The 4th Season of Arrested Development is Confusing...and Brilliant

When the new season of Arrested Development came out on Netflix last summer, I was ecstatic. I had been waiting for this day for a long time. The format of the season sounded pretty unusual, but I knew Mitchell Hurwitz and the other show creators would find a way to make this unconventionality not only work, but useful in making the show special, unique, and exceed expectations. I watched the first four or five episodes (not binge-watching, as per the show creator’s suggestions)...and I didn’t get it.

I thought it was boring, not funny, and too drawn out (each episode is around 35 minutes long). Time means nothing in this season, as the story is told not only with a very loose and unusual temporal structure, but also frequently tries to cram years’ worth of exposition into just a few brief sentences of summary. We don’t see events happen, but instead hear about them from the narrator. To say it’s confusing is an understatement. The episodes often contain whirlwinds of information about brand new characters and events that are thrown at you for purposes you don’t close to understanding.

I also didn’t like that each episode focused on just one character, because the other characters and their interactions were part of what made the show so lovable. But most importantly, the show excelled at weaving the characters' plots between one another so they interact and motivate each other almost better than the characters do. Arrested did this better than any show since Seinfeld. It often took the Seinfeldian fatal causality of each character’s individual stories affecting everyone to a whole new level, and in highly creative ways. But with the focus on just one character’s story at a time, I found myself growing tired of seeing only one lengthy plot instead of many smaller ones.

Frankly, watching the new episodes was exhausting and very little fun. Sure, there were callbacks to running jokes from the original run of episodes, and there were silly quotes and comedic moments that were good for a chuckle, but the show just didn’t seem funny anymore. I found myself longing for the chronologically rearranged episodes that the wonderful people of Reddit had created, but which I was unable to access. I was disappointed and figured the writers had lost their touch in the years since the show originally ended, or that they had just gotten too experimental. I just shrugged it off and accepted it, happy knowing that the first three seasons would always be there when I felt like watching some Arrested.

So, I gave up. I quit watching.

Well, it turns out that I should have trusted my gut on this one. I finally got around to watching the 4th season of Arrested Development (over the course of several weeks), and I have to say, it’s quite remarkable. Whereas I hated the lack of temporal continuity before, I loved it now. An event or dialogue that makes no sense in the present all comes together five, six episodes later. The payoff is very delayed, but that just makes it so much better.

Watching all 15 episodes is like solving a puzzle very slowly and methodically, and it’s extremely satisfying. I originally thought the lack of character interaction would mean lack of plot interaction, but I soon learned that the construction of the episodes only allowed for infinitely more intricate and well-developed plot interaction.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still very confusing at times, but it all reveals itself eventually and in increasingly more inventive ways.

Having just finished the season last night, a realization dawned on me. Instead of each episode containing separate plots that intertwine and catalyze the other plots, the fourth season of AD worked the same way the previous seasons' episodes had worked. The entire season was essentially one gigantic episode with many subplots that keep reappearing from different characters' perspectives in each of its fifteen parts. It was the original Seinfeldian/Arrestedite idea that each character's actions and outcomes are a direct result of other characters' actions and outcomes, only taken to a grandiose level never before attempted.

In summation, this season is very complex. You must pay very close attention to each episode in order to "get it." You might even need to watch some episodes more than once, because it all moves very quickly. Mitchell Hurwitz was absolutely correct: if you binge-watch this season, you will get fatigued and stressed out by all the information and events thrown at you, not to mention the sheer length of the whole season. You won't like it, and you won't "get it." If you binge-watch, you'll miss out on an exceptional season of the show. This season deserves your full attention, and it deserves to be watched at a slow pace to let it all sink in. Frankly, it deserves better than we give most TV shows, simply because it is better than most TV shows. Which is also probably why it isn't on TV...