[5.0/10] Look, I’ll say this for “Red Hairing” -- some of the clockwork gags across the season are starting to payoff. Marky Bark is the mysterious ostrich figure who flipped George Sr. and Oscar’s mojo. He’s also the source of the ostrich who’s been running around everywhere. GOB’s attempt to thwart Tony Wonder with a miniature fishing line actually thwarted Marky Bark. Lindsay’s red wig is the source of the one that George Sr. donned later. It’s not much, but these random bits are at least getting some closure and the mild thrill of recognition, which is something.
That’s good, because it’s about all I got here. I enjoyed the gag about Lindsay’s unconvincing “I’m not lying” face. There’s a decent, if underutilized, throughline about Lindsay trying to ascertain who she is and deciding she’s a Bluth, with all the venal, self-serving interests that entail. But otherwise, this is another grab bag of meh jokes mixed with seemingly random plot points. Gone are the days of consistent Arrested Development hilarity and astonishing plotting, and in their place are a bunch of okay-at-best gags like the extended conspiratorial hugs between Lindsay and Michael, and a baffling array of story beats to try to make this Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza of a season-length plot make any sense.
Lindsay’s stretch of squatting in the old penthouse with Marky Bark is pretty weak. Once again, the face blindness gags go nowhere. There’s something mildly chuckle-worthy about his prank glitter bomb plan resulting in Marky having “blued himself” just like Tobias, and in Herbert Love being the opposite of the men she usually dates, but the path to get from one to the other is so janky, and the intermittent gags about it so tepid, that nothing much comes from it.
The only reliable bit is the one that the show’s original run stuck with -- that Lindsay pretends to be politically motivated but is really just interested in romance and feathering her own nest. (Here’s where I’ll note that I appreciated the callback with the name “Cindy Featherbottom”.) The “against a wall”/”against the wall” joke was nothing, and the horse-trading and deceptions with Michael, who once again commandeered the episode in the middle, were dead on arrival.
I did like the setup and payoff here that Lindsay initially ran for middle school class president against Sally Sitwell only to have Sally strike back here by beating her out for the position of Lucille 2’s campaign manager. Likewise, there’s some decent (and sadly prescient) humor about Lindsay trying to turn the crowd against Herbert Love by talking about his terrible campaign promises only to have the assembled bigots cheer her, and for her to change her tune once she’s personally inconvenienced. But again, these mild bright spots are few and far between.
I’m a broken record at this point, but once again, trying to stretch all of these twisted storylines across a whole season rather than better segmenting them on an episode-by-episode basis leaves the whole thing feeling like a mess. The Lindsay episodes aren’t unique in that regard, but feel particularly damaged by the approach. There’s a few decent ideas here, but the whole project feels too scattered and jumbled up to really function as intended.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-05-31T23:32:15Z
[5.0/10] Look, I’ll say this for “Red Hairing” -- some of the clockwork gags across the season are starting to payoff. Marky Bark is the mysterious ostrich figure who flipped George Sr. and Oscar’s mojo. He’s also the source of the ostrich who’s been running around everywhere. GOB’s attempt to thwart Tony Wonder with a miniature fishing line actually thwarted Marky Bark. Lindsay’s red wig is the source of the one that George Sr. donned later. It’s not much, but these random bits are at least getting some closure and the mild thrill of recognition, which is something.
That’s good, because it’s about all I got here. I enjoyed the gag about Lindsay’s unconvincing “I’m not lying” face. There’s a decent, if underutilized, throughline about Lindsay trying to ascertain who she is and deciding she’s a Bluth, with all the venal, self-serving interests that entail. But otherwise, this is another grab bag of meh jokes mixed with seemingly random plot points. Gone are the days of consistent Arrested Development hilarity and astonishing plotting, and in their place are a bunch of okay-at-best gags like the extended conspiratorial hugs between Lindsay and Michael, and a baffling array of story beats to try to make this Moss-Covered Three-Handled Family Gradunza of a season-length plot make any sense.
Lindsay’s stretch of squatting in the old penthouse with Marky Bark is pretty weak. Once again, the face blindness gags go nowhere. There’s something mildly chuckle-worthy about his prank glitter bomb plan resulting in Marky having “blued himself” just like Tobias, and in Herbert Love being the opposite of the men she usually dates, but the path to get from one to the other is so janky, and the intermittent gags about it so tepid, that nothing much comes from it.
The only reliable bit is the one that the show’s original run stuck with -- that Lindsay pretends to be politically motivated but is really just interested in romance and feathering her own nest. (Here’s where I’ll note that I appreciated the callback with the name “Cindy Featherbottom”.) The “against a wall”/”against the wall” joke was nothing, and the horse-trading and deceptions with Michael, who once again commandeered the episode in the middle, were dead on arrival.
I did like the setup and payoff here that Lindsay initially ran for middle school class president against Sally Sitwell only to have Sally strike back here by beating her out for the position of Lucille 2’s campaign manager. Likewise, there’s some decent (and sadly prescient) humor about Lindsay trying to turn the crowd against Herbert Love by talking about his terrible campaign promises only to have the assembled bigots cheer her, and for her to change her tune once she’s personally inconvenienced. But again, these mild bright spots are few and far between.
I’m a broken record at this point, but once again, trying to stretch all of these twisted storylines across a whole season rather than better segmenting them on an episode-by-episode basis leaves the whole thing feeling like a mess. The Lindsay episodes aren’t unique in that regard, but feel particularly damaged by the approach. There’s a few decent ideas here, but the whole project feels too scattered and jumbled up to really function as intended.