Good Grief (Arrested Development)

"Good Grief" is the fourth episode of the second season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. Written by consulting producer John Levenstein and directed by Jeff Melman, it first aired on Fox on December 5, 2004. The episode has received critical acclaim, with series creator Mitchell Hurwitz calling it his third favorite episode of the series. Rolling Stone ranked the episode as the 29th best television episode of all time in 2024.

"Good Grief"
Arrested Development episode
George Michael walks looking to the ground, while a beagle is seen sleeping on a red doghouse in the background, both references to Peanuts.
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 4
Directed by	Jeff Melman
Written by	John Levenstein
Cinematography by	Greg Harrington
Editing by	Richard Candib
Production code	2AJD04
Original air date	December 5, 2004 (2004-12-05)
Running time	22 minutes
Guest appearances
Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn Malik Yoba as Ice Mae Whitman as Ann Veal
Episode chronology
List of episodes

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, after Ice reveals that George Sr. has been executed in Mexico, the family holds a wake. Gob attempts an illusion in which he is buried in place of his father's body, which upsets Buster, who was told that it was a birthday party. George Michael discovers George Sr. alive in an underground bunker and hides him in the attic.

Plot

Ice (Malik Yoba), the bounty hunter that Michael (Jason Bateman) hired, discovers that George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) has supposedly died in Mexico, while Ann (Mae Whitman) breaks up with George Michael (Michael Cera). Maeby (Alia Shawkat) seeks advice from Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler) on divorcing her parents. The family discusses a wake for George Sr., and Gob plans to turn the event into an illusion.

Buster is not told the truth about his father's death out of fear of him overreacting. George Michael finds George Sr., who had faked his death and came back to win Lucille back from his brother Oscar (Tambor), alive and hiding in a spider hole, so George Michael hides him in the attic of the model home. The wake begins, with George Sr. watching through a vent and sending George Michael to bring him hors d'oeuvres. Michael intercepts his son, reuniting him with Ann and telling him that he wants them to be happy and honest with each other.

Buster arrives, and Lucille asks Gob to get him out of the house before he realizes it's a wake. Outside, Gob begins his illusion, but ends up getting himself buried alive when Buster realizes that the event is his father's wake. Michael finds his father in the attic and tells everyone else, but when they arrive at the attic, George Sr. has apparently fled. When they leave, George Sr. emerges from a hiding spot, and Michael keeps his secret.

On the next Arrested Development...

Buster finds out about the death of Captain Kangaroo and trashes Lucille's apartment, Michael gets annoyed with looking after George Sr., and Gob is put on the cover of Poof, a magazine for magicians.

Production

"Good Grief" was directed by Jeff Melman and written by consulting producer John Levenstein. It was Melman's first and only directing credit and Levenstein's sixth and final writing credit.^[1] It was the fourth episode of the season to be filmed.^[2]

Reception

Viewers

In the United States, the episode was watched by 6.66 million viewers on its original broadcast.^[3]

Critical reception

"Good Grief" received critical acclaim. The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode, calling it a "stunningly well-constructed piece of farce".^[4] In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode as the 20th best of the whole series.^[5] In 2015, Megan Walsh from Screen Rant ranked the episode as one of the top ten best of the series.^[6] Series creator Mitchell Hurwitz ranked "Good Grief" as his third favorite episode of the show.^[7] In 2024, Alan Sepinwall from Rolling Stone ranked the episode as the 29th best television episode of all time, calling it "a standout from the series’ initial three-year run".^[8]

Accolades

Richard Candib was nominated for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Comedy Series at the 57th Primetime Emmy Awards for "Good Grief".^[9]