Season 1, Episode 22: Let Them Eat Cake

Original airdate June 6, 2004
Written by Mitchell Hurwitz & Jim Vallely
Directed by Paul Feig
Production Code #1AJD21

 DECONSTRUCTION
 HIGHLIGHTS
 NITPICKS/GAFFES
 EPISODE NOTES/TRIVIA
 HIDDEN DETAILS

“With the looming threat of a polygraph test and an extortion attempt from Kitty, things go from bad to worse for the Bluth family when a news exposé reveals George Sr’s crimes go far beyond embezzlement. Meanwhile, the Fünkes’ marital woes finally hit their breaking point, until a book Tobias wrote during his days as a therapist suddenly becomes a best-seller.”

NOTE: Deconstructing Arrested Development openly discusses spoilers when relevant (which can include episodes that come later in the series). Readers who have not seen the series in its entirety are advised to proceed at their own discretion.

DECONSTRUCTION

“If you were to ask any of them, they would say they’re the only sane member of the family.” – Mitch Hurwitz from the 2013 Inside the Actors Studio episode featuring the cast of Arrested Development.

Previous deconstructions have talked about the way Arrested Development has approached the “landmark” episodes in a show’s run; the Pilot, for example, has to lay the groundwork for the whole series, introducing us to all the characters and establishing the show’s premise (not to mention having the burden of “selling” the network on said premise), just as the second episode often needs to reestablish all of that for potential new viewers, while demonstrating how this premise can work in an episode-by-episode format moving forward. There was also the mid-season finale, which was written so it could simultaneously function as a season/series finale in the event that Arrested Development was not renewed beyond its initial order of 13 episodes. And while the writers knew for sure that Let Them Eat Cake was going to be the season finale, it was similarly written without the assurance the show would be coming back for another season, so it also needed to serve as a satisfying-enough final episode in the event the show didn’t get renewed. That’s a fair amount of boxes to tick in 20-odd minutes while also crafting an episode that’ll ideally leave viewers eager to return for more if the show gets renewed – let alone having your first season finale meet the high standard set by Arrested Development’s previous “landmark” episodes.

At the beginning of Let Them Eat Cake, it seems to be a day like any other; Michael is telling Gob to get a job, Lindsay is asking Michael for money, it’s all business as usual for the Bluths, other than the family’s recent switch to the Atkins diet (which becomes a running gag throughout the episode; “Are bananas high in carbohydrates?”). But just as the model home very conspicuously falls apart before Michael’s eyes worse than ever before, the same is soon about to happen to whatever remaining illusions Michael has about the Bluth Company’s shady dealings – and just how dishonest his family can truly be. But for now, Michael is preparing for two things: His upcoming polygraph test in the ongoing investigation of George Sr, and a tv night with George Michael, who’s filmed a small interview for the news. There’s a common theme already here (playing into one of the most common themes of the show), with both the polygraph and the news serving as broader symbols for truth, and this is indeed an episode where the truth comes out. And in typical Arrested Development fashion, neither of these things end up going to plan; a different Bluth takes the polygraph test with dire results, and a far worse news report about the Bluths runs in place of the puff piece they were expecting.

Also in typical Arrested Development fashion, the opening scene at the model home uses some of its short runtime to kick off a subplot, with Lindsay looking to abandon ship with Tobias and looking to borrow money so she can “become self-reliant” and start her own business. Her current business idea? Beads (yes, beads, with a D). But when Tobias comes into a windfall of cash himself, Lindsay’s desire to bolt quickly turns to a newfound desire to commit herself even further to Tobias, until it is tested once again; the whole reason she wants to leave Tobias is because “he’s completely oblivious,” and as we learn, his newfound financial success also stems from obliviousness. Tobias had written a self-help book years earlier, titled The Man Inside Me, which has suddenly caught fire in the gay community, for reasons that are obvious to everyone whose name isn’t Dr. Tobias Fünke. Lindsay spends much of this episode doing exactly what she’s done all season – going back and forth on whether or not to stay with Tobias – and it demonstrates exactly why Michael is so reluctant to loan Lindsay money in the first place. She has a longstanding history of failed business ventures, which all seem to have been planned with exactly as little foresight as Lindsay had when she chose to settle down with her husband.

Lindsay isn’t the only Bluth who finds herself in crisis of loyalty this episode (in fact, virtually every character’s storyline in Let Them Eat Cake could be described as a “crisis of loyalty” in one way or another – but we’ll return to the A plot momentarily). The Fünke marriage may be a house of cards constantly threatening to topple over, but so too is the entire Bluth family empire, which right now has a loose cannon pointed directly at it, in the form of Kitty. This storyline has similarly been a case of animosity stewing and building throughout the season, and now Kitty is stacked with damning evidence and looking to make a power play with it. Kitty arranges a meeting with Michael early in the episode, throwing a major wrench into his plans. His father and attorney alike instruct him, “Find out what Kitty wants and just give it to her. But don’t find out what she knows,” hoping to mollify Kitty while simultaneously keeping Michael clean for the upcoming polygraph test. Neither of these happen, as Kitty reveals the contents of the evidence very early on in her meeting with Michael, but fortunately for the Bluths, her attempt to extort him and be put in charge of the Bluth Company is immediately deflated; Kitty believes herself to be in possession of evidence that George Sr. was building houses overseas without paying taxes, and the threat of “Unless you plan on paying them, your dad’s going to be in prison for a long time” is quickly deflated by Michael’s response, “Well, we’ll pay them.” Kitty isn’t done with the Bluths, however, but it becomes immediately apparent that Kitty isn’t seizing control any time soon when she chooses to refocus her takeover efforts on the other Bluth brothers instead. Despite their failure to realize her demands, she still manages to induce a crisis of loyalty in both of them.

As it turns out though, had Kitty’s evidence been in the hands of someone even moderately intelligent, they would’ve garnered far more from it than just evidence of tax evasion. During Michael’s meeting with Kitty, he zoned in on entirely the wrong part of her remark, “Model houses, Michael. Overseas. And he hid it from the U.S. government,” and it appears some tv news journalists have finally stumbled upon evidence that has so far alluded the S.E.C. and other authorities. The big bombshell reveal the season has been building up to: While George Sr. was president of the Bluth Company, the company illegally built houses overseas for Saddam Hussein, constituting “light treason.” It’s an incredibly funny scene, as the writers gradually clue us in so we can make the realization just before Michael does. In that regard, Let Them Eat Cake lives up to that other popular phrase about eating cake, keeping viewers in the dark for the episode up until this scene and allowing us to go through the same journey Michael does, while also getting the satisfaction of seeing him figuring out what we already know. And like the shelf in the model home mini bar, Michael’s world is suddenly shattered without warning.

In recent years, comparisons have frequently been drawn between Arrested Development and the excellent HBO series Succession, despite the latter being an hour-long drama (albeit one that’s often very funny). There are a lot of commonalities between the Bluths and the Roys, from their vast wealth and family empires to the fact that they’re all horrible, deceitful, backstabbing sociopaths who are completely out of touch with the common man. Further comparisons can also be drawn between specific characters, such as Logan Roy’s penchant for pitting his children against each other – the preferred parenting style of the eldest generation Bluths. To that end, Let Them Eat Cake may be the most Succession-like installment of Arrested Development, packed with elements that would later find their way into the HBO show’s playbook; the plotting for control, the failed power plays, and more distinct examples like the patriarch’s health scare threatening to upend everything for everyone. Perhaps it boils down to the more “Shakespearean tragedy” nature of this episode, but one could very easily take Let Them Eat Cake’s basic plot points and rework it as a serious drama piece (give or take a bonkers Saddam Hussein reveal). Succession‘s landmark episodes generally build suspense around just how the chips are going to fall – allegiances shift and plans change at the last minute amidst other unexpected turns – and Let Them Eat Cake taps into that same core essence. Virtually none of the main characters are ever content with the current status quo, but this is the rare Arrested Development episode where they actively make moves to change it.

Let Them Eat Cake is plotted like a drama through and through, and its more dramatic scenes – such as Michael confronting George Sr. after seeing the news exposé, or the family gathering at the hospital – don’t feel like “comedy masquerading as drama.” but rather, like Succession, genuine drama that also happens to be exceptionally funny. This can largely be attributed to the fact that Let Them Eat Cake is big on confrontation, which isn’t a go-to behavior for these characters – when a Bluth feels someone has done wrong by them, they’re typically predisposed to scheme, and if they do interrogate the other party, they keep them in the dark. It’s a vital storytelling mechanic, fueling the misunderstandings/miscommunications that so often propel the narrative. Michael breaks the status quo here by very plainly confronting his parents on the Bluth Company’s dealings with Saddam Hussein (not unlike how George Michael finally stands up to his father in the final act). It’s telling how differently Lucille and George Sr. react to said confrontation, with the former sticking to her guns and flat-out denying any involvement. As she insists, “I never knew about anything, but I had my suspicions. He never told me where he was going, but he used to come back from those business trips reeking of lamb. And people would send figs – not even at Christmas – in the middle of October! Oh, and once someone sent him a toe, and he went white as a sheet. I think you’re right, Michael.” Conversely, George Sr. is reasonably up-front about everything once he realizes he can no longer prevent Michael from getting involved, and in the process, reveals Lucille is hardly as in-the-dark as she claims to be.

As we reach the season finale’s closing act, a lot of things have been simmering (both throughout this episode, and the season as a whole), and now they’ve all reached boiling point, personified in the form of cardiac arrest. When the polygraph scene begins, George Sr’s stress levels are at the highest we’ve ever seen them, and his declarations of innocence quickly turn to loud ravings about his loyalty to America (“I love it here. You can shop. I love my country- I can’t breathe!”) and the polygraph needle starts going equally haywire. It’s a hilarious scene, with Jessica Walter completely selling Lucille’s genuinely horrified reaction to George Sr’s heart attack, juxtaposed against the absurd argument the polygraph technician and the questioning D.A. have during it all. George Sr. is then rushed to the hospital where the family begins to gather (and in some cases, reunite), but with two notable absences. Michael has finally reached a boiling point of his own, as he storms into the mode home, telling George Michael to pack his bags without even a destination in mind beyond the desire to unshackle himself (when asked where they’re going, Michael responds, “Anywhere. Joshua Tree. Space Camp. The Baseball Hall of Fame. Everything you and I have always wanted to do but haven’t been able to because of this ridiculous family.”). Here we find Michael, who has been championing the value of family all season, right in the middle of his own crisis of loyalty.

What Let Them Eat Cake is doing narratively is placing every character at a crossroads; even before this moment, Michael has been at a crossroads ever since the Iraq piece, just as his siblings have spent chunks of the episode similarly considering big, life-changing decisions, be it a divorce, or a power play for the Bluth Company. Despite these parallels, it’s actually George Michael’s storyline that most closely mirrors Michael’s (like father, like son; the ever-cyclical nature of Arrested Development). Unlike Lindsay, Gob, and Buster, who all choose to return to the status quo in the end, Michael and his son both choose acts of defiance instead; George Michael first has to choose between watching his tv appearance with his dad or a girl he’s interested in (another way in which Michael’s tv night didn’t go to plan), and later has to choose between answering his family’s call or obeying his fathers demands that he ignores it. In both instances, he picks someone else over his father, having actually demonstrated some growth from the constant agreeability he exuded around Michael in the Pilot (and throughout much of the season). And George Michael’s paternal defiance is mirrored in his father, who similarly has similarly found himself unable to take any more of his parents’ gaslighting… right up until that phone is answered.

Just as Tobias and Buster prove their loyalty to the family upon arriving at the hospital, so too does Michael prove his. When he learns what has happened to George Sr, he immediately abandons his plans to leave and races to the hospital with his son. This also brings all nine main characters back in the same place again for the first time since the boat party in the Pilot (the closest we’ve come since then would be the publicist briefing in Public Relations, where George Sr. is present via video link – an episode that falls precisely at the mid-point of the season), and resolves the Lindsay/Tobias subplot. Loyalty is indeed a trait championed in this episode, as Lindsay is so deeply touched by Tobias’s totally sincere utterance of “This is my family,” she willingly overlooks his follow-up remark reiterating his obliviousness (actually, Tobias’s unwavering loyalty to the Bluths may be his only redeeming trait – the fact that Tobias genuinely wants to be a Bluth and considers them his true family is demonstrated numerous times throughout the series). With the more minor crises of loyalty now resolved, the stage is now set for the concluding scene, and it’s still one of the absolute best in the entire series. This is the same scene that features the remarkably silly (and memorable) “Big Bear” exchange, and yet in spite of that – or perhaps even because these gags also double as rare instances of the Bluths expressing their sentimental side – it manages to be one of the most emotional scenes in the series. Even on repeat viewings, where the viewers are well aware of the twist that’s about to come, it remains a genuine punch to the guts in all the best possible ways.

Said twist comes when the family ask to see the body, only to encounter an empty room with the window open – hilariously realizing this has all been a miscommunication from a far-too-literal doctor – and it becomes apparent that George Sr’s string of failed escape attempts throughout the has finally ended in success. With this surprise plot move, we actually conclude the “George Sr. in prison” arc that began in the Pilot. George Sr’s escape would kick off a short-form arc of him on the lam, fleeing to Mexico and then faking his death, but by the fourth episode of season 2, George Sr. finds himself hiding out in the model home attic for the rest of the season. He is then shifted to house arrest in season 3’s second episode (one of the easiest ways to differentiate the Fox run’s three seasons is by George Sr’s varying forms of confinement). We also conclude the arc of George Sr’s conversion to Judaism that began in Storming the Castle, as Michael discovers a syringe concealed in his yarmulke – presumably containing whatever George Sr. used to induce cardiac arrest. With this combination of discoveries, Michael arrives back at the decision he made when we were first introduced to him in the Pilot’s opening scene, again instructing his son, “Pack your bags.” And here, we have the final act of defiance that closes out both the episode and the season – also establishing a tradition as pretty much every season finale thereafter also contains an act of defiance in its closing scene/moments.

Season finales can be a tricky beast in general, particularly when it comes to more serialized shows with multiple story arcs in play, where all of which will need to be brought to some logical stopping point, while stile proving the show has a sustainable future ahead. However, Arrested Development’s approach towards serialization, particularly in season 1, gravitates more towards multi-episode arcs that take up chunks of the season, and most of the major ones for season 1 have already wrapped up by this point, so Let Them Eat Cake doesn’t need to spend too much time dwelling on specific storylines from episodes’ past. Would it have brought a little more unity to the season as a whole if this episode had mentions of Marta and Lucille 2 somewhere? Quite possibly. Would a Frightened Inmate #2 nod – maybe even a Carl Weathers cameo – have been welcomed? If they could have made it work with the rest of the episode tonally, then of course (it’s the kind of approach Arrested Development’s writers have taken for some of the other season finales, and they generally pull it off really well). But the episode instead narrows its focus down to what’s happening now at this point in the story, and the end result is very likely a lot better than this other hypothetical finale being described here. Sure, there are a few longer-form narrative pay-offs, such as the revelation that George Sr’s yarmulke was being used as a smuggling device, providing us with a clearer answer as to just how sincere George Sr’s brief conversion to Judaism was (while also doubling as an extension of another running gag this season, George Sr’s repeated escape attempts). And of course, the big Saddam Hussein reveal provides payoff to several clues scattered throughout the season for those viewing more closely. But mostly, it’s about where these characters have arrived emotionally after all that’s transpired. What provokes Michael to leave isn’t any one specific lie or misdeed, but the accumulation thereof, and there have been all too many throughout the season.

There’s one big way in which Let Them Eat Cake does strive to bring the season full circle, and that’s with all the ways in which it alludes to/calls back to/mirrors/inverts the Pilot. It’s impossible to talk analytically about Let Them Eat Cake without bringing up the Pilot – the episode’s already been mentioned multiple times above. The Pilot is quite possibly the most frequently called-back-to episode of the series, and the only episode that parallels it more closely than this one is the season 3 finale, Development Arrested. There are multiple references to the Pilot here, with some taking the form of callback jokes (there’ll be plenty more on those in the Episode Notes/Trivia section below), and others embedded on a more subtextual level, and the approach helps give season 1 a greater sense of unity as a whole, with Michael ultimately returning to the same decision he made in the Pilot’s opening scene: To never speak to these people again. For those watching week-to-week on tv back in 2003/2004, over 7 months past between the season premiere and finale, but for those doing binge watches on their own time, the “link everything back to the Pilot” method proves to be a more subtle – but equally effective – approach at full-season unity than trying to squeeze in as many callbacks to the rest of the season as possible. For the most part, Let Them Eat Cake would rather use its time more methodically, and it really does use its time well.

Perhaps the only superfluous part of this episode would be the minor subplot (if it can even be labelled as such) with Buster/Annyong’s growing rivalry, which sees them competing over who can get a girlfriend first after a petty argument early in the episode. When Kitty tries to rope Buster into her takeover plan after Gob fails to come through, he sees the invitation as a date, and scornfully declares “I don’t need to brag, but some people haven’t even been on a date” loud enough for a nearby Annyong to hear. Buster, of course, never winds up getting anywhere with Kitty – or her takeover plan (“Buster knew this was his chance to put Kitty’s coup d’etat in action. He wondered if he was up for it… And he decided he wasn’t.”). But Annyong inadvertently wins the wager when he’s then unexpectedly kissed by his cousin Maeby towards the end of the episode, developing an immediate crush on her – which puts Annyong exactly where George Michael found himself in the Pilot, providing another example for the talking point of the previous paragraph. The Buster/Annyong rivalry is a good example of Buster’s childish jealousy and general lack of emotional intelligence as he feuds with his adopted teenage brother, but as a running joke (which feels like a better descriptor for this than “storyline”), the pair’s on-screen time has been a bit one-note; their rivalry seems like a hilarious idea on paper, but Buster and Annyong have both been put to much funnier uses at other points in the season. The writers have been savvy to keep their feuding as more of a background detail these last couple of episodes, but it it still nonetheless impressive that they find time to give Buster any semblance of a storyline at all here with everything else this episode achieves. Moreover, the end point of this subplot is more about what it means for Maeby than anything else; the clear distaste she exhibits towards George Michael’s new girlfriend Ann, and her subsequent attempt to instill jealousy in him by kissing Annyong, both indicate George Michael’s crush on Maeby is not unreciprocated like it’s thus far been depicted – a key development moving forward for the pair.

On the whole, Let Them Eat Cake sets an incredibly high bar for Arrested Development’s subsequent season finales – cementing itself not just as one of season 1’s biggest highlights, but one of the all-time best episodes of the series. Thankfully, it’s a bar Arrested Development would have no trouble clearing again, as the same could be said of both The Righteous Brothers and Development Arrested, the respective finales of seasons 2 and 3 (while season 4’s experimental format splits the conclusion to the characters’ arcs across multiple episodes, series finale The Fallout falls more in line with the aforementioned episodes, and proves to be one of season 5’s better offerings). The episode also manages to set up some interesting plot threads to explore next season beyond the immediate cliffhanger of “Pack your bags” – George Sr. is now on the lam, George Michael’s cosying up to a girl other than Maeby, and then there’s the question of what the Saddam Hussein news means for the Bluths moving forward. Even some of the new story arcs introduced next season, like the Fünkes attempting an  open marriage, feel like they’re logically following on from their near-separation here. At the start of this deconstruction, a quote from series creator Mitch Hurwitz was highlighted, speaking to how the characters all see themselves as the “only sane member of the family,” and it’s a mentality that can be seen throughout this episode, throughout season 1, and all throughout the series (funny enough, considering the comparisons to Succession earlier, the same could be said of the characters on that show). In most other tv comedies, “Main character finds out his family made a business deal with Saddam Hussein” would be an instant jump-the-shark moment, but Arrested Development pulls it off because, after 22 episodes with these characters, we have built up an understanding that the Bluths are more than capable of rationalizing things like this to themselves. And as Arrested Development closes out its brilliant first season, Michael may be the only Bluth who has actually come to see any light and stands a chance at freeing himself from his family, if perhaps never the behavioral patterns they’ve long instilled in him. But of course, the very existence of a season 2 means it’s only a matter of time before he is pulled back into his state of Arrested Development once again.

With season 1 wrapped up, it’s time to take one look back on the season as a whole, and consider its place in the series. “What is the best season of Arrested Development?” is honestly a difficult question to answer, as each season of the show has its own strengths. But when it comes to the question of which season is the most consistent, season 1 definitely takes home the prize. There really aren’t any dud episodes this season at all – certainly, there are highlights and fan favorites that stand out from the pack, but the “weakest” episodes of the season are only weak in comparison, and are still infinitely funnier than the vast majority of other sit-coms from the era. Season 1 of Arrested Development is arguably the most rooted in those old-school sit-com stylings, with many episodes following similar formulas (ie. “Michael tries to run the family business on his own terms while his parents meddle in it” serves as the bones for multiple episodes this season, and even reads as a bit of a hackneyed sit-com premise when laid out as such), but of course, it’s the execution where Arrested Development proves most innovative, and that’s been the case since day one. As the original three seasons progress, the show does pull back on the vérité realism for a more “live action cartoon” aesthetic, with setpieces and premises becoming more outlandish, and the writers really going out of their way to cram as many callbacks and background jokes into the show as possible – almost right from the very start of season 2, you can see them significantly cranking up this element of the show, along with the already-breakneck pacing. In this regard, season 1 of Arrested Development does still feel a bit like a show finding its form, as excellent and fully-realized as it is from the get-go; the callbacks are such a crucial ingredient in the show’s recipe, so it was never going to taste quite like “peak Arrested Development” until the show had built up a substantial-enough archive of episodes to call back to. But while some aspects of Arrested Development are further honed down the line, season 1 is an endlessly delightful season of television both in its own right and the context of the full series. And a truly remarkable feat on behalf of everyone who made it, it remains classic viewing 20 years later, with very little notwithstanding the test of time.

 HIGHLIGHTS

LINDSAY: For your information, I have a job.
MICHAEL: Really? What kind of job?
LINDSAY: Beads!
GOB: Bees?!
LINDSAY: Beads.
GOB: Beads?!

“…Gob’s not on board.”

Later in the scene, Gob returns to this thought when Lindsay refuses to go into business with him; “I’ll start my own business. How hard can it bee? (buzzes like a bee – twice) We’ll see who brings in more honey!” Gob then walks off buzzing, as Michael confirms, “He’s thinking about bees again.”

“I’m in. But we’re gonna need a lot. Beads aren’t cheap. Are beads cheap?”

MICHAEL: Gob, shouldn’t you be in bed?
GOB: Well, I’ve got a meeting with dad’s attorney today. He’s going to want me to take a lie detector test to use as evidence in dad’s trial, but I don’t want to. What if they ask about a magic trick? I can’t risk it.
MICHAEL: They’re not going to ask you anything. They want me to take the polygraph test.

GOB: I’m the oldest. The matriarch, if you will.
MICHAEL: Oh, sure, I will.

MICHAEL: Lindsay, I’m not going to just cut you a check so you can throw it away on another failed business.
LINDSAY: Hey, “Mommy, What Will I Look Like?” should have worked.
NARRATOR: Lindsay had once started a photo enhancing service, which gave new parents a glimpse at what their infants would look like in half a century.

“Hey, you put an ugly kid in, you can’t be surprised when an ugly adult comes out.”

LINDSAY: It’s not going to last with Tobias. He’s completely oblivious. He’s got no idea how I’m feeling or thinking.
MICHAEL: So there’s no sex?
LINDSAY: I mean, how do you not have sex with me?
MICHAEL: It is a struggle.

LINDSAY: Before you know it, I’ll be in the red. And you can take that to the bank!
MICHAEL: I’m sure they’ll contact me first.

Gob continues to fine-tune ideas for his bee business:

…The family’s not on board.

BARRY: Our star witness. Come here. Good to see you. (hugs Michael) You know what? Don’t get too close to me. ’Cause I’ve got an itch you can’t believe. I think something laid eggs on me.
MICHAEL: Thanks for the heads up.

BARRY: We’ve got your polygraph set up for tomorrow.
MICHAEL: About that…
GOB: I’ll tell them, Michael. I won’t do it. I’m afraid of what I might know.
GEORGE SR: You? No one wants you. Does anyone want him, Barry?
BARRY: Who would want him?
LUCILLE: They don’t want you.

“Oh, that is just great. Now I’m expected to climb back on top of Kitty and do my thing again. I mean, this family runs into problems and it’s oh, let’s have Gob *beep* our way out of it.”

“He’s got bees! No bees!”

“They don’t allow you to have bees in here.”

Kitty demands to be in charge of the Bluth Company, kicking off one of the episode’s most frequently-memed running gags:

MICHAEL: Great news. The business is going to be okay.
GEORGE MICHAEL: Yeah, I thought bananas would be okay on the diet.
MICHAEL: No, I meant- well, you haven’t been eating those have you?
GEORGE MICHAEL: No. Just some nuts.
MICHAEL: Yeah, those are fine.

Amidst all the memorable, showstopping moments from this episode, there’s a less-frequently-cited gag that never fails to amuse, and that is Lindsay and Tobias testing the durability of a Bluth house by essentially seeing how much of the model home they can destroy:

LINDSAY: Do you hear that rattling?
TOBIAS: It is very worrisome.

TOBIAS:  And let’s check the oven…
LINDSAY: That doesn’t inspire confidence.

TOBIAS: I was walking in a strange place today… a place I’d never set foot in before.
NARRATOR: Tobias, walking down a street he’d been down many times…

In the dvd commentary, they highlight a hilarious detail about Gob’s conversation with Kitty, which is probably going to make the following exchange even more amusing if it’s known in advance: Gob doesn’t have a single responsive line to any of Kitty’s manipulation attempts.

GOB: What about hash browns?
KITTY: No, because hash browns are potatoes.
GOB: So, you really can’t eat anything on this diet. Wow, I wonder how this is going to affect my honey business.
KITTY: Gob, I have seen you get passed over, time and time again by your family. You don’t deserve that, you’re smarter than them.
GOB: What about macaroni… let me finish… salad?
KITTY: Gob, this is your time. With my help, knowing what I know, we could take over the Bluth Company together.
GOB: Wow, this is a side of you I’d never noticed before… Have they always been that big?

Quite a few of Gob’s conversations go this way (actually, Gob’s follow-up question about macaroni is very similar to the way he chimed chimed in late with “Bracelets” when Lindsay was listing uses for beads earlier in the episode) – with Gob off in his own world, not really listening to what the other person’s saying, and just talking at them in response about whatever’s on his mind.

MICHAEL: I saw an exposé on the Iraq palaces last night and I could’ve sworn that one of them was the Seawind unit.
LUCILLE: That’s funny, I always pictured Iraq in the middle of the desert.

GOB: Zero hour, Michael. It’s the end of the line. I’m the firstborn. I’m sick of playing second fiddle. I’m always third in line for everything. I’m tired of finishing fourth. Being the fifth wheel. There are six things I’m mad about, and I’m taking over.
MICHAEL: You want to be in charge?
GOB: Yeah.
MICHAEL: You want to deal with what I deal with? A sister who takes your money and throws it away. A mother who you can’t trust. A company whose founder may be on trial for treason. Is that what you want?
GOB: What kind of vacation time does it offer?
MICHAEL: …Yeah.

Another thing highlighted in the dvd commentary is the blocking during here – when Michael confronts Lucille earlier on in the scene, she circles around him while she deflects. Gob then does the same and circles Michael as he makes his power play, and Michael completes the rule of threes by circling back around Gob as he shoots him down – taking a big, exaggerated step when he does so:

“…And for the ease of the reader, I have changed all the gender-related pronouns – he, she – to the masculine he. (reading from book) ‘The Man Inside Me. For Lindsay, my rock. I could not have done this without him.'”

LINDSAY: Tobias, I don’t think this relationship is going to work.
TOBIAS: What are you talking about? We’ve had some great times.
(smash cut to the “Footage not found” screen again)

MICHAEL: You’re building houses in Iraq? Do you know how they punish treason?
GEORGE SR: First time.
MICHAEL: I’ve never heard of a second.
GEORGE SR: Oh, I’ve got the worst *beep*ing attorneys.

 GEORGE SR: Yeah, but what if she gives it to somebody who’s even moderately intelligent?
NARRATOR: In fact, Kitty had gone to someone moderately intelligent in her continuing quest for control of the Bluth Company…

(Though, let’s be honest, “moderately intelligent” is an overstatement)

GEORGE SR: Saddam owed us money.
MICHAEL: And you didn’t realize that he wouldn’t pay?
GEORGE SR: …Your mom had a good feeling about him.

“That’s great. I’m going to get a lethal injection because my son won’t eat a potato.”

“I love my country!”

D.A.: Wait, wait. Are you guilty? Yes or no?
POLYGRAPH TECHNICIAN: I think he’s having a heart attack. That was not a nod.
D.A.: It was a nod.
POLYGRAPH TECHNICIAN: No.
D.A.: It was a nod.
POLYGRAPH TECHNICIAN: It was not a nod!

George Sr’s heart attack prompts the family to finally get off the Atkins diet… Well, most of the family:

LINDSAY: Barry, did you talk to a doctor?
BARRY: I have poison oak. Do you believe it? How the hell did I get that?

LUCILLE: She was talking about George.
BARRY: Oh, he’s the same. Look, I guess we should decide on who’s going to speak for the family… I would, but I have Laker tickets.
(We cut to the rest stop again)

“I’m in charge now. I speak for this family. I mean… I could if you wanted me to. I’d rather not, obviously. Don’t know what I’d say. Why do I have to be the one? I don’t need this. Why does this have to become my problem? No, I’m out. Forget it. Find somebody else. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of doing everything for this family!”

“What the hell is going on with you lately? I wanted to watch, uh, Hindsight, and- and you weren’t there. I want to pack up and desert the family, and- and you don’t want to.”

Another under-the-radar but very funny moment is Michael’s reaction when George Michael says “I like the family”:

“And that’s when Maeby decided that perhaps she could use her uncle to make her cousin jealous…”

“That was a waste of time.” (Maeby walks away, annoyed)

DR. FISHMAN: He’s hanging in there. He keeps trying to get this IV out of his arm. I don’t understand why. It’s just glucose.
MICHAEL: We’re all trying to stay away from sugar.

GOB: Don’t you worry. Take a lot more than a heart attack to kill that old bear. (starts sobbing) Old bear! He likes the honey… He never got a chance to see my bee business take off.
MICHAEL: Come on, now, (patting Gob’s shoulder) dad’s gonna be around another 30 years, Gob. Your business, uh, might- might not.
GOB: You’re a good brother, Michael… Heart attack never stopped old big bear!
BUSTER: (proceeding to sob as well) I didn’t even know we were calling him big bear!
GOB: (breaking down in tears) We never had a chance to!

MICHAEL: Everybody, I’m- I’m very sorry. Okay? I- I feel awful. I should have been here. I’m the one that was supposed to take that polygraph test and then I just turned on him, then this happened… But never again. Okay? I will never, ever leave this family, no matter what.
LUCILLE: You should have been here.
MICHAEL: I feel like I covered that.
LUCILLE: Well, you didn’t say it.

“Maybe you’re right, maybe I didn’t say it. I should have been here.”

DR. FISHMAN: Excuse me, Mr. Bluth… We lost him. (The family reacts in shock) He just, uh… got away from us. I’m sorry.
MICHAEL: Uh, can we go in there?
DR. FISHMAN: If you want. Not a lot to see.
MICHAEL: Maybe not for you, but for us…

“And that’s when the family realized that George Sr. wasn’t dead, but was fleeing the country that he loved so very much.”

(During the family banquet on the “On the next,” Gob can be heard venting about the doctor’s far-too-literal choice of words: “Why would a doctor say he’s gone when he means he’s escaped? Wouldn’t you say he leapt out the window? Or the room’s empty?!”)

NITPICKS/GAFFES

When Michael turns the tv off, the frame around the tv falls off, knocking a speaker off in the process:

However, in subsequent shots, the speaker is back on the wall again (with the frame still busted):

The dvd commentary reveals that the speaker was never meant to fall down, and the first shot was just a lucky accident that they got on camera. While it made for one of the  funniest “model home falls apart” moments in the series, it unfortunately created a noticeable inconsistency when spliced with footage from other takes.

Justin Lee (Annyong) can clearly be seen laughing when Buster wrestles Annyong for the bagel.

During Ann’s introductory scene at the banana stand, the audio goes briefly (but noticeably) out of sync with George Michael’s lip movements on the line “I gave them a joke, but I don’t know if they’re gonna use it.”

During the shot where Tobias slams the oven door (seen earlier in the Highlights section), a cameraman makes it into frame on the far left, with his camera visible in front of Michael.

There’s a bit of a continuity goof between shots when Tobias is walking down the street holding a corn dog – the man to the right of Tobias (in relation to the camera) fully turns his head around to look at Tobias, but in the very next shot, the head turn happens again:

Just before the Hindsight broadcast begins, Michael can be seen setting the tv remote down at the bar after Lindsay exits the room. It remains there during his conversation with Maeby, then disappears after we cut back to Michael from the Iraq story.

When Michael tells George Michael he wants to leave, George Michael can be seen eating a sandwich, despite the family still being on Atkins at the time.

EPISODE NOTES/TRIVIA

Many sources list this episode’s title as “Let ‘Em Eat Cake,” with the abbreviated slang variation of “Them.” It’s actually the more commonly-cited version of this episode’s title. However, since Deconstructing Arrested Development follows the corrected episode order of the dvds, management has opted to go with the dvd version of the episode title (it isn’t the only episode to have a slightly different title from the popular consensus on the dvds; they punctuate season 2’s “Ready, Aim, Marry Me!” with an exclamation mark where other sources omit it, and they have the season 2 finale titled “The Righteous Brothers” while elsewhere it’s more commonly titled just “Righteous Brothers”).

Much like the previous two episodes, there is no variation being made on the titular phrase, but while Whistler’s Mother and Not Without My Daughter respectively borrow their titles from that of a painting and a book, “Let Them Eat Cake” is instead a well-known quote, commonly (and very likely falsely) attributed to Marie Antoinette. As the legend goes, she flippantly uttered this in response to being told that the starving peasants of France she ruled over were too poor to afford bread. In the context of this Arrested Development episode, the phrase is in reference to the Bluth family being on the Atkins diet, and thus unable to eat bread. Furthermore, when the family finally go off the diet in the “On the next,” cake can be seen among the many high-carbohydrate wheat-based foods they gorge themselves on, turning the title quite literal in the episode’s closing moments.

There is much contention over the origin of the famous phrase. For one thing, the actual quote – if it was even said at all – was “Qu’ils mangent de la brioche,” which translates to “Let them eat brioche,” a sweet, egg-based form of bread (though this doesn’t change the sentiment of the phrase at all). The quote seems to have originated from Confessions, the autobiography of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who attributes it to an unnamed “great princess,” but Marie Antoinette was only a child when the text was published. Other attributions have been theorized (such as Maria Theresa of Spain, who would’ve supposedly uttered it some 100 years prior to this), but nothing has been proven, and it would be impossible to do so now. Regardless of its factual accuracy, the phrase has come to symbolize the decadence of the rich elite and their callous lack of empathy towards the poor – making it exceptionally relevant to the Bluth family on a thematic level. The general “to hell with them” attitude of the phrase also reflects Michael’s decision to leave the family in the final scene.

This marks the first appearance of Ann Veal, though she would not be portrayed by series regular Mae Whitman until season 2. Here, she is played by Alessandra Toreson, in her first and only appearance on the show. Ann is a major recurring character in the show, appearing in more than half the episodes in season 2 (The One Where They Build a House, ¡Amigos!, Good Grief, Afternoon Delight, Switch Hitter, Burning Love, Out on a Limb, The Immaculate Election, Meat the Veals, The Righteous Brothers), season 3’s Notapusy and Development Arrested, and season 4’s Colony Collapse, A New Attitude and Señoritis. She is also seen in a photo-only capacity in season 2’s Sad Sack, and season 5’s The Untethered Sole, and mentioned in numerous other episodes (with other members of the Veal family also making their way into the minor recurring cast over time – at least one Veal shows up in every season!). Both Michael and Maeby refer to Ann as George Michael’s “girlfriend” here, though they don’t officially begin dating until season 2.

Ann isn’t the only memorable character to make their debut here: Also doing the same is Dr. Fishman, better known as “The Literal Doctor” (though here he is credited simply as “Doctor”), one of the more beloved minor recurring characters. Dr. Fishman would also appear in season 2’s The One Where Michael Leaves, Hand to God and Sword of Destiny, and season 4’s A New Start and Off the Hook. He is played by Ian Roberts of Upright Citizens Brigade, an improvisational and sketch comedy group formed in the 90s. Amy Poehler, who guest starred in numerous episodes earlier this season, was also part of the original incarnation of Upright Citizens Brigade, as is Matt Walsh, who has a small part in this episode as well, playing the D.A. who questions George Sr. during his polygraph – tv comedy fans would likely recognize him as Mike McLintock from Veep, though both Walsh and Roberts have had a slew of appearances in other shows throughout the years.

Other recurring cast members who appear for one final bow are Henry Winkler (Barry Zuckerkorn), Justin Lee (Annyong), Sam Pancake (Barry’s assistant, James Spangler), John Beard (himself, providing season 1 with a bookending to his first appearance in the Pilot), and Stacey Grenrock Woods (doing the same for reporter Trisha Thoon). Regi Davis also makes his third appearance as an unnamed prison guard, and his final appearance of the Fox run (he shows up in season 4 playing a different character, before reprising the guard role in season 5’s Premature Independence). Lastly, rounding out the one-off cast for this episode is Conor Duffy as the polygraph technician.

When Michael complains about how no one in the house works, Lindsay asks “Is that a shot at me?” This was originally said to Michael by Barry Zuckerkorn in Altar Egos.

Gob unsuccessfully tries to get a vague “bee business” off the ground in this episode. This often-referenced joke would later become a major plot point for Gob’s story arc in season 4, primarily in the episode Colony Collapse.

Kitty’s power plays are contingent on the fact that she’s in possession of evidence against the Bluth Company, referring to the cooler she stole from the family yacht in Missing Kitty (which she presumably did not turn over to the police in the previous episode when she was working with them to apply pressure on Michael). Let Them Eat Cake is the first episode to recontextualize the contents of that cooler, as Kitty mentions it contains evidence George Sr. built houses overseas, and we later learn this was done illegally in Iraq, potentially constituting treason (hinted at by the fact the cooler was labelled “H MADDAS” – “SADDAM H” backwards). The cooler of evidence would become a plot point again in season 2’s Spring Breakout, which once again recontextualizes what the cooler means to the Bluths.

The visual of Tobias holding a corn dog is a callback to In God We Trust, where he similarly wielded the phallic food item during the Living Classics pageant.

This episode re-uses footage of the “On the next” from Visiting Ours. Specifically, the often-quoted line, “There’s a good chance that I… that I may have committed some, umm, light… treason.” This effectively puts it in the small portion of “On the next” scenes that have been confirmed to be 100% canon.

Season 2’s The Immaculate Election has Go repeating a variation on his line to Kitty here, “What about macaroni… let me finish… salad?” Next time around, he says, “I’m calling it Tricks… let me finish… Around the Office,” complete with the same raising of the finger on “let me finish” and twirl on the subsequent word:

Michael’s scene with Lucille in the penthouse (where he questions her about the Iraq deal, and she initially deflects, then denies any knowledge of it, and then tries to pin it on George Sr.) is very reminiscent of their one-on-one penthouse scene in Top Banana, when he questions her about George Sr’s flight records. The scene in question was the first hint the writers dropped that George Sr. was involved in shady international dealings.

Lucille would later repeat her “a lot of love” line in the season 3 finale, Development Arrested.

This is the last we see of Orange County Prison until the season 2 finale, The Righteous Brothers (in a new flashback montage set during season 1). The location would then be revisited in season 3’s The Cabin Show and Prison Break-In, season 4’s Red Hairing and Smashed, and season 5’s Everyone Gets Atrophy, Sinking Feelings, Emotional Baggage, Rom-Traum, and Premature Independence as various other characters are incarcerated throughout the series.

Annyong bitterly mutters “Date’s not over yet, fatty” at the restaurant when Buster brags about being on a date to him. It’s a callback to the previous episode, where Annyong repeatedly used the nickname “fatty” to torment Buster.

This wouldn’t be the only time Arrested Development does a fake-out with the death of George Sr. At the end of season 2’s second episode, The One Where They Build a House, we’re left uncertain of George Sr’s fate after he’s apprehended in Mexico and unable to get bribe money, with the narrator telling us he is declared dead there. The next episode, ¡Amigos!, briefly shows Kitty mourning George Sr. at a small funeral service in Mexico, and the first act of the following episode, Good Grief, deliberately misleads the audience into thinking he actually did die in Mexico, before he is revealed to be hiding in Sudden Valley.

There are several ways in which this episode mirrors the Pilot and brings the season full-circle. As highlighted earlier, the most obvious is how Michael comes back around to his decision to leave the family – established in the Pilot’s opening scene and Let Them Eat Cake’s closing scene. And there’s also the way Maeby kisses one of her cousins to make another family member jealous (George Michael in the Pilot, Annyong here), right down to how these moments are played. Just as Lindsay walked right past without noticing in the first occurrence, George Michael does the same here. Later, the “On the next” calls back to the the Pilot, with Annyong repeating George Michael’s line, “Maybe we should kiss again to teach them a lesson.” During both utterances of the phrase, the kids are sitting at the dining table in the penthouse playing a game (Uno in the Pilot, Backgammon in this episode) alongside glasses of juice with straws in them, while the adults are gathered behind them in the lounge area.

George Sr. also repeats his often-quoted line “I’ve got the worst *beep*ing attorneys” (it’s actually the exact same audio sample being re-used from the Pilot, much like the show does for callbacks to Tobias’s “I want to be an actor”) after Michael advises him he’s been given erroneous legal advice, with George Sr. replicating his body language from the Pilot and putting his head in his hands again as he says it. More subtly, Trisha Thoon reveals a Bluth secret on-air while reporting to John Beard (the mechanisms of the Aztec Tomb in the Pilot, and of course, the Saddam Hussein business dealings here). In addition to this, the first piece of music heard in the Pilot (during the cold opening) and the last piece of music heard in Let Them Eat Cake (during the “On the next”) are both variations on the music that plays over Arrested Development’s closing credits.

This is the first of three season finales to conclude with Michael and George Michael leaving the family – which itself is a return to the decision Michael made in the Pilot’s opening scene. The other two are season 3’s Development Arrested, and season 5’s The Fallout (though given what immediately transpires in the pair’s absence, it seems safe to assume the cycle of “Michael always comes back” is very likely to continue indefinitely). Technically, it happens twice in this episode, as Michael’s mind is initially changed by the news of George Sr’s heart attack, before the discovery of his escape changes his mind back. If it’s not clear by the show’s title, Arrested Development revels in the evolutionary stasis of its characters, forever keeping them stuck in loops as they fail to ever learn any lessons or grow as people, and Michael’s constant leaving and returning (while frequently deriding the rest of his family for being stuck in their own behavioral loops) is one of the prime examples.

The runner isn’t confined to season finales, either, with the season 2 premiere revealing that Michael has made the threat to leave the family multiple times in the past. Michael would also decide to leave the family again in season 4 premiere Flight of the Phoenix – probably his most successful escape attempt yet, as he does succeed in living independently of the family for several years in the Netflix run’s timeline. He’s far less successful when he makes the decision again in season 5’s second episode, Self-Deportation, quickly getting sucked back into the family drama again even as he spends the next few episodes insisting he’s still leaving (finally making his planned getaway in Sinking Feelings, only to immediately abandon those plans). By this point, it’s a running joke not just in the series, but within the family itself.

This is the first episode to contain a variation on the narrator’s recurring line, “On the next Arrested Development.” Here, the narrator says “On the next season of Arrested Development.” Funny enough, the first time “On the next Arrested Development” was ever spoken, it came without a guarantee there would be any further episodes, and here, there was similarly no assurance Arrested Development would get another season when this episode was written (the season 2 renewal notice came in May 2004, in between the broadcast of the previous episode and this one; though it’s possible the line was added in post-production after the renewal, or conversely, an alternate line may have also been recorded as a contingency in the event of cancellation).

The season 2 finale The Righteous Brothers also deploys the “On the next season” variation on the line, with the season 3 finale Development Arrested utilizing another new iteration: “On the epilogue.” Both seasons 4 and 5 use the standard “On the next Arrested Development” for their finales (though season 4 saves its “On the next” for after the end credits instead).

Let Them Eat Cake has a total runtime of 21 minutes and 54 seconds, and is rated TV-PG-DLSV.

There are no deleted/extended scenes for this episode.

HIDDEN DETAILS

The fictional news exposé show Hindsight is an allusion to the long-running ABC series 20/20. Because, as the expression goes, “Hindsight is 20/20.”

The name also doubles as a reference to the fact that the news revealed within Hindsight actually plays a lot better with hindsight. Numerous hints about the family’s dealings with Saddam Hussein have been scattered throughout the series, as mentioned in the Hidden Details sections for previous episodes. Early episode hints are more subtle (ie. George and Lucille’s refusal to give up the Bluth Company flight records in Top Banana and their similar guardedness around the international accounts in Visiting Ours), then they become more overt and frequent in the back half of the season; Shock and Aww outright has Michael staring at pictures of Saddam Hussein’s palaces, remarking on the resemblance to Bluth homes (the running gag is reprised in this episode one last time before the big reveal: “Does that look a little like our kitchen island?”), while the “H. MADDAS” label on the cooler of evidence in Missing Kitty feels almost blindingly obvious on the rewatch.

The sign for “Mommy, What Will I Look Like?” reads as follows:

“Easy one step process. Simply put your baby on our patented bed and snap, it’s done! In just moments you will receive a print of what your beautiful child will look like when he or she” (remainder of sign covered)
“Disclaimer: Not responsible for end results. For complaints, contact God at 800-555-” (remainder of sign covered)

The Amazon page for The Man Inside Me contains multiple references to other episodes:

The list of other items bought by customers includes Families With Low Self Esteem (which is also shown as a “Featured Item”  in the bottom-left), introduced in the same episode as Girls With Low Self Esteem, Missing Kitty. Caged Wisdom originates from Marta Complex though has also been mentioned in numerous episodes now, and the last book isn’t a specific callback but appears to have been written by Barry Zuckerkorn.

The image depicted on the cover of the book also doubles as another hint that Tobias is actually a black man with albinism.

The name of the bookstore Tobias stumbles upon is a reference to the 1978 French film La Cage aux Folles (which translates to “Birds of a Feather”), a notable piece of queer cinema about a gay couple who run a drag club. The film also has a storyline about a man getting getting engaged to a woman with judgmental, ultra-conservative parents, paralleling Tobias’ role within the Bluth family.

Furthermore, the sign functions as another instance of Arrested Development’s long-running bird motif.

Maeby is heard describing Ann as “Some girl. I mean, she barely has a face. You couldn’t pick her out of a lineup of one.” This is in reference to a role Ann’s one-time actress Alessandra Torresani had a few years prior in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle (the only other single-camera comedy on Fox at the time, and an equally innovative entry in the genre), titled “Malcolm’s Girlfriend.” She played the titular girlfriend, whose face was never actually shown on camera.

The news report from the Bluth house in Iraq demonstrates similar shoddy worksmanship to that of the model home, with the exact same piece of railing falling from the staircase in the Iraq home that we saw fall from the staircase in the model home earlier in the episode.

When Lucille is recalling hints (or at least, pretending to) about George Sr’s relationship with Saddam Hussein, she mentions “Once someone sent him a toe and he went white as a sheet” – a subtle continuation of the show’s running motif of amputated body parts.

Freedom Sign Guy makes one final appearance for the season (another callback to the Pilot!), present in the crowd at Tobias’s book reading:

In addition to this, Barry Zuckerkorn’s secretary, James Spangler, can also be seen in attendance just to the right of him. The character was both introduced and established as queer in In God We Trust.

When Michael visits George Sr. following his discovery about the family’s business dealings in Iraq, there is a small piece of dialogue suggesting Lucille was the one pushing for the deal with Saddam Hussein (“Your mom had a good feeling about him”). We would later learn in the season 3 finale Development Arrested that Lucille has, in fact, been pulling the strings all along.

There’s a sign in the the hospital waiting room which should read “Visiting Hours,” but is missing the H:

Visiting Ours is, of course, the title of an episode from earlier this season – the very one that contained the first suggestion that George Sr. is guilty of “light treason.” It’s not even the only nod to the episode in this scene, as the “big bear” exchange also hearkens back to Lucille calling George Sr. a bear during their conjugal visit.

Also in the background of the hospital is a board, naming a resident nurse with the surname “Ratchet” – a reference to the well-known character Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.

The final gag in the “On the next” – where the Narrator gives the setup of “Kitty helps George escape” and we cut to the “Footage not found” screen one last time – initially appears to simply be fulfilling the “rule of three” with the episode’s central running gag, deploying it once per act (while simultaneously setting up an actual plot point for next season). However, it would actually prove accurate within the show’s internal “documentary” logic; aside from a brief shot of George Sr. climbing on the back of the staircar at the end of The One Where Michael Leaves, we actually don’t see any footage of the pair during their escape. The only other glimpse we see is a cropped traffic light photo of George Sr. driving the staircar in the same episode, and then the next time George Sr. and Kitty appear on screen together is The One Where Michael Leaves, after she’s successfully helped him cross the border to Mexico. During their escape, the pair manage to evade both the police and the documentary crew “assembling” Arrested Development.

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