Charlize Theron’s five-episode appearance on Arrested Development is another series highlight cementing the show’s cultural import. The premise that she’s this mentally challenged woman who seems smart because she has a British accent is brilliant on its own. Having Michael fall in love with her and be oblivious to this fact, which we learn before him but after being led to believe she may be a spy, is just extra cheese on the English muffin.
Any of the episodes from “For British Eyes Only” to “The Ocean Walker” will give you the gist of the section of the series, but for me, “The Ocean Walker” is probably the best episode of the whole damn thing. There are too many details to summarize, but the main joke that sealed the deal in my mind is set up with small moments throughout, from Michael’s first wedding video, to Tobias’ hair, to Gob’s errant lighter fluid spray, to Rita’s insistence that you can walk across the ocean. All this comes together in what’s at first a beautifully simple moment featuring Rita walking across the pool and out of Michael’s life. The episode ends with Gob saying that’s not a magic trick. And then the epilogue, itself a running series joke, starts with Gob screaming “It’s my illusion!” followed by about a dozen jokes and references to earlier events taking place at once. Had the series ended in that moment, it would have gone out in an absolutely brilliantly executed blaze of glory.
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