Top Banana (Arrested Development episode)
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| Arrested Development episode | |
| "Top Banana" | |
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| Episode No | 1AJD01 |
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| Airdate | November 9, 2003 |
| Writer(s) | Mitchell Hurwitz and John Levenstein |
| Director | Anthony Russo |
| On the next: | “G.O.B. protests the pet stores frozen-dove exchange policy, and Michael, realizing the banana stand is the only profitable part of the Bluth Empire, decides to rebuild.” |
| Guest star(s) | Patrice Oneal as T-Bone Lillian Hurst as Luz Scott Atkinson as Roger Danish Michael Bartel as Young Michael Bluth |
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Arrested Development Season 1 |
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| All Arrested Development episodes | |
"Top Banana" is the second episode aired of the TV comedy series Arrested Development. The banana stand is burned down, the episode takes place a week before it was burned down. George Sr. attempts to control the Bluth company from prison using his cellmate T-Bone.
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[edit] Plot
The local news station reports that the Bluth Banana Stand burned down. To reveal how it happened, we flashback to a week earlier. Michael visits his father at prison to ask for some papers from him so he can free some money for the family. George explains that "there's always money in the Banana Stand" and introduces his cellmate, T-Bone, asking Michael to give him a job since he's getting out that day. Frustrated by his father's noncooperation, Michael declines. George Michael is still having trouble forgetting his crush on his cousin, Maeby, so he asks for more hours at the Banana Stand in the hopes of spending more time away from her. Michael responds by promoting George Michael to manager and gives him the green light to hire an employee. Seeing Tobias, Lindsay and G.O.B. still lazing on the couch, Michael asks whether they are attempting to find work. Lindsay says her job is supporting her husband, so Michael, wanting to set an example, has his son hire Maeby as his Banana Stand employee. Maeby spends her first day taking money from the register and throwing out bananas due to a miscalculation after George Michael explains that the cash in the register must match the number of bananas. Meanwhile, Michael drops in on Lucille in his quest to locate the flight records he needed from George Sr. She knows they're in a storage unit, but keeps quiet about any other details. She does, however, ask if Michael can give his brother, G.O.B. a job to make him feel important.
The next day, Tobias, motivated by Michael's call to action, looks for acting work without much luck. Michael sees him despondent that he can't find work, and points out a flyer advertising open auditions. Tobias snatches it and Michael spots another flyer that gives him an idea. He calls his mother and says the SEC wants to drop by and check if she recently bought any big ticket items with company money. He then follows Luz, the maid, as she is sent to hide the evidence in the storage unit. Meanwhile, Tobias has arranged an audition for a local commercial and Lindsay goes along for support. But when Roger Danish, the casting director, spots Lindsay, whom he knows from high school, she gets the role. At the same time, Michael arrives at the storage unit only to find it in flames.
At home, Lindsay giddily informs Michael of her new acting role and Tobias tries to put on a brave face, then excuses himself to cry in the shower. Michael confides to Lindsay that he thinks George Sr. is trying to run the company from prison, so he's heading off to confront him. On the way out, he gives G.O.B. a very important job: mailing a letter to the insurance company. Michael tells a dubious G.O.B. that it's so important, he can't trust a mailman with it. Feeling spurned, G.O.B. defiantly hurls the letter into the sea. Michael then confronts George Sr. about the burned down storage unit, telling him that he's not giving T-Bone a job and he won't let his father run the company from prison. His Dad brushes him off, saying again that there's always money in the banana stand. When Michael informs him George Michael is running the banana stand, and T-Bone goes to work with George Michael and Maeby at the stand. Maeby seizes this opportunity to sneak off with George Michael for dinner, where he begins to add up the numbers and panics when he realizes his dad will obviously know they've been stealing money. Maeby tells him to relax and just figure out what George Sr. would do in this situation.
Michael drops by the Banana Stand and sees T-Bone at the helm, which confirms his suspicions that T-Bone burned down the storage unit. Frustrated, Michael heads to the beach to think; G.O.B. confronts him about being treated like a "goofball", Michael commiserates with G.O.B., telling him that George Sr. still treats him like an employee. At that moment, Maeby calls Michael to inform him George Michael is about to do something irresponsible. Michael arrives at the Banana Stand to find his son crumpling up newspaper around the stand to use as kindling. George Michael admits that he screwed up the Banana Stand and apologizes, but thinking of an opportunity to take back some control, Michael tells him to light it up anyway. Later, in jail, Michael gloats that he torched the Banana Stand and George should remember who's in charge now. Irate, George Sr. tells his son that the walls of the stand were lined with $250,000 in cash, and demands to know how much more clearly he could have told him that, "there's always money in the Banana Stand".
[edit] Cultural references
Tobias says that with Lindsay working as an actor as well, they're like "the Lunts", referring to the legendary theatrical husband-and-wife duo of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
[edit] Character Cameos
- This is arguably the second time we see the character T-Bone, but the first time we see him portrayed by Patrice O'Neal. In the Pilot, he is played by another, uncredited, actor.
- This is the only time we see Luz as Lucille's housekeeper. By Charity Drive, she had been replaced by Lupe.
- The uncredited guard at the prison who yells "No touching!" in this episode appears several more times, most notably in Visiting Ours and Not Without My Daughter.
[edit] Foreshadowing/Future References
Although the reason George Sr. wants to burn the evidence of the flight records (and Lucille tries to keep it from Michael) is never officially explained in this episode, we later learn in Let 'em Eat Cake about George Sr. committing "light treason" overseas. Tobias is also seen wearing cutoffs while in the shower, a first clue to his condition as a Never-Nude.
[edit] Episode notes
- Buster does not make an appearance during the episode.
- This episode is well-regarded among fans, and rivals Bringing Up Buster as the favorite among early episodes.
- The ending of this episode marked the first time that an episode revealed a major twist in the plot that changed the meaning of the episode upon another viewing. This is a trait that later became a hallmark of the show.
- The title refers to George Sr's position within the family, as well as to the banana stand.
- This is the first time the theme song is heard, though it sounds slightly different in this episode from later ones because volume levels on certain instruments hadn't fully been worked out. In this episode, an electric guitar is prominent in the theme song.
