Charity Drive

"Charity Drive"
Arrested Development episode
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 6
Directed by	Greg Mottola
Written by	Barbara Feldman
Production code	1AJD05
Original air date	November 30, 2003
Guest stars
Judy Greer as Kitty Sanchez Liza Minnelli as Lucille Austero BW Gonzales as Lupe Mel Gorham as Helen Maria Delgado
Season 1 episodes
November 2003 – June 2004 Pilot Top Banana Bringing Up Buster Key Decisions Visiting Ours Charity Drive My Mother, the Car In God We Trust Storming the Castle Pier Pressure Public Relations Marta Complex Beef Consommé Shock and Aww Staff Infection Missing Kitty Altar Egos Justice Is Blind Best Man for the Gob Whistler's Mother Not Without My Daughter Let 'Em Eat Cake
All Arrested Development episodes

"Charity Drive" is the fifth episode aired, though the sixth episode in DVD continuity, of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.

1 Plot
2 Episode notes
3 External links

Plot

The SEC has impounded most of the family's vehicles, so Michael is forced to ride his bike to work. However, he soon realizes that he needs a car. When he finds out that Gob has been secretly driving their father's car, he confronts him about it at the banana stand. Gob admits to it, but says that Lindsay is currently using it. Michael realizes that Gob has been receiving free frozen bananas from the stand. Fed up by Gob's deception, Michael instructs George Michael not to give Gob anything free. Gob offers to pay by giving Michael the rights to promote the stand with Mr. Bananagrabber, a cartoon character drawn in Gob's likeness, but Michael declines. Next, Michael tracks down Lindsay, who is busy preparing for the annual charity Bachelorette Auction at the local country club. Michael, unimpressed, says that Lindsay cares more about getting a high bid amount than about saving the wetlands; Lindsay says he wouldn't understand since he's not charitable. Michael asks her about the car; she says Buster has it.

Michael goes to Lucille's apartment and finds her getting ready for the Charity Auction as well; Lucille admits she's only doing it to be "sold" for a higher bid than her rival Lucille Austero. She rehearses with Buster their plan that he will bid $10,000 for her. Michael gets the car keys from Buster and sees the terrible condition his siblings have left it in: Gob scorched it while performing magic, Lindsay spilled nail polish, and Buster left items from an archaeological dig. Michael visits his father to discuss building permits for their new development, which George Sr. failed to file for. George advises Michael to send Gob, who is especially furtive, to break into the permit office, slip the application into a folder and tell the permit office they messed up.

Reluctantly, Michael approaches Gob, but Gob insists on certain conditions: a free frozen banana whenever he wants, and full creative control to the Mr. Bananagrabber character and any spinoffs that may occur. He also wants Michael to make up for humiliating him in front of George Michael. Michael agrees, and instructs George Michael he should do whatever his uncle asks. Stung by constant charges of being selfish, Michael decides to do something nice: he offers a ride to Lucille's new housekeeper, Lupe. However, Michael has actually picked up another woman; when she notices the skull left by Buster, Gob's burn marks, and the blood-colored nail polish, she becomes convinced that Michael is going to murder her.

Gob, meanwhile, cases the permit office, but decides to ask George Michael to break in. George Michael is reluctant, but Maeby's enthusiasm changes his mind. Michael gets a call from Lindsay, who begs him to pick her up from the wetlands, where she went to prove she cares about the environment, but now was finding to be too much for her. At the same time, Lucille Austero is stalking Buster, hoping he is planning some grand romantic gesture to save their relationship. Lindsay, running out of time to get to the Charity Auction, calls a cab home – but forgets to call Michael. When he arrives at the wetlands, his terrified passenger takes off running. The auction starts, and a scratched, scraped, ragged Lindsay isn't fetching any bids. Michael, seeing that she really did try to help the wetlands and feeling bad for her, pledges $1,000. Lucille Austero takes the stage, and Buster, hearing only the first name as he rushes in the door, bids $10,000 for her. Lucille assumes this is his "grand romantic gesture." Walking to the parking lot, Michael is arrested for the forced abduction of his passenger earlier in the day. And when he's tossed into the back of a squad car, George Michael is sitting there already, having been arrested during the permit office break-in.

Episode notes

Although this episode was broadcast as the fifth episode of the season, it was made as the sixth episode (and appears on the DVD as the sixth episode, too). Technically, while there's no lack of continuity, this episode should go AFTER "Visiting Ours," as Kitty is in both episodes, but receives a more in-depth introduction in "Visiting Ours." Also, George Michael is scared of prison in "Visiting Ours," but in this episode he and his father both go to prison at the end.
The title refers to both a charity and transportation event.
Tobias does not appear in this episode, except in newspaper photographs.
On the next...: "Michael gets a lucky break when Helen makes the same mistake that he did, and G.O.B. kicks himself for a bad business decision."

Callbacks/running jokes

Gob's Segway - Gob is seen riding on his Segway, which he remains on while talking to other characters.
From whence it came - When Gob hears from Michael that Tobias drove the staircar back to the airport he uses the phrase "from whence it came," just as he did when throwing a dead dove into the ocean in "Top Banana".
"I need a favor" - Michael tells Gob that he needs a favor, a phrase used by many of the members of the Bluth family throughout the series.
"I hope you have an exit strategy" - Lucille says this to her housekeeper. It is another reference to the Iraq War.
Ice cream - George Sr. doesn't like anybody else driving his car; a flashback shows this is at least partly because Michael spilled ice cream in it. Later, when Michael drives the car, he decides to get ice cream.
Mr. Bananagrabber - Gob invents the character of Mr. Bananagrabber as an insult to Michael. The Mr. Bananagrabber commercial appears periodically throughout the rest of the series.
Michael the Murderer - Thinking she is Lucille's housekeeper, Michael picks up a woman he doesn't know and tries to give her a ride home. The skeleton in the backseat, spilled red nail polish and shovel make her think Michael is a serial killer. While on the phone with Lindsay, several phrases he utters could sound malevolent; when he drives to the wetlands she is convinced he is a serial killer and flees the car.
"No touching!" - When Gob tells George Sr. that George Michael was breaking into the permit office, George Sr., with full awareness of the likely consequences, hits Gob with a newspaper to a chorus of "No touching!" from the guards.

Hidden/background jokes

The stand where Gob buys the candy apple also sells frozen bananas, according to a sign in the background.
Lindsay is wearing a "Neuter Fest 98" shirt when she goes to clean up the wetlands. Neuter Fest was first mentioned in "Key Decisions".

Character cameos

This is the first time Lupe appears in the show, replacing one-time character Luz as Lucille's maid.
If the episodes are viewed in broadcast order, this is the first appearance of Kitty Sanchez, George Sr.'s secretary.

Foreshadowing

Buster leaves various items from his archaeological dig in the car, notably a giant rock, which becomes an important plot point in the following episode, "My Mother, the Car."

Upon discovering the car usage schedule on the kitchen calendar, which features Lindsay provocatively posed, Michael says he always "tried so hard not to look at that thing," implying that part of him wanted to look at it. One of many references that Michael is secretly attracted to Lindsay, whom we find out in "Development Arrested" is not actually his sister.

External links

"Charity Drive" at the Internet Movie Database
"Charity Drive" at TV.com
"Charity Drive" at The-OP.com