The series, narrated by Ron Howard, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family, who made their money from property development. The Bluth family consists of Michael, his twin sister Lindsay, his older brother Gob, his younger brother Buster, their mother Lucille and father George Sr., as well as Michael's son George Michael, and Lindsay and her husband Tobias' daughter Maeby. In the episode, George Michael's surprise birthday party for Maeby lands her in big trouble; Michael and Buster make a startling discovery when they go to Iraq to rescue Gob.
Plot
Michael (Jason Bateman) prepares Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) for her upcoming deposition in the case against their father. George Michael (Michael Cera) tells the family that Maeby's (Alia Shawkat) birthday is coming up and suggests throwing her a surprise party he had already informed Maeby about. Gob (Will Arnett) informs Michael he is going to be performing in a USO show in Iraq. Tobias (David Cross) meets with Wayne Jarvis (John Michael Higgins), who offers Tobias a deal if he can put George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) behind bars, but Tobias declines. Tobias sees a flyer for a scrapbooking class, which is actually a trap set up by Jarvis. Michael confronts George Sr. about Gob's trip to Iraq and says he will have to ask the prosecution for a delay.
While faking his coma, Buster (Tony Hale) speaks to his nurse after she asks him to, which leads her to slap him. Michael meets with Wayne Jarvis, who tells him that Gob is being held in an Iraqi jail for insurgency. Michael is called to sign Buster out of the hospital, and they decide to travel to Iraq to get Gob out of prison. Lindsay and Lucille (Jessica Walter) avoid the deposition at a spa in the desert. Michael and Buster check out of the hospital as George Sr. is admitted in his own fake coma. George Michael gets a hold of Maeby's address book to invite all of her friends to her secret party. In Iraq, Gob is thrilled to see his brothers and informs Michael that he was arrested for doing street magic. Gob confesses to Michael that George Sr. asked him to burn a few model homes if he had the time, but now he is ready to go. They then check out one of the Iraqi model homes, which is inhabited with multiple Saddam Hussein lookalikes, and Michael finds a nuclear bombshell.
Meanwhile, none of the invitees show for Maeby's birthday party, as the invitations exposed Maeby to her job and got her fired. Back in Iraq, Richard Shaw (Gary Cole), an undercover CIA agent, enters to arrest the Bluths. One of the Iraqi residents points out the warhead was a fake, with a U.S. government tape recorder inside. Shaw learns that the government got George Sr. to build houses in Iraq so they could wire them. Back home, George Michael tries to console Maeby by telling her Lucille once confided that Lindsay never got pregnant. Maeby is touched by her cousin's kindness, and the two end up passionately kissing. In Iraq, Michael finally learns that his father actually was a patsy, used by the government through a British building company, just like George Sr. had always claimed. Shaw agrees to let them go, and now in a bargaining position, the Bluths are able to negotiate direct flights home and the treason charges against George Sr. being dropped.
On the next Arrested Development...
Tobias gives Maeby a birthday gift of graphic birthing photos, and Michael and Gob find out a Saddam Hussein look-alike has been arrested instead of the real Saddam.
Production
"Exit Strategy" was directed by Rebecca E. Asher, and written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer Jim Vallely.[2] It was Hurwitz's 18th writing credit for the series, and Vallely's 14th.[3] It was the twelfth and penultimate episode of the season to be filmed.[4]
In "Exit Strategy", Richard Belzer appears as John Munch, his character from Homicide: Life on the Street and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit that often cameos in other series.[5] One of the Saddam Hussein look-alike is portrayed by Larry Thomas, who is known for playing the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld; his role as Hussein has been interpreted as a reference to Seinfeld.[6][7] The title refers to both how "exit strategies" were a hot-button discussion point at the time, and the fact that the writers of the series had to quickly finish up it's narrative when the season's episode-count was shortened.[8]
Themes and analysis
The episode serves as the conclusion to the series' long-standing satire of the Iraq War, utilizing both Saddam Hussein and a reference to the torture and prison abuse of Abu Ghraib as a way to effectively cap off it's commentary.[9] It also deals with the political climate of the Bush administration with analysis offered by George Sr.'s Iraq profiteering.[10] Authors Douglas Paletta and Paul Franco felt that the episode solidified George Sr. as guilty of treason, finally giving a straightforward answer as to whether or not the Bluth Company really did help Saddam Hussein build homes—something the series alludes to many times over the past three seasons.[11]
Release
"Exit Strategy" was first broadcast on February 10, 2006 on the Fox Network at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the United States; it aired during a four-episode marathon that day where the preceding two episodes aired directly before it, along with the finale right after it.[12][13] In the United States, the episode was watched by 3.47 million viewers on its original broadcast, receiving a 1.2% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.2% of all households in that demographic; this made it the highest rated episode of the batch.[14] The episode was first released on home video in the United States on August 29, 2006, in the Complete Third Season DVD box set.[15]
Reception
The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray felt that the episode repeated previous parts of the series in some places, but still enjoyed its new approaches to storytelling that proved unique. Murray also praised "Exit Strategy" for it's amount of callbacks, metatextual humor, and satire of the Iraq war[8] Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode 47th out of the whole series, finding it to get to a state of "ridiculousness" that it fails to capture well. However, Tallerico found the scenes between Buster and his nurse to be humorous.[16] Series creator Mitchell Hurwitz ranked it as his joint-favorite episode of the show with "Development Arrested", noting it for helping to wrap up the series.[17] It was ranked as the tenth best episode of Arrested Development by ComicBook.com's Emma McKenna, praising it's high-stakes narrative, performance from Jason Bateman and Tony Hale, and ability to balance a coherent story with consistent humor. McKenna felt it was a notable episode for bringing the series to a new, unique location, which proved "farcical".[18]
John Munch theory
Since airing, "Exit Strategy" has been used as example of the theory that Richard Belzer's character John Munch connects multiple different television series through a shared universe where John exists in each, as Belzer has appeared in dozens of shows as John.[19]
Barton, Kristin M., ed. (2015). A State of Arrested Development: Critical Essays on the Innovative Television Comedy. McFarland. ISBN9781476619385.
Brooks, Tim; Marsh, Earle (2009). The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN978034549773-4.
Deys, James; Deys, Kellie; Anderson, Nikki (2024). Class, Identity, and Finding the Right Wine in Schitt’s Creek: A Place to Love. New York: Lexington Books. ISBN9781666927603.
G. Phillips, Kristopher; Wisnewski, Jeremy, eds. (2011). Arrested Development and Philosophy: They've Made a Huge Mistake. Wiley. ISBN9781118146262.
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