It became quite a big deal when Netflix picked up "Arrested Development" for another season after it had served its three-year run at Fox. It was one of the first big hit shows that found new life on the streamer and obviously, a lot of people were excited to experience the return of the Bluths. However, it was not in the way that some people thought, as the new season was shown in episodes that focused on the individual characters rather than the entire family. The first episode focuses on Michael and is actually quite an effective start to this show's triumphant and long-awaited return.
It's clear that a lot of people wanted to see the family reunited and go through the same problems that they had before. However, that original thing that kept them together has kinda been blundered now after the original run's crazy final season, so Netflix really had to do something different with this. And this actually works pretty well, at least for the first episode. Getting a lot of time to get back into the mix with each individual character seems to give a little extra energy. I think starting off with Michael made sense, and having him in a scenario where he had to move in with son is quite brilliant. I always imagined that these two characters would stay together for the rest of their lives and despite how the episode turns out, I don't really think that we've seen anything yet. I quite liked the structure actually, and I enjoyed that we only got a little bit of information about what had happened directly after the events of the third season, planting small easter eggs for us to get further explorations of in later episodes. Obviously, it does come with a lot of missing pieces and that may work against the show in the long run. For this episode, I think it worked, but I do believe that it might be a bit annoying on rewatch. In total, I think the return of "Arrested Development" was a triumphant one and that they're setting up an interesting structure for this anticipated fourth season.
"Flight of the Phoenix" is definitely not the return I expected, but it is the return that somehow makes the most sense for this show. The focus on Michael felt like a breath of fresh air after the chaotic family theme of the previous seasons, and while it doesn't completely work, it's still very entertaining.
