Buster Bluth drew the short end of the stick in life. From his overbearing and caustic mother to his self-involved siblings, the Buster’s laughable naivety leaves him, often, wide open for defeat.
While Arrested Development‘s enjoyable character didn’t catch any relief from his family, we totally sympathize with Buster’s struggles. So, before the fifth season rushes or crawls to Netflix, here are 10 times Buster’s woes were actually understandable.
“I decided to sleep in the car so my snoring wouldn’t bother you, and I left a tape recording of my snoring so you wouldn’t know I was gone.”
When Buster is caught snoozing in the back of Lucille’s car, he explains that he was merely attempting to appease her own sleeping habits. Naturally, his plan was a little misguided. We get it, though – you go out on a limb for the benefit of someone else and they totally don’t appreciate it.
“I’m a MONSTER!”
There’s only a small population that can totally understand Buster’s life with a prosthesis, and he knows none of them. As he’s grappling with his new hook, the always-awkward Buster can’t quite grasp how to avoid Edward Scissorhands-level destruction.
Everyone’s been here – you feel completely disgusted with every essence of your being. Sometimes, it happens simply by looking in the mirror first thing in the morning. Sorry Bey, we did not wake up like this.
“I was made to understand there were grilled cheese sandwiches here.”
When you’re offered food and it’s not delivered: What was the point of even showing up? Here, Buster exemplifies every college student who joined a club for the snacks.
Buster, in particular, is being interrogated when he questions the absence of said grilled cheese. While it’s hardly the norm in most police stations (we doubt Steven Avery got any munchies), Buster’s pain is still understandable.
“Wow, we’re just blowing through nap time, aren’t we?”
Buster isn’t really enjoying his visit with his imprisoned father (or, if we’re being technical, uncle), and the yawns kick in. The chat is interrupting his jammies time.
This feeling likely occurs for the average adult between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m.: that sweet spot after lunch when you wish you had a George Costanza bed desk.
“Sometimes love should be terrifying.”
Lucille is not a fan of Buster’s new lady friend, Starla, the Bluth Company receptionist and an adult entertainer. When Mrs. Bluth attempts to shut down the romance, Buster stands by his woman – like any man should. Lord knows the wife never wins approval easily from the mother-in-law. She’ll never be good enough.
“Mom always taught us to curl up in a ball and remain motionless when confronted.”
Forget the flight-or-fight response and opt for the fetal. Buster doesn’t respond to insults – he simply ignores them in a personal cocoon. Sadly, the rest of the Bluth family doesn’t employ that same tactic. “I think that was about being attacked by bears,” Michael replies. Bears and bullies, Michael. Bears and bullies.
“They do allow some nervous crying, but you can tell they don’t like it.”
Buster’s short-lived time in the Army is not a good one – even on the “half” days. His overflowing of emotions is everyone at work: Things have reached the point of no return and you’re sitting in human resources extolling everything that’s wrong with your malicious boss. You’re fighting back the tears, but here they come. Your HR rep tells you “it’s totally okay, it happens all the time,” but it’s not. It’s not.
“Oh, I love soup. If the only thing I could do was lay in bed all day and eat soup, I’d be happy. I wouldn’t even have to taste it. I could just take it through a tube. That would actually be better ’cause I wouldn’t even burn my mouth.”
Buster falls into a (very light, probably fake) coma, conveniently just in time to avoid his father’s upcoming trial. As his siblings discuss Buster’s end-of-life wishes, Lindsay recalls that Buster might prefer just hanging on for a while because he loves the food-in-bed treatment. Everyone has had a sick day where they thought, “this might be the life.” No responsibilities, no drama, just soup.
“We have unlimited juice? This party is going to be off the hook!”
While Buster has a passion for boxed wine, it’s the juice boxes that really make him get crazy. Just like everyone at an open bar (never pass up a wedding invite), moderation goes out the window and appropriate behavior is forgotten.