster finds Lucille's secret "Juicebox" supply and the narrator says it is the first taste of alcohol he has had since he was nursing. However later in the episode it shows the intervention one year prior which shows Buster playing piano in a frazzled possibly alcohol-induced state. He could however have just had an actual juicebox.
- In the episode, it is claimed that Sugarfoot ended twelve years before Michael was born. It actually aired from 1957 to 1961, making it end 6 years before Michael was born.
