The Fallout — arresteddevelopment

"The Fallout"
Directors: Troy Miller — Writer: Mitchell Hurwitz — Aired: March 15, 2019 — ◄

"The Fallout" is the sixteenth and final episode of Arrested Development's fifth season.

Synopsis

After Buster leaves the courtroom, Lucille tells Dusty to go find some videotapes. Michael overhears and goes to investigate. He questions Buster about the fight with Mimi. Buster didn't know that Mimi was trying to take Lindsay away. He did push Mimi down the stairs "but nothing's going to happen to me because I'm just a boy." Michael thinks Buster is hiding something and protecting his mother. He wonders what happened in the body dumping video from the weather camera.

The narrator recaps how Gob gave Buster the body bag, and explains how Tony Wonder was last seen at the July 2nd parade. Argyle Austero implied that the Gay Mafia were the ones to kill Tony with cement during the closet illusion, and he gave the body bag to Gob to make it disappear. Gob told Buster that the body was just a mannequin but swore him to secrecy. Michael asks Buster where the secret videotapes are, and Buster won't confess until Michael makes him jealous about Dusty calling Lucille "Mother." The videotapes are at the beach cottage.

Michael arrives at the cottage to find Dusty with the videotapes. Lucille told him to get rid of them because they're evidence. Michael finds a videotape labeled "Buster, age 8, under hypnosis, 1982." He wants to watch the tape, but they need a special machine to play it. Michael takes the box, pretending that he's going to destroy the evidence.

Meanwhile Buster meets with Gob, who says that the body in that bag was Tony Wonder's magic dummy. Buster wants Gob to testify to that, so people won't assume that Buster was dumping Lucille Austero's body off the cliff. Gob doesn't want to violate magician-assistant privilege. He says if Buster is acquitted he can be Gob's magic assistant for life. Gob explains his planned illusion for the wall unveiling at Sudden Valley; he'll go through the wall and come out straight.

Recently, two of the Gay Mafia guys showed up at Fakeblock to threaten Gob because he didn't use Argyle's cement company to build the wall. Gob argues that it's just a prototype wall, too small to bother Argyle with. The goons say that if they get a federal contract to build the wall, it's worth a lot of money. They threaten to cover Gob in cement like they did Tony Wonder. The narrator explains that the tough guys are also actors in a Guys and Dolls play at the local community theater, and they are going around in character for their roles.

The next day, Michael takes the box of videotapes to John Beard so they can use his old tape players. John is still going through a bitter divorce from Joni. He recognizes Michael from his predator show, and he plays some video from Cinco of Michael arguing with Gob in the model home. Michael doesn't remember because of the roofie, and he is shocked to hear himself saying he lost control and did something shameful.

In court, Dustin questions Gob about Buster being his magic assistant, hoping to pressure Gob to confess about the Tony Wonder dummy. Instead, Gob testifies that Buster is great at acting dumb while being a secretly sneaky guy.

Michael finally views the videotape about Buster's hypnosis. The 1982 tape is narrated by Tobias, who is a "doctor-to-be" doing his doctoral research about memory suppression. Tobias interviews young Buster about pushing Mimi down the stairs. Tobias says what really happened is that Lucille pushed Mimi down the stairs, but they are going to tell the police that Buster pushed Mimi down the stairs so that Lucille won't go to jail. Buster is young, so the police won't punish him for killing Mimi. This is where Lucille gets Buster to memorize the line that nothing will happen to him, because he's just a boy.

Michael asks John Beard to transfer the videotape to current technology so he can show it in court and save his brother Buster. Gob is still testifying when Michael strides into court, claiming that he's co-counsel with Dusty. Michael asks to take over the defense while Dusty leaves for a bathroom break. Michael then calls Lucille to the witness stand. Michael asks Lucille about the night that Mimi died and he accuses her of making Buster confess when he wasn't guilty. He also asks where Lucille was on Cinco, and if she did that murder too. Lucille asks where Michael was on Cinco and points out that he had a motive to kill Lucille Austero. Michael starts to get flashes of memory from Cinco, and it looks like he's guilty. He suddenly confesses that he thinks he killed Lucille Austero.

Lottie Dottie objects, because she can't win the case against Buster if Michael is confessing. Michael just walks out of the court, and Lucille follows him. Lucille asks what happened. Michael tells her that he found the videotape of Buster being hypnotized. She wanted him to find that tape, though, and wanted him to discredit her on the witness stand, but instead he screwed it all up. Lucille says the truth is Buster did push Mimi down the stairs, but the hypnosis was meant to implant a false memory in Buster so that he wouldn't think he was a killer. Instead he'd think he was a hero, saving his mom from jail.

Michael worries that he killed Lucille Austero and that somebody is coming to arrest him now. Lucille insists that Lottie Dottie is not going to reopen the case because Michael confessed that he was roofied and doesn't really remember. It's a mistrial. Michael thinks he keeps screwing up everything for the family, and maybe he's the worst Bluth, but Lucille says that Gob is the worst.

Two weeks later at the wall unveiling, some people are protesting the wall while George and Lucille discuss whether Michael will show up. The Chinese investors have also come, and George worries that they're still angry about not getting the $3 million back. Congresswoman Sally Sitwell arrives asking how the protesters got in. Tobias is leading the protesters, and they find out that Maeby paid for the protesters.

Lucille tries to get Tobias to stop protesting by making him a Bluth family member; she won't let in Debrie or Murphybrown, though. It doesn't matter, because they left him to run off together. Tobias tries to tell the protesters to support the border wall now, but they attack him for this betrayal. Meanwhile George meets with the Chinese investors to placate them about the wall. They are much more concerned about the Fakeblock software.

Buster confronts Lucille about not inviting him to the unveiling. At least Gob wants him to assist in his wall illusion. Gob heads backstage, while Buster complains about Lucille revealing the family secrets to Warden Gentles. Lucille says she tried to fix it with the videotape, but Michael screwed it up. Buster knows the truth now and is upset to realize he did push Mimi down the stairs. He forgives Lucille, though, for trying to protect him.

Gob begins his presentation of the wall prototype, and Buster joins him onstage. He is going to pour the Quick Hard Cement into the plywood forms, and Maeby is planning to have her protesters storm the wall. Gob recalls the July 2nd parade illusion, and gets sad about Tony Wonder again. He says he'll transform back from gay to straight by walking through the wall. Maeby looks impressed and interested in the illusion, so she delays her protesters. Buster appears wearing a Mis Trial sash and cape, and they talk about the body never being found. As the "Final Countdown" music starts, a ladder descends on the stage. Gob climbs over the wall, while GM tells the impatient Chinese investors that they'll get to Fakeblock soon. The back of the wall is being televised to the audience; Gob gets into an open cage and pulls down blinds to hide himself. He magically disappears and says he's inside the wall, while magic assistants wheel the cage to the front of the wall.

Michael arrives in the staircar while the cement is being poured over the wall. The Chinese want to buy Fakeblock, but George Michael says he's selling it to Rebel Alley. Michael interrupts and sees Rebel Alley in the audience. Apparently he changed his mind and doesn't want George Michael to sell Fakeblock to her. George Michael tries to stop his father's meddling, but Michael guesses that the software now works, and he says the George Michael cannot sell the software without Gob signing off on it. He's the Fakeblock president after all. According to the contract, though, George Michael can sell it if Gob is incapacitated, and right now he's being "plastered" in the wall illusion. Michael can't believe it, and George Michael takes off his hard hat to reveal that he dyed his hair Howard red again and apparently is joining Ron Howard's family. George Michael tries to punch Michael, but he ducks, then punches back. They boyfight on the ground.

The wall illusion continues as Buster lowers the blinds so that Gob can reappear, but Gob's voiceover falls silent and he doesn't reappear. Michael leaves George Michael unconscious on the ground, and then he talks to the Chinese investors, saying he can sell Fakeblock to them. Even though he was fired, Michael still has stocks in the company and is third on the company board after Gob and George Michael.

Onstage, Buster is panicking about Gob being killed, and he yells for the plywood forms to be removed from the cement wall. They take the cage away and see the impression of Gob's body inside the cement.

The Chinese investors want Michael to sign Fakeblock over to them, then the Bluth Company debt will be forgiven. They want to do the deal quickly before George Michael wakes up, or people dig Gob out of the wall. Michael quickly signs the contract. While the Chinese sign it, Michael makes a hand sign to George Michael, who is only pretending to be unconscious; they apparently faked the whole boyfight.

Buster stops a worker from hitting the wall with a sledgehammer, and the guy takes off his hard hat. It's Tony Wonder, alive and well; Gob also magically appears alive. They strip off their construction worker costumes and dance. Behind the curtains, they talk about the July 2nd parade. Tony switched out with a mannequin in the closet; Gob figured that out and thought Tony was ghosting him, but he got worried when the Gay Mafia threatened him. Tony calls them "drama thugs" and says they killed his career. He had to do shows in Branson, and how did Gob get them to cancel his contract there? Gob offered them a better contract for the Guys and Dolls play; it's now sponsored by the Bluth Company and will run for 5 more weeks.

Now that they're not in trouble with the Gay Mafia anymore, they can both go back to being straight. They talk about going back to their girlfriends, Joni Beard and Sally Sitwell. Tony says that Sally's father has gone missing and she needs somebody to run Sitwell Construction, so she asked Tony to do it. Gob realizes that would make them rivals again, so they couldn't be friends. But they could do other stuff. "Just hands!" they promise enthusiastically.

Tony leaves with Sally, while Michael and George Michael celebrate closing the deal with the Chinese investors. Michael also thanks Gob and Buster for the perfect timing on their illusion. Gob explains that he gave Buster a Gob face mask and told him to put it on a mannequin in the wall. Gob says he was afraid the Michael would chicken out. This makes Michael remember what he did on Cinco. He argued with Lucille 2 on the staircar, and he called her a chicken while doing a chicken dance. He fell down the stairs and ruined his shirt; that's why he had to change into the banana stand shirt.

Buster takes off his large gloves and reveals that he's wearing a foot for a hand. Michael recognizes the foot from the package, and Buster explains that he Alibaba'ed a hand, but they sent him a foot by mistake. The package was never a threat from the Chinese wall investors. Lucille arrives, telling them that Sally Sitwell won't approve the wall now, and they're happy that the Chinese got stuck with the Fakeblock software. Gob asks why didn't Murphybrown fix the software? The narrator explains that his software destroys the content, not merely hiding it from hackers. So it doesn't really work as privacy software. That's why they needed to trick the Chinese into buying the software without a demonstration.

Gob is sad they don't have the wall and aren't rich again. George says Trump will never win the 2016 election and the wall will never be built. Michael and GM go to thank Rebel, but it's actually just Maeby in disguise as Rebel. George Michael makes out with Maeby. Lucille says she hoped that the paid protesters would bring Lucille Austero out of hiding.

Buster says the trial is over. Why should they care where Lucille 2 is? Maeby says one of the paid protesters might be in disguise. Lucille angrily confronts the woman about how her disappearance wreaked havoc on the family. However, the woman is not Lucille 2; she's actually Lindsay. She went to find her real mother, and now she knows that Buster pushed Mimi down the stairs. Maeby showed Lindsay the Ron Howard series about the Bluth family secrets. Lindsay says that Lucille did lie to her and made her a terrible mother to Maeby, but on the other hand Lucille protected her from knowing that Mimi deserted her. Lindsay forgives Lucille and hugs her as a great sister. Lucille says they are half-sisters. Tobias asks if Lindsay will take him back. She says they're family and hugs him and Maeby. Gob wonders where Michael and George Michael are. They're driving away in the staircar. Maeby thinks they are leaving for good, but everyone else thinks that Michael will come back, as usual, at the next crisis.

On the next AD, construction workers are going to take down the wall prototype. Buster doesn't want them to take the mannequin out of the wall, but Gob wants to get his mask back. Suddenly a body falls out of the wall. Gob takes off the mask and the family stares at it, saying it looks like Judy Garland. It's not a mannequin, and it's smiling. The police man says "it's the happiest corpse I've ever seen." Everyone stares at Buster suspiciously, and he confesses that he did it. "But doesn't she remind you of Mom?"

As the family look on in horror, the staircar with Michael and George-Michael is seen driving away for the last time,

Appearances

Recurring

Ben Stiller as Tony Wonder
Dermot Mulroney as Dusty
Frances Conroy as Lottie Dottie DA
Christine Taylor as Sally Sitwell
Maria Bamford as DeBrie
Kyle Mooney as Murph
Guy Stevenson as Hugo
Emerson Brooks as Douglas
John Beard as Himself
Alex Quijano as Cop

Guest

P.L. Brown as Judge
Will Hines as CJ the Bailiff
Wilky Lau as Chen Wu
Melissa Bickerton as Wall Protester
Kristin Vahl as Krystal
Richard Augustine as Construction Worker

Recurring themes

On the next Arrested Development...

"The family deals with some fallout from the wall."

References

A Few Good Men - The Bluths and John Beard consider Michael's lawyer act to be a reference to this film.
Apollo 13 - The narrator mentions Tom Hanks dressing up as the astronaut Jim Lovell for the year. The film Apollo 13 was made by Imagine Entertainment.
The Walking Dead - Tobias tells the protesters they look like they are attending a Walking Dead convention
Billy Eichner - G.O.B. mentions this actor and comedian during his illusion.
Bojack Horseman - Tony Wonder says to Sally Sitwell "I see you", which is the punchline in the Bojack Horseman series episode "Free Churro"
"Bye, Felicia" - Buster tells Michael that he would have said this to Lindsay if Mimi had taken her away. It's a reference to the film Friday and it means he wouldn't have been sad to see her leave.
Liza Minelli
- Cabaret - The "happiest corpse" is a line from "Cabaret"; the music plays as the staircar drives away
- Judy Garland - George Sr. says Lucille Austero's corpse looks like Judy Garland. Judy Garland is Liza Minelli's mother
Making of a Murderer - The "Making of a Monster" series the narrator talks about is a reference to this.
Music - Gob hears "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" when thinking about Tony Wonder
Star Wars - The body visible inside the cement wall may be a reference to Han Solo being frozen in carbonite in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

Callbacks/Running Jokes

Attorneys - Dusty tells Lucille that "two brothers can't be charged for the same time" which echoes the advice George Sr. knew in "Pilot" which is that "they cannot arrest a husband and a wife for the same crime".
Banana Stand - Michael can't initially remember why he wore the banana stand shirt on the night of Cinco de Cuatro.
Bluth's fighting - Michael and George Michael fight in front of the investors like Michael and G.O.B. fought in "Beef Consommé" and "Righteous Brothers".
Chicken Dance - Michael does a chicken dance and falls down the staircar on the night of Cinco de Cuatro
"Did somebody say Wonder?" - Tony Wonder shouts this when he appears in the illusion.
Family first - When Michael argues in front of the investors with George Michael, he asks him "what happened to family first?"
Family of the year - G.O.B. and George Sr. call the Bluth family this when celebrating at the end of the episode.
The Final Countdown - The song plays during G.O.B.'s illusion.
Forget-Me-Now - Michael finds out that G.O.B. "forget-me-nowed" him so he didn't find out about Tony Wonder.
"Gahb" Bluth - G.O.B. is excited at his magic show because the announcer says his name correctly, which has been a problem since "Pilot".
Getting rid of evidence - At the beach cottage, Dusty tells Michael that Lucille wants him to get rid of the evidence. In "Forget-Me-Now", the family are touched when they think that Michael is destroying incriminating evidence for them.
G.O.B. hearing music - G.O.B. continues to hear music in his head, as he has throughout seasons four and five.
Hiding things in walls - Buster continues this family trait by hiding Lucille 2's body in the wall. George Sr. hid money in the banana stand walls ("Top Banana") and his business contracts ("The One Where Michael Leaves").
High-five - G.O.B. finally gets a high-five from someone after being rejected high-fives since "Bringing Up Buster".
Hot ham water - Buster says he didn't get close to Lindsay until they made soup together in "S.O.B.s".
Howard red - George Michael dyes his hair red like Ron Howard's family in "Emotional Baggage." He also says "Howard you like me now?" similar to Ron Howard's apron which asked "Howard you like your hamburger?" in "Emotional Baggage."
Illusions - In court, G.O.B. insists that he is an illusionist, not a magician.
Juice - In the video of Buster's hypnosis, Tobias tries to change his memories by rewarding him with juice.
John Beard's To Entrap a Local Predator - John Beard shows Michael footage from the model house.
Masks - Buster puts a G.O.B. mask on Lucille 2's body when it is used in the illusion. This mask is first seen in "A New Attitude".
Michael's self-defense - Michael ducks George Michael's punch, which he taught others to do at Search.
Michael's shirts - Michael gets his shirt ruined during his fight with George Michael. His shirts also get stained in "Missing Kitty" and "The One Where Michael Leaves", as well as his shirt on the night of Cinco de Cuatro.
Music
- The Tiny town music plays when Dusty calls Lucille "mother" at the beach cottage.
- The Hot Cops theme plays when the Guys and Dolls poster is shown.
- "I'm Blue, Man" plays when Michael and Lucille talk outside the courthouse.
- "Free At Last" plays when Buster appears in the magic show.
"No touching!" - The guard shouts this at Michael when he is talking to Buster at the courthouse.
Okay sign - Michael and George Michael sign okay at each other after staging their fight.
Punching - Michael punches George Michael in the face in the same manner than George Michael punched him in "Blockheads".
Same - G.O.B. says "Same. Big-time, same" to Tony Wonder.
Take five - Tobias asks the protesters to "take five" from beating him up. Michael tells his staff to "take five" in "Making a Stand" and to "take a three" in "Staff Infection".
"That's why you..." - Tobias says "That's why you don't put your girlfriend in the same sleeping bag with your son."
Throwing headwear - G.O.B. throws his hard hat into the audience in the same manner as Rocky Richter throws off his wig in "Senoritis".
Tobias' acting career - Maeby promises Tobias that the protest footage can go on his reel. We see this reel in "Smashed".
Wigs - Maeby is wearing a red wig to look like Rebel Alley. In "Self-Deportation", the red wig Michael has is mistaken for a Rebel Alley wig in the Imagine Entertainment gift shop.
How did you ever find me? - The mafia guys in G.O.B.'s office are listening to this song which also appeared in "Unexpected Company" and "Taste Makers".
Worst Bluth - Lucille calls G.O.B. the worst Bluth. Lucille ranks her children in order of favorites in "My Mother, the Car".

Hidden/Background Jokes

Banners - When Michael and George Michael drive off in the stair car, the "You're killing me, Buster" banner is visible on the stairwell. This is likely because Lindsay wrote "Lucille 2 for Congress" on the other side of the banner in Season 4.
Gene Parmesan - The tapes of George Sr.'s affairs have "Gene Parmesan PI Productions" printed on the labels.
G.O.B.'s painting - G.O.B.'s office has a painting of himself, in the style of the Eric Axel magic kit, and a painting of himself on a building site, similar to the situation in "The One Where They Build a House".
Guys and Dolls - On the poster showing local actors performing in the Guys and Dolls musical, we can see Officer Taylor, Cindi Lightballoon, Ice, Argyle Austero, Officer Carter, Barry's paralegal James Alan Spangler, Lt. Toddler, and the two tough guys who threatened Gob
Monster - There's a chair labeled "Monster" (for Buster) in the cottage
Rebel - One of the protesters has a sign saying "Rebel" which one of the protesters of Fakeblock had in "Unexpected Company". Other signs reads "Sad" and "I am mortarfied by the wall".
Tobias' shirt - When protesting the wall, Tobias' shirt with a recycling logo reads "use less" although the font makes it look like "useless".
Ron Howard can be seen in the photo of Tom Hanks dressed as an astronaut.
John Beard's office has his laundry in it as well as a copy of the Da Vinci Code book.

Foreshadowing/Future References

Lucille 2 is in the wall
- Buster stops Tony Wonder from breaking the wall
- When he is asked where he found the mannequin he says that a real magician never reveals his tricks
Lindsay is Lucille's sister - Lindsay is listed as "his aunt" in the opening credits instead of "his twin sister" although this plot point is only revealed at the end of the episode.

Notes

Lucille says she and Lindsay are half-sisters, meaning they have the same mother Mimi, but different fathers. Lucille's maiden name was Jenkins on George's fake death certificate in "Good Grief" in season 2, so presumably her father is some man named Jenkins. But who is Lindsay's father? Also, what happened to Lucille's dad Mr. Jenkins, and when did Mimi start dating Uncle Jack instead?
- In Season 1, it is mentioned that Lucille has a mother they call "Nana" who died six months before "Missing Kitty". It's possible that Nana is the biological mother of Lucille although Mimi raised Lucille and is the biological mother of Lindsay. They could still be half-sisters because they would have the same father. However, this doesn't explain what happened to him or Mimi and Uncle Jack.
Lucille previously had a sister mentioned in "Altar Egos" and "Justice is Blind." George had sex with her "to get her to stop drinking." Presumably this is some other sister of Lucille.
Also unresolved is Stan Sitwell's disappearance and the meaning of the map with faces crossed out and Lucille Austero's face circled.