Marta Complex

"Marta Complex"

"Marta Complex" is the 12th episode aired of TV comedy series Arrested Development.

Plot

Michael Bluth convinces his mother to throw what she thinks is a Valentine's Day party, but is, in fact, a party to celebrate the anniversary of Tobias and Lindsay. In attendance is G.O.B.'s girlfriend Marta, who is impressed by the romantic side of Michael when she finds out he's responsible for the party. Like his father, George Michael is also harboring a secret crush, on his cousin. He searches for a sign using the messages stamped on candy hearts. After some digging, he finds one that reads "Maybe Tonight" and considers that to be a sign. He shows it to Maeby, who grabs it and chucks it at Tobias' head. When he turns around, he sees George Michael standing there by himself. And Lucille, still trying to break up the relationship between Buster and Lucille Austero, sets up Lucille with Carl Weathers, who is there as Tobias's acting coach, on a night Buster has class. Michael gives a stirring toast to each couple and to love in general, and that's when Marta realizes that Michael is the one she should be with, not G.O.B. The next morning, Lindsay says the party finally woke her up. She needs a divorce. Tobias's Never Nude affliction is too much of a burden to bear.

Meanwhile, G.O.B. thinks Marta is cheating on him with a man named Hermano after overhearing her on the phone talking to her mother. What he doesn't realize is that "hermano" is the Spanish word for brother, and Marta was actually talking about Michael. But neither Michael nor G.O.B. realize this, and the two agree to work together to find Hermano. In other love news, Lindsay breaks the news that she and George Michael will be switching roommates. He'll be bunking with Tobias now, and she with Maeby. George Michael fears that this is because Tobias saw the Maybe Tonight candy heart and figured out his cousin crush. Buster, finally fed up with Lucille's nagging, decides to move out of his mother's place, but when he knocks on Lucille 2's door, Carl Weathers answers. Lucille 2 doesn't want to be Buster's substitute mother, so she doesn't allow him to move in. But Lucille, hurt by Buster's attempt to move out, refuses to let him move back. Michael follows Marta around all day in an effort to track down the mysterious "Hermano." Visiting the set of her show, he asks around for Hermano and gets directed back and forth between two brothers. Elsewhere, Lucille visits George Sr. in prison for some advice. Seems that with Buster moving out, she's living alone for the first time ever and she's a little nervous. George Sr., who has just released a self-help video about his learning experiences in prison, advises her to learn to find happiness in being alone.

Having nowhere else to go, Buster arrives at the model home, where Tobias is expressing excitement about his audition for a part in a movie as "Frightened Inmate #2." Marta drops by, and Buster immediately falls in love with her. Michael, who had been following Marta, arrives shortly after, and is surprised to see both Buster and Marta. Michael agrees to let Buster stay with him for a while, but since there's no more room, they'll have to share a bed. And Marta asks Michael if they can go out to dinner to have a talk. G.O.B., who has also been tailing Marta, calls Michael from outside the house, and Michael agrees to get to the bottom of the Hermano situation over dinner. Upstairs, Lindsay confesses to Maeby that she and Tobias are having trouble. In the next room, Tobias confesses to George Michael that he hasn't made love to Lindsay in years. He also mentions that they couldn't conceive, which makes George Michael wonder if Maeby isn't a blood relative. But before he can ask Tobias about it, Carl Weathers calls to tell him that he had gotten the role he auditioned for. At dinner at Marta's home, Marta and Michael talk at cross purposes: she alludes to her attraction to Michael, while he implies that he "knows" she's cheating on G.O.B. When Marta steps away for a moment, Michael asks her son if Marta loves Hermano. The son confirms that she does, and tells Michael that he's sleeping in the next room. Michael calls out Marta for her affair and, taken aback, she asks him to leave. Then he notices a gift he had seen her buy while following her around the day before. It is a tuxedo with a note addressed to him. Realizing he did something wrong, Michael asks Marta's son what hermano means, and finally realizes that, in fact, he was the very man he had been looking for.

Cultural references

• Maeby references the film Action Jackson starring Carl Weathers.
• When introducing Carl Weathers, a clip is shown from his role in the movie Predator.
• When Lucille invites Carl Weathers to dinner with Lucille 2, she references Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, which also portrays a black man visiting a white woman and her entirely white family.
• Lucille listens to the Ethel Merman version of the song, "Roses' Turn" from the musical Gypsy while celebrating her first night alone.

Character Cameos

• Liza Minnelli's character, Lucille Austero, left the show after this episode, but both her character and her romance with Buster would be rekindled in Season 2's "Queen for a Day".
• This was the second time real-life brothers Oliver Patrick Sandino and Casey Sandino appeared as Marta's children, Amable and Cortesio, but the first time they appeared for more than just a cameo.
• This would be Carl Weathers' last performance as himself on the show until he returned in Season 2's "Motherboy XXX", though he would continue to be mentioned on several occasions.

Future References

• Tobias's role as "Frightened Inmate #2" would be a subject in several more episodes, most notably in "Staff Infection", when he has himself incarcerated in George Sr.'s prison for research.
• There is the first indication that Maeby might not be George Michael's biological cousin, a concept that would come up several more times over the span of the series.

Hidden/background jokes

• Lupe's Sweatshirt - During this episode Lucille's maid, Lupe, is wearing a Thanksgiving sweatshirt, even though the episode is supposedly set during Valentine's Day.
• Tobias Unpacking - Tobias' wardrobe seems to consist primarily of "never-nude" cutoff jeans.

Running jokes

• I've made a huge mistake - Michael to Marta's son referring to him suspecting Marta of being unfaithful to GOB; GOB to Marta during flashbacks; Marta to herself about being with the wrong brother.
• Family is the most important thing
• "And I'm OK with that" - This episode marks the first time we hear Michael say this in relation to G.O.B's 'achievements'.
• Like Annyong later on, the Bluths mistake a foreign word ("Hermano") for a name.

Episode notes

• This episode was intended as the Valentine's Day episode, and several decorations can be seen throughout the episode.
• This episode's title is a reference to the psychological term Martyr complex.
• When Arrested Development was first picked up by FOX, it was for only 13 episodes, so this episode was largely intended only to set up the next episode, "Beef Consommé", which continues the storylines involving Marta, George Michael searching for Maeby's parentage, and Lindsay's marital difficulties with Tobias, and was designed to possibly serve as the series finale.
• When Marta arrives at the house to talk to Michael she's interrupted by Michael's cell phone ringing in the same manner that he was interrupted by Marta's house phone when he went to her house to confess his attraction to her in a previous episode.

External links

• The-OP.com
• FOX
• Marta Complex at IMDb