I spent the first chunk of season 4 of Arrested Development looking at the prisoner number on Lucille’s chest and wondering why it looked so familiar. It was making me crazy, so I finally Something’d it, and realized that “07734” typed into an old calculator and then turned upside down, spelled “hELLo”. In ADs world, “Hello” = “Annyong”, and that little inside joke is one of the many reasons why I enjoyed these new episode so much.

 

I spent Sunday the 26th consuming the new episodes like a crazed fan, truth be told. Yes, there were points where I was confused, there were a couple of storylines that didn’t please me, and these 15 episodes weren’t perfect, but, in my opinion, neither was the original three seasons (I know! Sacrilege!!). But the heart of the show was just as clear, and the brilliance of the storytelling was intact as far as I am concerned.

The continuation of mispronunciation gags made me particularly happy (Method One & ANUS TART), along with the hat tip to Wee Britain, the digs at Imagine Entertainment, Kristin Wigg & Seth Rogen as young Lucille & George, Sr., the corn baller!, Lindsey buying a ‘David Spade’ jacket, Bob Loblaw cameo, Pete Rose reference, Peter Scolari starring in “Angeles Y Diablos”, and on and on. Jam-freakin-packed funny. And a special honor to whomever gave John Slattery that great role as the disgraced anesthesiologist.  He is awesome in everything.

Remarkably, not only did they pack these 15 eppys with almost every beloved joke from the original series, but they crammed in some new running jokes with aplomb (Showstealer Pro and the Google jokes were faves). And here’s the best part: It’s better the second time through. Just like the movie “Fight Club”, which is a much better movie on the second and third viewings, so is Arrested Development. That is why this show has gathered the following it has. Each time you rewatch it, you see new things, catch jokes that you missed, and have a deeper connection to the show itself. The critics who poo-pooed the new eppys right out of the gate maybe don’t understand that about this show. Or maybe they just wanted to be ‘first’. I’ve only rewatched five of the new episodes, and it’s funnier the second time through, just as I suspected.

All in all, I am on the WIN side of this experiment, and I hope against hope that we get the movie that was hinted at heavily over and over in season 4. Hit ’em with a hammer, Mitchell, we expect nothing less!