Michael says goodbye to the family business and starts his own. And the life of the family is turned upside down when their mail man Pete dies.
Season 4's reboot stumbles at 1.39 jokes per minute—weakest density of the entire series run.
Directed by Mitchell Hurwitz, Troy Miller · Written by Mitchell Hurwitz
WAR
56.9
Wins Above Replacement
“Flight Of The Phoenix” ranks #69 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 78.5 — Elite. The episode packs 55 scored jokes at 1.4 per minute, averaging 7.2 on craft and 6.8 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
Michael · Narrator: Did you mean to write 'George Michael'? Obviously, the verdict was in.
Lucille 2 · Michael: What are you doing? I'm gonna have sex with you for money.
George Michael: Well, it's hard to be self-effacing when you're a perfect specimen of rugged manlessness.
Michael · Airline Employee: I was mistakenly voted out of a four-person housing situation, uh, in a pack-first, no-talking-after scenario. Does that clear it up for you?
George Michael: I mean, at least it was consensual.
All Jokes — 55 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Lucille: Oh, why can't they just call it May 5? This is what I was talking about. It's all part of the Mexican war on May 5.
Lucille Absurdist Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Narrator: You see, the Hispanics of Newport liked Cinco a lot, but high up on Coast Highway, Lucille Bluth did not.
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Narrator: And then Lucille had a horrible thought, a thought that was thoughtless and better to not. 'What if,' she thought with a sneering grin... Next year what if the party didn't even begin?
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Lucille · George Sr.: Fill the bay with chorizo. Chorizo dump!
Narrator: Festival of Lights-- another phrase they wanted back
Narrator Irony/Sarcasm Observational ★ Rewatch Narrator · Lucille 2: She certainly had demonstrated that with many of the men in the family... Oh, stop it, you're making me dizzy. ...even having fallen for a few, although some of that was the vertigo she suffered from. But not all of it.
Narrator · Michael (implied): Dad? No, no. But seriously, she had gotten intimate with Buster and Gob.
Lucille 2 · Michael: What are you doing? I'm gonna have sex with you for money.
Gob: Thanks for coming so late, Maria, I know that you won't be cleaning up tomorrow, and we did make quite a mess of that bedroom.
Gob Cringe/Discomfort Visual Gag Gob: Well, I wasn't hoping to help. I was hoping to rub it in because of all the unpleasantness.
Gob Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Gob · Michael: Bad example: if you were ashamed of being in love with a man, suddenly discovered these new feelings, then I might say something like, 'Homo much?' It's not that. I said 'Bad example.'
Gob Michael Meta/Self-Referential Misdirection ★ Rewatch Narrator · Gob: It's almost as if he found a way to simulate amnesia. Hey, I'm down to my last Forget-Me-Now.
Narrator: Gob had always taken a pill he called a Forget-Me-Now for that... but was commonly known as a roofie.
Narrator Dark/Subversive Deadpan/Understatement Callback Gob: ♪ It's so easy to forget... ♪ ♪ It's so easy to forget. ♪ Stupid, forgetful Michael.
Narrator: even though the Phoenix he went to was online, he still enjoyed the full college experience by living in a dorm room while doing so
Narrator Irony/Sarcasm Visual Gag ★ Rewatch Narrator: Unfortunately it was his son's dorm room at the University of California at Irvine.
Michael · George Michael: We know everything there is to know about each other. We're like twins. I don't see us as twins.
George Michael: Well, it's hard to be self-effacing when you're a perfect specimen of rugged manlessness.
Housing Office Workers: This guy's name is actually George Michael. No, it's two different guys. They're twins, ugly. We should sign them up for Twin Club.
News Reporter: It was in this men's room in-- get this-- Beverly Hills that singer George Michael was arrested for soliciting sex from an undercover cop.
Michael: Right. I got it, let's call you Boy George.
News Reporter: Singer Boy George in the news again today, this time for sexual assault in a men's public bathroom.
George Michael: I mean, at least it was consensual.
Michael: Listen, look it. Are you listening? You want your space. I get it.
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Michael: You know what? This is your school rally shirt. You know, same size--medium. Do you know where mine is? We wear the same size like twi... We're just like twin-- couple of identical...
Michael Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Callback George Michael: It's privacy software. That's why the word came up.
Michael · George Michael: It's, like, stuck on 2003. Help me just break into... You just hit 'today.' The 'today' button. Sorry. It's stuck in 2003, so I don't have 'today.'
Michael · George Michael: Oh, okay. Kind of like the antisocial network, right? That's very good. You can use it.
Michael: Next to SkyMall, it's, like, the number two most read in all of coach. Well, three with the safety card
Michael: Okay, give me your meal plan card. I'm gonna run in there, I'm gonna grab a tray, you run around back, make sure you get there in time, before my hand stamp dries.
Michael Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Lucille 2: How'd you like to be bumped up to Lucille 1?
Narrator: headed out on whatever the opposite of a maiden voyage is
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Observational ★ Rewatch Lucille: Well, I missed the hearing. Oh, it just snuck up on me, and then they called, and they wanted me there at eight bells. You know, I thought that was their 5:00 p.m.
Narrator · Young Michael: It seems Michael had been interested in maritime law since playing a lawyer in an original school play titled The Trial of Captain Hook. ♪ You're a crook, Captain Hook... ♪
Young Michael · Director: Watch out for the seal! Loose seal! Loose seal! I'm watching! You're out of the play!
George Sr. · Michael: So the family got a little stimmy. Don't make a federal case out of it. That is exactly what they're going to make out of it.
Lucille · Michael · George Sr.: It's like tipping an African-American. You wouldn't tip an African-American, would you? Of course I would. On a train? What... Did you know about all this? No, I've been tipping them.
Michael · Gob: Even a waiter? Okay, the treadmill's up and running.
Narrator: And although his mother's day in court was something both he and his college-bound son would miss, Michael truly felt that nothing could go wrong. And then something did.
Michael: This is why you don't confide in a competitor.
Lucille 2 · Michael: I got you! Just as he could count on her putting him off and falling down. You did. Bye-bye. Oop. That's a hot mess.
Michael · George Michael: Love each other. Pete! Pete! Wait here. Hang on, Pete! Pete died.
Trang's Grandfather · Trang: Don't go through my stuff, Granddad. Hey, who do you think paid for your stuff?
Michael: Boy, shoot me if I'm 86, living in my grandson's dorm, huh?
P-Hound · Narrator: You're in Attitude? That magazine is gay. Oh, he wasn't being flip with the word 'gay.' Attitude is a British magazine for homosexuals.
Michael: You ever even been on a plane, you piece of?
Michael · George Michael · Maeby: There's nobody in here. Buddy, bad news. P-Hound is yanking our chain again. Uncle Michael. Oh, my God. Hi. Hello there. There is a kind of girl here.
George Michael · Michael: Won't that make it a tie? Briefly. Hmm? I mean, if the two of us vote against P-Hound, and you and P-Hound vote against you, then it's two against two, right?
Michael · Narrator: Did you mean to write 'George Michael'? Obviously, the verdict was in.
Michael · Airline Employee: I was mistakenly voted out of a four-person housing situation, uh, in a pack-first, no-talking-after scenario. Does that clear it up for you?
Airline Employee · Michael: But that leaves three other votes. Yeah.
Airline Employee: Oh, okay, yeah, sure, we just, uh, let people walk onto the plane all the time. Do you want a box cutter also?
Narrator: And Michael kicked himself for a pose he thought would express humility to Sanjiv, the Altitude photographer.
Narrator Visual Gag Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Michael · Cab Driver: Hope you know a good place to live because I'm... Ooh, dear Lord. 'Cause I'm looking to make a new start. Don't touch that handle. Whoa, Mother of God! Dear Lord! Whoo!
Michael: Buster. No... no, Gob. Oh! It was Lindsay.
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