Michael must deal with a huge mole problem in order to salvage a major real estate deal with Japanese investors. In an effort to help Michael, Gob and Buster team up with George Sr.'s surrogate, Larry, to devise a plan and save the deal, but their plan falls apart in a big way. Meanwhile, Tobias mistakes a CIA agent for a CAA agent and inadvertently betrays the family, and Michael makes Rita a proposal she can't refuse. Frankie Muniz makes a cameo as himself.
Season 3's weakest link: 61 jokes in 27 minutes can't overcome thin character arcs.
Directed by Arlene Sanford · Written by Richard Day, Jim Vallely
WAR
48.2
Wins Above Replacement
“Mr. F” ranks #77 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 75.9 — Great. The episode packs 61 scored jokes at 2.3 per minute, averaging 7.0 on craft and 6.6 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
CIA Agents: - MRF? What's that? - Mentally retarded female.
Michael: Oh, my God. Tobias Fünke. You're Mr. F.
Michael Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Callback George Michael: 'Fun' and 'Failure' both start out the same way.
Michael: Let's start with my family's misdemeanors... and then push right on through to the lighter treasons.
Tobias · Gob: - I'm a mole! - Not the village!
All Jokes — 61 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Rita: I hate it when they hire Yanks to play Brits. You can always tell.
Rita Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Michael: Besides, I already got him his big present for his birthday. A suit! Dad, it's a Jack Welch. I want you to look under the pants.
Michael: Quicken! Premier. Dad, I hope you kept the receipt. - You wanna return that? - No, I wanna deduct it.
Michael Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Michael: Really, he would only like it for the receipt.
Michael Character Comedy Observational Michael: Okay, that's, uh, that wa... that was fun. Still, the land probably shouldn't have given out beneath us.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Rita Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Rita · Narrator: - Whee! - And Rita was falling for Michael too. But that wasn't part of the plan.
Rita: I'm a woman too! Not some robot you get to tell everything to.
Rita Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Rita: 'You do the math, Rita.' Well, no, you do the math.
Rita Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Rita Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael · Gob: - Hey, what happened to you? - Oh, I got highlights. - It'll blend in about a week.
Gob: It probably has something to do with the 4,000 hair plugs I had in one sitting.
Gob Escalation Character Comedy Gob: Yeah, but he's too busy going to the gym to see his friend Frank. Oh, we're more than friends. I'm kind of his spotter. Missed a spot.
Gob Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Gob · Frank: - You're blowing my mind, Frank. - I'm an agent, and I'd like to work with you. Oh. Oh!
Narrator: Frank said CIA, a government agency that was responsible for this catastrophe. But Tobias thought he said CAA, a talent agency that was responsible for this one.
Narrator: Actually, she'd already gotten one... as the movie she'd released in her secret life as a studio executive was losing money.
Narrator Callback Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Maeby: - But didn't some people die in Hell Tunnel? - That is an urban legend. Two elderly people got badly scalded...
Maeby Escalation Deadpan/Understatement Michael · Gob · Narrator: - You know, she was in the Olympics? - She wasn't. - Wasn't she on the cover of Newsweek? - No. - Yes. - Michael was thinking of this man.
Michael · Gob: The whole backside has moles. That's Frank's problem too.
Larry: Hey, I didn't say that.
Lucille · Gob: - Typical. - Delicious.
Lucille · Gob: - I need a drink. - I'll take an English muffin.
Gob · Lucille: And Godzilla! - Godzirra! - Just sit down. - Okay, guys. - Godzirra!
Lucille · Michael: - What? We're out of vodka. - Sorry. I thought you were doing Godzilla.
Gob: Build a miniature city. Put it outside their window. Tell them it's far away. It'll look real if you squint. God knows they're squinters.
George Sr. · Gob · Narrator: - Another brilliant idea, Einstein. - Really? - Larry really never knows how to sell the sarcasm.
George Sr.: Oh, great. That's another brilliant idea, Steinberg.
George Sr.: Life is not some cheesy Japanese movie... where the hero pulls on a pair of jet pants and... flies off the balcony like Astroboy.
Narrator: And that's when George Sr. Did a Web search for the words, 'Jet pants.'
Michael: Let's start with my family's misdemeanors... and then push right on through to the lighter treasons.
Michael: Do you know any other songs?
Michael Reaction Beat Cringe/Discomfort Bob Loblaw · Michael: - And it could be an alias. - Alias is a show about a spy!
TV Announcer: Hell Tunnel takes another name. Will it take another life?
George Michael · Michael: I'd wear it to school, but who needs a Welch wedge, right? That's when they... Enough business.
George Michael: 'Fun' and 'Failure' both start out the same way.
Larry · George Sr.: - I'm never gonna find my way... - past that hallway sensor.
Buster: If mother sees this, she will blow a cow.
Buster Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Buster: Goody! Yeah. I do want to. Yea. I do want to. Goody.
Buster Character Comedy Escalation Narrator: Only Larry was disappointed. But he was such a pro you'd never know it.
Tobias: I shall be a bigger, hairier mole than the one on your inner left thigh.
Tobias Character Comedy Escalation Callback Actor Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy George Michael · Michael: - Well, what if I crash it? - That's half the fun.
Rita Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Maeby: Well, that was a freebie.
Maeby Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive Narrator: The jet pack... had come with an instructional DVD that seemed to confuse more than clarify.
Narrator · DVD: And it did seem like a lot of work... for a little payoff. - Have fun! - Have fun.
Narrator · DVD: And it did seem like a lot of work... for a little payoff. Have fun! Have fun.
Gob: We're like a couple of girls on the last day of camp.
Gob Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Narrator: He had, in the poorly narrated reality series, Scandalmakers.
Narrator Meta/Self-Referential Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Narrator: Ishiro said, 'I am reassured. And they treat us with respect this time.'
Narrator: Motoyoshi said, 'I thought the woman was pretending as a monster... but she was just out of vodka.'
Narrator Callback Character Comedy Callback Tobias · Gob: - I'm a mole! - Not the village!
George Michael: Hard to breathe in this thing. It's really hot. I'm sweating all over myself. I can't stop this thing!
Tobias · Gob: - You're blowing my audition! - I ache with embarrassment.
Michael: Oh, my God. Tobias Fünke. You're Mr. F.
Michael Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: No, I'm not, Mother. I mean lover. - I like making love to Mother. - I mean lover!
Buster Escalation Cringe/Discomfort Gob: It took some idiot parrot man with a camera in his hat to bring us together.
Gob Character Comedy Callback Callback Narrator: But even a pro like Larry has a breaking point.
CIA Agents: - MRF? What's that? - Mentally retarded female.
CIA Agents: - That explains what she's doing with him. - And the hats.
CIA Agents Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Rita · Michael: - What's that? - A prize. A lovely, lovely prize.
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