Remember one week ago when I wrote that we were getting closer and closer to the brand new season of Arrested Development on Netflix? Well now we're a one week closer than that! Time just keeps creeping on. And each week here at IGN TV we'll be bringing you some classic moments from a Bluth.
Or in this case...a Fünke! Yes, this week we land on rebellious, sarcastic le cousin dangereux, Maeby - a young lady we actually have a much easier time believing is a test-tube baby than the actual spawn of Lindsay and Tobias.
With her emotional train wreck of an ever-failing father Tobias' sexuality constantly in question, and her mother Lindsay constantly neglecting her, Maeby often resorts to mildly deviant behavior that attracts attention and affection her way. It's no young Jeff Winger faking an appendectomy scar, but her plots and schemes have managed to make her one of Arrested's "brightest stars who's not also a total idiot."
In the pilot episode, the Fünkes re-enter Michael and George Michael's lives after years of Michael and Lindsay not speaking and the first thing Maeby wants to do, in order to freak out her mom, is make out with young George Michael under the charade that the two cousins no longer recognize each other. She moves in for a kiss, but, naturally, oblivious Lindsay is oblivious.
And so it turned out that Maeby had an oblivious streak of her own, not realizing that this lip-lock would send George Michael into a swirling torrent of raging, confused hormones for years to come. These two would manage to fall back into each others arms, both accidentally and purposefully, a few more times over the course of the three FOX seasons...
...with a long-awaited real kiss confirming that the attraction between them was mutual. The best part about this "forbidden" relationship, aside from the fact that we were all actively rooting for them (as two genuinely sweet teenagers in an insane family) to get together, is that, compared to the usually craziness perpetrated by the Bluths/Fünkes, the idea of two cousins hooking up was a minor offense.
This ongoing story was rife will all sorts of "Comedy of Errors"-style hilarity, including, at one point, Maeby and George Michael accidentally getting married...
By the Season 3 finale, we discovered that, due to Lindsay being adopted, Maeby wasn't related to any of the Bluths. Which makes those of us who adored George Michael and Maeby as a couple even more excited for Season 4.
Granted, most of the awkward sexualized moments between the cousins will wind up in "George Michael's Best Moments," but we can't deny Maeby's role as unwitting initiator and temptress. "We're ass to elbows back here, Maeby could you jump and sit on your cousin's lap?"
It turns out though, as perhaps part of some sexually confused Fünke curse, George Michael isn't the only family member that Maeby unintentionally winds up connecting with in ways closer than she should. Whether it's singing "Afternoon Delight" with Michael at an office party...
...or joining the cast of a school play for the chance to make out with hotshot jock, Steve Holt!, who later turns out to be be Gob's son...
...Maeby always seems to find herself in an awkward hormonal gravitational pull toward those she shouldn't be considering.
Nailed it.
Consider that most of the things Maeby does are done with the intent of getting a rise out of her parents. Now also consider that she really doesn't want all that much attention from her father. Like, at all. Even though Tobias is constantly looking for ways to reach out and bond with his little girl.
In fact, the way that Maeby holds Tobias in absolute contempt, and sees through all of his pathetic charades, is one of the funniest parts of Arrested.
Maeby contracts a disease and lands a high-profile job in the "business of show" on page 2...
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