I was having an on line chat with an old friend a few nights ago. We are both Arrested Development fans so I asked her how she was getting on with season 4. She replied that she was only on episode 4 and was devastated as she was not loving it, a sentiment shared by many of the first reviews. Her last comment was “I hate what they’ve done to Michael.” Indeed. Poor Michael Bluth, the linchpin of the Bluth family. Season 4 has robbed him and us of any hope that he will ever escape to a normal life.

Arrested Development is one of the funniest comedies from the other side of the Atlantic. It survived for three seasons and then was tragically cancelled. Its creator Mitchell Hurwitz teased the fervent fans with promises of making a movie but salvation came in the guise of Netflixs who commissioned a fourth season and released all 15 new episodes simultaneously. Each character is given their own episodes and some work brilliantly and some fall flat and this may depend on which characters you were rooting for from the first 3 seasons.

In Season 4, Patriarch George is attempting to make his millions running a dodgy spiritual retreat and building a wall to keep the Mexicans out of the US, Michael has taken over the real estate end of the Bluth Company just as the property market crashes, Lucille is attempting to escape incarceration for stealing the Queen Mary yacht using the advice of lawyer Barry Zuckerhorn that the law does not apply in the middle of the sea and the Funke family, Gob and Buster are stuck in the same rut of not progressing with their careers or dreams. George Michael and Maeby initially seem to have bright futures ahead with movie careers and college life to look forward to but gradually this begins to unravel.

Gob’s episodes with Tony Wonder and Tobias episodes with Lucille 2 and her brother Argyle were my personal favorites and I would pay good money to see The Fantastic Four musical. Season 4 will probably not make any sense if you haven’t seen the other 3 seasons, and really you should watch them. Wired is reporting that Season 5 is on the cards if the actors are interested and would be the first official renewal of a Netflix (Semi) original program. The moments of absolute genius are worth the ‘meh’ moments so sign up to your Netflix subscription and start from the very beginning. It’s a very good place to start.

Review by LAW