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Recap / Arrested Development S2E17 "Spring Breakout"

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Michael checks Lucille into rehab, but she challenges Kitty to a drinking contest with George Sr. as the prize.


The Arrested Development episode "Spring Breakout" provides examples of:

  • Artistic License – History: Invoked In-Universe. The Scandalmakers episode about the Bluth family takes a few liberties with the story of George Sr.'s escape: the stair car is instead a truck with a ladder, and instead of hiding in a hole near the model house, the narrative has him hole up under the house itself.
  • The Cameo: Zach Braff as the host of Girls with Low Self Esteem.
  • Cast the Expert: invoked Played with: Tobias signed over the rights to the story about George Sr. to Scandalmakers so that he can portray George Sr. However, as noted above, the episode wasn't particularly concerned with accuracy.
  • Description Cut: Michael talks about how his mother finally agreed to going into rehab, right before a cut to footage of her rebellion.
  • Film the Hand: When Kitty flashes her boobs, a hand covers the camera.
  • Hypocrite: The host of Girls with Low Self Esteem, who encourages young women to take off their clothes and accuses anyone who oppose of being ashamed of their bodies, turns out to be a never-nude just like Tobias. He also gets annoyed when he sees Lindsay trying to create a male counterpart to his show, in spite of his willingness to objectify women.
  • Insecurity Camera: GOB sprays the security camera at the rehab hotel.
  • Lemony Narrator: The narrator isn't afraid to take potshots at the Scandalmakers footage shown in the episode.
    Scandalmakers Narrator: When allegations surfaced that he’d illegally built homes in Iraq, George Bluth Sr., assisted by his secretary, Kitty, escaped the country.
    Narrator: (talks over footage) Due to poor acting, the burden of the story was placed on the narrator.
    Scandalmakers Narrator: Only to be found hiding under one of the homes that he himself built.
    Narrator: (talks over footage) He was actually found in a hole near the house, but this inattention to detail was typical of the laziness the show's narrator was known for.
    George Sr.!Tobias: -under the house. Perhaps an attic shall I seek.
    Narrator: Real shoddy narrating. Just pure crap.
  • Shout-Out: The rehab facility Michael checks Lucille into is called Shady Pines, the same name as Sophia Petrillo’s former retirement home from The Golden Girls. Doubles as an Actor Allusion for creator Mitch Hurwitz, who was also a writer on that series for its last two seasons.
  • Staging an Intervention: It comes to light that Lucille has a drinking problem. Michael suggests holding an intervention, but the Bluths have already tried that with disastrous results. Like the last time, they start drinking themselves and become extremely drunk by the time Lucille shows up.
  • Take That!: The narrator, to the narrator of the In-Universe documentary about the Bluth family. "Really shoddy narrating. Just pure crap."

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