"Righteous Brothers", also titled "The Righteous Brothers" on the season 2 DVD, is the eighteenth episode and season finale of the second season of the American television

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

Arrested Development The term "arrested development" has had multiple meanings for over 200 years. In the field of medicine, the term "arrested development" was first used, ''circa'' 1835–1836, to mean a stoppage of physical development; the term continues to be use ...

''. It originally aired on the

Fox network The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...

in the United States on April 17, 2005. The episode, directed by Chuck Martin, was written by producer

Jim Vallely James Vallely (born August 30, 1954) is an American television producer, and screenwriter. He was a writer and consulting producerDunphy, John"E.B. native wins Emmy for best comedy writing" ''East Brunswick Sentinel'', September 29, 2005. Acc ...

and series creator and executive producer

Mitchell Hurwitz Mitchell Donald "Mitch" Hurwitz (born May 29, 1963) is an American television writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the television sitcom '' Arrested Development'' as well as the co-creator of '' The Ellen Show''. He is ...

. An extended version of the episode was released as a special feature on the DVD home release. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics. At the

57th Primetime Emmy Awards The 57th Primetime Emmy Awards were held on Sunday, September 18, 2005 and was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The ceremony was broadcast on CBS. BBC America received its first major nomination this year. The ceremony, which aired three weeks after H ...

, Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely received the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series award for this episode.

Plot

Having been told that the house is sinking and that an inspector is on the way,

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...

tells George Sr. that he needs to move out of the attic. Having made a music CD with his puppet Franklin, Gob asks Michael if he heard it. Michael assures Gob that he did. Realizing that George Sr. doesn't want to leave the attic, Gob knocks him out with

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again ...

, and drives him in the stair car to the police station to turn him in. Seeing that the Franklin CD he made for Michael hasn't been opened, Gob makes it seem as if Michael drove George Sr. to the station. After signing an

affidavit An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a stateme ...

stating that he doesn't know where his father is, Michael is arrested after a security camera photo shows Gob holding a picture of Michael on his face, making it seem as if Michael had met with his father earlier in the day. Meanwhile,

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling music ...

and

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

protest the American remake of the film ''Les Cousins Dangereux'', in which two cousins fall in love.

Maeby ''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network from November 2, 2003, to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013. Cr ...

, who created the remake, is told by producers to cut down the movie into a mere 52 minutes. At home, George Michael and Maeby share a kiss on the living room couch, and after jokingly saying that they "didn't get swallowed up into hell," the house fully sInks. Gob arrives, wanting to retrieve his father who he put underground the house, only to realize George Sr. had escaped earlier in the day. Earlier, George Sr., having escaped, knocked out his brother

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

, shaved his head, and placed him in the police station's bathroom. He then witnessed Gob arriving outside the police station and starting a fight with Michael. George Sr., stopping the fight, stated that he was turning himself in, only to lead the cops into the bathroom where Oscar was located, which resulted in Oscar being arrested.

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

Having burnt his hands on the family ''Cornballer'', which erased his fingerprints, Oscar has trouble explaining to the cops who he really is. Having broken up with Lindsay,

Tobias Tobias is the transliteration of the Greek which is a translation of the Hebrew biblical name he, טוֹבִיה, Toviyah, JahGod is good, label=none. With the biblical Book of Tobias being present in the Deuterocanon/Apocrypha of the Bible ...

decides to quit his job at the Bluth Company and move to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

with his new girlfriend Kitty. Having arrived at Las Vegas, Tobias is told that his dream job has been filled in by a mysterious man, who happens to be George Sr.

Reception

Critical reception

'' The A.V. Club'' writer Noel Murray wrote that the season finale didn't feel much like a finale, saying that "there’s a fumbling-for-an-ending aspect to “Righteous Brothers” that keeps it from being one of the classic Arrested Developments. Chalk it up to the reduced episode order, which makes this finale feel like a big finish and just an ordinary episode, all at once." In 2019, Brian Tallerico, writing for ''

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 North and ...

'', ranked the episode 42nd out of the 84 total episodes of ''

''.

Accolades

"Righteous Brothers" was honored at the

and

received the Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series award for writing the episode, and

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank Kings ...

was nominated for the Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series award for his supporting role as George Bluth Sr.

References

External links

* {{EmmyAward ComedyWriting Arrested Development episodes 2005 American television episodes Emmy Award-winning episodes