The Best Arrested Development Episode, According To IMDb

“Arrested Development” is one of the best TV comedies of all time. Created by Mitchell Hurwitz, it’s a show filled with memorable dialogue, expertly written and delivered punchlines, and enough running gags and callbacks to make it reward (nay, demand) multiple viewings. Most of all, the dialogue is so good it simultaneously feels improvised yet too well structured to be improvised. In fact, the original plan was for all the dialogue on “Arrest Development” to be improvised, but the scripts turned out to be too good for that.

Narrated by Ron Howard, “Arrested Development” centers on the formerly wealthy and always dysfunctional Bluth family, who made a fortune in property development. The show follows what happens when they lose everything and their eldest son Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman) tries to keep the family together after their patriarch goes to prison.

While “Arrested Development” has plenty of great and otherwise memorable installments, there’s one, in particular, that not only managed to top /Film’s ranking of the show’s best episodes but also holds the highest rating among IMDb users (with a 9.1 score). That would be “Development Arrested,” the 13th episode from season 3 and the original series finale back when Fox canceled “Arrested Development” in 2006 (before Netflix later revived the series for a fourth and fifth season).

“Development Arrested” sees George Bluth Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) released from prison after his charges are fully dropped, and the family finally has access to money again. To celebrate, they host a big party on the RMS Queen Mary, at least until Michael discovers that every shady, illegal, treasonous misdeed the Bluths has ever committed was actually the doing of his mother Lucille (Jessica Walter) — including her lying about Michael’s sister, who was really adopted yet made to believe she was Michael’s twin sister.

“Development Arrested” is a brilliant piece of storytelling that brings every major subplot on the series to a neat conclusion, all the while providing constant callbacks to the pilot episode. These aren’t just cheap references either; the episode directly draws a direct line between where the Bluths were at the start of the show and where they are now. In the “Arrested Development” pilot, for example, Michael was determined to leave his family behind forever, yet in the finale he is reluctant to leave them. Similarly, it’s Lucille who’s wanted by the SEC this time around, not George.

Ultimately, this episode works as well as it does thanks to the groundwork laid by the rest of season 3, which is a terrific self-reflexive work unto itself. Knowing that the show was coming to an end, the “Arrested Development” writers made no effort to conceal their disappointment in the scripts for season 3 and had the characters constantly joke about the impending cancellation of the show in a cheeky, meta fashion. There’s even an episode where the Bluths throw a fundraiser to save their company, with the dialogue making it clear the story is really about the series’ creatives hoping to find someone to save the show (hence the episode’s allusion to HBO, the Home Builders Organization). 

Likewise, “Development Arrested” is full of gimmicks designed to make the series more appealing in the hopes of securing a renewal, like the promise of a “Cavalcade of Stars,” riffs on 3D, and even a live-audience stunt. “Arrested Development” knew it was coming to an end and went out with a bang (well, until Netflix resurrected it, anyway).