Missing Kitty
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Arrested Development" | |
| Episode No | 1AJD15 |
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| Airdate | March 28, 2004 |
| Writer(s) | |
| Director | Joe Russo |
| On the next: | “Lupe makes a startling discovery, and Michael finds himself in the middle of the search for a missing Kitty.” |
| Guest star(s) | BW Gonzalez as Lupe John Beard as Himself Judy Greer as Kitty Sanchez David Reynolds as White Power Bill James Lipton as Warden Stefan Gentles |
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Arrested Development Season 1 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Missing Kitty" is the eighteenth episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The local colleges are on spring break and things are heating up in Newport Beach. George Michael is enjoying spending time with his uncle G.O.B., who is showing him some (rather unsuccessful) magic tricks, to Michael's disapproval. In a magic show a year ago on Youth Oriented Music Television (YOM), G.O.B. promised to make their yacht disappear, a trick for which he now asks Michael to borrow the yacht. G.O.B. promises to work on the trick with George Michael, and even suggests that maybe they will meet a couple of young co-eds along the way.
Michael discusses with Lindsay the fact that his assistant Kitty is coming back after her absence, with a 'chest thing', though has nonetheless still been collecting her cheques. Lindsay, meanwhile, is missing some cheques of her own, from Lucille's mother, 'Nana', who usually sends cheques for Maeby's birthday - which Lindsay promises she's been investing. Maeby, when she finds out out, agrees to split the money with her mother "55-55" if they go down together to visit her. Meanwhile, Tobias is in prison, researching his role for Frightened Inmate #2, and has discovered that George Sr. has traded him to White Power Bill for a pack of cigarettes. The warden tells Tobias that White Power Bill will help him explore the true nature of fear, and that Tobias is no more than a television actor. And so Tobias decides to stay in prison. Lindsay and Maeby visit Nana. Unfortunately, the woman who now lives there was not their grandmother, a fact which it took them an hour and a half to ascertain.
Michael arrives at work to find Kitty back, after her 'chest thing', which turns out to be a new pair of breasts, after the programme Girls With Low Self-Esteem had chosen not to include her in their breast-exposing video the previous year. Hoping for a more successful spring break this year, Kitty announces she was taking a holiday after her sick leave, and that she'll be at Señor Tadpole's having a margarita made in her mouth. To which Michael announces that she's fired. Kitty ignores him, saying that he doesn't have hiring and firing power and that George Sr. won't be happy about this, before exposing her breasts (for a second time), 'cos it'll be the last time he sees those. Michael is called to the prison, where George Sr. tells him that he can't fire Kitty – he doesn't have hiring and firing power, and 'you never fire crazy'. Michael discovers that George Sr. paid for Kitty's new breasts. George Sr. tells Michael that he's been corrupted by power, as he himself once was – he even fired his own twin brother (Oscar) once. And Kitty, who was sleeping with George Sr., has access to a lot of evidence, so George pleads with Michael to hire Kitty back.
Lucille is having trouble finding a suitable purse, so decides to use Annyong as one. Lindsay consults her mother about Nana, who comes up with a detailed explanation of how she's on a cruise. In fact, Lucille's mother had been dead for six months. Lucille feared that the family would come after the inheritance if they found out. Meanwhile, G.O.B. is performing some magic, with George Michael watching. Michael, looking for Kitty, appears as G.O.B. is about to get his participant to expose her breasts, and sees that George Michael truly is inspired by his uncle, and even admires him. So he tells George Michael to come and work for him at the office, and tells G.O.B. to leave his son alone.
Tobias finds his experience as a therapist is helping him deal with his new cellmate, and is getting to the roots of White Power Bill's hatred: he hates himself. Faced with this revelation, White Power Bill jumps off the railings and dies. The other inmates, delighted at this, hail Tobias as 'Dorothy', having killed the Wicked Witch. Michael goes to ask Kitty to come back. Before firing her again, and threatening her in public.
George Michael is now filling in for the twice-fired Kitty, working with his Dad. George Sr. calls, and expecting Kitty, asks George Michael to 'talk him off', not realising who it is. George Sr. is angry that Kitty has been fired, and asks for some boxes of evidence to disappear. Lindsay discusses the 'cruise' with Michael, fearing that Lucille has sent her mother to some retirement home. Maeby convinces George Michael to go find out how G.O.B. is making the yacht disappear, though as instructed by Michael, G.O.B. tells his nephew to get lost. As G.O.B. is forced to send away someone he loves, George Sr. is forced to visit someone he once tried to shove out of a moving car. Tobias, now in a position of power in the prison, confronts George Sr. about his hatred for him, and discovers that it is fear which has turned into hatred, which helps in researching his role. On the beach, G.O.B.'s show begins, and he does indeed successfully make the yacht disappear. Talking to Michael after the show, he reveals that he sunk it, destroying the coolers of evidence, and getting a big insurance pay-out. Lucille sees a window of opportunity, and announces that Nana was on the yacht. Lindsay then arrives to reveal that Nana is in fact fine: she's been dead for six months. Lucille had gone to the bank, and decides to put the money in her 'purse' – she puts it in a trust fund for Annyong, over which only she has control. And Michael discovers that George Michael may have been on the yacht. In fact, George Michael had gone to the yacht, but on seeing the evidence of his uncle's lifestyle, he realised that this was not the life he wanted, and had returned to work, while Kitty boarded the yacht in search of the evidence. Michael realises that he is being cruel to his son, so fires him, and lets him have a spring break. Meanwhile, Kitty is seen floating in the sea clutching a cooler of evidence.
[edit] Cultural references
The DVD series "Girls with Low Self Esteem" is a satirical reference to the real-life series of DVDs titled "Girls Gone Wild" in which a camera crew gets college-aged girls to expose themselves and sometimes perform sex acts on camera in exchange for a t-shirt.
Dorothy - Tobias is called “Dorothy” after he “kills” White Power Bill, referring to The Wizard of Oz, when the character of Dorothy kills the Wicked Witch. The expression "friend of Dorothy" is also a slang term for homosexual. This is also a callback to the TV series about prison life called "Oz" which we learned in a flashback in an earlier episode traumatized young George Michael who thought it was the musical based on "The Wizard of Oz". Tobias also sings "somewhere over the rainbow, there's another rainbow", an incorrect rendition of the song in the film "The Wizard Of Oz".
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
- Before making the yacht disappear, we can see G.O.B. subtly wiring the boat with explosives.
- At the beginning of the illusion, G.O.B. says, "Anyone can make the Queen of Diamonds disappear..." and then proceeds to sink the yacht. In the series finale, Lucille tries to flee on the Queen Mary.
- When seen at the end of the episode with Kitty, the chest with confidential files is labeled "H. MADDAS," which is Saddam H. backwards. However, it can been seen earlier behind George Sr. and Kitty in bed as "H. MADDAZ," where the Z looks like an S in the mirror in the room. This would later make sense after the revelations in Let 'Em Eat Cake.
- Señor Tadpole's is the restaurant Kitty mentioned she went to. Kitty is wearing a Señor Tadpole's shirt in The One Where They Build a House.
- In the "On the Next" tease it is revealed that Annyong is, in fact, 18. This foreshadows the fact that there is more to him than meets the eye, as he was supposed to have been an orphan in need of adoption. It also references the fact that Lucille has put a significant sum of money in a trust fund for him that she controls "until he is 18".
[edit] Episode Notes
- This was originally intended to be episode 16, instead of Altar Egos, which aired the week before it, as in this episode Tobias is still practicing for his role as "Frightened Inmate #2," and there are no references to G.O.B.'s wife, or Maggie Lizer.
- The titular “kitty” refers to both money and Ms. Sanchez.
