Best Man for the GOB

Infobox Arrested Development episode
episode_name = Arrested Development
episode_no = 1AJD18
airdate = April 4, 2004
writers = Mitchell Hurwitz & Richard Rosenstock
director = Lee Shallat Chemel
on_the_next = “Michael solves the mystery of the missing money, and Gilligan fufils his destiny.” | guest_star = BW Gonzalez as Lupe Michael Hitchcock as Ira Gilligan Amy Poehler as Wife of G.O.B. Lauren Bowles as Stripper
season = 1

"Best Man for the GOB" is the nineteenth episode aired of TV comedy series "Arrested Development".

Plot

Michael meets with the company's accountant, Ira Gilligan, who informs him that the company's books are a bit…tricky. Gilligan tells Michael that there is no money where there should be - and this isn't the first discrepancy. Ira pledges that if he's asked to testify, he won't lie.

G.O.B. drops into the office and Michael, pleasantly surprised that G.O.B.'s marriage is sticking after two weeks, offers to throw him a bachelor party. Thing is, G.O.B. visits George Sr., who tells him that getting married was stupid. G.O.B. needs to get rid of the wife and he's hoping Michael can help at a cocktail party tonight. Make up some lies about how he's sneaky and irresponsible and needs other people to clean up his messes or something.
Tobias comes in with his own problem. He and Lindsay have hit a bit of a rough patch. He needs Michael's help in recruiting Lindsay in reuniting "Dr. Fünke's 100% Natural Good-Time Family Band Solution", a band which Tobias set up in the mid-'90s to subsidise his struggling psychiatric practice. Lindsay and Maeby were the other members of this struggling folk band. He remarks that there is a wellness convention in town, and requests that Michael ask Lindsay to see if she is willing to reform the band. Firstly, Michael goes to see his father about the missing money. George Sr. figures that he probably stole it himself, so Michael should take Ira for some guy fun so he isn't inclined to testify. Fishing or something. Michael hedges and George Sr. dismisses his son as not fun, promising to get G.O.B. to handle the job.

That night, the family gathers at Lucille's to welcome G.O.B.'s wife. Buster and Annyong still aren't getting along and Michael tries to convince Lindsay to go along with Tobias' band plan. Lindsay wants no part of it, but Maeby is quite excited. But in fact, Maeby is more interested in keeping her parents happy because that's when they leave her alone the most. Even more excited is G.O.B.'s wife, who caught a Dr. Fünke performance years ago and loved it. And Michael, at G.O.B.'s request, is trying to paint G.O.B. as unreliable. Michael is then shocked to discover G.O.B. has told his wife that he is the one working hard to keep the family together and that Michael will probably hit on her.

G.O.B. then comes in and gives Michael the news that after speaking with their father, he'll probably stay in the marriage after all. Oh, and George Sr. is G.O.B.'s best man now. But Michael can still solve his problems for him. The next day, G.O.B. visits his father to prepare for his big night. But George Sr. has bigger plans. He's hatched a plan to make Ira think he killed a stripper at G.O.B.'s bachelor party, leave town and the Bluths could blame Ira for the missing money. All they need is a narcoleptic stripper, a darkened space, a drunken Ira, some corn syrup and a little red dye and they'll be all set. If G.O.B. can convince Ira she is actually dead, Ira could use G.O.B.'s honeymoon tickets and get out of the country.

Back at home, things aren't going so well for the band's reunion. George Michael tries to join in on the fun by keeping time with a wood block, but that effectively breaks up the rehearsal. Michael arrives home, determined to prove that he is, in fact, fun. He's booked a fishing trip for himself and George Michael. Lucille, meanwhile, hears about G.O.B.'s bachelor party and insists that he invite Buster. Lucille will be attending Annyong's soccer awards banquet and doesn't want Buster left alone in a house full of juice, which he's not allowed to have. As Michael and his son check into the hotel, his brothers arrive. They try to gloat about G.O.B.'s bachelor party, but Michael is determined to have some wholesome fun with his son instead. Meanwhile, at the wellness convention in the very same hotel, the Fünkes are preparing for their show. Problem is, Lindsay and Maeby ditch the band. Can Tobias perform on his own? If he doesn't, the venue won't validate (cue dramatic music).

Back in Michael's hotel room, the guys are settling down for the fun of tomorrow. George Michael, concerned that he can't fall asleep with the sun still up, suggests that he goes downstairs to watch Maeby's band while Michael drops in on the bachelor party. Upstairs, Gob is preparing to set up Ira under his father's helpful closed-circuit TV gaze. Problem is, G.O.B.'s Hot Cop strippers came dressed as cops and Buster drank the two buckets of fake blood thinking it was juice. Tobias is struggling to keep the audience interested in his clapping and backup singing. He tries performing the group's one ballad, but with no other band members on hand, it's a struggle. Until G.O.B.'s wife appears from the crowd playing Lindsay's instrument and singing along. Back at the bachelor party, Ira's arrived and the con is in full swing. It hits a snag though when Ira refuses to drink and Buster, out of fake corn syrup blood and desperately looking for his next sugar fix, finds the giant cake in the next room. But, unfortunately, he's unaware of the narcoleptic stripper contained within. Buster digs deep for a huge piece of cake and accidentally grabs the stripper, who bursts from the cake and punches Buster in the face, knocking him out. Michael, arriving at the party, decides to check out the next room, and when he sees an unconscious stripper next to an unconscious Buster, decides to call the cops.

G.O.B. desperately tries to convince Ira that he was drunk and killed the stripper. However, one of G.O.B.'s Hot Cop buddies had made Ira the designated driver. Just then, the stripper wakes up and sees Buster in what appears to be blood and thinks she killed him for groping her. When Ira sees the stripper run out, he realizes that G.O.B. was trying to set him up and vows to testify against George Sr. In the aftermath, G.O.B. and Michael share a tender, brotherly moment that is interrupted when G.O.B.'s wife comes in and says she wants out because she's in love with G.O.B.'s brother. Angry that he did it to him again, G.O.B. knocks Michael out with a punch to the face, only to realise that his wife was referring to his brother "in-law", Tobias.

Cultural references

*Allyn-Crane, Dr. Fünke’s 100% Natural Good-Time Family-Band Solution was underwritten by the Natural Life Food Company, a division of ChemGrow, an Allyn-Crane Acquisition, and part of the Squimm Group Allyn-Crane is the surname of an "Arrested Development" fan that sent cookies to the writers. They sent her a nice thank you and a copy of this episode’s script.
*"Gilligan's Island", the TV sitcom, is referenced numerous times in this episode.
**George, Sr. yells “Gilligan!” in the same manner as the Skipper from Gilligan’s Island.
**G.O.B. accidentally says "Gilligan killed the Skipper," instead of "Gilligan killed the stripper."
**Ira Gilligan is dressed as Gilligan from "Gilligan’s Island" in the “on the next Arrested Development” scene.
*Marco Polo Pool guests can be heard playing Marco Polo at the hotel.

Character cameos

*Michael Hitchcock makes his only appearance on the show as Ira Gilligan, the Bluth Company's accountant. He joins Jane Lynch and John Michael Higgins as the third member of Christopher Guest's mockumentary ensemble to make a cameo on the show.

Foreshadowing/Future References

*Adoption Lucille tells G.O.B.'s wife, "I have always wanted a daughter." We find out in the series finale that Lindsay is, in fact, adopted.
*G.O.B.'s son G.O.B. states that he "might be" a father, something which is revealed to be true in "The Immaculate Election".
*Soccer This is the first episode to mention Annyong's soccer team, which would later factor into "Not Without My Daughter"'s storyline. The juice Annyong was drinking was for the soccer team.

External links

* [http://the-op.com/episode/119 The-OP.com]
* [http://www.fox.com FOX]
* [http://www.tv.com/arrested-development/best-man-for-the-gob/episode/316735/summary.html TV.com]
*imdb title|0515211|Best Man for the GOB