Key Decisions

"Key Decisions"
Arrested Development episode
Episode no. Season 1
Episode 4
Directed by Anthony Russo
Written by Brad Copeland
Production code 1AJD04
Original air date November 23, 2003
Guest stars

Leonor Varela as Marta Estrella
Liza Minnelli as Lucille Austero
Clint Howard as Johnny Bark
Rocky McMurray as Warden Buck

Season 1 episodes
All Arrested Development episodes

"Key Decisions" is the fourth episode of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.

Contents

Plot

When Gob ditches his girlfriend, Marta Estrella, for a publicity stunt at the penitentiary that holds his father, Michael is left to accompany her to the Desi Awards. Meanwhile, Lindsay attempts to persuade activist Johnny Bark out of a tree on Bluth property so it can be cut down. Having swallowed the key and now ready for his dramatic escape, Gob finds himself unable to "pass" the key without a private bathroom. We begin to see Gob as a man desperate for his father's approval and attention; he says George Sr. has never even played catch with him. Michael, meanwhile, finds himself quite attracted to Marta. Also at the Desi Awards, Buster, while not wearing his glasses, mistakenly flirts with his mother's friend and social rival, Lucille Austero.

Lindsay, too, is making a connection of her own. Forced to spend the evening in the tree with Johnny Bark, she begins to recall her activist roots. Johnny Bark mistakes this nostalgia for attraction and later leaves the tree he is protecting to profess his feelings for Lindsay. She rejects him, and the tree is cut down. At the prison, Gob's just-started first game of catch with his father ends when a fellow inmate, White Power Bill, stabs the brash magician. Michael visits Marta to reveal his feelings for her, only to be interrupted when the hospital calls her with the news that Gob "has been stabbed in the back." His near death experience leads Gob to finally commit to Marta, much to Michael's chagrin. However, Gob immediately regrets his decision, saying to himself that he has "made a huge mistake."

Episode notes

Callbacks/running jokes

Hidden/background jokes

Character cameos

Goofs

External links