Arrested Development

For a show as complex, well-written and incredibly clever as "Arrested Development,: it's fun to note how often the writers ended up turning to Michael Bluth's love-life for ideas. Sometimes, when shows would resort to this, it would be a cheap excuse to stunt-cast and bring in well-known actors or actresses for boosted ratings. Often enough, the guest-stars weren't fun or didn't mesh well with the cast. And sure, "Arrested Development" brought in plenty of guest stars in its three seasons, but the writers were good at what they did and always made sure the focus on Michael's love life or the introduction of a famous actor into the show wouldn't destroy the integrity of it all.



That whole rant is basically a round about way of saying that "Public Relations" is hilarious and is effortlessly able to balance the weight of bringing us deeper into the Bluth's world and the weight of a romantic subplot. We also see another one of those rare moments when the Bluths coalesce into one unit and become a family.



The shenanigans begin after Michael tries to get George Michael into a private school he attended while young: the Milford Academy. It's a progressive school where apparently, "children should be neither seen nor heard." (Buster was and still is a pro at this). The problem is, the school won't accept Geroge Michael because the Bluth name has a bad reputation. To remedy the situation, Michael hires a publicist that can clean up the family name. But he has a crush on her and doesn't want George Michael to know. The publicist quickly doles out jobs for each member: Michael becomes the face of the family, Tobias attempts to get his doctor's license back, Lindsey advertises vodka at a restaurant and Buster needs to hide from the public eye because he's "weird and distancing." In other words, he needs to be neither seen nor heard.



The episode really bursts to life when the writers go nuts with the jokes. There's a great gag when Gob loses Earl Milford in his Aztec tomb trick while doing charity work and when questioned by the police, and the press, he says, "I didn't kill him. I don't know where Earl Milford is. And don't edit this shot to make it look like I said…" and then the camera cuts to a news station hours later with Gob saying "I killed Earl Milford." It's a skit that works best being seen instead of explained. We also get an incredibly guest appearance by Carl Weathers, who plays a weird miserly-hobo type version of himself. Watching him be obsessed with free food was the highlight of the episode for me. Things reach a typical crescendo in that way only "A.D" can pull off, and even if things somewhat go back to normal by the end, the journey from Point A to Point B was perfectly structured making for a good half hour of television.

The whole concept of the Bluths trying to fix their image was genius. The PR person was a hilarious From Lindsay getting a job to Tobias getting acting lessons, it was just hilarious. We also got a great tie in at the end when the PR person went with Michael to the restaurant.



Lindsay threatening her was absolutely hysterical. Also another noteworthy tie in: Gob locking in the school representative hurting George Michael's chances of getting in too the school.



We also actually got some emotion between the Bluths. Which shows us that Arrested Development can pull off being funny and still throw in an emotional scene from time to time.

The Bluths get a publicist that Michael has a crush on and who doesn’t exactly spin good news about the family after Michael rejects her and George Michael finds out she’s crazy.



This episode is very funny and explores the relationship between the family and all of the bad press they continuously get for either public disputes or food fights (oh, and the embezzlement but that’s all old news).



Gob’s magic trick is indeed the funniest plot of the episode (“there was a murder? Who died?” “My career”) and the end was great aswell with Gob thinking of himself as a hero.



Overall, this is one episode that shouldn’t be missed but that’s not to say there aren’t funnier ones out there.