[6.4/10] If this were any other show, this would be a perfectly acceptable episode, but for one with the standard set by Arrested Development, it’s a step down.
It’s not like this one doesn't have it’s funny moments. The whole party chanting “speech! Speech!” to no one in particular is a classic, and George Michael fishing for a conversation heart that tells him what he wants to hear is a good bit.
But the Michael-GOB-Marta love triangle continues to be a non-starter. The whole “hermano” misconception isn’t particularly funny, and looping Buster in via Lucille 2 being attracted to Carl Weathers is a meh development. They’re trying to play it for at least some drama, and Marta is too much of a blank slate and a pure object rather than a character as written for that to have any meaning.
I’ll admit that I got a kick out of Buster moving out, Snoopy style, with all his belongings in a bindle, and Lucille celebrating her scary but exciting solitude. Though the whole “caged wisdom” thing with George Sr. doesn't do much for me. Plus the Funkes breaking up and confiding in their daughter and nephew doesn't generate as much humor as it should.
Overall, there’s some laughs in this one, like there are in any AD episode, but not as many as in most episodes of the show.
At this point in the series, Marta is played by Patricia Velasquez. I thought something seemed off about Marta from earlier episodes, and it's because it was a different actress (Leonor Varela) in the first two appearances. I personally prefer Leonor in this role, though I did enjoy Patricia later on when she was on "My Name Is Earl".
I thought Michael was supposed to be the smart one
Shout by Neal MahoneyVIP 8BlockedParent2018-05-17T01:59:39Z
Whoa, whoa, whoa. There's still plenty of meat on that bone. Now you take this home, throw it in a pot, add some broth, a potato. Baby, you got a stew going.