Arrested Development - Season 4 Review

It was back in 2006, when Season 3 ended on Arrested Development, i did not watch the show back then, well okay saw few episodes at TV other than that no. Few months back Netflix renewed the series for 4th season, my first impression was; Is that even possible? Apparently it is, anyhow lets get into reviewing part. All Season 4 episodes were released on May 26th at Netflix totaling of 15 episodes.


This season was very different from the other seasons, since the storytelling and timeline was very odd. Also i can say that the actors aged really well in these 7 years. *SPOILERS* --> Practically whole season was filmed in perspective of an individual per episode; Jobe, Oscar, George, George Michael, Lucille, Lindsay, Maeby, Tobias, Buster and Michael had their own episodes, some of them had more than just one. One thing that really bugged me was, there was no telling when the each episode was happening in terms of Timeline. Next minute we are at the Mexico Election event and after that we're back at US, so that got me really confused a lot, but it doesn't matter that much since its a Comedy Show, although it could have been done much better.

I really enjoyed story of Jobe mostly, there is just so much going around him in this season such as Tony Wonder affair, meeting with his son again, Mr.Getaway and whole Bee Job. He really delivered during 4th season, not that he was any bad at previous ones. Then we have Tobias who had his classical gay references through out the episodes, nothing changed at that front he was still pursuing the actor career. Buster had his few episodes too, but i really felt that he had so much less screen time in this season, like really not having major part as he did on previous seasons. Lucille was still great (I loved the part with Chinese house wives) looked like she hadn't aged a day. One of the favourite actors in this show was Jeffrey Tambor who played Oscar & George he did really great job on previous seasons, like whole time he was on prison and all that, but this season i think the performance was bit lower, not too much but just bit lower.

There was lot of different point of views from individual scenes in the show, which were really interesting since it felt like everyone was there, but weren't shown at same time. I think this is one of the stuff that makes Arrested Development bit different from other Comedy Shows. It would be really interesting to see in which order the scenes were filmed and were the actual actors there at that specific time. Although some of the timeline stuff ruined these events for me, i still enjoyed most of them. Also this time Ron Howard actually made an appearance (The narrator in the show), which was really interesting since i never thought that he would look like that. Hes actually portraying himself, since hes real name is indeed Ron Howard and his executive producer of Arrested Development.

Ratings

Music - This show had its own theme song, which is a plus (They don't have those a lot in western shows anymore), there is also some original scoring, but i wasn't very big fan of that also they kept spamming that Final Countdown again at Jobe's Magic Shows. (2/5)

Actors - Ben Stiller's quest appearance was really cool and i felt like all actors did really good job, portraying their characters. Also some of the new actors on the show were really promising, Jobe and Buster had some really remember able scenes in this Season. Wanted to see more Larry the Lawyer his character is really amazing, but in overall i was pleased by performances. (3.5/5.0)

Story - As i mentioned earlier on the post i really felt like timeline was bit too messy for me, i liked the storytelling mode from each characters perspective that is really unique style and isn't used quite too often sadly. There was few twists along the path, which is always good and it keeps people coming back, although the ending of this season was kinda meh for me, overall its not groundbreaking story, but it was decent. (2.5/5.0)

Re-watch Value - I'm kinda person that doesn't really watch series again, i might come back to watch certain scenes, but other than that i do not. Although i still need to rate this part as well, i do believe that if you're able to remember the twists in this show, then the value isn't that high, since i do not think that the actual comedy was that superb. (1.5/5.0)

Comedy - I had my laughs, but i feel like the audience of this show is more family orientated, so that maybe took off some of the potential, although there was good jokes and bad jokes. Some decent one liners, but i think this show was based on more scenes than actual one liners. It's all about what sort comedy you're into i think i'm pretty versatile when it comes to that, but this was sub-par compared to my favorites. (2/5)

Final Score - (11.5/25)

I enjoyed watching Arrested Development, i think its pretty different from your average comedy series (Sitcoms), but i wouldn't necessarily go to recommend it to just anyone, although i think its something i would recommend if you're looking something either more family friendly or just different sort a show. I Would watch Season 5 if it comes out (There has been rumors about it) and definitely would want to see more Ben Stiller as Tony Wonder, but i would want the Season 5 to be final and finalizing all the loose holes and giving proper ending to the show.