Arrested Development

All right!

Michael Bluth had been away from his family for two months,

and his life had never seemed better.

- - Oh, head in the sand!

While at a tech company famous for providing access to any information,

except for its own name,

-he had found friends... -Jim.

-Oh, nice return, Jim. -...been retrained for the workplace...

It's just one space after a period?

That's okay. Let's try it again.

...and was learning new skills every day.

Hi, sorry I'm late.

- How you doing? -Konnichiwa.

-So, is your family joining you? -No.

They will not be joining, um, but, um, maybe just, uh,

one of their kids can take a swing at me, huh?

While he believed he had put his family behind him...

This class is geared more to self-defense for the family, not...

Not from the family.

-...there were some unresolved issues. -I get that.

Do you have family-on-family stuff?

A few years ago, I would have given you the same look.

In those few years, Michael's life had changed quite a bit.

After borrowing money from a flirtatious family friend...

-Just till I get on my feet. -...whose vertigo made it hard

for her to stay on her own feet,

Michael finally started his own housing business.

-The collapse of the housing market... - At the worst possible time.

-That's not a great sign. -

But Michael soon had another business opportunity.

- I'm a producer? -Well, it's a movie about the family.

Although, the heartbeat of this thing is the father-son dynamic.

- Which put Michael off the project. -I'm not able to do this.

Until a chance run-in with actress Rebel Alley...

-I'm sorry. -Where's a producer when you need one?

-...put him back on it. -I'm a movie producer!

And having found his new leading lady...

I could put your name in for something.

...who turned out to be Ron Howard's daughter,

Michael was soon acting like a movie producer, too.

Michael's son was starting a business

after claiming to have invented a new privacy software.

...software that's also anti-piracy? You have a way of doing this?

This could be huge.

Not exactly. It did do this.

...of what programmers call "hacker traps."

-It's called Fakeblock. - And word spread.

How does your software work?

Garnering attention from the same actress to whom

-he gave a fake name. -George Mi-- Harris.

And soon, George Michael was acting like a...

well, a movie producer, too.

She was raised by a different mother than Ron's other kids.

It's just a whole different thing over there.

Anyway, with Maeby in charge of the business,

George Michael soon found himself in debt.

Maeby, we can't afford this.

And my software isn't even rea-- dy.

- He found one place to save money. -Maeby, you're fired!

And though Michael was losing Rebel

-to her mystery man, he got good news. -You're dating Rebel Alley?

Do you know the other guy that she's dating?

No. I know it's over.

She is dumping him.

Which he promptly acted upon.

But it wouldn't be long before Michael discovered who George...

-"Maharis" really was. -

Something he kept to himself when his son admitted...

-I think it might be over. -Great.

Pain... fades slowly.

- But Michael knew... -Quickly.

...he'd have to end it.

Tell me about your girlfriend. You're producing this movie...

I think they're both over. Wasn't meant to be.

You owe my sister $700,000.

This, combined with a threat from Lucille 2's brother...

-You can't hide in a gorilla suit from me. - That one's hard to explain.

...sent Michael to a night of drinking and a desperate proposal

to get his $700,000 debt forgiven...

I'm gonna have sex with you, for money.

...that perhaps overestimated his value, at least according

to the latest Balboa Bachelor Auction totals.

And returning from a night with Lucille 2,

which ended poorly, Michael ran into a brother...

I went to see Lucille 2, and I lost control.

I did something that I wish I could forget.

...who had also done something he wanted Michael to forget.

-Was that wax? - Put the mask on!

Which is how he ended up drugged on the floor of the model home...

-It's easy to forget. -...where he peacefully slept,

deterring at least one badly needed buyer.

...some of the neighbors are not to be desired. Oh!

One got in. You know, I have other properties...

And missing a visit from Predator Entrapment host

John Beard, who had arrived to retrieve

some hidden cameras, now that it looked

like his predator hole had been fished out.

It would be another full night

before Michael would come up with a way to work off his $700,000 debt...

...repay you that loan.

...that he'd forgotten he'd already come up with.

It was the next call to the woman he believed his son had broken up with...

The thing with the other guy, we don't have to talk about that.

...that Michael would most regret.

-Goodbye. - But there would have to be

one more conversation.

Who was that?

No one.

Michael Bluth left for his date with Rebel,

surprised to find people working on what he thought was a holiday.

Boy, you guys don't miss a day.

- Michael had missed two. -Yeah.

-What, are you tenting the place? - Hey, Michael. Yeah.

We're getting everything prepped.

Not sure if Maeby's in there, or Tobias, or something?

Mind if we use the stairs?

Gob said he heard something in the attic.

Oh, yeah, uh, well...

Hopefully, it's not my father.

George Sr.!

Okay. This bug guy really knows our family.

Michael went to find the source of the noise,

and soon came across a reminder of a simpler time,

and his dream of taking his son on a scuba diving trip.

He'd started the boy young, getting him trained in

-underwater communication. -Underwater communication.

"Are you okay?"

-"Yes, I'm okay." -Okay.

I've wanted to ask you that underwater.

But soon, the sign language turned...

- "Out of oxygen." -...to more pressing threats.

Now, that's one you're gonna need to know.

- Mm-hmm. - Who remembers

-"shark"? Huh? - Shark, that's easy.

-Yeah. Huh? - "Manta ray."

But don't do that around the shark. They eat them.

- - You got "boat," "jellyfish,"

"propeller," and "electric eel." Ouch!

Okay. Let's hit the pool.

Ironically, it was this final threat that did young George Michael in.

-We put on our tanks and we-- -Oh.

George Michael? George Michael?

Hey, pal.

-Here we go. -

Michael soon found reminders

of other scuba attempts they've made.

- Huh? That was great. -Oh, yeah.

You really conquered the pool.

I think you're ready for the ocean.

Huh. I thought we were going to the Reef.

We are. It's in the ocean.

I thought it was a restaurant by the pool.

Why did you think I said, "Watch out for the crabs"?

Why did you think I said, "I always get a hamburger"? -I thought you were kidding. -

Buddy? Hey. George Michael? Oh, he's done it again.

There it is.

-Deep breath, buddy. -

And Michael found himself caught off guard

by the fact that his son had grown

right out of his childhood.

And by the brother who had squeezed himself

-right into it. -

-Oh, God! -

-Buster? Buster? Hey. -

Fortunately, this wasn't Michael's first scuba scare... scare.

- -Ah! Okay. Hey.

Michael. Hi.

Am I that much of a monster, Michael? Even to you?

No, not at all, I just wasn't expecting, uh,

you know, a man to be sitting in a Scuba Jr.,

leaping out at me up in the attic, that's all.

- -That's all.

I guess that is a little strange.

-You should've seen your face. -Yeah, yeah, well...

You looked like a little girl.

-Oh, God! -

- -Look at that.

Got a new hand?

No, I just took the skin off.

-It's in the dryer. -All right.

-Buddy, you cannot be up here, okay? -The tent thing, I know.

I mean, thank God I found some scuba equipment

-because they are fumigating. -

Yeah. The skin really muffles the sound on that.

There's another suit over there; it's a smaller size, though.

Uh... That's my son's.

-We never got a chance to use it. -Oh.

Probably too young to be around the fumes.

No, pal, we were gonna use this scuba gear for scuba diving.

-Mm. -Underwater.

-Not to hang out in a poison cloud. -Mm...

It's father-son bonding we never got to do.

-Aw. -Put it on the long list of regrets.

Well, I've had plenty of those with Mom.

-Have you? -We used to want to play dress-up.

Her as Jackie O., me as John-John... But we...

No, I guess we did get to do that a couple of times.

-I'm sure... -That isn't a regret.

-Yeah, no, it should be. -Mm-hmm.

So why are you here at the house?