Mum: "You gave him a letter to mail."
Michael: "And don't tell me that was too much for him."
Mum: "No, Michael, he mailed the letter. That's not the point."
[Cuts to a beach.]
Narrator: "Gob had not mailed the letter."Narrator: "But he still had some unanswered questions, so he did a little detective work."
Michael: "You burn down the storage unit?"
T-Bone: "Oh, most definitely."
[Michael turns and walks away.]Michael: "You mailed that insurance check, right Gob?"
[Gob slowly reverses out of frame.]
6/10
There’s always money in the banana stand. ;)
There's always money in the banana stand, Michael :banana:
I've experienced this before with every sitcom I watch in the way of not quite being able to appreciate and enjoy the characters as I don't have an attachment to them yet. However, I do love Tobias. He's made his humour and presence known from the beginning and even Gob actually!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2018-06-05T02:04:52Z
[7.3/10] It’s funny how many classic AD gags are present this early in the show. Bits like “there’s always money in the banana stand” and “Mr. Manager” and even Tobias’s cutoffs are present. I’ve often thought of the show as taking a little bit of time to find its voice, but it’s impressive to me on this re-watch how self-assured it feels out of the gate.
I like the general theme of the episode of everyone in the family being lazy and Michael trying to rouse all the Bluths out of their stupor. Him putting George Michael in charge of the banana stand, in effect projecting his own frustrations at George Sr. for not putting him in charge of the company, is a nice setup, and leads to all sorts of great comic panic from George Michael having to deal with Maeby’s rebelliousness and his grandpa’s prison buddy T-Bone.
Michael ultimately deciding to burn the stand down as a symbolic reckoning with his father’s own efforts to teach him “responsibility” after George Michael’s nearly attempted to do the same to avoid it is fun, especially with the setup and payoff of GOB not having sent the insurance check.
That’s also a fun running bit of mostly free-standing comedy in this one: GOB futilly throwing things into the ocean. The way that connects to his dead dove return plan (another famous bit) and eventually, the gallows humor of the rabbit he purchases for his act, is outstanding.
I also got a kick out of the Tobias/Lindsey portion of the episode. Tobias’s way misguided audition for a “fire sale” is a laugh riot of editing greatness, and the running gag about him crying in the shower got a laugh out of me. That, coupled with Lindsey celebrating having found work, only to no-show the actual work is nice character comedy for her, and the jabs traded by her and Lucille are fantastic.
That just leaves the broader arc hints about George Sr. getting rid of the travel records, and Lucille being in on it (something Michael gets at in a hilarious fashion). Overall, a hell of a second episode.