Let 'Em Eat Cake (Arrested Development)

"Let 'Em Eat Cake" is the 22nd episode and first season finale of the TV comedy series Arrested Development.

Synopsis

The Bluth Company is in trouble. Because of the low-carb diet fad (which all the Bluths are on), the banana stand has been struggling. Meanwhile, the model home is falling apart because of shoddy workmanship. Lindsay thinks she has a solution: a new bead business. All she needs is some startup money from Michael. Gob hears Lindsay say "bee" business and vows to start his own. Michael is reluctant to give Lindsay any money, since her previous business attempts failed, but agrees to help her out. Then Kitty Sanchez calls and threatens to bring the company down unless they meet her demands.

Michael goes to the prison, where George Sr. tells him to give Kitty whatever she wants, but to avoid finding out what she knows so he (Michael) can pass his upcoming polygraph test. In the waiting room, Buster and Annyong bet with each other to see who can get a girlfriend first. At the banana stand, George Michael makes a new friend, Ann. As George Michael tries to impress Ann, Maeby watches with disgust.

Michael meets with Kitty, who demands control of the Bluth Company. She tells Michael that George Sr. built houses overseas without paying taxes. Michael decides that paying the back taxes is easier than dealing with Kitty, and leaves. He returns home just as George Michael is leaving to meet Ann. In the kitchen, Lindsay and Tobias excitedly announce that a book Tobias had written years earlier has suddenly caught fire (but only in the gay community). With the influx of money, Lindsay abandons her bead business. On the news show, George Michael's piece has been bumped for a story about American-made homes built in Iraq, homes Michael realizes are identical to the model home.

Kitty and Gob scheme to take over the Bluth Company, and Lucille claims no knowledge about the Iraqi deal. Tobias, meanwhile, is doing a book reading. Lindsay arrives, sees the gay clientele, and realizes that Tobias is still oblivious. Michael argues with his father at the prison; when he realizes his mother knew about the Iraqi deal, he quits the company. Kitty, disappointed with Gob, has moved on to Buster (Buster thinks it's a date).

With Michael gone, George Sr. volunteers to take the polygraph. He suffers a heart attack just as the test gets underway; everyone but Michael gathers at the hospital (no one called him). At the model home, Michael plans to leave town with his son, but George Michael says he wants to stay, for the family's sake. Then they get the belated call from the hospital. At the hospital, Maeby kisses Annyong to make George Michael jealous, but the strategy fails. Michael announces that he will never leave the family. Just then, a doctor comes in and tells the family they have "lost" George Sr. Shocked, the family goes in to see the body. They discover an empty bed, and realize that George Sr. has escaped. Michael reverses course again and tells George Michael they are leaving.

Episode notes

This episode is the finale for Season 1.
The series had not yet been picked up for a second season, so introducing the ending sequence with “On the next season of Arrested Development” was a gamble. Similarly, the "On the next Arrested Development" segment was included in "Pilot" before the show had been picked up.
- Season 2's finale will follow this running joke and end with "On the next season of Arrested Development," too.
On the DVD set, this episode is titled "Let Them Eat Cake," because the whole family is on the Atkins diet and is not eating carbohydrates; in fact much of the cast was also on the diet, and spitting out carbohydrate foods between takes.^{[citation needed]}
On the next...: "The family grapples with the news they had just heard, Maeby's life gets a little more complicated, and Kitty helps George, Sr. escape."

Cultural references

20/20 The news program that Michael wants to watch with his son is called Hindsight. And, as the old saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.
Atkins diet The whole family, even George Sr. in prison, is on the Atkins diet in the episode, although Tobiäs is seen cheating on his diet with a corn dog. Many jokes are made about potatoes, bread, bananas, the glucose IV drip, as they are all carbohydrate foods. In the next episode preview, the family is eating waffles, cake, toast, bagels, muffins, and an array of carbohydrates after Lucille orders them all off the diet. Except Lindsay...
Liberty Leading the People During the report on American troops making themselves at home in one of Saddam's palaces, an American soldier is seen examining the censored Eugène Delacroix painting Liberty Leading the People, with an American flag instead of the original French one (a black bar is painted over Liberty's breasts).
Malcolm in the Middle Maeby says Ann "barely had a face," and calls her Annie McNoface. Alessandra Torresani, who plays Ann in this episode, played Malcolm's girlfriend in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle where her face was never shown.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest According to a sign in the hospital, the resident nurse's name is Ratchet, a reference to the villain from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."
The title of this episode is a reference to a remark allegedly made by Marie Antoinette. The alleged remark was one of several attempts to propagandize the Queen, as the people of France claimed when it was brought to the Queen's attention that there was a shortage of bread, she scoffed "Let them eat cake." Although she never said it, the remark has stuck to the Marie Antoinette's legend. The line fits the episode, as it involves Michael leaving his family to fend for itself, as well as the fact that the entire Bluth family is on the Atkins Diet.
The sudden halt in Atkins for the family may have been a reference to Atkins dying. Due to a false rumor of heart problems attributed to this diet, the diet craze itself died.

Callbacks/running jokes

"And a whole lot of love." Lucille uses love as an excuse for committing a horrible deed, which she later uses again in "Development Arrested."
Attorneys George Sr. replicates his despondency from "Pilot," by putting his face in hand and stating that he has "the worst fucking attorneys." In the commentary, creator Mitch Hurwitz reveals that the audio is actually from the Pilot episode.
Barry's secretary Barry's gay secretary is seen at Tobias' book reading.
Barry's secret life In this episode, it is revealed that Barry frequents rest areas for an unspecified reason. He also lies, saying he has Lakers tickets in order to leave early to get back to the rest areas. Since the 1970s, highway rest areas have often been used as meeting places for anonymous gay sex. See Tearoom Trade.
Freedom sign The gay protester, first seen in the pilot episode, holding the “Freedom” sign is seen at Tobias' book reading.
Incest Maeby kissing Annyong to make George Michael jealous mirrors "Pilot," when she kissed George Michael to get her parents' attention. Neither attempt is successful, though Annyong suggests they kiss again to teach everyone a lesson, just as George Michael did earlier.
- Maeby's jealousy over Ann is indicative of her mutual feelings for George Michael.
- Lindsay asks Michael, "How do you not have sex with me?!" and Michael replies by stating "It is a struggle."
"Is that a shot at me?" Lindsay asks when Michael complains about nobody working, the same way Barry asks in "Altar Egos."
"I've made a huge mistake" Gob says this signature line after realizing how many problems Michael has to deal with as CEO of the company.
Shoddy Workmanship The video from Iraq that shows a house remarkably similar to the Bluth's house shows a piece of handrail falling. In the opening scene of the episode in the Bluth's house, the same piece of railing fell too. Shortly after the handrail fell in Iraq, the glass shelf on the bar behind Michael spontaneously breaks as if it was broken by the rail that fell in Iraq.
Tobias is gay More jokes are made at the expense of Tobias' sexuality.
- Tobias has replaced all the gender-related pronouns in his book reading with the masculine form only, including the "her" that refers to Lindsay in the dedication.
- Tobias is oblivious to the fact that his book appeals only to the gay community.
After George Sr. fakes his heart attack during the polygraph, there is a cut to the same clip of an ambulance seen in the earlier episode ("Visiting Ours"), after White Power Bill stabs Gob with a shiv.
While visiting George Sr. in the hospital, Gob refers to his father as "old bear" and says "he likes the honey." During Visiting Ours, Lucille refers to George Sr. as "my husband the bear," to which George Sr. replies, "This bear needs some honey-wife."

Hidden/background jokes

Amazon.com Amazon.com sells Tobias' book, The Man Inside Me, for $14.97. The site indicates that customers who bought the book also bought: Families with Low Self-Esteem, Caged Wisdom: Musings From Prison, Girls with Low Self-Esteem on VHS, and The Low-Carb Gay, Bi, and Transgender Diet by B. J. Zuckerkorn.
Mommy, What Will I Look Like? According to the sign: “Easy one-step process. Simply put your baby on our patented bed and snap, it's done! In just moments you will receive a print of what [your] beautiful child will look like when he or she [...] Disclaimer: Not responsible for end results. For complaints, contact God at 800-555-[...]”
"Visiting Ours" The hospital sign with “Visiting Hours” has the “H” missing. "Visiting Ours" was the title of an earlier episode.
"Livres Aux Folles" The bookshop's name is "Livres Aux Folles", which translates roughly from French as 'Books for the Birds'.” This is probably a reference to The Birdcage, based on a French play and film, La Cage aux Folles (film).

Character cameos

This episode marks the only appearance of Alessandra Torresani as Ann. In all future episodes, Ann is played by Mae Whitman.
Ian Roberts makes his first appearance as "The Literal Doctor," Doctor Wordsmith, a doctor whose choice of words often gives the family false hope or, as in this episode, unnecessary grief.
Barry Zuckerkorn's gay secretary, first seen in "In God We Trust" can be both seen and heard standing in front of the audience that attends Tobias's book reading at the bookstore.

Foreshadowing

For the first time, Maeby appears not only to be aware of George Michael's crush on her, but also to have feelings of her own toward her cousin. This will become a major theme toward the end of Season 2 and in Season 3.
Michael tells George Michael, “Pack your bags,” and the two are absent from "on the next..." scenes. We find out in "The One Where Michael Leaves" that they are going to Arizona, although the rest of the family think they have only gone home.
George Sr. admits that Lucille convinced him into the model home deal with Saddam Hussein, a possible hint into the revelation that Lucille was secretly the one controlling George Sr. and the business, as revealed in "Development Arrested."

External links