For varying reasons, most of the Bluths (even Steve Holt) feel compelled to run off to Mexico. Michael tries to convince Buster to go to the police.
Absurdist plotting carries a mid-tier episode through 59 jokes in steady, character-driven rhythms.
Directed by Troy Miller · Written by Richard Day
WAR
48.1
Wins Above Replacement
“Self Deportation” ranks #81 of 84 Arrested Development episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 74.6 — Great. The episode packs 59 scored jokes at 1.7 per minute, averaging 7.0 on craft and 6.7 on impact, with Buster landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Buster: 'Hi, I'm Michael,' and I save everyone so I feel special, even though you don't deserve it.
Buster Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: APB. 'Aw, poor Buster.'
Buster Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Buster: I saw Lucille 2's lifeless body sprawled across the stair car?
Buster Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Lucille: I always say, 'Make people cry, make people cry.'
Lucille Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Buster: I wish I could've seen their faces at the ceremony.
Buster Irony/Sarcasm Callback ★ Rewatch Callback All Jokes — 59 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Producer: Ron Howard wants to make a heartfelt father-son drama that has a good clean message for his illegitimate daughter to star in.
Producer Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Producer · Unknown: he's already started paying off -the Hollywood Foreign Press. -No, they're great. - She's funny.
Producer: I want to remake Spider-Man 2, the first one.
Michael: My brother Buster has something better than a hook. A robot hand.
Michael Callback Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Callback Producer · Michael: You're out of the movie. You're out of the movie. He hadn't destroyed. You're out of the movie. You're out of the movie! Know what? You're out of the movie. Fine.
Michael · Producer: I get paid? They're Imagine dollars. They're redeemable in the gift shop. That's Ron Howard. Brian's on the 50.
Producer: It's a severance thing they're doing because of Ron's need to be loved and Brian's conflict avoidance issues.
Producer Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Gift Shop Worker · Michael: Oh, we only sell these as a set. They were getting very competitive. Were they? Brian was.
Buster: Winner of 1982's Least Seen on Campus.
Buster Callback Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: I wish I could've seen their faces at the ceremony.
Buster Irony/Sarcasm Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: This is one of only two things the Army warns us about when they issue these. Boy, Kitty does not know what she's sitting on.
Michael · Buster: Maybe that's a role I can play in your life. Don't say... Mom. Mmm.
Buster: I ain't got no truck with no blue.
Buster: Well, I lived with Mother. Did you think we were dating?
Buster Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Question's been asked.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat Buster: No! No! A thousand times, no! Is that what they'll ask? 'Cause it's not like I'm gonna remember details about where I saw her and what we fought about.
Buster: You kept me from Mother? You sent her to prison? Should I not say that?
Buster: Should I not say that?
Buster Reaction Beat Character Comedy Michael: Just Mama's worst nightmare. Buster's missing. Oh, and his bath has gone cold.
Michael Escalation Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: Oh, those things are so easy to beat.
Buster Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Narrator: oh, let's say, boarding school romance.
Narrator Wordplay/Pun Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Callback G.O.B. · George Sr.: cincos and mayos. We need to find out whatever the word for ten is. Find that. It's ten. Every culture uses ten.
George Sr.: It blew off at the CVS parking lot.
George Sr. · Therapist: That's my penis. You don't have to tell me.
George Sr.: I can get hard, so let's focus on you.
Bartender · G.O.B. · George Sr.: They're primas. Primos, huh? I've gotta be honest, I've seen better. No, it means cousins.
Buster: APB. 'Aw, poor Buster.'
Buster Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Buster: You always come back to save the family. We joke about that all the time.
Buster Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Buster: 'Hi, I'm Michael,' and I save everyone so I feel special, even though you don't deserve it.
Buster Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Covered a lot of ground there.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat Buster: I saw Lucille 2's lifeless body sprawled across the stair car?
Buster Dark/Subversive Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Perfect. If that's what happened, tell them.
Michael Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Buster: This is literally one of only two things the Army warns about when they issue these.
Buster Running Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Narrator: This is why you always... leave a note. Always leave a note. Where's that from?
Maeby · George Michael: Welcome to the shitty parents club. No, no, we don't have kids.
Maeby: Mexico sounds far from Perfecto. So that's perfect.
Maeby Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy George Michael · Maeby · George Michael: Just the cousins. Primos! This crew. Why do you keep yelling that? Stop it.
Dave from Mapping: Oh, no. They never arrest the drivers. They do come down pretty hard on the cars, but it's cheaper to just retrain the people instead.
Jeff from Earth: It sounds super futuristic and dystopian, but it's really not.
George Michael · Maeby: Primos stick together. Oh. 'Cousin.' It means 'cousins.' That makes sense.
Mexican horsemen: ♪ Mr. Efe ♪ Play the guitar, old man! Strum! Strum!
Maeby: They just looked like old white men to me.
Maeby Observational Deadpan/Understatement George Michael · Maeby: Who were those scary, handsome Mexicans on those magical horses? They just looked like old white men to me.
Maeby · George Michael: No, that one was empty. I found it in 'Just Odds and Ends.' Great, you got past my double bluff.
George Michael: Great, you got past my double bluff.
George Michael · Maeby: Maybe it's 'go-op'? To me, that would make less sense. Maybe that's what 'go-op' is. Not everything always making sense.
G.O.B. · George Sr.: Bush. Trash bag and bush. Thought it was a woman. Like, hunched over, right?
George Sr. · G.O.B.: That was a ten-gallon Hefty sack? Oh, yeah. Yeah, a ten. Definitely a ten.
Tobias: I still think you're gonna have a problem with this final 'raped murderer.'
Tobias Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Lucille · Tobias: My daughter is divorcing you. This is it. I'm confused by the word 'it.' I'm confused by the word 'anymore.'
Oscar: Well, this is America. They don't want us to burn signs, they shouldn't write 'em in Spanish.
Oscar Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Lucille: I always say, 'Make people cry, make people cry.'
Lucille Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Mexican man · Lindsay · Narrator: Puta Night is Thursday. That's so nice. No, I'm not. That was based on her belief that 'puta' meant 'young.'
Maeby: Oh. I thought you were just trying to get me to give you a higher Uber rating.
American student: It's great because it's subtitled in Spanish, but we don't have to read. It's in English.
Lucille · TV · Lucille: Which was my idea! And I will have Mexico pay for that wall. That is a clever twist.
Michael: Hola. Window cleaner! I shall be neither seen nor heard.
Michael Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Tobias · Tobias · Tobias: I blue myself. It's vodka. It goes bad once it's opened. I heard the jury's still out on science.
American student: Guys, it's 9:00. Gives us 30 minutes till they shut down that last machine at Pinkberry.
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