WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.359 Hello and welcome back to the Deep Dive. We are 00:00:02.359 --> 00:00:04.120 so glad you're here with us today because we 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:06.719 are about to tackle something that is honestly 00:00:06.719 --> 00:00:09.679 a bit of a holy grail for comedy nerds. Oh, absolutely. 00:00:10.060 --> 00:00:13.240 We are opening up the files on a specific moment 00:00:13.240 --> 00:00:16.000 in television history that I think, you know, 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:18.160 really defines the genre of the single camera 00:00:18.160 --> 00:00:20.719 sitcom. We are looking at Arrested Development. 00:00:20.920 --> 00:00:24.170 A show that rewards... The attentive viewer like 00:00:24.170 --> 00:00:28.609 almost no other show in history. It is just the 00:00:28.609 --> 00:00:31.210 gift that keeps on giving. It really is. And 00:00:31.210 --> 00:00:32.869 we aren't just looking at the series broadly 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:36.770 today. We're zooming in microscope style on one 00:00:36.770 --> 00:00:39.130 specific episode. On one single episode. We are 00:00:39.130 --> 00:00:41.570 looking at season two, episode three, titled 00:00:41.570 --> 00:00:44.469 Amigos. Amigos. Yes. Originally aired November 00:00:44.469 --> 00:00:47.030 21st, 2004. So we're going back a bit. We are. 00:00:47.090 --> 00:00:49.109 Now, if you're a fan, you probably just smile 00:00:49.109 --> 00:00:51.070 because you know exactly which one this is. You 00:00:51.070 --> 00:00:53.119 know the beats. the one with the bounty hunter. 00:00:53.240 --> 00:00:55.200 This is the one with the private eye. This is 00:00:55.200 --> 00:00:57.359 the trunk escape. And perhaps most famously, 00:00:57.460 --> 00:01:01.280 the hand shaped chair. The chair. Oh, my God. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:03.399 The chair. We are going to get into the chair. 00:01:03.520 --> 00:01:07.079 Leave me. But our mission today is to figure 00:01:07.079 --> 00:01:10.060 out why this specific 22 minutes of television 00:01:10.060 --> 00:01:13.120 is considered by critics and scholars. And we 00:01:13.120 --> 00:01:15.920 have a massive stack of scholarly analysis here 00:01:15.920 --> 00:01:18.959 to be one of the series finest. Right. What makes 00:01:18.959 --> 00:01:20.739 it tick? What makes it tick? What makes it so 00:01:20.739 --> 00:01:23.340 special? And it really is a masterclass in layering. 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:27.319 When you peel it back, you have foreshadowing 00:01:27.319 --> 00:01:30.769 that pays off seasons later. You have sharp social 00:01:30.769 --> 00:01:33.769 commentary on class and race. Oh, yeah. And you 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:36.989 have the introduction of some absolute fan favorite 00:01:36.989 --> 00:01:39.450 characters. I mean, legendary characters. It's 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:41.790 packed. So let's look at what we're working with 00:01:41.790 --> 00:01:43.489 today. We've got production notes. We've got 00:01:43.489 --> 00:01:46.150 some plot summaries, viewership data, which is 00:01:46.150 --> 00:01:48.409 surprisingly interesting. Very interesting. Yeah. 00:01:48.450 --> 00:01:51.030 And we've got analysis from authors like Oren 00:01:51.030 --> 00:01:54.189 Brzezlowski, Edwin Demper, and J. Jeremy Wisniewski. 00:01:54.250 --> 00:01:57.109 So these are people who, you know. really put 00:01:57.109 --> 00:01:59.109 the show under the academic lens. It's a heavy 00:01:59.109 --> 00:02:01.170 hitter's list of analysis for a sitcom, but that's 00:02:01.170 --> 00:02:03.049 a rusted development for you. It really invites 00:02:03.049 --> 00:02:04.969 that kind of scrutiny, doesn't it? It really 00:02:04.969 --> 00:02:08.550 does. So let's set the scene. It's late 2004, 00:02:08.930 --> 00:02:13.530 Fox Network. This script is written by Brad Copeland. 00:02:13.870 --> 00:02:16.449 Right. This was his fourth writing credit for 00:02:16.449 --> 00:02:18.169 the show. So he was pretty well established in 00:02:18.169 --> 00:02:19.949 the room by this point. And it was directed by 00:02:19.949 --> 00:02:22.270 Leigh Shalette Schemmel. Context wise, it falls 00:02:22.270 --> 00:02:24.530 right between the one where they build a house 00:02:24.530 --> 00:02:27.509 and Good Grief. So we are deep in the pocket 00:02:27.509 --> 00:02:29.909 of season two here. Exactly. And season two is 00:02:29.909 --> 00:02:32.310 often cited as the peak of the show's original 00:02:32.310 --> 00:02:35.340 run. The writers really knew these characters 00:02:35.340 --> 00:02:36.979 by this point. They weren't trying to figure 00:02:36.979 --> 00:02:39.439 out who the Bluths were anymore. They knew and 00:02:39.439 --> 00:02:41.620 they were just pushing them to their absolute 00:02:41.620 --> 00:02:44.039 limits. It feels like they were confident. They 00:02:44.039 --> 00:02:46.879 were just firing on all cylinders. Totally. OK, 00:02:46.939 --> 00:02:49.180 let's unpack the narrative first, because Amigos 00:02:49.180 --> 00:02:52.780 is basically a masterclass in what you'd call 00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:55.180 a comedy of errors. Oh, it's a farce, a total 00:02:55.180 --> 00:02:57.080 farce. It relies entirely on misunderstanding 00:02:57.080 --> 00:03:00.060 and chaos. And we have four different plot lines 00:03:00.060 --> 00:03:03.060 running simultaneously, and they all crash into 00:03:03.060 --> 00:03:06.219 each other in just the most spectacular way. 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:08.319 It's like a finely tuned watch, but every gear 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:10.340 is just a little bit broken. Perfect analogy. 00:03:10.990 --> 00:03:13.009 Let's start with the A -plot. This is the Michael 00:03:13.009 --> 00:03:15.710 and George Sr. storyline. Right. And the driving 00:03:15.710 --> 00:03:18.969 force here is actually Lucille Bluth. She kicks 00:03:18.969 --> 00:03:21.129 the whole thing off. Of course she does. She 00:03:21.129 --> 00:03:23.729 hires a private investigator, Jean Parmesan. 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:26.180 we'll definitely talk more about him later, who 00:03:26.180 --> 00:03:29.800 manages to locate her husband, George Sr., in 00:03:29.800 --> 00:03:33.259 Mexico. So Michael, being the good son, or at 00:03:33.259 --> 00:03:35.240 least the one who desperately needs to believe 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:37.699 he's the good son. He has to be. He decides his 00:03:37.699 --> 00:03:39.780 mission is to go down to Mexico and collect his 00:03:39.780 --> 00:03:42.599 father. Right. He views himself as the savior 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:45.800 of the family. If George Sr. is in trouble, Michael 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:47.780 has to be the one to fix it. He's the only responsible 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:50.659 one. But here's the twist, and this is a classic 00:03:50.659 --> 00:03:53.139 Arrested Development. Michael and the group. 00:03:53.469 --> 00:03:56.250 They hire a bounty hunter named Ice to help them. 00:03:56.370 --> 00:03:59.009 Ice, yeah. But the whole premise is based on 00:03:59.009 --> 00:04:01.830 a fundamental misunderstanding. They think they're 00:04:01.830 --> 00:04:04.409 tracking George Sr. down to a hideout. Correct. 00:04:04.469 --> 00:04:07.229 But they don't realize that George Sr.'s funeral 00:04:07.229 --> 00:04:09.349 is actually taking place nearby. I mean, it's 00:04:09.349 --> 00:04:11.310 not even his funeral. It's a mock funeral, but 00:04:11.310 --> 00:04:14.370 still. Right. They're completely misreading the 00:04:14.370 --> 00:04:16.709 situation on the ground. They're operating with, 00:04:16.790 --> 00:04:21.850 like, 100 % confidence, but, you know, 0 % information. 00:04:22.379 --> 00:04:25.139 Which is the Bluth family motto. It really is. 00:04:25.180 --> 00:04:27.300 It's that constant state of confusion that drives 00:04:27.300 --> 00:04:29.660 the show. But what I love about this episode 00:04:29.660 --> 00:04:33.459 is how the B plot mirrors the A plot. The Gob 00:04:33.459 --> 00:04:35.959 plot. We have Gob, the magician illusionist. 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:38.339 Sorry. Illusionist Michael. And his friendship 00:04:38.339 --> 00:04:41.019 illusion. This is a really poignant storyline 00:04:41.019 --> 00:04:43.839 for Gob, actually. It starts with jealousy. Doesn't 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:46.470 it always with Gob? I mean... Everything he does 00:04:46.470 --> 00:04:49.230 is a reaction to Michael. It does. He lies to 00:04:49.230 --> 00:04:51.089 Michael, claiming he's staying with friends. 00:04:51.170 --> 00:04:54.089 He wants to appear popular. He wants to appear 00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:56.370 like he has a life outside of the family. And 00:04:56.370 --> 00:04:58.769 Michael, in that biting classic Bluth way, just 00:04:58.769 --> 00:05:01.069 shuts it down. Instantly. He just points out 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:03.089 that Gob doesn't actually have any friends. Which 00:05:03.089 --> 00:05:05.610 cuts deep. It's such a brutal thing to say to 00:05:05.610 --> 00:05:07.990 your brother, but it's also true. It is. It's 00:05:07.990 --> 00:05:10.769 cruel because it's true. Yeah. So Gob escalates. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:14.399 He gets paranoid. He thinks Michael is fleeing 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.420 the country to ditch the business. So he hires 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:20.060 the same bounty hunter, Ice, to track Michael. 00:05:20.240 --> 00:05:23.259 So you have this circular firing squad. Michael 00:05:23.259 --> 00:05:26.439 hires Ice to track George Senior. And Gob hires 00:05:26.439 --> 00:05:29.779 Ice to track Michael. It's so inefficient. It's 00:05:29.779 --> 00:05:32.220 money just being thrown into a hole. It's the 00:05:32.220 --> 00:05:35.079 Bluth business model in a nutshell. Wasting money 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:38.009 to spy on each other. But the resolution of this 00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:40.610 arc is surprisingly emotional. It is, yeah. Gob 00:05:40.610 --> 00:05:42.689 eventually has to confess that he has no friends. 00:05:42.730 --> 00:05:45.250 He breaks down. And it's a real moment of vulnerability 00:05:45.250 --> 00:05:48.069 for a character who is usually all bravado and, 00:05:48.170 --> 00:05:51.329 you know, terrible magic tricks. And Michael, 00:05:51.529 --> 00:05:54.089 in a rare moment of empathy, admits he feels 00:05:54.089 --> 00:05:56.649 the same way. He admits that his son, George 00:05:56.649 --> 00:05:59.269 Michael, chose his girlfriend over him it's a 00:05:59.269 --> 00:06:01.730 moment of connection two lonely brothers realizing 00:06:01.730 --> 00:06:03.910 they're in the same boat and for a second you 00:06:03.910 --> 00:06:05.790 think oh they're gonna have a real breakthrough 00:06:05.790 --> 00:06:09.629 you do and then the payoff the payoff is cynical 00:06:09.629 --> 00:06:12.790 but sweet in its own weird way michael pays gene 00:06:12.790 --> 00:06:15.689 parmesan and ice to act as gobs friends for an 00:06:15.689 --> 00:06:18.470 afternoon it's transactional affection perfect 00:06:18.470 --> 00:06:21.110 for the bluth i will pay these strangers to like 00:06:21.110 --> 00:06:25.430 you so messed up but also kind of touching it 00:06:25.430 --> 00:06:28.750 is Get me a beer, friend. Oh, it's so good. Now, 00:06:28.850 --> 00:06:31.889 we have to talk about the C plot. Because for 00:06:31.889 --> 00:06:34.410 many people, myself included, this is the episode. 00:06:34.589 --> 00:06:36.410 This is the centerpiece. This is the Buster plot. 00:06:36.569 --> 00:06:39.649 Buster's escape, in quotes. Yes, big air quotes. 00:06:39.810 --> 00:06:42.569 So Buster wants to get out of army duty. Correct. 00:06:42.810 --> 00:06:45.540 He's terrified. He is not built for the army. 00:06:45.639 --> 00:06:48.639 He's a cartographer, a scholar. Mother boy. So 00:06:48.639 --> 00:06:52.040 he decides to stow away in the trunk of Michael's 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:55.120 car, thinking Michael is driving deep into Mexico. 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.279 A desperate plan from a desperate man and just 00:06:58.279 --> 00:07:00.759 a terrible, terrible idea from the start. But 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.699 of course, the execution fails. Spectacularly. 00:07:03.699 --> 00:07:05.920 I mean, it's an immediate failure. He climbs 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:07.639 out of the trunk, but he's only been in there 00:07:07.639 --> 00:07:09.800 for a few minutes. Michael hasn't driven to Mexico. 00:07:10.100 --> 00:07:12.779 Nope. He's driven to the home of Lupe, the housekeeper 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:15.769 in Santa Ana. Which is just down the road. But, 00:07:15.870 --> 00:07:18.870 and this is key to the character, Buster is so 00:07:18.870 --> 00:07:21.389 delusional and so sheltered that he believes 00:07:21.389 --> 00:07:24.389 he is in Mexico. He sees the sun, he sees Lupe, 00:07:24.430 --> 00:07:28.250 and he goes, ah, Mexico. It's just an instant 00:07:28.250 --> 00:07:30.990 conclusion. He literally cites the Mexican sun 00:07:30.990 --> 00:07:34.370 as proof. He says, this Mexican sun is hot. As 00:07:34.370 --> 00:07:36.509 if the sun in Santa Ana is fundamentally different. 00:07:36.790 --> 00:07:40.389 It is absurd. The logic is just so warped. It 00:07:40.389 --> 00:07:43.589 is, but he commits to it. He fully commits. He 00:07:43.589 --> 00:07:46.189 joins Lupe in doing housework, thinking he is 00:07:46.189 --> 00:07:48.410 starting a new life as a laborer in a foreign 00:07:48.410 --> 00:07:51.410 country. He thinks he's an expatriate. It's hilarious, 00:07:51.569 --> 00:07:54.529 but it leads to one of the most shocking climaxes 00:07:54.529 --> 00:07:56.870 in the show. The walk -in. The walk -in. Buster 00:07:56.870 --> 00:08:00.529 walks in on his mother, Lucille, having sex with 00:08:00.529 --> 00:08:02.769 her brother -in -law, Oscar. In Lupe's house. 00:08:03.009 --> 00:08:05.589 And that is the moment he realizes he never left 00:08:05.589 --> 00:08:08.459 the country. That's the snap. The horror of that 00:08:08.459 --> 00:08:10.920 realization is what snaps him back to reality. 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:13.759 It wasn't the geography. It was the trauma of 00:08:13.759 --> 00:08:16.199 seeing his mother with his uncle who looks exactly 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:18.740 like his father. I'm briefly just to round out 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:21.259 the narrative chaos. Yeah. We have the deep plot 00:08:21.259 --> 00:08:23.980 involving Anne Veal. George Michael's girlfriend. 00:08:24.300 --> 00:08:27.480 Her. Exactly. Right. Michael's disdain for Anne 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:30.500 is in full swing here. He refuses to get to know 00:08:30.500 --> 00:08:33.480 her. He calls her egg. He calls her Plant. He 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:35.919 just can't remember her name or won't. And in 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:38.620 the chaos of the Mexico trip, the family accidentally 00:08:38.620 --> 00:08:40.740 leaves her behind. They leave her in Mexico. 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:43.559 A teenage girl. They just drive off without her. 00:08:43.700 --> 00:08:46.220 They do. And the scene where Michael and George 00:08:46.220 --> 00:08:48.980 Michael drive back to find her sitting on a park 00:08:48.980 --> 00:08:52.639 bench, it's painful. Yeah. Just sitting there, 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:54.940 patiently waiting. So bland she's forgotten. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.820 And Michael agrees to get to know her, thinking 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:01.129 maybe he's been too harsh. And it backfires. 00:09:01.169 --> 00:09:03.429 And that only solidifies his dislike for her. 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:05.750 It's a perfect circle of dysfunction. He tries 00:09:05.750 --> 00:09:07.789 to do the right thing and it just reinforces 00:09:07.789 --> 00:09:10.669 his worst impulses. It really is. So that's the 00:09:10.669 --> 00:09:13.169 plot. Four plots, all moving, all colliding. 00:09:13.269 --> 00:09:16.009 But what makes this episode shine are the new 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:18.429 faces. Oh, definitely. This episode introduces 00:09:18.429 --> 00:09:21.850 two characters who are just absolute gold. Let's 00:09:21.850 --> 00:09:24.009 talk about Jean Parmesan. Played by the legendary 00:09:24.009 --> 00:09:26.700 Martin Maul. This is his first appearance. I 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:28.580 mean, it's hard to imagine this show without 00:09:28.580 --> 00:09:30.840 him, but this is where it starts. It is. And 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:32.419 it's interesting that production notes mention 00:09:32.419 --> 00:09:35.379 that the name Jean Parmesan actually came from 00:09:35.379 --> 00:09:37.820 writer Barbie Adler. Oh, really? How did that 00:09:37.820 --> 00:09:40.500 happen? Yes. Apparently, she saw the name in 00:09:40.500 --> 00:09:42.940 the credits of a school documentary years prior, 00:09:43.120 --> 00:09:45.580 back in high school, and just saved it. She kept 00:09:45.580 --> 00:09:47.519 that name in her pocket for years until this 00:09:47.519 --> 00:09:49.799 moment. That is amazing. Sometimes a name is 00:09:49.799 --> 00:09:51.919 just too good to waste. It sounds cheesy. Pun 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:54.350 intended, I'm sure. It's a perfect name for a 00:09:54.350 --> 00:09:56.710 slightly incompetent private eye. But the real 00:09:56.710 --> 00:09:59.889 magic of Jean Parmesan isn't just the name. It's 00:09:59.889 --> 00:10:02.649 his dynamic with Lucille. With Jessica Walter. 00:10:02.909 --> 00:10:05.750 Oh, it's incredible. Jessica Walter. She is famous 00:10:05.750 --> 00:10:08.090 for those squeals of joy whenever Jean reveals 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:11.070 himself in a disguise. Imitating Lucille Jean. 00:10:11.309 --> 00:10:14.149 Yes. I can hear it in my head. He's a master 00:10:14.149 --> 00:10:16.470 of disguise, even though his disguises are terrible. 00:10:16.649 --> 00:10:19.769 A giant curtain. A giant blue curtain with legs. 00:10:19.929 --> 00:10:22.629 And she's still delighted. Walter actually noted 00:10:22.629 --> 00:10:24.950 that she loved those scenes. She felt that they 00:10:24.950 --> 00:10:28.090 humanized Lucille. How so? Because Lucille is 00:10:28.090 --> 00:10:31.230 usually, well, she's a villain, a monster sometimes. 00:10:31.590 --> 00:10:34.690 Right. But Walter argued that this showed a girly 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:37.090 demeanor. It showed that she wasn't just this 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:40.529 cold, calculating matriarch. She had this capacity 00:10:40.529 --> 00:10:43.700 for pure, simple delight. That's a great point. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:45.659 She could still get excited like a schoolgirl 00:10:45.659 --> 00:10:48.720 over this guy she hired. It adds dimension. It 00:10:48.720 --> 00:10:51.100 shows a crack in the armor. And there's a psychological 00:10:51.100 --> 00:10:54.580 layer to it, too. Author Edwin Demper, who wrote 00:10:54.580 --> 00:10:57.080 an assessment of the series, notes that despite 00:10:57.080 --> 00:10:59.779 Lucille's self -centered nature, she essentially 00:10:59.779 --> 00:11:02.279 runs on validation. She needs to be told she's 00:11:02.279 --> 00:11:04.659 right. Or just told she's good. Or that she's 00:11:04.659 --> 00:11:08.320 clever. Gene provides these small moments of 00:11:08.320 --> 00:11:11.059 praise. He validates her. And that makes her 00:11:11.059 --> 00:11:13.139 admire him, even though, if we're being honest, 00:11:13.259 --> 00:11:15.360 he's a terrible private investigator. He's the 00:11:15.360 --> 00:11:18.159 worst. He never finds anything real. He's just 00:11:18.159 --> 00:11:20.740 good at hiding. But she loves him. She loves 00:11:20.740 --> 00:11:22.879 the attention. She loves the game. Now, on the 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:24.620 other side of the competence spectrum, we have 00:11:24.620 --> 00:11:28.120 Ice. Played by Malik Yoba. So Gob hires Ice as 00:11:28.120 --> 00:11:31.639 a bounty hunter. And what strikes me about Ice 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:33.340 is that he seems like he's in a different show. 00:11:33.769 --> 00:11:36.590 He's so competent. That's a very astute observation. 00:11:37.250 --> 00:11:40.830 Ice is a character who subverts the typical arrested 00:11:40.830 --> 00:11:43.629 development character tropes. In what way? Well, 00:11:43.769 --> 00:11:46.769 usually the characters are caricatures or punchlines. 00:11:46.990 --> 00:11:50.009 They're deeply flawed, incompetent people. Right. 00:11:50.070 --> 00:11:52.929 But Ice, well, first of all, he's a minority 00:11:52.929 --> 00:11:56.210 character whose race isn't the joke, which is, 00:11:56.269 --> 00:11:58.110 you know, a big deal. That's a very important 00:11:58.110 --> 00:12:01.019 point. He tears down stereotypes. He has this 00:12:01.019 --> 00:12:03.259 tough exterior. He's a bounty hunter. He's intimidating. 00:12:03.539 --> 00:12:05.879 But then we find out his real passion. Party 00:12:05.879 --> 00:12:07.799 planning. Party planning. He has a whole portfolio. 00:12:08.039 --> 00:12:10.620 And he shamelessly mentions living near Legoland. 00:12:10.840 --> 00:12:14.279 I love that detail. I live near Legoland. Like, 00:12:14.279 --> 00:12:16.320 it's a selling point for a bounty hunter. It 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:19.279 makes him seem... It shows a softer side. Yeah. 00:12:19.460 --> 00:12:22.259 It makes him a fully realized, quirky individual, 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:24.860 not just a stereotype of a tough guy. Exactly. 00:12:25.299 --> 00:12:27.940 He's a professional doing his job in a world 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:29.919 of amateurs. It's interesting, though, looking 00:12:29.919 --> 00:12:33.000 at the actor's perspective. Malik Yoba mentioned 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:35.399 in an interview that he enjoyed his time on the 00:12:35.399 --> 00:12:38.539 show, but he felt the role didn't arguably fit 00:12:38.539 --> 00:12:41.159 what he was looking for at the time. Which is 00:12:41.159 --> 00:12:44.059 fair. It's a very specific tone of comedy. And 00:12:44.059 --> 00:12:46.559 if you're playing the straight man to the insanity 00:12:46.559 --> 00:12:49.960 of the Bluths, it can probably feel a bit limiting 00:12:49.960 --> 00:12:52.980 for an actor. You're there to react, not to initiate 00:12:52.980 --> 00:12:55.379 the chaos. Absolutely. You're the anchor while 00:12:55.379 --> 00:12:57.320 everyone else gets to be a hurricane. Right. 00:12:57.500 --> 00:13:00.620 Okay, let's get into the deep water. We've recapped 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:03.340 the plot. We've met the characters. Now I want 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:05.769 to talk about why this matters. Let's do the 00:13:05.769 --> 00:13:08.070 thematic analysis. Let's do it. This is the good 00:13:08.070 --> 00:13:10.129 stuff. We have to start with the hand. The hand. 00:13:10.230 --> 00:13:12.950 This is legendary foreshadowing. This is what 00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:14.809 people talk about when they talk about the genius 00:13:14.809 --> 00:13:17.730 of the show. It is. So in the episode, Buster 00:13:17.730 --> 00:13:20.870 discovers a hand -shaped chair in Lupe's house. 00:13:21.070 --> 00:13:24.070 A giant kind of tacky chair shaped like a hand. 00:13:24.210 --> 00:13:26.389 And he sits in it feeling sorry for himself and 00:13:26.389 --> 00:13:28.529 remarks, I never thought I'd miss a hand so much. 00:13:28.750 --> 00:13:30.590 Now, if you're watching this for the first time, 00:13:30.610 --> 00:13:33.269 that's just a weird Buster line. It's a non sequitur. 00:13:33.519 --> 00:13:35.899 It's a throwaway joke about him missing his old 00:13:35.899 --> 00:13:39.440 life, his old comforts. But as author Lauren 00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:43.580 Bratslavsky highlights, this is direct, explicit 00:13:43.580 --> 00:13:47.919 foreshadowing. Because later in the series, what 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:50.720 happens? Buster gets his hand bitten off by a 00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.299 loose seal. A seal his brother Gob let loose. 00:13:53.620 --> 00:13:56.549 It's unbelievable planning. But Slavsky uses 00:13:56.549 --> 00:13:59.610 this as a prime example of how the series weaves 00:13:59.610 --> 00:14:02.610 these loosely related storylines. They plant 00:14:02.610 --> 00:14:05.350 these obscure details, like a handshare, that 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:07.529 are funny on their own but become these massive 00:14:07.529 --> 00:14:10.889 aha moments when you rewatch the series. It rewards 00:14:10.889 --> 00:14:13.190 the rewatch. It demands the rewatch. You almost 00:14:13.190 --> 00:14:15.769 have to see it twice to get everything. But here 00:14:15.769 --> 00:14:18.419 is where it gets really interesting. The creator, 00:14:18.600 --> 00:14:20.580 Mitchell Hurwitz, actually has regrets about 00:14:20.580 --> 00:14:22.820 this. He regrets the chair. How could he regret 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:24.740 the chair? He admitted in an interview that he 00:14:24.740 --> 00:14:26.820 regretted not utilizing the hand -shaped chair 00:14:26.820 --> 00:14:30.159 more. Really? More than he did? Yes. He cited 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.120 an inability to think of other ways to foreshadow 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.039 the event. He felt he underused the gag. He thought 00:14:36.039 --> 00:14:37.639 he could have peppered in more hand references. 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:40.460 That is so fascinating. Because from the outside, 00:14:40.580 --> 00:14:42.720 we look at it as this genius stroke of writing. 00:14:42.840 --> 00:14:46.419 Look. The chair. The line. A perfect plant in 00:14:46.419 --> 00:14:48.419 payoff. And the creators sitting there going, 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:50.879 I should have done more with the chair. It shows 00:14:50.879 --> 00:14:53.399 how high their standards were. It shows the perfectionism 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:55.399 of the writer's room. They were never satisfied. 00:14:55.899 --> 00:14:57.899 Now we need to talk about Buster in geography 00:14:57.899 --> 00:15:01.539 because this leads into some heavier themes regarding 00:15:01.539 --> 00:15:04.179 class and perception. Right. This is where the 00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:06.820 comedy gets a bit more biting. It stops being 00:15:06.820 --> 00:15:10.080 just silly and starts saying something. So Buster 00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.279 is established in the show as having expertise 00:15:12.279 --> 00:15:15.480 in cartography. He's a map guy. He went to school 00:15:15.480 --> 00:15:18.220 for it. He loves maps. And yet his understanding 00:15:18.220 --> 00:15:20.879 of distance and culture is completely obliterated 00:15:20.879 --> 00:15:23.220 in this episode. It's a massive irony, isn't 00:15:23.220 --> 00:15:25.059 it? He knows the map, but he doesn't know the 00:15:25.059 --> 00:15:27.759 territory. He has no real world knowledge. He 00:15:27.759 --> 00:15:31.480 believes he's in Mexico solely based on his preconceived 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:34.179 notions. The most superficial stereotypes. He 00:15:34.179 --> 00:15:37.120 feels heat. He sees labor, therefore Mexico. 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:40.820 Exactly. And author Carter Soules analyzes this. 00:15:40.960 --> 00:15:44.000 He argues that this is a trope. The privileged 00:15:44.000 --> 00:15:47.039 man trying to have a hard work day. Playing it 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:49.559 being working class. A sort of poverty tourism. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:52.059 Right. They want the experience of labor without 00:15:52.059 --> 00:15:55.360 the stakes, without the necessity. And Buster 00:15:55.360 --> 00:15:59.759 likens his housework to being a slave. Oof. Yeah, 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:03.919 that line is... It's a tough one. And Soules 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.759 points out that this reveals how his lavish, 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.919 sheltered lifestyle has completely warped his 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:10.360 view of the working class. He thinks this is 00:16:10.360 --> 00:16:12.539 what it means to be Mexican or to be a Libra. 00:16:12.539 --> 00:16:14.600 It's a performance for him. And that connects 00:16:14.600 --> 00:16:17.000 to the analysis by J .S. Jeremy Wisniewski regarding 00:16:17.000 --> 00:16:19.960 race and bigotry. Yes. Wisniewski points out 00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:22.740 that Buster refers to his co -workers, who are 00:16:22.740 --> 00:16:25.700 just Lupe and her family, as slave buddies. Slave 00:16:25.700 --> 00:16:27.879 buddies. It's such a cringe -inducing line. It's 00:16:27.879 --> 00:16:30.460 so tone -deaf. It is. And Wisniewski attributes 00:16:30.460 --> 00:16:32.919 this to his upbringing. He saw Lupe confined 00:16:32.919 --> 00:16:35.679 to the kitchen. That was his only reference point 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:38.000 for Mexican people. He has no other frame of 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.840 reference. So is the show saying Buster is a 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:42.580 racist? Is that the takeaway? While the analysis 00:16:42.580 --> 00:16:45.299 suggests it explores themes of racism and bigotry, 00:16:45.299 --> 00:16:47.679 but distinguishes between malice and ignorance. 00:16:48.000 --> 00:16:50.639 Buster isn't being malicious. He's not hateful. 00:16:50.700 --> 00:16:54.409 No, not at all. He is profoundly structurally 00:16:54.409 --> 00:16:58.250 ignorant. His worldview is so small and so warped 00:16:58.250 --> 00:17:01.250 by his privilege that he can't see people as 00:17:01.250 --> 00:17:03.809 individuals. He assumes he can just transition 00:17:03.809 --> 00:17:07.230 to a Mexican way of life because he thinks there's 00:17:07.230 --> 00:17:09.049 this fundamental difference between Americans 00:17:09.049 --> 00:17:11.289 and Mexicans and how they function. Exactly. 00:17:11.289 --> 00:17:13.710 It's structural. And Tyler Shores adds another 00:17:13.710 --> 00:17:16.730 layer to this. He notes how Ron Howard's narration 00:17:16.730 --> 00:17:19.700 plays into this whole thing. The narrator. A 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:21.839 key character, really. The narrator provides 00:17:21.839 --> 00:17:25.019 this sense of certainty. He explains the situations 00:17:25.019 --> 00:17:27.779 with total authority, which highlights just how 00:17:27.779 --> 00:17:29.940 unaware the characters are. Oh, that's a brilliant 00:17:29.940 --> 00:17:32.740 point. The narrator knows the truth. The characters 00:17:32.740 --> 00:17:35.559 are living in a delusion. The narrator will say, 00:17:35.980 --> 00:17:38.359 Buster was, in fact, only minutes from his home, 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:40.640 while Buster's thinking he's crossed an international 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:43.019 border. It's like the narrator's the only sane 00:17:43.019 --> 00:17:45.259 person in the room, and he's whispering to us, 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:47.420 the audience, look at these idiots, look at how 00:17:47.420 --> 00:17:50.119 wrong they are. Precisely. It creates this dramatic 00:17:50.119 --> 00:17:53.220 irony that runs through the entire series. Before 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:55.000 we move off themes, we have to mention the pop 00:17:55.000 --> 00:17:58.000 culture connections. Arrested Development loves 00:17:58.000 --> 00:18:01.559 to reference other media. Intertextuality. It's 00:18:01.559 --> 00:18:05.089 woven into its DNA. Big word. But yes, the title 00:18:05.089 --> 00:18:08.410 Amigos itself is a reference, right? It is. This 00:18:08.410 --> 00:18:10.789 is the third consecutive episode of season two 00:18:10.789 --> 00:18:13.750 where the title references the sitcom Friends. 00:18:14.049 --> 00:18:16.690 The one where they build a house, the one where 00:18:16.690 --> 00:18:20.109 Michael leaves. And now Amigos, which of course 00:18:20.109 --> 00:18:22.490 means Friends. That is a subtle nod, a little 00:18:22.490 --> 00:18:25.210 jab maybe. But there's a more specific foreshadowing 00:18:25.210 --> 00:18:28.650 for the next episode, good grief. Tell me, I 00:18:28.650 --> 00:18:31.009 love this stuff. Author Dustin Frehley points 00:18:31.009 --> 00:18:34.069 this out. In Amigos, Lucille makes a reference 00:18:34.069 --> 00:18:37.049 to Buster's genitalia. Oh, right. She calls him 00:18:37.049 --> 00:18:40.170 his Charlie Browns, which is just such a strange, 00:18:40.170 --> 00:18:42.490 specific thing for a mother to say. Right. It 00:18:42.490 --> 00:18:45.069 seems like just a weird Lucillism, another example 00:18:45.069 --> 00:18:47.630 of her terrible mothering. But Freely notes this 00:18:47.630 --> 00:18:49.970 links directly to the heavy use of Peanuts references 00:18:49.970 --> 00:18:52.569 in the subsequent episode. Good grief. Which 00:18:52.569 --> 00:18:55.509 is Charlie Brown's catchphrase. Exactly. Where 00:18:55.509 --> 00:18:57.369 they walk with their heads down, the sad music 00:18:57.369 --> 00:19:00.119 plays. It's all connected. They were already 00:19:00.119 --> 00:19:03.420 planting the seeds. It's the detail. Every line 00:19:03.420 --> 00:19:05.420 seems to be doing two or three things at once. 00:19:05.819 --> 00:19:08.440 It's a joke. It's character development. And 00:19:08.440 --> 00:19:10.940 it's foreshadowing. It's incredibly dense writing. 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:12.700 You almost need a flow chart to keep track of 00:19:12.700 --> 00:19:16.099 it all. So we've broken down the episode, but 00:19:16.099 --> 00:19:18.519 how was it received? I mean, did people get it 00:19:18.519 --> 00:19:20.259 at the time? Well, let's look at the numbers 00:19:20.259 --> 00:19:22.779 first because they tell a story. Viewership. 00:19:22.779 --> 00:19:26.180 Let's hear it. It was watched by 5 .89 million 00:19:26.180 --> 00:19:29.160 viewers. That sounds okay. I don't know what 00:19:29.160 --> 00:19:32.599 the scale is for 2004. For 2004 network TV, it 00:19:32.599 --> 00:19:36.839 was struggling. Badly. It was the 76th most watched 00:19:36.839 --> 00:19:40.000 broadcast of the week. Ouch. 76th. To give you 00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.500 context, it beat The Simple Life. Okay. A small 00:19:42.500 --> 00:19:45.240 victory. But it was behind a rerun of The Golden 00:19:45.240 --> 00:19:47.920 Girls. A rerun of The Golden Girls beat a new 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:50.369 episode of Arrested Development. That hurts. 00:19:50.529 --> 00:19:52.769 That really summarizes the show's whole struggle, 00:19:52.890 --> 00:19:54.730 doesn't it? It does. And it marked a decrease 00:19:54.730 --> 00:19:56.890 of over one million viewers from the previous 00:19:56.890 --> 00:19:59.210 episode. So people were actively tuning out. 00:19:59.309 --> 00:20:01.609 The audience was shrinking week to week. It was 00:20:01.609 --> 00:20:04.309 too dense, too weird for a broad audience at 00:20:04.309 --> 00:20:07.769 that time. It found its life on DVD and streaming 00:20:07.769 --> 00:20:10.519 later. But the critics. They must have been on 00:20:10.519 --> 00:20:12.660 board. Oh, the critics loved it. And looking 00:20:12.660 --> 00:20:15.579 back, the rankings are consistently high. This 00:20:15.579 --> 00:20:17.759 is seen as a gem. Let's run through some of those 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.799 rankings. Okay, so Brian Tallarico from Vulture, 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:25.019 writing in 2019, ranked it the 14th best episode 00:20:25.019 --> 00:20:28.500 of the entire series. Out of how many? Over 80. 00:20:28.680 --> 00:20:30.799 Yeah, there are over 80 episodes if you count 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.119 the Netflix seasons. So top 15 is Elite Company. 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:36.700 What did he like about it? He praised the trunk 00:20:36.700 --> 00:20:39.490 escape. Specifically, and the fact that Anne 00:20:39.490 --> 00:20:42.210 was left in Mexico. He felt that punchline was 00:20:42.210 --> 00:20:44.549 the perfect, cynical way to end the episode. 00:20:44.730 --> 00:20:47.089 It's a strong ending. What about IGN? IGN went 00:20:47.089 --> 00:20:49.470 even higher. They ranked it 10th best. Top 10. 00:20:49.609 --> 00:20:52.430 They highlighted the line, Anne Hogg, which is 00:20:52.430 --> 00:20:54.690 George Michael trying to tell his dad that Anne 00:20:54.690 --> 00:20:56.789 is coming and Michael hears it as Anne Hogg. 00:20:56.849 --> 00:20:59.190 Classic. So simple, so funny. And they noted 00:20:59.190 --> 00:21:01.529 that the narrative completion of Buster's fake 00:21:01.529 --> 00:21:04.329 Mexico trip was just deeply satisfying. Collider. 00:21:04.430 --> 00:21:07.589 SK Sapiano at Collider. Praise. the absurdist 00:21:07.589 --> 00:21:10.269 scenarios and the satisfying use of every character. 00:21:10.529 --> 00:21:13.150 That's a key point. Sometimes in sitcoms, you 00:21:13.150 --> 00:21:15.410 have a weak plot line. Oh, I don't care what 00:21:15.410 --> 00:21:18.470 Joey is doing this week. But here, every plot 00:21:18.470 --> 00:21:21.630 A, B, C, and D lands. They all feel essential. 00:21:22.009 --> 00:21:24.750 And Slash Films' Chad Collins noted exactly that. 00:21:24.789 --> 00:21:27.289 He said the episode uses the entire cast effectively. 00:21:27.630 --> 00:21:31.390 And he contrasted this low -stakes, chaotic energy 00:21:31.390 --> 00:21:35.130 favorably against the Netflix revival era. Which 00:21:35.130 --> 00:21:38.839 felt... Different. more sprawling a lot of critics 00:21:38.839 --> 00:21:41.039 feel the original run had a tightness that the 00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:43.039 later seasons lost partly because they couldn't 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:44.880 get the whole cast together at the same time 00:21:44.880 --> 00:21:47.059 and specific moments i know people love the visual 00:21:47.059 --> 00:21:50.099 gags noel murray from the az club lauded the 00:21:50.099 --> 00:21:53.259 visual humor specifically jean parmesan's disguises 00:21:53.259 --> 00:21:55.799 and again jessica walters acting her reaction 00:21:55.799 --> 00:21:57.900 to the disguises we keep coming back to jessica 00:21:57.900 --> 00:22:00.680 walter she is the mvp of this episode in many 00:22:00.680 --> 00:22:03.099 ways she kicks off the main plot and provides 00:22:03.099 --> 00:22:05.299 the biggest laughs and there's one more moment 00:22:05.299 --> 00:22:07.059 i want to highlight writer mike Mike Scullins 00:22:07.059 --> 00:22:09.500 listed a specific line as his favorite moment. 00:22:09.700 --> 00:22:12.440 The Tobias line. It has to be. The Tobias line. 00:22:12.660 --> 00:22:15.460 Your wife is dead. It's when Tobias is trying 00:22:15.460 --> 00:22:17.559 to give Michael acting advice on how to deliver 00:22:17.559 --> 00:22:20.940 bad news. It is awful. Just a horrible, horrible 00:22:20.940 --> 00:22:23.640 thing to say. It is. Scullins called it awful 00:22:23.640 --> 00:22:27.359 but funny. Joking about a dead spouse is taboo, 00:22:27.359 --> 00:22:30.500 but the delivery from David Cross, it's just 00:22:30.500 --> 00:22:34.819 so earnest and so wrong. It just works. It's 00:22:34.819 --> 00:22:37.079 so shocking you have to laugh. It highlights 00:22:37.079 --> 00:22:39.900 the absolute lack of social awareness that defines 00:22:39.900 --> 00:22:42.700 the Thinkbluth family. He has no idea how inappropriate 00:22:42.700 --> 00:22:45.380 that is. So what does this all mean? We've looked 00:22:45.380 --> 00:22:47.660 at the plot, the casting, the themes, the reception. 00:22:47.900 --> 00:22:51.000 When you step back and look at Amigos, what are 00:22:51.000 --> 00:22:53.279 we seeing? I think we are seeing a microcosm 00:22:53.279 --> 00:22:55.039 of the show's brilliance. It's the whole show 00:22:55.039 --> 00:22:58.180 in 22 minutes. How so? It combines lowbrow slapstick, 00:22:58.380 --> 00:23:01.339 a man hiding in a trunk, a hand -shaped chair, 00:23:01.460 --> 00:23:04.789 with highbrow social commentary. It tackles privilege. 00:23:04.950 --> 00:23:07.329 It tackles perception. It tackles class. And 00:23:07.329 --> 00:23:09.089 it does it without being preachy. It's not a 00:23:09.089 --> 00:23:12.309 lecture. Never. It does it by making the characters 00:23:12.309 --> 00:23:14.690 the butt of the joke. We aren't laughing with 00:23:14.690 --> 00:23:17.250 Buster as he calls his co -workers slave buddies. 00:23:17.450 --> 00:23:19.970 We are laughing at the absurdity of his worldview. 00:23:20.470 --> 00:23:22.710 That's a crucial distinction. It also plants 00:23:22.710 --> 00:23:26.630 seeds, the handshare, the Charlie Browns. It's 00:23:26.630 --> 00:23:29.569 confident writing. It's writing that trusts its 00:23:29.569 --> 00:23:32.029 audience to pay attention. And that leads me 00:23:32.029 --> 00:23:33.589 to something I want the listener to take away 00:23:33.589 --> 00:23:36.950 from this. When you rewatch this, watch for the 00:23:36.950 --> 00:23:40.289 certainty. Yes. That's a great point. As Tyler 00:23:40.289 --> 00:23:43.170 Shores noted, the show uses that confident, omniscient 00:23:43.170 --> 00:23:46.109 narration to highlight just how lost these people 00:23:46.109 --> 00:23:48.509 are. It's a great tool for critical thinking, 00:23:48.650 --> 00:23:51.150 really. Question the narrator. Question the certainty 00:23:51.150 --> 00:23:52.950 you're being presented with, both in the show 00:23:52.950 --> 00:23:54.950 and, you know, everywhere else. Before we go, 00:23:55.029 --> 00:23:56.730 I have a thought I want to leave you with. Let's 00:23:56.730 --> 00:23:59.500 hear it. We laughed at Buster. We laughed at 00:23:59.500 --> 00:24:01.680 him mistaking his neighbor's house for a foreign 00:24:01.680 --> 00:24:04.240 country just because he saw some dust and felt 00:24:04.240 --> 00:24:06.759 some heat. It's ridiculous. It is. It's completely 00:24:06.759 --> 00:24:09.680 absurd. But it raises a provocative question 00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:13.799 for us to mull over. How much of our own perception 00:24:13.799 --> 00:24:16.539 of the world is shaped not by where we actually 00:24:16.539 --> 00:24:19.579 are? But by what we expect to see. Exactly. If 00:24:19.579 --> 00:24:21.740 you expect Mexico, you see Mexico. If you expect 00:24:21.740 --> 00:24:24.140 a threat, you see a threat. Our biases color 00:24:24.140 --> 00:24:26.960 the map. We are all, in some ways, Buster and 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:29.880 the Trunk. Seeing what we're primed to see. There's 00:24:29.880 --> 00:24:32.339 a terrifying thought to end on. It keeps us humble. 00:24:32.599 --> 00:24:34.619 Thank you for diving deep with us today. This 00:24:34.619 --> 00:24:36.779 was a lot of fun. Ideally, you'll dive deep with 00:24:36.779 --> 00:24:40.420 your friends, if you have them. Unlike Gob. See 00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:40.920 you next time.