Whistler's Mother (Arrested Development episode)
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Whistler's Mother" | |
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| Episode No | 1AJD19 |
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| Airdate | April 4, 2004 |
| Writer(s) | John Levenstein & Jim Vallely |
| Director | Paul Feig |
| On the next: | “Michael finds having his mother on the board problematic, Lindsay finds her true calling, and Oscar comes a-courtin'.” |
| Guest star(s) | Amy Poehler as Wife of G.O.B. Peter Jason as Mr. Jordan |
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Arrested Development Season 1 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
Whistler's Mother was the twentieth episode of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.
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[edit] Synopsis
Michael was preparing for a meeting with board to determine what to do with some recently unfrozen funds. Lindsay approaches him and asks for some, stating that she wants to have an affair and needs the money for a stylist, since Tobias is completely uninterested in her attempts to have sex with him. Michael refuses to give her any, saying the money is to buy land for the company. Michael suggests that she take up charity again, which she says she would do but actually goes to get her hair done. Michael then receives a call from Lucille, who text messages him about "a matter of land."
Upon arriving at Lucille's apartment, he realizes she made a typo and meant "a matter of life and death," and the matter of life and death was that she needed money for Buster's operation to fix his clicking jaw, a trivial matter. Michael accuses her of coddling him. Lucille reminds Michael about the time that he was suspended when another boy cheated off his test and how she took care of the situation by making his Algebra teacher disappear.
Meanwhile, George Michael spots a man that looks just like George Sr. except with hair. He passes this information on to Maeby and about how George Sr. wanted George Michael's hair in their last encounter in Visiting Ours. She doesn't believe him.
George Sr. then calls Michael, telling him that his twin brother, Oscar is in town, and asks him to give him some money. Michael refuses, since there is a board member, Mr. Jordan, that is trying to catch him doing something illegal so he can blow the whistle. Michael can't buy him off the board because he is asking for twice the stock value. Michael deals with this situation by handing whistles out to all the board members, telling them that they should all be whistle-blowers. However, this does not end well, as the meeting was halted when the board members could not refrain from blowing on the whistles. Michael collects the whistles back. Tobias then confronts Michael about getting some company money when G.O.B walks in and asks for money as well. Michael suggests that they come up with a business idea to make money themselves.
During Maeby's shift at the banana stand, she spots the same man who looked like George Sr. with hair (and we now know to be Oscar). Meanwhile, Lindsay finds out that her stylist is being called to serve in the Iraq War. She decides to protest the war. Michael then runs in to G.O.B. and Tobias at a coffee shop. They tell Michael that they're researching their investment, and Michael offers them money if they write up a proposal. Michael then meets his uncle Oscar, who asks him for money as well. Michael decides to buy Oscar's abundant land off of him, not knowing that he could not build on it since the government had an easement on it, which he finds out from George Sr.
Maeby then tells George Michael about her sighting of George Sr. with hair. Maeby thinks that George Sr. may need their help to escape, and they decide to visit prison to check if George Sr. is still there. Michael then comes home and tries to contact Oscar, who is out "pursuing his lady love," Lucille. G.O.B. and Tobias approach Michael with their investment idea ("Gobias Industries"). Michael, embarrassed about his poor investment, tells them that George Sr. made a bad deal and that the money was tied up. He convinces them not to confront George Sr. about it, as he hasn't hold him yet.
Lindsay joins a group of protesters and is hustled into a free speech zone. They are unable to get media attention because the media is confined in a "free press zone." Meanwhile, Maeby and George Michael visit George Sr. in the prison. They're disappointed to see that George Sr. is actually in prison. They mention the lemon grove purchase that Tobias said George Sr. made. Meanwhile, Michael is in a board meeting. He tells the board that his father made a bad deal. Mr. Jordan points out that it is illegal for George Sr. to conduct business from jail. George Sr. then calls to confront Michael about the land deal he made.
Lindsay's group of protesters gets attention of some local residents, who hose them down. All the protesters except Lindsay run off. Lindsay starts to shout "no hair for oil," which causes the locals to play music to drown out her yelling. She then decides to dance, which the locals enjoy, boosting her self-esteem.
Michael visits his mother about his problems with the board and his bad investment. Lucille assuages Michael's fears and goes out to "take care" of the situation. She goes out to Oscar's trailer in the lemon grove and makes him buy his land back, which he gladly did for her since he is attracted to her. She then uses the money she got back from the lemon grove to buy out Mr. Jordan from the board and puts herself on it instead, solving the Bluth Company's problems but creating a minor problem for Michael: having his mother on the board of investors.
[edit] Episode notes
- This is Oscar's first appearance.
- Buster never appears in this episode (it is explained that he is getting surgery in Canada).
[edit] References
- All You Need Is Smiles - Could be a reference to "All You Need Is Love" by The Beatles
- Bad Girls - The song Lindsay dances to while being hosed down is Donna Summer's "Bad Girls". It's also the song she plays to try to attract Tobias.
- David Cassidy – Oscar claims to have written the David Cassidy song “All You Need Is Smiles,” which he was supposed to sing on the The Mike Douglas Show. He plays a recording of it when he comes to "court" Lucille.
- Free speech zone - Lindsay is put in a "free speech zone", a cage, during her protest. The free speech zone is placed in a remote location, which occurred in Pittsburgh on Labor Day in 2002
- Say Anything... - When Oscar comes to "court" Lucille, he does so like Lloyd Dobler in Say Anything....
- Tunneling through a sewer line - Maeby sarcastically suggests that George Sr. tunneled his way through a sewer line out of prison, much like Andy Dufresne did in The Shawshank Redemption.
- War In Iraq - Lindsay's stylist is called to the war. When Lindsay announces her intent to protest the war, Maeby tells Lindsay that she already told her about it but that Lindsay said it happened ten years ago, confusing it with the first Gulf War.
- Whistler - Whistler's Mother is a James McNeill Whistler painting, but of course Lucille is also the "whistler's" mother after Michael buys all the whistles and encourages whistle-blowing.
[edit] Callbacks/Running Jokes
- Bananagrabber - Oscar is watching Bananagrabber on TV.
- Freedom - The gay protester from the Pilot and Storming the Castle who held the "Freedom" sign protests the war with Lindsay. He would later return again in the season finale.
- "Hey" - Oscar greets Michael saying "Hey, nephew."
- Tobias is gay
- Tobias tells Michael that he would not get in bed with Sofia Coppola but would get in bed with Robert Redford, and that he would not just "lie there" like he does with Lindsay.
- When Lindsay starts dancing on top of Tobias in bed, he points to the acting book he is reading and states, "I'm trying to grow." Lindsay replies that that is clearly not going to happen.
- Bluth Company Board/Coworkers are Incompetent - When Michael gives them whistles in a symbolic gesture for them to be "whistle blowers" they instead act like children with them, forcing Michael to take the whistles back
- Lindsay Becoming a Cage Dancer - When Lindsay tells Tobias about her new dream, she makes the same face and exuberant laugh that Tobias used in talking about becoming an actor
[edit] Hidden/Background Jokes
- Canadian Health Care System - Lucille says that she sent Buster up to Canada to get surgery for his clicking jaw and needs money in order to pay for it. Canada, unlike the US, does not charge for Medicare (other than through taxes, which the Bluths wouldn't pay as American citizens illegally milking the system), so any money Lucille got would go straight to her own pocket.
- Book - Tobias is reading a book titled Acting: Like A Man when Lindsay tries to have sex with him, a play on the recurring joke that Tobias is gay.
- In the flashback to when Michael was a child, he says the line, "...and then Tracy will never marry me..." Tracy was Michael's wife who died, indicating that they knew each other as children
- Fart - At the coffee shop, Oscar accidentally farts twice in front of Michael. Later in the shot when Oscar is showing Michael his lemon grove, Michael can be seen moving back from Oscar, most likely for the same reason.
- Stealing
- Oscar steals a muffin at North Roast Coffee (the coffee shop).
- While working at the banana stand, Maeby takes the customer's money and pockets it instead of putting it in the cash register.
- Protesters - The signs the protesters hold read:
- “Where are the weapons of mass destruction?”
- “War is Sexist,” “War is Racist”
- “Larger Free Speech Zone”
- “Free Jacko”
- “We Support Our Troops by Opposing the War”
- “We Support Our Troops That’s Why We Want Them To Come Back Home”
- “Free Speech”
- “Freedom” - With the Gay guy from the pilot who was on the boat in it
- Animation Rights - Right before Oscar answers Lucille's call, the Banana caricature of G.O.B. is on TV.
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- Carbs - G.O.B. says that "People love to carbo-load," possibly foreshadowing the upcoming episode Let 'Em Eat Cake, in which the Bluth family goes on the Atkins diet. The line could also be an ironic reference to the new fad of low-carb diets at G.O.B.'s expense.
- Oscar is Buster's father - Oscar says "Hey, nephew" much like Buster does.
- Say Anything... - Oscar's courting of Lucille is very reminiscent of the Say Anything film. In the next season Ione Skye, the star of that same film, would guest star as Mrs. Veal.
[edit] Character Cameos
- Amy Poehler makes her last appearance in Season 1 as Wife of G.O.B. - she would not return again until a small cameo role in Season 2's Motherboy XXX.
- Charlie Hartsock as Ted, an employee who Lindsay would later try to flirt with at the Bluth Company Christmas party.
- Jeffrey Tambor becomes the first actor on Arrested Development to have played two different roles here, starring as George Sr.'s brother, Oscar Bluth. Although he was mentioned in Missing Kitty, this was his first appearance in the show. He would later appear again in the following episode Not Without My Daughter, and would become a main character in Season 2.
