Beyond the Binge reflects on episodes from a full season perspective. It is not intended to be spoiler-heavy, but there will be some spoilers throughout. Previously: The B. Team.
Tobias Fünke discovering the family’s running joke about his sexuality at the very beginning of the episode is just the sort of immediate acknowledgement necessary to Tobias having to carry it somewhat on his own under the new Arrested Development-Netflix format. We weren’t getting Tobias in the small, ambiguously magical doses we’ve come accustomed to over the years, and Hurwitz and company wanted to get that out of the way early.
I know plenty of fans still prefer the analrapist in limited amounts (“You’re ruining my life Ron Howard!”) but it’s impossible to deny that “A New Start” hits a helluva lot more than it misses. Not only does it get the ball rolling on the best running joke of the season, it offers arguably the highest frequency of jokes of all of the episodes. Mainly because it’s impossible for Tobias to take on any form of a straight man role. Just like those hot guys on Spartacus.
I thought I caught most everything on first watch thanks to the more surface-y nature of the comedy, but of course there were all sorts of buried goodies I missed. Maybe you did as well! So let’s all jump head first into the wormhole that is Anus Tart…
Sudden Valley’s Streets are named after Michael’s deceased wife and his son. The audio is a bit muffled. Here’s the closed caption.
“You look like I feel.” Nothing to miss here it was just such a perfect exchange.
Mommy, What Will I Look Like? Not only is the first ANUSTART reveal wonderful on its own, but you also glimpse of a sign from Lindsay’s failed business.
Pro tip: Do not image something “anus tart” in unrestricted search hoping for this GIF.
Tantamount Spotlight. Outwest’s movie selection include both Tom Jane’s mainstream and indie films as well as the generic Fantastic Four we learn a lot more about shortly. The real question though is how did they not have Failure to Launch?
Cowboy and Indians. A film crew (possibly Maeby’s?) is filming American cowboys for some sort of ill-advised Cowboys and Indians take in the background of the airport. Maybe I missed it later down the road but I like to believe this is one of the fake reality shows AD introduces this season (see also: “Babies Having Babies”).
“Oh dear lord it’s hot.” Every Bluth’s reaction when exiting an airport in a hot environment.
Shémale. I’m sure most everyone caught it but Tobias is wearing a version of Lindsay’s Shémale shirt from Season 2 to the family meeting. In S2 it was a gift from Maeby, which I’d like infer is the same case here.
Is that George Michael? Speaking of the family meeting scene, with every re-watch I’m finding myself more and more fascinated by how they hid certain characters for their later reveals. The actors were all there, it’s just a function of camera angles and placements. Here you can see that Michael is actually blocking George Michael. We also get a look at the decorations.
Just the tip of Maeby’s leg here…
And if that sort of analysis isn’t your thing…
Tipping Black Guys. Tobias tips the men who finished decorating his quarters with quarters. They promptly toss the coins back at him.
The “Straight” Straight Bait actor is Beck Bennett, aka the AT&T “talks with kids” guy.
The Sue Storm Armbands Tobias attempts to bribe the Feinberg attorneys with looks exactly like the SS armbands of the Schutzstaffel, hence the hate crime charges.
♪ Stay Away, Get Away ♪ The first appearance of Mark Cherry’s undeniably catchy hit about GOB comes in Lucille 2’s apartment before we have any backstory on the song.
Fun with Netflix captions. This is simply tremendous.
The Thing Is A Nevernude. Essentially. Which is why he and Tobias have so much in common. Also, who knew there was Klimpy’s Express now?
And I’m not sure what the thinking is behind Tobias’s increased use of profanity (outside of the obvious Netflix reasons) but I wholeheartedly approve. A raccoon? Bullsh*t!
Sources: Arrested Development Wikia & Reddit
