Arrested Development is one of the funniest sitcoms of the modern era, with a brilliant blend of absurdism, running gags, visual humor, and word play, and the perfect straight man, Jason Bateman’s Michael Bluth, to bounce them off of. The first three seasons are a seamless self-contained entity and are almost universally beloved, with Seasons 1 and 3 even having a 100% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Seasons 4 and 5, on the other hand, are often the subject of criticism — some a bit deserved, but most undeserved. But don’t write them off just yet. While the two final seasons of Arrested Development might not be as flawless as the first three seasons, there’s still plenty about them to love.

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Why Were Seasons 4 and 5 of 'Arrested Development' So Disliked?

Arrested Development Season 5 promo poster
Image via Netflix

The mockumentary-style show following the eccentric Bluth family first aired on Fox starting in 2003 before being abruptly canceled in 2006. The 15-episode fourth season dropped on Netflix on May 26, 2013 and ended on several cliffhangers, which wouldn't be resolved until the fifth season was released in two batches of eight episodes each on May 29, 2018 and March 15, 2019.

The spaced-out schedule of these releases is probably a contributor to some of the criticism lobbed at these two seasons. Season 4 isn't complete on its own: it introduces multiple storylines that don't get wrapped up, leaving viewers who watched it in 2013 frustrated and unsatisfied. At the time, there was no clear plan for a resolution; the producers were in talks to make a movie, then the discussion moved on to instead filming a complete fifth season, which wouldn't get off the ground for another four years. However, viewers can now watch both seasons back-to-back knowing that every loose thread will be tied up by the end.

Season 4 picks up more or less where Season 3 left off after Lucille Bluth's (Jessica Walter) arrest for commandeering the Queen Mary. The season follows each of the main cast on their separate journeys, with each episode focusing on a different character, Rashomon-style. This storytelling mechanism was necessitated by the fact that it was difficult to get the entire cast together at the same time for shooting, and while it's unusual for a sitcom and might have been a bit difficult to follow if the episodes had released one at a time, it's perfect for binge-watching.

A re-edit of Season 4 known as "Fateful Consequences" was released on May 4, 2018, just ahead of the initial release of Season 5. "Fateful Consequences" remixes the original fifteen episodes of Season 4 into 22 episodes — the length of a standard network sitcom season — and rearranges the storytelling to be in chronological order. This is the version of Season 4 currently available on Netflix. Although the original intent behind the intersecting storylines is lost in the remix, a few of the jokes actually work better, like a scene in which Michael and George Michael (Michael Cera) leave each other a series of voicemails filled with progressively more intricate and passive-aggressive lies to avoid meeting each other at a club.

The entire main cast returns for both Seasons 4 and 5 along with all of the chemistry they built over Seasons 1 through 3, and importantly, each individual's original characterization remains unchanged — Michael is still the straight man; Lucille is still delightfully snobby; George Sr. (Jeffery Tambor) and Maeby (Alia Shawkat) are still unrepentant con artists; Buster (Tony Hale) remains a helpless mother boy; Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) and Tobias (David Cross) are as clueless and insufferable as ever; and Gob (Will Arnett) is still, well, Gob. George Michael does get a bit of much-needed character development as he goes to college and matures out of his shyness, which makes sense for someone his age. And although the actors (especially Michael Cera) have aged visibly in the intervening years, the show, self-aware as always, manages to make a joke even out of that.

Nearly every significant secondary character returns as well, from Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler) to Lucille 2 (Liza Minnelli) to Stan and Sally Sitwell (Ed Begley, Jr. and Christine Taylor). Ron Howard returns to narrate, making the show even more meta as he and his family also become major players in these two seasons. The producers even manage to get a number of minor characters back, like news anchor John Beard, Officer Taylor (Jay Johnston), and the overly literal doctor (Ian Roberts).

The head writers, Mitchell Hurwitz and Jim Vallely, also return, meaning that the style of comedy — the thing we all love about the first three seasons — is basically the same. All of our favorite running jokes are back as well as a few new ones, and the punchlines, visual gags, and plays on words still fall fast and thick.

Season 5 is a direct continuation of Season 4, though it returns to a more traditional sitcom structure, and the main cast appear together more frequently, with the exception of de Rossi, who was technically retired from acting at the time of filming and only appears in five episodes.

Season 4 of 'Arrested Development' Was Made for Binge-Watching

Season 4’s unique method of storytelling, with its simultaneous intersecting storylines, rewards binge-watching and attentive viewing, laying down clues and setting up jokes that sometimes don’t pay off until several episodes later, such as a joke involving Barry Zuckerkorn and a stepladder that I won't spoil here. And like the first three seasons, the jokes often fly by incredibly fast, meaning it's easy to occasionally miss one. This makes all five seasons eminently rewatchable, since every detail is a Chekhov's gun: no line of dialogue or background element goes wasted. If your attention is purposefully drawn to something — such as one car cutting off another in traffic — you can be sure it will come into play in some way later. And even if your attention isn't drawn to something, it's worth paying attention to, because it's probably a joke for the benefit of sharp-eyed viewers (like Lucille's prison ID number).

And because Season 4 follows each character separately, like a good heist movie, knowing the ending makes rewatching more fun, as it gives viewers a chance to pick up on details and hints the significance of which isn't always obvious the first time around. (This is one of the weaknesses of "Fateful Consequences," as at least one crucial plot point involving George Michael is revealed much earlier, coloring the viewers' perception of every other character's interaction with him over the course of the season.)

'Arrested Development's Jessica Walter Was a National Treasure

Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth

Lucille Bluth — arrogant, contemptuous, and alcoholic — is a fan favorite, and Jessica Walter's absolutely impeccable comedic timing and straight-laced delivery make her one of the funniest sitcom characters in modern memory. As a result, she earned the internet's highest honor: being immortalized in a meme. ("I mean it's one banana, Michael. What could it cost? Ten dollars?")

Her stint as Lucille in Season 5 was one of Walter's last major roles, and although she was in her late seventies at the time of filming, she's as brilliant as ever. From becoming the target of a Chinese prison gang to conspiring with George Sr. to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border in order to land a lucrative government contract, she's as scheming and underhanded as ever, and we love her for it. (The storyline about the wall starts in Season 4 — in 2013, long before Donald Trump made the wall one of his campaign platforms. Talk about life imitating art, and yes, the show makes a joke about that too.) If you couldn't get enough of Lucille in the first three seasons, or you just love Jessica Walter in general, you won't be disappointed by her performance in Seasons 4 and 5.

Ultimately, if you loved Arrested Development's characters, style of humor, and absurd plot lines in Seasons 1 through 3, you'll enjoy Seasons 4 and 5. So settle in with a cornball or a frozen banana and make some time for a few binge sessions before it leaves Netflix on March 15.