Top Banana (Arrested Development)

"Top Banana" is the second episode of the first season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer John Levenstein, and directed by producer Anthony Russo. It originally aired on Fox on November 9, 2003.

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, the Bluth's banana stand is burned down, and Tobias, now wanting to become an actor, auditions for a commercial.

Plot
In a flashforward, news anchor John Beard reports that Michael (Jason Bateman)'s banana stand, has been burned down. In the present, Michael visits his father at the county jail, questioning him on the location of his flight records. George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) refuses to answer, and instead, introduces Michael to one of his jail mates, T-Bone, an arsonist. At home, Michael questions his mom, Lucille (Jessica Walter), about the records, and is once again unanswered, though Lucille hints about a secret storage unit. Determined to find the records, Michael lies to his mom about a fake I.R.S audit and watches as Lucille's maid, Luz, leaves the house to deposit multiple pieces of fur clothing to the storage unit. Michael follows her, only to find out the unit has been burned down, and immediately suspects T-Bone.

At home, George Michael (Michael Cera) decides to work at his dad's frozen banana stand to try and stay away from Maeby (Alia Shawkat), who he has started to grow feelings for. He tells his dad, who appoints him as manager of the stand, but also tells him that he should work with Maeby. At the stand, Maeby and George Michael start taking money from the register to play skeeball. Later, George Sr. sends T-Bone, who has been released from prison, to work with Maeby and George Michael, who decide to take money from the register once again to buy lunch. While eating, George Michael thinks about the money they took and decides to burn down the banana stand, to make it seem as if the money was burned instead of stolen. Michael visits the banana stand and finds T-Bone, who confesses to burning down the storage unit. Michael goes to the beach, where he finds Gob (Will Arnett). Earlier, Gob had been tasked with delivering a letter containing an insurance check, which he threw into the ocean.

At the beach, Michael receives a call from Maeby, who tells him about George Michael's plan to burn down the banana stand. Michael manages to catch George Michael in the act, but after a conversation, Michael allows his son to burn the banana stand down. Tobias (David Cross), now wanting to become an actor after his incident with multiple gay actors, goes out to look for work. He auditions for a commercial about a firesale but fails to get the part. His wife, Lindsay (Portia de Rossi), hearing about the sale, becomes excited and accidentally gets the part. The next day, Lindsay, hungover after drinking with Lucille, misses the commercial shoot. Tobias, who was next on the commercial call-list, doesn't hear the phone call while crying in the shower. Michael informs his father that he burned down the banana stand, only to be told that there was roughly $250,000 lining the walls of the stand.

On the next Arrested Development...
Michael starts to rebuild the banana stand, while Gob throws a dead dove and a dead rabbit into the ocean.

Production
"Top Banana" was directed by producer Anthony Russo and written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer John Levenstein. It was Russo's second directing credit, Hurwitz's second writing credit and Levenstein's first writing credit. It was the first episode of the ordered season to be filmed after the pilot.

Reception
In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode as the fourth best of the whole series. The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode for being able to be as good as the pilot, stating that it was "a second episode which proved the Arrested Development team could sustain a manic, digressive style from episode to episode, as well as showing that they were planning to proceed as an intensely serialized sitcom." In 2015, Megan Walsh from Screen Rant ranked the episode as the ninth best in the series, saying it was "the originator of some of the most enduring, meme-inspiring jokes."

In the United States, the episode was watched by 6.70 million viewers on its original broadcast. It received a 3.0 percent share among adults between the ages of 18 and 49, meaning that it was seen by 3% of all households in that demographic.