It’s really breaking my heart to
write this review though. It really is. I expected so much from this new
season, ultimately, because I have a deep affection towards this show and
feeling so invested in each of the characters.
So, when I saw the first episode
of season 4, I really wanted to love it and when it didn’t meet my expectation,
I keep telling my self ‘oh, it’s just
the beginning, it’d get better’ or ‘I don’t understand why’d he do that. Oh,
maybe I’ll get the explanations on the next episode’, and so the denial keeps
going on until season finale had arrived, from which I couldn’t came up with
any excuses for this lovable series anymore.
Don’t get me wrong, there’re
still a lot to like in the new form of the Bluth. The jokes are still
hilarious, I laughed so hard in many episodes – mostly when it involved GOB,
Maeby, and Michael. Also, most of the old guest stars were coming back to upped
the awesomeness of the show here and there, including the idiotic family lawyer
Barry Zuckerkorn, Lucille's best friend/ nemesis Lucille 2, Lindsay’s old crushed Bob Loblaw,
and even the glimpse of Bluth’s adopted Korean son, Annyong.
Nonetheless, I can’t help but
notice there are many little things that missed from this Netflix’ version that
somehow degraded the show’s greatness. I always love ‘Arrested Development’
because of the funny jokes and smart lines, no doubt about that. But also, I love
it because of the Bluth family as a whole unity, which makes the show itself
hilarious, dense, and people actually can relate into it.
As you all know, the brand new
season was released in the different format in which every episode was focused
in a certain main character and following them constantly without jumped into
another character’s story. Thanks to this experiment, the viewers now could dig
deeper into each of the chaos of Bluth’s member, yet as a whole season, I just
got the experienced of watching a DVD’s extras.
This new format resulted in
distant connection between nine main characters on the show, which was a very
very bad idea. Why? Because we – well, certainly I – love the Bluth because
each member has a specific role to keep the show as funny as it has. They need
to be put together as a whole, in order to be funny and laughable.
For example, Michael Bluth is a
superior son, selfish father, yet the most sane person in his dysfunctional
family. His superiority always amusing the audience for he always becomes the
first and only person who ends up cleaning up his family’s mess. So, without family’s
member whom he could lectured and whose mess he could cleaned up, he only became a
pathetic and clingy father for his only son. It was very hard to watch. Seriously, I had a heart-breaking moment with Michael right on the very first episode – when he got
kicked out from George Michaels’s dorm – and it wasn’t cool at all.
This wasn’t happened to Michael
only. As I continued to watch more episodes, I realized that maybe the Bluths
weren’t as lovely as I thought they were. I love them as a family, but when
their character exposed as an individual form, they lose part of their charm. That’s
just an ugly truth I have to lived on with now. Damn.
Timing probably part of the problem
as well. Because of the huge success of the first three season of the show, the
casts then swamped with movies and TV series offers. Their affection of the
show and the respect for the creator Mitchell Hurwitz, remain the reasons why
they’ve had willing to shoot the new season for Netflix between their busy
schedule. Thus, we could see most scene involving more than one main cast were
shoot separately and then combined through the editing process. This, by the
way, add the minus points of the new season, as the interaction of each
character showed lack of chemistry.
The other thing I’d like to
highlight is the new format was also created a slight confusion, regarding to
the back-and-forth sequences. As we know, the show came back after 7 years
absence on the air. Therefore, we had at least 7 years to catch up with the
Bluth’s life on the new season. I don’t have problem with back-and-forth story,
but the show didn’t provide a proper time explanation for background, both on
the caption or the narration. This leads me to wonder which year the scene took
place every changing sequence happens each episode.
Last, but definitely not least,
the finale! Gosh, the finale sure did ended with the biggest cliffhanger I could
ever imagine. So much questions left unanswered until the very end of
the show and it’s frustrating! I know they intended to make the movie to wrap
this show, but only God knows when, right? Seriously, after 7 long years
waiting, they really expect us to wait longer to know exactly what would happen
to our beloved characters? Haven’t they punished us enough?
I admit I’m a bit disappointed by
this new season of ‘Arrested Development’, but not enough to diminish my
affection and love towards this show. This remain one of my favorite sitcom of
all time. Even some flaws on the new season wouldn’t be able to change that. So,
any form of Bluths whether on a movie or TV show are more than welcome. And make
it quick for God sake!
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