Righteous Brothers (Arrested Development)

"Righteous Brothers (Arrested Development)"

"Righteous Brothers" is the 18th and final episode of season two and fortieth episode overall of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.

Synopsis

Michael is working at home when his pen rolls off the coffee table as if rolling downhill. A contractor examines the house and informs Michael that nothing is underneath, and since the drainpipes weren't hooked up, they just emptied under the house, so the living room is sinking. The city must "red tag" the house and an inspector will come to examine it.

Michael tells his father he'll have to leave the attic before the inspector arrives, suggesting that he hide at Lucille's penthouse, but George Sr. balks because his freeloading brother Oscar is still living there. Michael tells his father that, as he's being tried in absentia, Michael shouldn't know where he is anyway.

Maeby asks George Michael to attend a screening of the American remake of Les Cousins Dangereux, a film he and Maeby saw a preview for the previous year. Maeby is overseeing the remake for Tantamount Studios, where she had conned her way into a job. George Michael agrees to go, so Maeby gives him 50 passes and tells him to invite everyone he knows.

At the office, Tobias is resigning as Michael's assistant in order to audition for the Blue Man Group in Las Vegas. He also tells Michael that Kitty called, wanting to see him. Gob comes in, upset that Michael hadn't commented on the CD he made of himself singing with his puppet Franklin (which Michael misinterpreted as money to go in a mutual fund known as a Franklin CD). Michael assures Gob that he loved the music.

Later, Gob takes Franklin to see George Sr. in an attempt to get him to leave the attic. Gob had soaked the puppet's mouth with ether to knock out his father. Downstairs, Tobias shares his news about the audition with Lindsay. But she doesn't want to move to Las Vegas and takes it as a sign that they should split up. Tobias decides to pass on his audition to stay home and work on his relationship with Lindsay.

Michael meets with Kitty, who has been through rehab and is now at peace with the Bluths. Tobias shows up to tell Michael he isn't going to Las Vegas. Realizing that he needs to occupy Kitty with a man, at least until the meeting about George Sr. is over, Michael leaves her with Tobias.

Later, Michael signs the affidavit stating that he has no idea where his father has been. As soon as he does, attorney Wayne Jarvis summons the police in, telling Michael that they have a photograph of him with his father. The photograph, taken from a red light camera, is really of Gob on his way to dump his father on the police-station steps, driving and holding up the still-unopened CD and thank-you card he made for Michael, which sports a picture of Michael's face on the front.

Now in police custody, Michael meets with Wayne, who says he could turn in his father and go free. Gob arrives at the station and angrily asks Michael why he hasn't listened to the CD yet.

George Michael tries to break up with Ann, but then finds out that she's excited about protesting the screening of "Cousins." He knows from past experience that Ann becomes inflamed at rallies and will probably kiss him in a fit of passion, so he decides not to break up with her.

Oscar checks up on Buster, and an innocuous comment about Pop Secret popcorn makes Buster finally realize that Oscar is his real father. Lucille, meanwhile, is on the phone with Michael. He wants her to tell George Michael that his father is out of town on business, and she learns that Tobias is out on a date with Kitty. Knowing that this would devastate Lindsay, Lucille tells her immediately. Michael warns Lucille that he'll tell the police that it's actually Gob in the traffic photo. Buster barges in and accuses Oscar of lying to him about the identity of his real father.

Back at the police station, officers play the CD they confiscated from Gob. The CD features Gob dedicating a rendition of Bryan Adams' "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" to Michael. Inspired, Michael realizes that he can't actually turn in his brother. Singing the song while doing laundry, Gob has the same realization and calls Barry Zuckerkorn to have him tell Michael not to testify. Gob accidentally ruins Franklin in the dryer and he becomes all "puckered and white".

At the theater, George Michael and Ann are protesting, which surprises Maeby. But the controversy only entices more people to see the movie, thus ending George Michael's chances of a kiss. He slumps home, where Buster is waiting. Buster runs upstairs to shower and wash the smell of Lucille away. A distraught Lindsay then tells George Michael (who was still trying to process the news that his father is in jail) that he has to seize love whenever he has the chance. She then runs upstairs to take a bath, against George Michael's warning.

Maeby comes in and kisses George Michael in thanks for helping her movie become a success. The living room collapses a few feet, knocking Maeby on top of George Michael on the couch, where they kiss again, this time more passionately. Gob comes home to retrieve George Sr. from where he stashed him, under the house that just collapsed. Barry is leading Michael into court when Gob speeds up on his Segway and tells his brother that their father had not been crushed to death: although Gob handcuffed him to pipes under the house, they weren't connected to anything, and George Sr. ran away. Angry that he's going to jail for this, Michael starts a fight with Gob. Tobias comes up, announcing that he is going to Vegas with Kitty. Enraged with jealousy, Lindsay rushes at Kitty, who knocks her out with one punch.

George Sr. rushes into the fray, separating Michael and Gob, telling them they are family and shouldn't be fighting. Telling Lucille she deserves Oscar, he marches into the courthouse. Earlier that day he had found Oscar, newly kicked out by Lucille; he drugged Oscar, took him into the courthouse bathroom, shaved his head, left him in a stall, and jumped out the window to stop Michael and Gob's fight before going back into the courthouse. The police, who followed George Sr. into the courthouse, then found Oscar in the stall and put him into custody, thinking he was George Sr.

External links

• "Righteous Brothers" at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com episode
• "Righteous Brothers" at The-OP.com