Afternoon Delight (Arrested Development)

"Afternoon Delight" is the sixth episode of the second season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 28th overall episode of the series, and was written by executive story editor Abraham Higginbotham and supervising producer Chuck Martin, and directed by series star Jason Bateman. It originally aired on Fox on December 19, 2004.

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 getting roasted at the company Christmas party, Gob fires the entire staff and Michael must find a way to rehire them. Meanwhile, Buster plays hooky from the army.

Plot
Michael (Jason Bateman) finds the banana stand vandalized by teenagers, and finds George Michael (Michael Cera) planning to attend Ann (Mae Whitman)'s family Christmas party. Gob (Will Arnett) is excited for the Bluth Company celebration, because he believes his co-workers are going to toast him, and Michael and Maeby (Alia Shawkat) begins rebuilding the banana stand. Michael and Maeby arrive at the party as Gob has just given an explicit sexual harassment speech to his employees, threatening anyone who flirts with his Lindsay (Portia de Rossi). Lucille (Jessica Walter) arrives, and Michael decides to send Tobias (David Cross) over to her to give her some company, only to find that Tobias has painted himself blue in case the Blue Man Group needs him.

As Michael and Maeby entertain themselves by sticking candy to the back of Gob's suit, Lindsay finds the party less enjoyable as no one will flirt with her, and George Michael shows up after a creepy experience with Ann's religious family. George Michael and Lindsay watch Michael and Maeby perform karaoke of "Afternoon Delight" together on stage, and feeling abandoned, both leave the party. Gob gets roasted by an employee, and after the whole staff laughs at him, he fires them all. Michael and Gob decide to throw a new party, while Tobias (David Cross)'s visit to Lucille's did not go well, as she became afraid at the sight of a man covered in blue paint and blew an air horn into his ear.

Michael finds Oscar (Tambor) and asks him to give Lucille some "Afternoon Delight" to relieve her stress, and Oscar, mistakenly believing that Michael is referring to a particular kind of marijuana ("Afternoone Deelite"), tells Michael that he'll put it in her brownie. Lindsay and George Michael decide they should be spending more time together, and opt to go to the second Bluth party together. The party begins at the docks by the banana stand, and Gob shows up in the family's banana suit, looking to make his employees laugh. Lucille, under the effects of Oscar's "Afternoone Deelite", plows her car through the party and toward the banana stand, running over Tobias, who has been deafened by the air horn blow. She crashes into the banana stand, trapping Gob inside. Buster (Tony Hale), who is nearby spots a real crane on the docks and takes control, grabbing Gob out of the crushed banana stand. As he is lifted up out of the stand, Gob hears laughter from the employees. Gob is abruptly released and plummets into the ocean, and Michael again takes to rebuilding the banana stand, happy to find that this time George Michael is by his side.

On the next Arrested Development...
The Blue Man Group calls Tobias, but after being deafened by Lucille, doesn't hear the phone.

Production
"Afternoon Delight" was directed by Jason Bateman, who plays Michael Bluth in the series, and written by executive story editor Abraham Higginbotham and supervising producer Chuck Martin. It was Bateman's first and only directing credit, Higginbotham's third writing credit and Martin's fourth writing credit. It was the sixth episode of the season to be filmed.

Reception
In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode as the seventh best of the whole series, saying "Jason Bateman directs a season-two highlight". The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode, calling it "one of the raunchiest Arrested Development has ever done" In the United States, the episode was watched by 5.62 million viewers on its original broadcast.