Arrested Development's Fourth Season: B (A for effort!)

When I saw that the 15 new episodes of Arrested Development's fourth season were officially available on Netflix, I almost peed myself with excitement. It was exciting. I, along with probably every other person on Facebook, had been counting down to this moment as though it was our collective wedding day, obsessing and discussing the new trailer, smiling every time we passed an ad at a bus stop. And finally, finally here it was.

How could I convey my feelings after finishing the entire season in 24 hours? Imagine you win the lottery. You think you've won $1 million. You freak out, you tell all your friends how happy you are. You go to collect, and oops -- your ticket isn't for the jackpot, and you've actually won $500. You're not upset. You're still glad that you've won what is still a large sum of money. But you know what? Compared to what you thought you'd get, suddenly $500 is, as much as you hate to admit, disappointing.

Specifically, one of the most disappointing aspects of the new season was the way each episode was set up to revolve around only one character at a time. As much as I love the Bluths, I think I love the Bluths a little more than I love every single one of them individually. Except for GOB. I care a little more for GOB. The reason for this setup is reportedly because the producers simply couldn't schedule all of the stars to film on the same day. The solution was to create a season-long episode with a slightly more confusing than entertainingly ridiculous plot. "A New Start," a.k.a. the Tobias episode, was probably the low-point of the season, which sucks to say, but let's make it clear that that does not mean the "blue" man is not an essential member of the cast.

Of course, that's not to say there weren't absolutely awesome parts of the show as well. There was a lot of self-referential humor (to list a few: Sudden Valley, Mr. F, the chicken dance, seals, "I've made a huge mistake," and so, so, so many more), but those moments were much like catching up with an old friend. "Colony Collapse" (GOB) got very close to making me laugh as hard as I did throughout the entire first three seasons, and can we talk about that crazy unexpected ending?! (No, we can't, because this is a spoiler-free review, but let's just freak out together about it!)

Don't get me wrong -- Arrested Development 2.0 is still generally funny. But it ain't the original.

Image: http://variety.com/2013/digital/news/netflix-arrested-development-could-prevent-2q-subscriber-loss-1200481427/