There is something to be said about shows that run their course. Those shows that should have ended a long time before they do. They take up the space that could go to other and possibly better shows. The opposite happened to "Arrested Development," which was prematurely canceled at the height of its hilarious lifetime. However, Netflix was gracious enough to buy the rights and make it one of their first original shows, giving it another season. That was successful, so they gave it another. And that may have been too much, because for a premiere to a hilarious show, this episode was surprisingly unfunny.
There's no doubt that this is an excellent show and that the writers know what they're doing. However, with this opener to what would become the show's final season, there seems to be something lacking. Its last season kept it fresh by taking a structurally different approach to its material, where this seems to be more of what we know from the show's original run. And that's fine as long as they can make it feel genuine. However, when Michael finds his brother in his attic for no reason other than to have those two characters in a scene together, I start getting a little worried. And the episode continues its string of weird character interactions and jarring carry-over from the fourth season with a scene in the first half of the show that's some of the most jarring stuff I've ever seen. I'm also desperately waiting for something to actually be funny. There weren't a lot of gags in this episode, but the ones that were attempted didn't work at all, falling as flat as a pancake. I still like the characters and the actors seem more at home with them than ever before, but there's definitely a feeling in the air of these characters being past their prime at this point. This episode certainly didn't do them any favors, nor did the writers give the actors anything to really shine with. However, I'm still going to watch the rest of the season and hopefully, they'll find their way back to its former glory.
"Family Leave" is an episode that doesn't work as a part of this show at all, utilizing none of the show's usual charms as devices. The acting is fine and the characters still seem like themselves, but the writing is there to compliment any of them and it doesn't really feel like they're actually trying.
