Why I love Arrested Development:

One running joke
1- When being approached by Michael Moore asking why their company build houses in Iraq Lucile Bluth replies "that's silly! We're all loyal Americans". Michael Moore replies "Oh really? Well would you sign your son up for the army?" to which she takes a look at Buster and says "... .... yes."

2- Buster is called up for training and is sent on a bus journey by his mother who lends up a $100 for the fare. The bus drivers says he can't change a 100 so Buster looks for a change machine. He finds one in an arcade where tons of quarters fall out when he puts the $100 in. He see's a hook toy in the arcade and decides he will win a cuddly toy for luck. He wins amongst other cuddly toys, a toy seal

3- Buster Bluth runs away to 'Mexico' to avoid going in the military. He ends up at their housekeeper's home where he finds many of his old belongings have been stolen - one of which being a large red hand-shaped chair to which Buster says "Oh wow, I used to have a chair just like that. Never thought I'd miss a hand that much"

4- Michael Bluth gets dared by his brother, Gob to have a one-night stand. He ends up lying to a blind attorney saying that he is a 'maritime lawyer' after remembering that he was in a play/musical as a child playing the part of Peter Pan The Lawyer in the prosecution of Captain Hook - que cutaway scene where a boy is singing "You're a crook captain hook" in a mock courthouse with Captain Hook on the stand (his hook falls off in comedic fashion)

5- Meanwhile, his brother Gob meets another woman, [a marine biologist who deals seals to zoos]. They have escalating dares with each other (que pictures of dares such as robbing a convenience store, rolling down a hill in shopping trolleys etc) and accidentally gets married to her. He however never "seals the deal" by consummating the marriage

6- Buster now accepts he's going to Iraq and arranges a photoshoot on the beach with his mother Lucile for her to have a recent photo of him before he ships off. She is in denial and makes out that all he wants to do is swim in the ocean.

7- Gob is now getting sued by his 'wife' due to her joining the army to go to Iraq and her leaving the seals to him to take care off (to which he didn't). Gob tries to use the seals in his magic tricks. It fails horribly and he 'releases them from whence they came' (a referral to his tradition to throwing animals/letters/various other things into the sea from first episode). Upon releasing the seal, Gob yells at it "Yeah, go away! No more easy life for you! You're not going to be hand fed anymore!"

8- Buster before taking the bus to be shipped off to Iraq decides as a right of passage to swim in the ocean as an act of defiance to his mother Lucile. Upon jumping into the sea, a passer-by yells "LUCILE!! WATCH OUT FOR LUCILE!!" Buster yells he's not worried about his mother catching him anymore upon which a Loose-Seal (the one Gob released into the wild) bites off Buster's hand

9- Buster's hand now bitten off [see previous entries] gets temporarily replaced by a hook prosthetic. During which time it becomes apartment that the scene in which Michael Bluth played Peter Pan as a boy in the play has Buster playing Captain Hook. He also has flashbacks to the incident when he goes to sleep he finds the seal toy he won with the hook-toy in the arcade and various other things such as the red hand-chair he reclaimed before.



There's so many more things I've missed out, but it had me in tears laughing when I watched some episodes today.

Seriously, if you've never watched Arrested Development. Watch it, or you need a slap