Michael Bluth is my favorite straightman character, period. Mitchell Hurwitz took all of the put-upon exasperation of the classic model and infused it with an acidic wit. This not only makes for some quick, almost imperceptible jokes, it also adds a dimension of believability to Michael as a character. If the entire Bluth family is somehow dysfunctional, it only stands to reason that Michael wouldn't be able to grow up with them entirely untouched by negativity and general malice. As I've noted in previous columns, Michael's basically stuck getting raw deals no matter what he does. When he's good, people take advantage of him. When he's bad, his misdeeds come back to haunt him.

Pier Pressure

The root of the Bluth family dysfunction is, of course, the one-two punch of George Sr. and Lucille as parents. This episode features one of the more bizarre minor characters in Arrested Development, which is saying a lot. J. Walter Weatherman is a one-armed former employee who George Sr. often used to teach his children overblown life lessons. He set up elaborate pranks that all somehow ended with Weatherman's prosthetic arm getting torn off, all in the name of teaching his kids not to shout or let food spoil. So, when grown-up Michael comes to suspect his son of pot-smoking, he falls back on "teaching lessons" just like his father. Of course, the infinitely meek George-Michael isn't hitting the bud, he's just gotten wrangled into another complicated series of problems resulting from bad guardianship. This is really a top-notch episode, what with Weatherman's lessons and the extensive mileage of GOB's stripper jokes. Hurwitz himself cites "Pier Pressure" as one of his favorite episodes of the series.

Public Relations

The second half of Arrested Development's first season leans a lot on romantic plots, especially those involving Michael getting back into the game, years after his wife's death. Enter Jessie, a publicist Michael hires to rebuild the Bluth family's DOA image. It doesn't take long for her to basically force Michael into a relationship. But, because this is the AD universe, nobody is really a good, sane person. Jessie turns out to be something of a sociopath, manipulating the family in ways that eventually lead to a knock-down, drag-out fight in a restaurant. This episode serves to set up the Bluth family as tabloid fixtures, a running gag that continues to pay dividends throughout the rest of the series.

The best contribution of this episode is the introduction of Carl Weathers as a recurring guest. Tobias meets the actor/football player on the way to the airport to try to get his medical license reinstated at a conference. He decides to spend his travel money on "acting classes" with Weathers instead. The character the writers created for Weathers is amazing. He's a money-strapped, wanna-be con artist who freeloads like a pro. Later episodes give him some solid gold lines in what ends up being the finest self-deprecating performance of the first season.

Marta Complex

Thank you, Carl Weathers, for teaching me the zen of how to get a stew goin'. And that's what this episode is; a stew of the Bluth family's dysfunctions coming to a catastrophic head. Michael's romantic infatuation with GOB's girlfriend Marta, George-Michael's crush on cousin Maeby, the Freudian car wreck that is Buster's romance with Lucille Austero, and a host of other absurd conflicts involving every member of the family.

This episode features what I like to call a " double band-aid" joke. It's a lingering concept that we as viewers know will result in a very painful moment for our protagonists somewhere down the line. Instead of getting it all over with at once, the plot slowly pulls the bandage off, yet because it's doubled-up we still get the intense rip at the end. In this episode, the joke is the language confusion of the Spanish word "hermano", which means "brother". The comedy of errors here is positively Shakespearean. This is the heart of why Arrested Development is a great show. While it's silly and isn't afraid to go low-brow, this show spins one hell of plot tapestry.