Out on a Limb is where Buster loses his hand to a seal bite, at the very end of the episode. It happens pretty abruptly, and it's pretty weird, leaving one asking, "What?" The next episode, Hand to God, picks up on the storyline and gives it more attention, but it still seems weird- it's not really until Motherboy XXX that we come to terms with the change, as I said in my review of that episode. That said, Out on a Limb is memorable for more than its odd ending. In this episode, Michael's former lover Maggie Lizer, played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, returns, looking pregnant- an intense development. Michael is dating Sally Sitwell, but she dumps Michael when Michael talks about the pregnancy because it seems like Michael is looking for reasons why he and Sally can't be together. So Michael sends Lindsay and Tobias to Maggie's house to look for evidence as to whether Maggie's pregnancy is real, and they find evidence it is.
This episode has jokes that nicely work as part of common themes for the series as a whole- for example, Michael pushing George Michael, seen here when Michael suggests his son keep the banana stand open later. Then there's the show's philosophy that life is suffering- here, Michael is accused of liking to suffer, with Sally breaking up with him for this. The show makes the odd choice of skipping over Michael and Sally's dating- in previous episodes we see Michael merely pursuing Sally unsuccessfully, and here we learn the two finally did start going out, only to see the relationship crumble. But it was probably a good decision to skip over the dating- we only want to see Michael suffer because that's what's funny.
The wit of this episode is delicious- from Tobias saying Maggie must have been blind when she bought some clothes, to Lucille insulting Tobias and Tobias going into denial that she said anything. We expect more insults from Lucille when George Michael and Maeby introduce her to Ann, but it doesn't happen- due to the emotions Lucille is feeling when she learns Buster is going to war. This shows how AD can have heart- even George, who rarely gets along with Buster, is upset, and the episode ties into the past episode In God We Trust to show how George and Buster really did have a loving relationship. And it's nice to see Lindsay and Tobias getting along for once.
Then there's the joke about Lindsay masturbating. It's TV, so of course we don't see much (she's under the sheets of her bed), but we do get to hear some of her orgasm. This was pretty bold on the part of the makers of the show. This builds up to a great joke about Lindsay and Tobias, but I also liked the mere idea of Lindsay masturbating- I find female masturbation very attractive, and previously masturbation jokes on AD were limited to Buster which was less pleasant to think about. I guess it was appropriate to have Louis-Dreyfus in this episode because she did a Seinfeld episode, The Contest, where she also masturbates (though we didn't see any of it).
We can also laugh at Michael's geekiness when he says "...not." So, overlooking the abrupt ending, this is definitely a worthwhile episode.
This episode has jokes that nicely work as part of common themes for the series as a whole- for example, Michael pushing George Michael, seen here when Michael suggests his son keep the banana stand open later. Then there's the show's philosophy that life is suffering- here, Michael is accused of liking to suffer, with Sally breaking up with him for this. The show makes the odd choice of skipping over Michael and Sally's dating- in previous episodes we see Michael merely pursuing Sally unsuccessfully, and here we learn the two finally did start going out, only to see the relationship crumble. But it was probably a good decision to skip over the dating- we only want to see Michael suffer because that's what's funny.
The wit of this episode is delicious- from Tobias saying Maggie must have been blind when she bought some clothes, to Lucille insulting Tobias and Tobias going into denial that she said anything. We expect more insults from Lucille when George Michael and Maeby introduce her to Ann, but it doesn't happen- due to the emotions Lucille is feeling when she learns Buster is going to war. This shows how AD can have heart- even George, who rarely gets along with Buster, is upset, and the episode ties into the past episode In God We Trust to show how George and Buster really did have a loving relationship. And it's nice to see Lindsay and Tobias getting along for once.
Then there's the joke about Lindsay masturbating. It's TV, so of course we don't see much (she's under the sheets of her bed), but we do get to hear some of her orgasm. This was pretty bold on the part of the makers of the show. This builds up to a great joke about Lindsay and Tobias, but I also liked the mere idea of Lindsay masturbating- I find female masturbation very attractive, and previously masturbation jokes on AD were limited to Buster which was less pleasant to think about. I guess it was appropriate to have Louis-Dreyfus in this episode because she did a Seinfeld episode, The Contest, where she also masturbates (though we didn't see any of it).
We can also laugh at Michael's geekiness when he says "...not." So, overlooking the abrupt ending, this is definitely a worthwhile episode.
