"Forget-Me-Now" is the third episode of the third season of the American television satiricalsitcomArrested Development. It was written by co-executive producer Tom Saunders and directed by supervising producer John Amodeo. It originally aired on the Fox Network in the United Statss on October 3, 2005.
The series, narrated by Ron Howard, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family, who made their money from property development. In the episode, the family's new attorney (Scott Baio) works on George Sr.'s (Jeffrey Tambor) defense as he plans his escape his confinement by an ankle bracelet. Michael (Jason Bateman) attempts to destroy all evidence of his family's existence so he won't have to introduce them to Rita (Charlize Theron), and Gob (Will Arnett), after a mishap involving Rita, makes use of his "forget-me-now" pills. Concurrently, Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade), now aware that his girlfriend Maeby is actually his cousin, intends to break up with her.
The episode contains the first appearance of Bob Loblaw, a character created in order to replace Henry Winkler's character Barry Zuckerkorn, a similar situation to what happened to Winkler's character of Fonzie on Happy Days. Bob Loblaw was partially named after a chain of supermarkets frequented by co-executive producer Chuck Tatham in his childhood. The episode's captioning was unusual, requiring a more lengthy process.
"Forget-Me-Now" received positive reviews from critics, with praise going towards its humor and content; and has been featured on several lists detailing the finest episodes of Arrested Development. Since airing, the episode has received academic analysis from both scholars and critics.
Plot
The family meets with their new attorney, Bob Loblaw (Scott Baio) to discuss their current situation. The family's patriarch George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor), still under house arrest, sends Larry (Bob Einstein), a surrogate, in his place, wired up to transmit video back to him. Maeby (Alia Shawkat) begins to date Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade) to avoid her feelings for her cousin, George Michael (Michael Cera). Michael (Jason Bateman) meets up with his girlfriend Rita (Charlize Theron); he tries to dissuade Rita from her wish to meet his family by telling her that he doesn't have one. The family's matriarch Lucille (Jessica Walter) arrives at the office to go on a date with George Sr., who formulates a plan to escape his ankle monitor after seeing balloons elevating a person on TV.
Michael, thinking the model home will be empty, decides to bring Rita over; he eventually finds his brother-in-law Tobias (David Cross) and brother Buster (Tony Hale) in the house, surrounded by the Bluth family evidence files he previously told his brother Gob (Will Arnett) to shred. George Michael, jealous of the growing relationship between Steve Holt and Maeby, reveals to Steve Holt that him and Maeby are actually cousins. The family tries to help Michael by picking up Rita for their date, but she is confused upon meeting them, still under the assumption Michael had no family. Buster unintentionally knocks Rita out, and, upon waking up, Gob drugs her with a rohypnol pill—which he calls a "forget-me-now"—to make her forget what happened, and the family dumps her on the side of the road.
Michael leaves to pick up Rita, and Steve Holt arrives at the house, planning to end his relationship with Maeby. Michael finds that he has missed Rita, but later finds a drowsy Rita on a bench. At the house, the family greets Michael and presents him with a quickly thrown together party. Rita suddenly enters, and Michael admits his lie about his family to her; she leaves, and Gob blurts out the truth and tries to shove a pill down Michael's throat as a way of covering it up. An overwhelmed Buster flings his army medal over the balcony, and it hits and sets fire to the balloon bundle that George Sr. is using to float down to the ground, who falls and is swiftly caught by waiting police officers. George Michael finds that Maeby has drugged Steve Holt and is now preparing to convince him that they had sex. George Sr.'s crashing balloon fire catches on to the evidence that Michael had hidden in his nearby car. As Michael tries to reassemble the files, he makes up with a remorseful Gob.
Production
"Forget-Me-Now" was directed by supervising producer John Amodeo and written by co-executive producer Tom Saunders.[1] It was Saunder's first and only writing credit for the series.[2] It was the third episode of the season to be filmed.[3]
Scott Baio (left, 1982) was brought on as Bob Loblaw in Arrested Development in order to replace Henry Winkler's (right, 1977) character Barry Zuckerkorn.
The episode contains the first appearance of Scott Baio's character on the series, lawyer Bob Loblaw,[4] who was created as a way to replace Barry Zuckerkorn, portrayed by Henry Winkler.[5] Baio noted that this mirrored what happened to Happy Days, where Baio was brought on to replace Winkler.[6] The writers were conflicted on what to name Bob Loblaw, noting they wanted to give him an "idiotic" name. Co-executive producer Chuck Tatham wrote "Bob Loblaw" on a large whiteboard, named after a chain of supermarkets Tatham frequented during his childhood in Canada. His father would joke about a man named Bob Loblaw—a pun on "blah blah blah"—and Tatham, remembering the name, mentioned it to series creator Mitchell Hurwitz, who found it humorous. Writers Richard Day and Jim Vallely continued to add on to the joke, and they settled on him owning a law blog entitled "Bob Loblaw's Law Blog".[6]
The episode's reenlistment scene involving Larry—containing words from George Sr. coming out of a garbled sound machine attached to Larry—proved unusual to translate into closed captioning for it's television broadcast, requiring the editors to go into Audacity—an audio editor—and create the sound wave for the incomprehensible lines, which made them comprehensible. It was then imported into Photoshop and every word of the now understandable script was translated into text.[7]
Philosopher Michael Cholbi uses the episode as a basis for his theory that Gob is bipolar (brain scan diagram of the mental disorder pictured).
Christopher C. Kirby, Jonathan Hillard, and Matthew Holmes, writing for a section in the book Arrested Development and Philosophy: They've Made a Huge Mistake, feel that the episode contains Gob's only moment of character growth in the entire series, as he admits to Steve Holt that he is his father, and the two embrace. They note that this moment has a much more profound impact due to how poorly Gob is treated by George Sr. throughout his life, not undermining the moment and sincerely being there for his son.[9] Despite this character growth, Gob still acts selfishly in the episode, going to lengthy extremes in order to cover up his mistakes—including drugging himself with his own "forget-me-now" pill.[10] The episode continues what is, as author Lauren Bratslavsky describes, "Hurwitz toying with the audience's expectations" of how the incest themes of the series will conclude, revealing the true identity of Steve Holt—who is Gob's son—and adding an incestuous background to Maeby and Steve Holt's previously normal relationship.[11]
The episode also is when the series becomes less subtle to it's foreshadowing of Rita's later-revealed mental handicap; she sits on a bench that's sign is obscured so it reads "Wee Brain".[12] Philosopher Michael Cholbi uses the episode as part of his diagnosis of Gob with bipolar disorder, citing his overuse of the "forget-me-now" pill and general self-loathing in the episode as an example of his depressive tendencies.[13] Matthew Gannon uses "Forget-Me-Now" to emphasize the series' overall theme of family, and how, despite their embarrassing behavior and missteps in judgment, they care for Michael and help shape his personality and characteristics.[14] Throughout Arrested Development, Tobias speaks primarily in innuendoes alluding to his closeted homosexuality, and, as described by author Navid Sabet, the episode is much more direct in these lines that the majority of the series; Tobias tells the family he used to be an analyst and therapist, showcasing a business card combining the two occupation titles into "analrapist".[15]
The episode contains an unorthodox use of cross-dressing to showcase Tobias' gender confusion when he dresses as Lucille, as, unlike how most media will typically portray the act of cross-dressing—using it as a pun for homosexuality—the series doesn't explicitly use it in this sense, instead just showing Tobias acting rather than truly embracing his role. This leaves it up to the audience as to how they wish to interpret it, according to Sabet.[16] Larry's role as a surrogate—being passed between different people who control him—has been compared to the idea of "switching souls" between individuals by author Kristopher Phillips. Despite this, his demeanor remains consistent regardless of who is in control, and he stays fully conscious throughout these switches, rarely taking the time to speak his mind. Phillips also likens Larry to ideas of personal identity asserted by philosopher René Descartes, as he exhibits clear unhappiness from spending time with Gob throughout the episode, yet still does his job as a surrogate and let others speak their own minds through him.[17]
Reception
Viewers
In the United States, the episode was watched by 4.47 million viewers on its original broadcast. It received a 1.6% share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 1.6% of all households in that demographic.[18]
Critical reception
The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode, reacting positively to its introduction of new characters and meta humor.[19] Brian Tallerico from Vulture placed the episode 34th in his ranking of the whole series, criticizing the overuse of Rita by this point in the season, but finding amusement from the storyline between George Michael, Maeby, and Steve Holt.[20] Joe George of y!entertainment listed it as one of the series' funniest, highlighting a line from Lucille as the best moment of the episode.[1] Chad Collins of /Film gave the episode a positive review, calling it one of Arrested Development's most underrated episodes, praising the acting and it's emphasis on black comedy.[21]
Television writer Erin Mallory Long listed George Michael's line, "What a fun, sexy time for you" as her favorite moment from the series, noting it's line delivery, humorous context, and odd wording as her reason for enjoying it.[22]IndieWire's Steve Greene called the episode one of the show's best, saying that, while it doesn't contain the best use of Rita's character, the British stereotypes are a highlight.[4] Matt Fowler of IGN also listed "Forget-Me-Now" as one of the series' finest episodes, calling it "fully loaded" in terms of overall content.[23]
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