Righteous Brothers (Arrested Development)
"Righteous Brothers" is the 18th and final episode of season two and fortieth episode overall of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.
Synopsis
Michael is working at home when he notices something unusual: His pen rolls off the coffee table as if rolling downhill. A contractor examines the house and informs Michael that nothing is underneath, and since the drainpipes weren't hooked up, they just emptied under the house; that's why the living room is sinking. The city must "red tag" the house and an inspector will come to examine it.
Michael tells his father he'll have to leave the attic before the inspector arrives, suggesting that he hide at Lucille's penthouse, but George Sr. balks because his freeloading brother Oscar is still living there. Michael tells his father that, as he's being tried in absentia, Michael shouldn't know where he is anyway. He doesn't have to go back to prison, but he can't stay there.
George Michael, meanwhile, is finding it difficult to ignore his re-emerging feelings for his cousin. Maeby asks him to attend a screening of the American remake of Les Cousins Dangereux, a film he and Maeby saw a preview for the previous year. Maeby is currently overseeing the remake for Tantamount Studios, where she had conned her way into a job. George Michael agrees to go, so Maeby gives him 50 passes and tells him to invite everyone he knows.
Another surprise awaits Michael at the office: Tobias is resigning as his assistant in order to audition for the Blue Man Group in Las Vegas. He also tells Michael that Kitty called, wanting to see him. When G.O.B. comes in, Michael tells him that not only must he testify that he doesn't know where George Sr. is, but George Sr. is refusing to leave the attic, so Michael will be caught for hiding him. But G.O.B. is upset that Michael hadn't thanked him for all the dirty work he'd done for the family recently, or commented on the "thank-you" gift he made for Michael last week. The gift was a CD of G.O.B. singing with Franklin (which Michael misinterpreted as money to go in a mutual fund known as a Franklin CD). Michael assures G.O.B. that he loved the music.
Later, G.O.B. takes Franklin to see George Sr. in an attempt to get him to leave the attic. G.O.B. had soaked the puppet's mouth with ether to knock out his father (just like he had knocked out his mother, at his father's direction, in a previous episode.) Downstairs, Tobias shares his good news about the audition with Lindsay. But she doesn't want to move to Las Vegas and takes it as a sign that they should split up, or stay split up, whatever their status might be. Tobias then decides to pass on his audition to stay home and work on his relationship with Lindsay, to decide once and for all if they should stay together.
On this way to dump his father on the police-station steps, G.O.B. finds the still-unopened CD and thank-you card he made for Michael. Meanwhile, Michael meets with Kitty and it goes better than he had dreaded. She says she has been through rehaba and is now at peace with the Bluths—as long as they don't anger her again. Tobias shows up to tell Michael he isn't going to Las Vegas after all. Realizing that he needs to occupy Kitty with a man, at lease until the meeting about George Sr. is over, leaves her with Tobias.
Later, Michael prepares to sign the affidavit stating that he has no idea where his father has been. As soon as he does, attorney Wayne Jarvis summons the police in, telling Michael that photographic evidence discredits the affidavit Michael just signed. The "evidence" is a photograph taken from a red light camera, but while it appears to be Michael driving his father in the staircar, it's really G.O.B. driving and holding up the unopened thank-you card, which sports a picture of Michael on the front.
Now in police custody, Michael meets with Wayne, who says he could turn in his father if he wanted to go free. G.O.B. arrives at the station and angrily asks Michael why he hasn't listened to the CD yet. Michael just wants to know where George Sr. is so he can be released from custody.
George Michael tries to break up with Ann, but then finds out that she's excited about protesting the screening of "Cousins." He knows from past experience that Ann becomes enflamed at rallies and will probably kiss him in a fit of passion, so he decides not to break up with her. Meanwhile, Oscar checks up on Buster, and an innocuous comment about Pop Secret popcorn makes Buster finally realize that Oscar is his real father.
Lucille, meanwhile, is on the phone with Michael. He wants her to tell George Michael that his father is out of town on business, and she learns that Tobias is out on a date with Kitty. Knowing that this would devastate Lindsay, Lucille tells her immediately. Michael warns Lucille that he'll tell the police that it's actually G.O.B. in the traffic photo. Buster barges in and accues Oscar of lying to him about the identity of his real father.
Back at the police station, officers play the CD they had confiscated from G.O.B. The CD features Franklin singing Bryan Adams' "Everything I Do (I Do For You)". Inspired, Michael realizes that he can't actually turn in his brother. Singing the song at the same time while doing laundry, G.O.B. has the same realization and calls Barry Zuckerkorn to have him tell Michael not to testify. G.O.B. accidentally ruins Franklin in the dryer and he becomes all "puckered and white".
At the theater, George Michael and Ann are protesting, which surprises Maeby. But people still want to see the movie, thus ending George Michael's chances of a kiss. He slumps home, where Buster is waiting for Michael. Buster runs upstairs to shower and wash the smell of Lucille away. A distraught Lindsay then tells George Michael (who was still trying to process the news that his father is in jail) that he has to seize love whenever he has the chance. She then runs upstairs to take a bath,against George Michael's warning.
Maeby comes in and kisses George Michael in thanks for helping her movie become a success. The living room suddenly collapses a few feet, knocking Maeby on top of George Michael on the couch, where they kiss again, but this time more passionately...just when G.O.B. comes home to retrieve George Sr. from where he stashed him, under the house that just collapsed.
G.O.B. then realizes that this means Michael must go to prison. Barry is leading Michael into court when G.O.B. speeds up on his Segway and tells his brother that their father had not been crushed to death: although G.O.B. handcuffed him to pipes under the house, they weren't connected to anything, and George Sr. ran away. Angry that he's going to jail for this, Michael starts a fight with G.O.B. Tobias comes up, happily announcing that he is going to Vegas with Kitty, but Lindsay isn't about to lose her man without a fight. She rushes at Kitty, who knocks her out with one punch.
George Sr. rushes into the fray, separating Michael and G.O.B., telling them they are family and shouldn't be fighting. Telling Lucille she deserves Oscar, he marches into the courthouse. Earlier that day he had found Oscar, newly kicked out by Lucille; he drugged Oscar, took him into the courthouse bathroom, shaved his head, left him in a stall, and jumped out the window to stop Michael and G.O.B.'s fight before going back into the courthouse. The police, who followed George Sr. into the courthouse, then found Oscar in the stall and put him into custody, thinking he was George Sr.
Episode notes
- The episode's title is listed as "The Righteous Brothers" on the Season 2 DVD, although all press releases for the show titled it "Righteous Brothers" when it first aired.
- This episode is the finale for Season 2.
- Writers Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series for their work on this episode.
- Tobias's resigning, followed by Michael's insistence that Tobias never worked at the Bluth Company, may be a subtle reference to the fact that Tobias being Michael's assistant was a storyline that had to be dropped due to Fox cutting back of the show from 22 to 18 episodes. "I never saw you at the desk" is probably a reference to the scenes never airing.
Cultural references
- Blue Man Group Tobias finally has an audition in this episode (after being fired from the group in "Burning Love"), only to show up and find that the role has been filled by George Sr. At the meeting for blue men he has a large bag of marshmallows, a reference to the Blue Man Group's act.
- Bryan Adams The song G.O.B. sings, "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You", was a hit for Bryan Adams.
- Franklin CD Michael says he thought G.O.B. wanted $5,000 for a Franklin CD, thinking it was intended for a certificate of deposit, but G.O.B. used it to produce a compact disc of himself singing with his puppet Franklin.
- Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts Tobias says that the concept of someone's current assistant dating their former assistant is a "great idea for a Hugh Grant/Julia Roberts-type movie."
- Night Court Kitty mentions that she's being sponsored by someone from Night Court. Although she can't say who it is, she then proceeds to name several characters and actors from the show, before later blurting out that she heard John Larroquette was "looking for a meaty character piece". Mitchell Hurwitz was a writer for The John Larroquette Show.
- Peter Frampton The title and cover of G.O.B.'s Franklin Comes Alive CD are a parody of Peter Frampton's album Frampton Comes Alive.
- Pop Secret Oscar wants to share with Buster his "Pop Secret", a well-known brand of popcorn, which Buster misconstrues as a revelation that Oscar is his real father.
- The Righteous Brothers The title of the episode is a reference to the 1960s musical group The Righteous Brothers, who are from Orange County, CA where the show is set.
Callbacks/running jokes
- Balls Barry Zuckerkorn asks if the prosecution's new "photographic evidence" are balls again, referring to the episode "Sad Sack", in which close-up photos of Tobias' testicles were mistaken for the hills of Iraq.
- Barry is gay Barry winks at Wayne Jarvis's Asian assistant, who is confused by this gesture. Later, after it is revealed the photos are not of balls he says he wishes they were.
- Baton Oscar is once again hit over the head by the police with a baton. This first happened several times in "The One Where Michael Leaves".
- Boyfights Michael and G.O.B. once again break into a fight in front of the courthouse, with the same music, a callback to "Beef Consommé". (This time, at least in the DVD extended scene, it is G.O.B. who attempts to climb a tree to escape.)
- Buster's real father Buster finally learns that Oscar is his real father; he had previously discovered this in "Out on a Limb", but suffered memory loss and forgot it. But it's not Oscar's frequent blatant hints about his fatherhood that tip off Buster, but when Oscar is carrying a bowl of popcorn and says, "I wanted to share my Pop Secret with you." Although Oscar was referring to the brand of popcorn, Buster says, "Pop secret? Is Oscar my real father?"
- After Oscar burns his fingers on the Cornballer, Buster yells, "This is all my father's fault!" (because George Sr. marketed the product). Oscar thinks Buster is blaming him, and says, "My fault!? I was trying to keep you from burning yourself..."
- When Lucille confronts Oscar about him telling Buster he was his real father, the scene mirrors the scene in "Out on a Limb" in which Lucille tells Oscar not to reveal his secret to Buster. Both scenes had the characters screaming "You're high" and "You're drunk" at each other in the kitchen while Oscar is raiding the pantry.
- In the DVD commentary Mitch Hurwitz says that if there had been a Season 4 he was going to have Buster discover that George Sr really was his father, and traumatic Buster hilarity would ensue.
- Censorship When Lucille lifts her shirt to flash Oscar, it cuts to a test screen. When the show comes back on, it is in the middle of a line, making it appear that the network cut the scene.
- Both Kitty and Tobias's chests are censored out when they lift up their tops in Michael's office, despite many previous episodes depicting Tobias's chest uncensored.
- The Cornballer The Cornballer is shown again, after first appearing in "Bringing Up Buster". The device was known for severely burning people when they touched it, and the Cornballer burns off Oscar's fingerprints when he picks it up.
- "Couple of girls" G.O.B. describes Michael and him as "crying like a couple of girls". He uses the phrase again in "Mr. F".
- "Dad's gonna be crushed" This is the third episode in which viewers are misled into believing that George Sr. has died; the first two were "Let 'em Eat Cake" and "¡Amigos!".
- Ether G.O.B. soaks Franklin's mouth in ether to knock someone out. He first did this in "Meat the Veals".
- Fake Hand Buster is wearing the fake hand he first received in "Sword of Destiny".
- Fingers G.O.B. is seen with bandages on his fingers, a callback to when his fingers were severed and reattached in "Sword of Destiny". His index finger is still longer than his middle finger as Dr. Stein had re-attached them that way.
- Forced kiss G.O.B. gets an unconscious George Sr. to kiss him by moving his head as close to his own head as possible, then kissing him. He later does the same thing to Michael at the end of the episode.
- Franklin at the country club: In this episode, Michael says that G.O.B. will be able to take Franklin to lunch at the country club now that he's "all puckered and white". In "Meat the Veals," Lucille tells Buster that he can't take Franklin to the country club when Buster uses Franklin as a replacement hook after the police discovered that it still had the smell of Oscar's marijuana joint.
- "He's very good" Buster says, "I wouldn't worry about it; Barry's very good." "He's very good" appeared numerous times in advertisements for Barry Zuckerkorn throughout the series.
- Home run G.O.B. calls his card with Michael's face on it a "home run". He uses this phrase again in "Forget-Me-Now". George Sr. first used this phrase in response to Lindsay's funeral speech in "Good Grief".
- "I like the way they think" George Michael first made this comment about the French in "My Mother, the Car" as he remembered the kissing cousins in Les Cousins Dangereux.
- Incest After Michael is arrested, he calls Lucille and tells her that he has a "nice hard cot" with G.O.B.'s name on it. Lucille says, "You would do that to your own brother?" Michael replies, "I said cot."
- It Ain't Easy This episode marks the first airing of the G.O.B. and Franklin duet "It Ain't Easy". It is later heard in "Forget-Me-Now", "Making a Stand", and "Fakin' It".
- Never nude When Michael is talking to the home inspector, he asks if there are pieces of denim under the house, referring to Tobias's cut-offs. Michael states, "Yeah, we have a guy like that here."
- Peanuts George Michael reprises the sad "Christmas Time Is Here" song and walk from "Good Grief".
- Soapdish The Friday night movie is Soapdish, which George Sr. had said in "Queen for a Day" led to a knife fight at the prison.
- Switch This is the second time that George Sr. switches places with Oscar, something which happened in "The One Where Michael Leaves", and later in "Prison Break-In" and "Development Arrested".
- Tobias is gay
- While attempting to quit his job at the Bluth Company Tobias blames an eating disorder for his absence at his post, "Excuse me if I was too busy on my knees in front of the toilet, Michael!"
- When Tobias believes he's been replaced, he says to Michael "I see you wasted no time in filling my seat-hole."
- Tobias says he found a "wonderful circle of men" to get him through an embarrassing incident.
- Dangerous Cousins In the American remake, the film "artlessly explains" that the cousins are not biological cousins. Later on in the episode, as George Michael and Maeby are together, the narrator also artlessly explains that George Michael and Maeby may not be biological cousins.
- Wayne Jarvis' Dramatic Moment During the meeting with Michael and Barry, Wayne Jarvis' dramatic moment is ruined when the cops show up earlier than expected. This continues a string of jokes where bad timing foils Jarvis' dramatic gestures.
- Wink Barry gives the trademark Bluth wink to Wayne Jarvis's Asian assistant, who is repulsed by this gesture.
Hidden/background jokes
- Herpes G.O.B. implies that he got herpes from Kitty, whom he slept with in "Visiting Ours".
- "I thought we were split up" The fact that Tobias and Lindsay don't know whether or not they're together refers to the fact that they're always rekindling their love or falling out again.
- Les Cousins Dangereux According to the poster, Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle calls Les cousins dangereux "a 'relative' masterpiece of complex eroticism." (Goodman is a real TV critic for the Chronicle, and was one of the show's staunchest supporters.)
- The Narrator mocks the producers of the American remake for reassuring viewers that the characters are not actual cousins, but then later on quickly reminds the audience that George Michael and Maeby may not actually be related after they start kissing.
- The Man Inside Me The depressed men's group has a sign for "former psychiatrist Tobias Fünke" and a shot of his book, The Man Inside Me. This book was first seen in "Let 'Em Eat Cake".
- Wasting water The Bluths can be seen wasting water throughout this episode. Lindsay is running a tap continuously after just taking a bath, and Buster takes a long shower to get out the smell of Lucille when he arrives at the model home.
- Franklin's color Franklin (G.O.B.'s puppet) comes out of a commercial dryer accidentally bleached white. Upon discovering this, G.O.B. changes Franklin's accent to British and tells Michael near the end that Franklin is "all puckered and white" (which, to Michael, is a plus since G.O.B can now take Franklin to lunch at the country club).
- Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments, first seen and seemingly removed from the courthouse in "Justice Is Blind", are on the grass in front of the courthouse, seen when George Sr. stops the fight between Michael and G.O.B.
- Twins When George Sr. runs into the court, the cops seen throughout the season chase after him, later apprehending Oscar, and hitting him with a baton with the scene cutting off as one of the cops is lifting the baton as it always has.
- Hell When George-Michael and Maeby kiss, she jokes that they didn't get swallowed into hell, as Ann had suggested. Seconds later, the basement collapses.
Character cameos
- Courtney Lilly, a writer for the show, plays an engineer.
- Marc Cherry, creator of Desperate Housewives, makes a cameo as his show is being protested by Ann's church group. Cherry is also friends with Mitchell Hurwitz and both had previously worked on the show "Golden Girls" as writers.
- Wayne Jarvis makes his second appearance this season, his previous one in "Sad Sack".
- Andy Samberg (who would be a castmember for the NBC sketch show Saturday Night Live six months after appearing in this episode) has a small part in the final "On the next season of Arrested Development..." He plays the stage director in the elevator with Tobias and Kitty in Las Vegas.
Foreshadowing
- Model home collapsing Throughout the episode, whenever anyone sits down in the living room, a creak and ominous background music is heard in the background.
- Traffic light camera When G.O.B. is in the stair car with George Sr., holding up the photo of Michael, a camera flash is seen. We later learn in this episode that it was a traffic light camera, taking a photo of the stair car.
External links