Devotees of FOX's scandalously underrated comedy Arrested Development gathered around the box Friday night to watch the show's final four episodes, which effectively wrapped up some dangling plot threads from the last three seasons... while still leaving open the door for the show to possibly return (come on, Mitch and Showtime!). For me, the experience was definitely bittersweet. After waiting so long for any new episodes of Arrested, I devoured the two hours but couldn't quite fathom why FOX would unceremoniously dump the finale during the opening, er, ceremonies of the Olympics. (Haven't we Arrested fans been through enough already, FOX?) Meanwhile, I laughed, I cried, and I had to rewatch some parts over again several times because I was laughing and crying so hard.If you've never watched the show, more's the pity as the following will probably make no sense whatsoever, but to those Arrested-addicts among us, these are ten reasons why the finale rocked:
10. Kissin' cousins George-Michael and Maeby get hitched.
9. The studio executive job that Maeby conned her way into in the second season is ruined when George-Michael invites all of her Hollywood friends (including R. Howard, P. Hilton, and Mickey Rooney) to her surprise 16th birthday party.
8. Justine Bateman plays a call girl in the employ of GOB's puppet Franklin.
7. Lindsay attempts to seduce Michael when she learns he isn't her brother... and then when Michael says he doesn't usually go for "older" women, she beats the hell out of him.
6. In order to get out of testifying at the Bluth family's mock trial, an anxiety-ridden Buster fakes a coma, to hilarious (and jaw-dropping) effect.
5. "Sorry it took so long," a C.I.A. agent escorting Michael, GOB, and Buster boys says of the traffic in Iraq. "The Cheney Expressway was backed up all the way to Halliburton Drive."
4. The swipe taken at My Name is Earl for hilariously mocking the hit NBC show's irritating talking magazine ads. In this case, the ads repeatedly tell the listener, "My Name is... Judge," referring to a fictional courtroom show starring Judge Reinhold as a, er, judge.
3. Ron Howard makes an appearance as himself, who--upon being pitched the rights to Maeby's story--decides that it really doesn't sound like a series after all... but perhaps a movie?
2. Long-suffering father and son team Michael and George-Michael seem to sail off into the sunset, leaving their family to deal with the mess they've created... only to discover that George, Sr. has once again managed to stow away.
And what Arrested fans have waited years for:
1. Annyong returns (finally!) to wreak his revenge upon Lucille and utters the now classic line, "My real name is 'Hello.'"
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