After returning home from Iraq, George Sr. is finally cleared of all charges, and Michael is relieved to be the head of a successful company for a change. The real brains behind the madness is revealed, and just as the family begins to celebrate their victory, a whole new set of problems emerge.
Season 3 finale delivers 60 jokes in 60 minutes—the show's most balanced density before the creative collapse.
Directed by John Fortenberry · Written by Richard Day, Mitchell Hurwitz, Chuck Tatham
WAR
193.5
Wins Above Replacement
“Development Arrested” ranks #5 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 100.0 — Elite. The episode packs 109 scored jokes at 3.7 per minute, averaging 7.8 on craft and 7.7 on impact, with Michael landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Ron Howard (implied Hollywood Icon): No, I, uh... I don't see it as a series. Maybe a movie.
Annyong / Hello: Because my grandfather vowed one day he would get even for banana stand you stole from him.
Michael · Buster: Buster, who faced his biggest fear to be here today. / Second biggest.
Michael Buster Callback Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Annyong / Hello: Or someone who used to be. / Annyong? / Annyong. / Annyong? / Annyong. But my real name is... / Hello. / Hello? / Annyong.
Michael: I'm just not that into older women.
Michael Setup/Punchline Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 109 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Narrator: So why is this man crying? Because now he'll have to stay with these people for a long, long time.
Narrator Irony/Sarcasm Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Narrator · George Michael: It was the monster called lust, to which he'd recently succumbed.
Narrator · George Michael: Although he'd only gotten to second base, he'd gone in head first, like Pete Rose.
Tobias · Maeby · Lindsay: And there you are, Maeby, coming out of your mother's third base.
George Michael · Maeby: You're not sleeping in here now. / What, so we can make out every night? / Does that not work for your schedule?
Michael · George Michael: What have I always said is the most important thing? / Family. / I was gonna say breakfast, but...
Bluth Family: Risky! Risky! Risky! — the family chanting at the party brunch
Lucille · Buster: Look at that, Buster. You would have lost a hand anyway.
Buster: Oh, I'm not comfortable near the ocean since the seal attack. The ocean is my second biggest fear.
Buster Running Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille: Good, don't come. I need to be rubbing elbows, not working your fork.
Lucille Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Lucille · George Sr. · Lindsay: No magic, Gob. Where is Gob? Oh, who knows? I don't even know where he lives. / He doesn't live at Michael's? / I've always pictured him in a lighthouse.
Michael · Lindsay · Lucille: Stan Sitwell's always had a wild hair to buy this business. It's the only hair he's got. / He's an alpaca. / He has alopecia.
Bluth Family: Two million! Two million! — the family's reaction to the potential payout
Michael: That sounds like a lot more than it actually is. You've already spent $1,200 on eggs, and that would be it forever.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Michael · George Michael · Maeby: Keep in mind, we are building something for our kids... it's also for George Michael and Maeby's kids too. / We can't have kids! / It's not even an option really.
Lucille · Tobias: I, for one, will not go back to wondering whether there's going to be enough food on the table. / Might wanna start worrying about the table.
Michael: You know, being twins, our birthdays are pretty close to one another.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Michael · Buster · Lindsay: A 40-year-old woman has as much chance of getting married as she does of getting attacked by a shark. / Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were going to say seal. / Or a seal. / Oh, God!
Lucille · Young Lucille (flashback implied): Girls just grow faster than boys. Dinner's ready. We're having Lindsay chops. / What? / I want her to be prepared in case some bully at school is as clever as I am.
Michael: No bully ever would be.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat George Sr. · Michael: Oh! Well, your mom's not gonna allow for that. She'll do whatever it takes to get her way.
George Sr. · Narrator: The Frozen Banana itself was the brainchild of a Korean immigrant who threatened to sue them. Your mother said she'd take care of it. The guy was deported to Korea the next day.
Narrator: Where his business never recovered.
Narrator Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive George Sr.: She's the queen, Michael. I was her king, and now it's you.
Narrator · Gob: Michael went to cancel the reservation on the party boat Buster so feared. Gob! When he saw Gob on a party boat of his own.
Narrator Gob Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Gob: You might wanna untie these ropes first. / Don't tell me how to flee, Michael.
Narrator: Lighthouse wasn't far off.
Narrator Callback Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Gob: Perhaps you can tell me how you can afford a boat. / You mean on the paltry 1,500 a week you give me? / I give you 500 a week. / Yeah, well, somebody's drawing a little one on those checks. No big deal.
Gob · Michael: You give a man a fish, he'll eat for a night. / If you teach a man to fish... / He'll wanna use your yacht.
Gob Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Misdirection Gob: I don't want this thing smelling like fish. I'm burning through my future for it. But you wouldn't understand that because you're a robot.
Gob Character Comedy Absurdist Lucille 2 / Annyong's grandmother / Lucille (Sr.): Oh, really? How would it feel to lose the company to a man who has less hair on his !@%$ than I have on my !@%$#.
Michael: It can't be worse than hearing that just was.
Michael Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement Tobias: I couldn't see through the glasses, and I slid into the ladder.
Tobias Character Comedy Physical/Slapstick Michael · George Michael: Me too. / What do you mean, Son? You kissed? / Even a little more than that.
George Michael: They were really rough pictures.
Michael · George Michael: She's a blood relative. / I know. I've seen the blood.
Michael · George Michael: How long has this been going on? / I don't know... 53 weeks?
Michael · George Michael: Whatever happened to that Ann we were both so crazy about? / Yeah, Ann is the girl for us.
Lindsay: I'm not going to sell my five percent, even though you haven't made an offer. Which would be how much, by the way?
Lindsay Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Stan Sitwell · Lindsay: Lucille actually gave you less than her natural children. I hope that's not a crack about my hair color, lips, forehead, nose and teeth.
Lindsay · Stan Sitwell: Because at least I'm not wearing a rayon sweater set on my face. / It's alpaca actually. Cruelty-free. Really narrows your choices.
Lindsay · Stan Sitwell: Wait a minute. You're saying I'm adopted? / I'm sorry. I thought you knew. / Are you kidding me? This is the happiest I've been since the day I got my new nose.
Stan Sitwell · Lindsay: You were almost a Sitwell. But 37 years ago, the Bluths adopted you out from under us. So we said good-bye to you, our darling little three-year-old. / Wait, three-year-old? You said it was 37 years ago.
Stan Sitwell: Oh, yeah, right. Hey, we should do something for your 40th next week.
Lindsay · Narrator: !@%$, let me !@%$#%!@$%#@! Get your !@%$#%!@$%#@! Be gentle, she's almost 40!
Studio Executive · Maeby: Fire you? Are you kidding? I've already gotten 10 requests for the TV rights to your story.
Studio Executive: This is the biggest thing to happen since Uniprod hired that wee-brain to run drama development.
Michael · Lindsay: Are you drunk? / A little. We need to talk. / I mean, can you imagine anything more inappropriate? / Hey, I guess you can.
Lindsay · Michael: I'm not your sister. / What? / I'm adopted. And I'm three years older.
Lindsay: I know you've always found me attractive. You've been telling me that for the last 40 years.
Lindsay Cringe/Discomfort Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: I'm just not that into older women.
Michael Setup/Punchline Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Michael · Tobias: You can't do that. / They're my shares. / No, I mean, you can't spoon me like that.
Michael Tobias Setup/Punchline Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Michael · Tobias: We need a new venue for the shareholders' party, and it cannot be a boat. / Now, if you can find something, maybe I can fudge the books. Get you a Bluth Company salary. Maybe call you an events coordinator.
Tobias: Can we just lay here for a second while I think about it?
Tobias Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Callback Narrator: He also mentioned that we all only had three more weeks on Earth and that fossils were just something the Jews buried in 1924.
Narrator Absurdist Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Narrator: And so, feeling that he couldn't go home, George Michael decided to seek out his own creepy uncle.
Narrator Deadpan/Understatement Irony/Sarcasm Lucille: Look, she was better off with us. He wanted to call her Nellie.
Lucille Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille: We loved her just as much as any of you normal kids. More than Gob.
Lucille Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Lucille · Michael: We'll pay them off. We'll call it an accrued cash dividend. But they won't get their money until they sign a document at the party promising not to sell for 10 years. / So it's embezzlement, bribery and conspiracy? / And a whole lot of love. / All right, and perjury.
Tobias · Michael · Buster: We're having it at the Queen Mary. / Queen Mary? That's a ship. / Oh, no, no, no. It's a chain of popular nightclubs. / Although I haven't been to this particular location. / It's on the Long Beach Harbor. / That's the ship. / Don't worry about it. They've actually welded it to the dock.
Tobias: Don't worry about it. They've actually welded it to the dock.
Tobias Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Absurdist Tobias · Michael · Lucille: Although I should call the Hot Cops and tell them to come up with something more nautically themed. / Hot Sailors. / Better yet, Hot Se... / I like Hot Sailors. / Mm, me too.
Narrator: George Michael was about to come across a hot seaman of his own.
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Callback George Michael · Gob: Who? / Ann. / Her?
Narrator: Gob had been dating Ann since he awarded her third place in an inner beauty pageant.
Narrator Absurdist Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Gob · Ann's friends · Narrator: What? I thought that's what all you guys lived for. / While Gob debased everything they believed in.
Gob · Narrator: It's really not that big of a deal, George Michael. I'm 18 now. And besides, we really haven't even done anything. Practically nothing. But what are you gonna do? The girl obviously needs a man. And that's when George Michael became one.
George Sr. · Buster: Do you think there's any chance this ship could break away from the dock? / We're on a ship?
Maeby · Buster: Maeby trying to get people to sign her TV release forms by calling it a petition to make TV better.
Maeby Buster Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: Oh, I kind of like Skating with Celebrities.
Buster Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Lucille · Lindsay · Lucille: Sign here that you won't sell. / Oh, I don't need to sell, Lucille, because now I know that we're not related, I'm going to marry Michael. / I always saw him with a younger girl.
Narrator · Gob: Gob, angry at Michael for sending his son to the docks, went into a kind of knee-jerk revenge mode. / Why go for the best when you can go for the rest... of your life with a younger man?
Kitty · Gob: Kitty likes to scratch. / Oh, God! Mom! Mom!
Kitty Gob Cringe/Discomfort Running Gag Callback Maeby: Well, that was a freebie.
Maeby Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Michael · Narrator: My brother Gob, who I know would never do anything to hurt anyone in this family. / Except for dating his nephew's girlfriend and hitting on his adopted sister.
Michael · Buster: Buster, who faced his biggest fear to be here today. / Second biggest.
Michael · Buster: Buster, who faced his biggest fear to be here today. / Second biggest.
Michael Buster Callback Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: And my sister, Lindsay. Yes, she is my sister, no matter what any piece of paper says.
Michael Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Lindsay and her husband, Tobias... deep down, they both love each other very, very much.
Michael Irony/Sarcasm Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Narrator: It wasn't exactly a turn-on.
Narrator Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Gob: Whoo !@%$# baby. / Looks like George Michael got his mom back today, huh?
Gob Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Michael · Gob: Yeah, well, where is George Michael, by the way? / He came by the yacht. Gave me this shiner. / He hit you? What for? / You know teenagers.
Michael Gob Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Setup/Punchline Gob · Michael: He came by the yacht. Gave me this shiner. / He hit you? What for? / You know teenagers. Probably lashing out at you because of who I'm dating. / Who are you dating? / Ann. / Her?
Gob Michael Running Gag Callback Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Callback Gob: Don't worry. I didn't fight back or anything. I was like, 'Oh, no, take the yacht. Please don't hurt me.' Just build up the little guy's self-esteem.
Gob Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Investor / Crowd Member: Never seen a CEO cry like that before, except at his sentencing.
Michael: I've made a huge mistake.
Michael Running Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Investor · Michael: That's who you're putting in charge? / I've made a huge mistake.
Michael · Stan Sitwell: Will you take the company for 20% above market? / Ten, and I'll take the company off your hands right now. / Fifteen and I'll throw in Nellie. / She's 40. / Twelve.
Gob · Michael · Gob: Are those police boats? / Oh, my God, the SEC. / They still have boats?
Michael: I can't help but enjoy the irony that you might be losing three years of your life.
Michael Dark/Subversive Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Oscar · Michael: George invited me. Oh, stupid. / Oscar, when are you going to learn there's no such thing as free shrimp?
Michael · Annyong / Hello: Or someone who used to be. / Annyong? / Annyong. / Annyong? / Annyong. But my real name is... / Hello. / Hello? / Annyong.
Annyong / Hello: Because my grandfather vowed one day he would get even for banana stand you stole from him.
Gob: Hey, Maeby ever mention my name?
Gob Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Lucille · Narrator · Hot Sailors: But Lucille was not going peacefully. / You boys know how to shovel coal? / I don't even wanna tell you what these guys thought that meant.
Michael · George Michael: Buddy, Maeby is not your cousin. / What? / Yeah, I found out a couple days ago. Aunt Lindsay was adopted. / Why didn't you tell me this? / Because you can't be with Maeby. You're 15.
Michael: She might not be a blood relative, but she is still family, and that's a bond that lasts forever. You don't wanna rock that boat.
Michael Irony/Sarcasm Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Michael · Narrator: What the hell was that? / It was his mother, who moments earlier had taken control of another queen.
Various · Narrator · Buster: It's moving! Oh, my God! / And Buster faced his second biggest fear. / I can't swim! I can't swim! / And then his first.
Buster: It's moving! Oh, my God!
Buster Reaction Beat Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Buster Reaction Beat Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Narrator: And the two grand ladies made their escape together.
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Deadpan/Understatement Police / Coast Guard: Lucille Bluth, please pull over and step away from the historic ship.
Unnamed Family Member · Michael · George Michael: Gangy's trying to make a break for it. / I guess we should go back. Family sticks together, huh? / Yeah, on the other hand, we do have a full tank of gas, a house in Cabo, and 500 grand in cashier's checks. What say we give them no choice but to keep themselves all together for a while?
Michael: Yeah, on the other hand... we do have a full tank of gas, a house in Cabo, and 500 grand in cashier's checks.
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: What say we give them no choice but to keep themselves all together for a while?
Michael Callback Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Narrator: It was Arrested Development.
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Narrator: Michael wakes up to another strange bedfellow after his first night at sea.
Narrator Callback Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Ron Howard (implied Hollywood Icon): No, I, uh... I don't see it as a series. Maybe a movie.
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