There was a time when news of new “Arrested Development” episodes coming in two short weeks would light fires around the internet. Now, the series makes its way toward the finish line (for Season 5, anyway) with one more batch of fresh installments.
Netflix has released a trailer for the roller-coaster series’ Season 5, Part 2, an appropriately confusing designation for a show that’s still drifting along. There’s the usual Bluth family checklist: Gob appearing in a puff of smoke, Buster getting his hand caught in something, Tobias in an unconvincing disguise, and Gene Parmesan ripping off fake facial hair.
This new half-season premieres on the same day as smorgasbord of other streaming shows: the farewell season of “Catastrophe,” the bonkers-looking animated anthology collection “Death, Sex + Robots,” Hulu’s adaptation of Lindy West’s memoir “Shrill,” a new season of “Queer Eye,” and “Turn Up Charlie,” the show where Idris Elba plays an out-of-luck DJ. Whether this will break through…remains to be seen.
As IndieWire critic Ben Travers wrote at the start of this Season 5, “These first seven episodes are about the series finding its feet again; walking before it runs, and running before it flies. By Episode 5 or so, you might believe the old stair-car can actually get moving like it did in 2003, and that’s a helluva lot closer than it was five years ago.”
Either way, it was an uphill climb to bring the show back in the first place. Even one of its stars thinks that the show may very well be over for good after this. At least they were able to bring James Lipton back for one last ride.
Watch the full trailer (which at least has some bonus Lawyer Dermot Mulroney!) below:
Netflix premieres the last episodes of “Arrested Development” Season 5 on March 15.