Switch Hitter
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Switch Hitter" | |
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| Episode No | 2AJD07 |
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| Airdate | January 16, 2005 |
| Writer(s) | Story by Courtney Lilly, Teleplay by Barbara Feldman |
| Director | Paul Feig |
| On the next: | "Maeby gets her father a job, and Buster visits the general". |
| Guest star(s) | Mae Whitman as Ann Veal Jeff Garlin as Mort Meyers Ed Begley Jr. as Stan Sitwell J.K. Simmons as General William Anderson |
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Arrested Development Season 2 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Switch Hitter" was the 29th episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Contents |
[edit] Synopsis
Michael schedules a meeting with Stan Sitwell, president of rival company Sitwell Housing Inc., at the house. Michael thinks that Sitwell sees that the company is in trouble and sees an opportunity whereas G.O.B. thinks the timing is suspicious because the Bluth Company and Sitwell Housing are about to play softball against each other.
Maeby has a homework assignment on The Old Man and the Sea. She tries to get Michael to do it for her, but isn't able to get him to do it on time. So, to buy time, Maeby decides to skip school and go along with Tobias as he auditions for the role of "Confidence Man #2". She joins him to help him plot his route to the studio and tells him it's "Help your dad follow his dreams day" at school. We find out that Lindsey has been taking Teamocil, mainly for the side-effect of a decreased sex-drive.
When Stan Sitwell comes over, he and Michael discuss a joint venture to build 450 homes, Sitwell agrees on the condition that one of the homes is given to a disadvantaged family. G.O.B. objects to the deal saying, "That's great. So the other 449 families live in fear? Is that what we're saying? I mean, come on!" When Michael goes upstairs to run the deal through his father, George Sr. shoots him down saying that G.O.B. was the only one making sense and that Sitwell was just trying to figure out the batting order for the softball game. While Michael is upstairs, G.O.B. refuses Sitwell's offer. Sitwell says he was smart to do so and offers him a job, which G.O.B. accepts.
Michael regains the title of president at the Bluth company. George Michael visits him suggesting that they use Ann in this year's roster since it's a league requirement to have women on the team (something that was difficult to meet given G.O.B.'s behaviour in the game the previous year). Michael says that Lindsey is already on the team and that they should keep Ann as a backup (a good way to think of her, according to Michael). G.O.B. comes into Michael's office looking for his old job back since Sitwell started to ask him for work ideas. Michael offers to help G.O.B. and gives him a list of ideas he'd been working on.
Meanwhile, Tobias and Maeby are at the studio. Tobias is talking up the Fünke name around the water coolers while Maeby calls George Michael from a studio exec's office. While in the office, she's mistaken for a studio exec and passes off her homework to a studio reader.
After burning through all of Michael's ideas in a single meeting, G.O.B. is in his office when Sitwell comes and comments that G.O.B. "blew them away" at the meeting. Sitwell gives him a baseball glove and asks him to play on Saturday.
When Michael talks to George Sr. about his ideas not being so stupid, we learn that G.O.B. is the best softball player in the league and is known for sacrificing his body for the play. When Michael assures his father that they will still win the game George Sr. exclaims "That's what I wanna hear" and punches a rafter on the ceiling causing an oven vent to fall and hit Lindsey in the foot, something she doesn't feel since Teamocil causes numbness of the extremities. Michael is forced to put Ann on the team. George Michael says this will be good, because she has a low center of gravity and is called "The Wall" because you can't knock her over.
Earlier we learned that Lucille had been a U.S.O. girl during the Vietnam War and that she had met a General there. She is forced to go back to him and ask him to have Buster withdrawn from the army. He says he might be able to do something if Lucille "go[es] downtown" (singing the "Downtown" song). Buster is taken out of the army and put in the U.S.O..
Michael meets G.O.B. at his office and asks him to throw the game explaining that Sitwell only hired G.O.B. to win the game and make the Bluths look foolish.
Back at the studio Tobias loses his audition. Maeby is mistaken for a studio exec again, and gets her The Old Man and the Sea script looked at. She also gets Tobias a job at the studio as a security guard.
Later at the softball game, G.O.B. is throwing the game until Sitwell gives him a heart to heart talk and he decides to start playing better. G.O.B. hits the ball hard and on his run to the home plate he runs right into "The Wall" causing him to lose his tooth and start whistling when he talks. The umpire declares him out and there's a scuffle at the plate. G.O.B and Michael see that George Sr. is disguised as the umpire and he's trying to fix the game. Michael corrects his father and says that G.O.B. was safe, which causes the Bluth Company to lose the game. Michael tells his father that he's president whether George Sr. likes it or not. George Sr. says he's proud of Michael and then runs away from the field.
[edit] Episode Notes
[edit] References
- Andy Richter - while driving into the studio, Tobias and Maeby see Andy Richter, who accidentally drops his sandwich and then kicks it.
- The Old Man and the Sea - Maeby's homework involves the Old Man and the Sea.
- Downtown - Lucille sings this song when General Anderson asks her to "go downtown".
- Vietnam War
- General Anderson did three tours of duty in the Vietnam War and the only thing he blanked out was his memory of Lucille.
- Oscar was a croc spotter on a swift boat during the war.
- U.S.O.
- Lucille was a U.S.O. dancer during the Vietnam War
- Buster is pulled out of combat training and put into U.S.O. training.
[edit] Callbacks/Running Jokes
- Her? - Michael forgets who Ann is when Maeby says George Michael is out with her. "That will play well with Sitwell; 'Where's your son?' 'He's out with Ann' 'Who's Ann?' 'Don't ask me--I'm just the boy's father'."
- Crappy Construction
- After Michael says "Knock on wood", G.O.B. gives the wall a tap and the frame around the TV unhinges and knocks down a speaker. (This exact method of destruction is itself a callback to Let 'Em Eat Cake.)
- When G.O.B. angrily slams the fridge door, it slides into its alcove and gets stuck. Tobias later leans on the fridge and pushes it through the wall and finally into the garage.
- After Michael says "We can build houses. We can win games" to George Sr. in the attic, George exclaims "That's what I want to hear" and punches a rafter, which causes the kitchen's oven vent to fall on Lindsay's foot.
- Maeby's lazy - Michael offers to help Maeby with her homework; she tells him to read her book and to explain it, but to make sure to write it 'in my own words'
- Teamocil - Lindsey starts taking Teamocil for the side-effect of a decreased sex-drive.
- Dr. Funke's 100% Natural Good Time Family Band Solution - We see the ending of a performance when the narrator talks about Teamocil.
- Matching Clothes (Buster and Lucille) - We see the cover of the Balboa Bay Window magazine showing Lucille and Buster in matching white suits with black turtle necks. One of the captions reads "Why I want to marry my Mother". The subtitle of the magazine is "The Magazine For Ladies Who Lunch... A Lot", which may be a reference to "The Ladies Who Lunch", a Stephen Sondheim ode to all things bitter and alcoholic.
- Come on
- When G.O.B. finds out that Sitwell has alopecia he says "You mean the guy we're meeting with can't even grow his own hair? Come on!".
- When we see a flashback of Michael suggesting to his father the idea of renaming Sudden Valley, George Sr. replies "What, are you taking stupid pills? Come on.".
- When Sitwell says he'll only sign the deal if 1 out of the 450 homes they'd be building be given to a disadvantaged family, G.O.B. replies "That's great. So the other 449 families live in fear? Is that what we're saying? I mean, come on!".
- Sudden Valley - Sitwell mentions that Sudden Valley sounds like a sink hole and suggests renaming it to Paradise Gardens.
- Sitwell's Hair
- While at the meeting with Michael and G.O.B., Sitwell loses an eyebrow in the candy bean bowl.
- When G.O.B. refuses Sitwell's offer, he says to Sitwell "You look surprised" when in fact, Sitwell just put his prosthetic eyebrow on too high.
- When Stan gives G.O.B. a heart to heart on the softball diamond and hugs him, his eyebrow comes off on G.O.B.'s face.
- Bleeps - When G.O.B. accepts Sitwell's offer he says "[bleep] you".
- Chicken Dance - G.O.B. does his chicken dance in a flashback of a softball game.
- Whistling Tooth - G.O.B. is missing a tooth and whistling when he talks in the flashback to the previous year's softball game. After colliding with Ann at home plate during the current year's game, he loses the tooth and begins whistling again.
- Mispronunciation - When G.O.B. is running through all of Michael's ideas at Sitwell Housing, he says "32. Wireless crapability, that one explains itself."
- "Marry Me" - For the first time, Maeby uses this deflection in this episode, when Mort Meyers asks her "What, are you like 15?".
- Call back - we see G.O.B. testing out his new chair with a man on his lap, in a scene similar to a scene in Good Grief.
[edit] Hidden/Background Jokes
- Blue Paint - There are blue hand prints and smudges all over the house.
- Christmas - Some of the music contain subtle Christmas motifs.
[edit] Character Cameos
- Andy Richter as himself.
- Ed Begley Jr. appears as Stan Sitwell
- J.K. Simmons appears as General William Anderson
- Jeff Garlin makes his first appearance as Mort Meyers
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- We see Lucille and Buster on the cover of Balboa Bay Window magazine in matching clothes. We later learn this was more than a one time occurrence as shown in Motherboy XXX and in Exit Strategy
