"Visiting Ours" is the fifth episode of the first 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 was written by co-executive producer John Levenstein and consulting producer Richard Rosenstock, and directed by

Greg Mottola Gregory J. Mottola (born July 11, 1964) is an American film director, screenwriter and television director. Early life and education Mottola grew up in Dix Hills, New York, in a Catholic family of Italian and Irish descent. He received his BFA ...

. 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 December 7, 2003. 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 ''Arrested Development'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on Fox from November 2, 2003 to February 10, 2006. A fourth season of 15 episodes was released on Netflix on May 26, 2013, and a fifth season was released in two part ...

. In the episode, needing information from George Sr.'s secretary Kitty, Michael attempts to use her crush on Gob to get it. Meanwhile, Tobias and Lindsay attend

couples therapy Couples therapy (also known as couples' counseling, marriage counseling, or marriage therapy) is a form of psychotherapy that seeks to improve intimate relationships, resolve interpersonal conflicts and repair broken bonds of love. History Marri ...

and George Michael attempts to conquer his fear of visiting George Sr. in prison.

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 ...

) fails to get information about some international accounts from his father, so he goes to George Sr. (

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired 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 ...

)'s assistant 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 ...

) for the information. 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 ...

) calls Michael saying their club membership has been downgraded and orders him to rectify the situation. Meanwhile, 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 ...

) moves into the Bluth Company office, where he plans to write a letter to the prison warden, who has denied the legitimacy of Gob's "escape" from prison. Michael decides to manipulate Kitty's attraction to Gob to get the information he wants. Meanwhile, 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

(

David Cross David Cross (born April 4, 1964) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and director. Cross is best known for his stand-up performances, the HBO sketch comedy series '' Mr. Show with Bob and David'' (1995–1998), his role as Ian Hawk ...

) prepare for their first marriage therapy session, and

(

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 ...

) and

(

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 ...

) decide to follow them, though George Michael is reluctant and instead suggests visiting George Sr. George Michael tells Michael he wants to visit George Sr., and Gob tussles with Kitty while Lindsay and Tobias visit a couples therapist (

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...

). Michael heads back to the prison with George Michael, but George Sr. is convinced that he is going to die in the prison after a softball game becomes violent and becomes unstable in front of George Michael. Once George Sr. calms down, he tells Michael that he wants Lucille to make a

conjugal visit A conjugal visit is a scheduled period in which an inmate of a prison or jail is permitted to spend several hours or days in private with a visitor. The visitor is usually their legal partner. The generally recognized basis for permitting such vis ...

. Lindsay and Tobias play a role-reversal game in therapy with the therapist. Michael arrives home to find that Gob is repulsed by the idea of his parents sharing a conjugal trailer; Gob tells him that he has had

sex Sex is the biological trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing organism produces male or female gametes. During sexual reproduction, a male and a female gamete fuse to form a zygote, which develops into an offspring that inheri ...

with Kitty but didn't get the information. Michael drops by the prison again, this time with his mother, and puts her into one of the conjugal trailers. George Sr. is shocked to see that Kitty is waiting for him in the other trailer, as they have had an affair for years. George Sr. asks for help to keep the affair hidden from Lucille, and Michael calls Gob, who is already at the prison delivering his letter to the warden, to try to stall Kitty. Gob, disgusted at the thought of having sex with her again, opts to sneak out of the trailer. He immediately runs into the warden, who has just read his letter, and is detained and forced against the window of the trailer in which his parents are being intimate.

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

Tobias and Lindsay have another session of therapy, and George Sr. admits to Michael that he "may have committed some light treason."

Production

"Visiting Ours" was directed by

and written by co-executive producer John Levenstein and consulting producer Richard Rosenstock. It was Mottola's first directing credit, and Levenstein and Rosenstock's second writing credits. It was the third episode of the ordered

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 after the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

Reception

Viewers

In the United States, the episode was watched by 6.31 million viewers on its original broadcast.

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, but stated that it starts to "show some seams", though notes that it "is relative to the show’s peaks." 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. 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 18th best of the whole series.

Notes

References

External links

* {{Arrested Development 2003 American television episodes Arrested Development season 1 episodes Television episodes directed by Greg Mottola