"¡Amigos!" is the third episode of the second season of the American television

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

''. It is the 25th overall episode of the series, and was written by producer Brad Copeland and directed by Lee Shallat Chemel. It originally aired on

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

on November 21, 2004. The series, narrated by

Ron Howard Ronald William Howard (born March 1, 1954) is an American filmmaker and actor. Howard started his career as a child actor before transitioning to directing films. Over his six-decade career, Howard has received List of awards and nominations r ...

, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy,

dysfunctional family In psychology, abnormality (also dysfunctional behavior, maladaptive behavior, or deviant behavior) is a behavioral characteristic assigned to those with conditions that are regarded as dysfunctional. Behavior is considered to be abnormal when i ...

, who made their money from property development. The Bluth family consists of

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

, his twin sister Lindsay, his older brother Gob, his younger brother Buster, their mother Lucille and father George Sr., as well as Michael's son

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer-songwriter and record producer. Regarded as a pop culture icon, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling rec ...

, and Lindsay and her husband

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the , which is a Graecisation of the Hebrew biblical name . With the biblical Book of Tobit being present in the Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha, Tobias is a popular male given name for both Chri ...

' daughter Maeby. In the episode, Lucille hires a detective who locates George Sr. in Mexico. Michael goes to collect his father, accompanied by George Michael and his girlfriend Ann. Gob hires a bounty hunter named Ice to keep tabs on Michael.

Plot

(

Jason Bateman Jason Kent Bateman (born January 14, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his roles as Michael Bluth in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox / Netflix sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2019) and Marty Byrde in the Netflix crime drama s ...

) tells Gob (

Will Arnett William Emerson Arnett (; born May 4, 1970) is a Canadian and American actor and comedian. He is widely known for his roles as Gob Bluth in the Fox/Netflix sitcom '' Arrested Development'' (2003–2006, 2013, 2018–2019) and the titular ch ...

) of his plans to take

(

Michael Cera Michael Austin Cera ( ; ; born June 7, 1988) is a Canadian actor. Over his career he has received nominations for a British Academy Film Award, three Critics' Choice Movie Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Tony Award. Cera beca ...

) to

Legoland Legoland (, trademarked in uppercase as LEGOLAND) is a chain of family amusement parks focusing on the Lego building toy brand. They are owned and operated by the British theme park company Merlin Entertainments, which shares a common owner ...

for the weekend. Gob says he plans to hang out with some of his friends, though Michael doubts that he has any. Lucille (

Jessica Walter Jessica Ann Walter (January 31, 1941 – March 24, 2021) was an American actress who appeared in more than 170 film, stage, and television productions. In films, she was best known for her role as a psychotic and obsessed fan of a local disc ...

) informs Michael that her

private detective A private investigator (often abbreviated to PI; also known as a private detective, an inquiry agent or informally a private eye) is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private investigat ...

, Gene Parmesan (

Martin Mull Martin Eugene Mull (, August 18, 1943 – June 27, 2024) was an American actor, musician, and painter. He became known on '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,'' its spin-off '' Fernwood 2 Night,'' and '' America 2 Night.'' Other notable roles included ...

), has found the stair-car and George Sr. in Encanta,

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and Michael says he'll go to Mexico. Gob partially overhears, thinking Michael is ditching the business and escaping to a foreign country, so he hires a bounty hunter,

Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

(

Malik Yoba Abdul-Malik Kashie Yoba (born September 17, 1967) is an American actor. He is known for his starring role as New York City Police Department, NYPD Detective J. C. Williams on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox police drama ''New York Undercover' ...

). Lindsay (

Portia de Rossi Portia Lee James DeGeneres (born Amanda Lee Rogers; 31 January 1973), known professionally as Portia de Rossi, is an Australian-American former actress. She played Nelle Porter on the American drama series ''Ally McBeal'' (1998–2002), for wh ...

) and Maeby (

Alia Shawkat Alia Martine Shawkat ( ; born April 18, 1989) is an American actress. She is known for her performances as Maeby Fünke in the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox/Netflix television sitcom ''Arrested Development'' (2003–2006; 2013–2019), Dory Sief ...

) join the Mexico trip, as does George Michael and his girlfriend

Ann Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in ...

(

Mae Whitman Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actor. She began her career as a child actor, starring in the films '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994), '' One Fine Day'' (1996), ''Independence Day'' (1996), and '' Hope Floats'' (1998), ...

). Buster does not wish to follow through joining the

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, so he hides in Michael's trunk. Instead of getting out in Mexico, he gets out in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

, where Lucille's housekeeper Lupe (B.W. Gonzalez) lives. Meanwhile, Ice follows Michael's car. Lucille distrusts Gob, so she has Gene follow him. Michael and company find the stair-car and meet up with Ice, whom Michael hires to look for George Sr., and don't realize that George Sr.'s funeral is underway in a nearby church, with Kitty (

Judy Greer Judith Therese Evans (born July 20, 1975), known professionally as Judy Greer, is an American actress. She is primarily known as a character actress who has appeared in Judy Greer filmography, a wide variety of films. She rose to prominence for ...

) in attendance. They all depart for home, leaving Ann behind, and when Michael realizes this, he and George Michael race back to Mexico. Gob, Ice, and Gene all meet up with Michael in Mexico and work things out. Michael pays Ice and Gene to be Gob's friends for a week.

On the next ''Arrested Development''...

Buster brings a chair shaped like a hand back from Lupe's house into his room, but soon finds Lucille and Oscar

making out Making out is a term of American English, American origin dating back to at least 1949, and is used to refer to kissing, including extended French kissing or ''necking'' (heavy kissing of the neck, and above), or to acts of non-penetrative s ...

. Gene informs Lucille, Lindsay, and Maeby that Tobias is suffering from

internal bleeding Internal bleeding (also called internal haemorrhage) is a loss of blood from a blood vessel that collects inside the body, and is not usually visible from the outside. It can be a serious medical emergency but the extent of severity depends on b ...

Production

"¡Amigos!" was directed by Lee Shallat Chemel and written by producer Brad Copeland. It was Shallat Chemel's fifth and final directing credit and Copeland's fourth writing credit. It was the third episode of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

to be filmed.

Reception

Viewers

In the United States, the episode was watched by 5.89 million viewers on its original broadcast, a decrease of over 1 million viewers from the previous episode, " The One Where They Build a House".

Critical reception

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

'' writer Noel Murray praised the episode, calling it "noteworthy as the ''Arrested Development'' pisodewith the greatest and strongest variety of “bland Ann” jokes." In 2019, Brian Tallerico from ''

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

'' ranked the episode as the 14th best of the whole series, calling it a "very funny episode". In 2015, Megan Walsh from ''

Screen Rant ''Screen Rant'' is an entertainment website that offers news in the fields of television, films, video games, and comic books. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publications including Comic Book Resources, Collider, MovieWeb and XDA Developers. ...

'' ranked the episode as one of the top ten best of the series.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Amigos! 2004 American television episodes Arrested Development season 2 episodes Television episodes written by Brad Copeland Television episodes directed by Lee Shallat Chemel