Poor Buster Bluth. The youngest of Lucille Bluth’s children left the womb (after eleven months… there were claw marks on the walls of her uterus) but never really left the nest. Buster has been maimed, mocked, put in a box, denied his educational pursuits, told that he was no good, lied to, rejected by three mother figures (his actual mother and two lovers), flat out replaced, and always kept at arms length by his siblings.
Through it all, Buster has kept his youthful innocence and a spirit that is always willing to please. Buster just wants to be loved, but sometimes, another side comes out — a monstrous side. It’s Tony Hale’s birthday so let’s celebrate the Arrested Development moments that showcase that bubbling rage that exists beneath Buster’s smiling visage.
“It’s like she gets off on being withholding.”
Pushed away from his mother’s side, perpetual Mamma’s boy Buster shocks and delights Michael, G.O.B., and Lindsay Bluth by speaking out against their mother, Lucille. Like a monkey dancing for applause, Buster goes even further in an effort to keep bonding with his siblings, unleashing a string of expletives that nearly turn them pale. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“I don’t want no part of your tight *ss country club, you freak b*tch!”
From behind Lucille’s back to right in front of her face, Buster’s harshest words for his mother have to be filtered through the felt mouth of Franklin, his brother G.O.B.’s insensitive puppet.
“Silence slave!”
Though Buster’s lack of a talent and a purpose is sort of his talent, he seizes the opportunity to take center-stage as a fake magician while helping G.O.B. in his effort to pull off the “Sword of Destiny” trick. He also barks back at G.O.B. when the banned artist tries to assert authority during the performance. Don’t stomp on Buster’s moment.
“A giant juice box.”
Outbursts don’t always have to include screams and shouts. Sometimes one can act out with destructive behavior, even when they don’t know that what they’re doing. Mistaking a box of wine for the world’s largest juice box can lead them down a dark road where they will wind up thrust dancing on a table while Ethel Merman plays in the background. With that said, though, if anyone deserves a chance to blow off some steam, it’s Buster Bluth, who is often denied the finer things.
“Give me that bagel you little sh*t!”
Oh Annyong, at times you were little more than a cog in the machine of torture that targeted Buster. Here Annyong simply carries out Lucille’s will to keep Buster from sweet and delicious carbs. How far would you have to be pushed to fight a child for a bagel? If I’m being honest, I have to say not that far.
“You’re trying to steal from the wrong man!”
The best and worst add-a-kid in TV history, Annyong and Lucille’s bond made Buster seethe. Here, things get so bad that Buster is made to sound like a rival super villain when he reads a note indicating that Lucille took Annyong to a dance.
“You said my father was my father, but my uncle is my father. My father is my uncle!”
Lucille isn’t merely the type to play with Buster’s emotions by dangling her relationship with Annyong in front of him, she’s also someone who would keep buried a secret about Buster’s real father. Is nothing sacred?
“Alias is a show about a spy!”
When will the world stop deceiving Buster Bluth?
“I’m not a coward! Would a coward have this…”
Sad as it is to say, and despite Lucille Bluth’s cruel interpretation of motherhood, Buster still seeks her approval. When he returns “from Army,” Buster only wants to make her proud by showing off his fake medals, but while Lucille seems overjoyed to see him safe and sound, their messed up dynamic is quickly restored when she tells Buster that it’s okay to be a coward while dismissing his “medals” with a doubting look.
“I’m a monster!”
Despite his best efforts, Buster Bluth has both nature and nurture going against him in his effort to not be a monster like the rest of his family. In a very literal sense, he also has a rogue trained seal with a taste for flesh going against him as well. To replace Buster’s hand, a hook is installed but as he goes to give Oscar a shoulder massage, bludgeoning him in the process. “I’m a monster!” he yells while tearing apart the apartment before setting his sights on a barely repentant G.O.B. and attacking him.
Sadly, we now know that Buster’s outbursts and the psychological abuse levied upon him by his family lead to a rampage during the 4th season that involved defacing a family photo, slapping down a politician, and being implicated in the disappearance of Lucille Austero. And that’s to say nothing of his time in army. A monster? You betcha, but this could have all been avoided with a little more juice and a lot more understanding.
