The third episode of season 2 continues the storyline of the Bluths looking for their fugitive father George who escaped from prison. Thanks to a private investigator named Gene Parmesan, they find out George went to Mexico, and they go to that country to pick up the stair car and hopefully find George. GOB is left out of the plan, though, and hires a bounty hunter named Ice to find out what his brother Michael is up to. The storyline is rich; Ice goes from a mission to keep an eye on Michael in Mexico, but ends up watching Lindsay in California while Michael goes back to Mexico, much to GOB's frustration.
This episode is the first to focus on the fact that, throughout the series, none of the Bluths seem to have friends besides each other. Here, GOB is feeling down about being friendless, and searches for someone in the family to spend time with. (This episode notably predates the introduction of the puppet Franklin, who as we see later, is really GOB's best friend.) As someone who never has had a lot of friends, I found this story enjoyable. Much of the humour of the episode, however, comes from Ann. The incestuous lust between George Michael and Maeby goes on the back burner in season 2, though it is joked about here when Michael comments on how George Michael can't date Maeby. Nevertheless, Hurwitz finds in Ann a joke to adequately (and amazingly) fill the void left by the incest subplot. Her lack of personality and plain looks makes Michael forget her, and call her Ann Hog and Plant, and- in the ultimate slap in the face- abandon her in Mexico. It was all delightfully inadvertent, but it's amazing she didn't break up with George Michael here instead of in the next episode. With a lot of great laugh out loud jokes in this episode, including the running joke about Tobias having to go to the hospital, and Lucille's rare enthusiastic reactions to Gene, Amigos emerges as one of the best episodes of Arrested Development. The laughs make up for the slightly forced feeling of Michael and GOB's talk at the end.
This episode is the first to focus on the fact that, throughout the series, none of the Bluths seem to have friends besides each other. Here, GOB is feeling down about being friendless, and searches for someone in the family to spend time with. (This episode notably predates the introduction of the puppet Franklin, who as we see later, is really GOB's best friend.) As someone who never has had a lot of friends, I found this story enjoyable. Much of the humour of the episode, however, comes from Ann. The incestuous lust between George Michael and Maeby goes on the back burner in season 2, though it is joked about here when Michael comments on how George Michael can't date Maeby. Nevertheless, Hurwitz finds in Ann a joke to adequately (and amazingly) fill the void left by the incest subplot. Her lack of personality and plain looks makes Michael forget her, and call her Ann Hog and Plant, and- in the ultimate slap in the face- abandon her in Mexico. It was all delightfully inadvertent, but it's amazing she didn't break up with George Michael here instead of in the next episode. With a lot of great laugh out loud jokes in this episode, including the running joke about Tobias having to go to the hospital, and Lucille's rare enthusiastic reactions to Gene, Amigos emerges as one of the best episodes of Arrested Development. The laughs make up for the slightly forced feeling of Michael and GOB's talk at the end.