George Sr. meets with right-wing politician Herbert Love to convince him to publicly endorse the wall that he and Lucille are building on the Mexican border. At the fundraising event, he runs into a now redheaded Linsday who hands him the check that Lucille had written to Maeby (or “Mazie” as Father B. calls her) for plastic surgery. George Sr., in turn, hands the check to Herbert Love – he finally tipped a black man! As George Sr. is leaving the event, there’s a blackout and an alarm. Lucille, having just had sexual relations with Oscar-pretending-to-be-George, suggests that they give G.O.B. a job to get experience and have a president in place “just in case something should happen to Lucille 2 while we’re building the wall.”
The next day, George Sr. returns to his colony dressed as a woman (he’s wearing a a blouse because he “hates his arms”) only to discover that he’s got the border coordinates wrong. Father B.’s Colony is actually already in Mexico. Uh oh. G.O.B. shows up driving a limo filled with bees and expecting a job. The bees get out, causing chaos and the colony to collapse. After a fight with Oscar (“Goodbye, George. This is the last you’ll see of me!”), George Sr. drives home to visit Lucille, who’s eager to resume the previous day’s activities.
In an attempt to get to the bottom of his lack of sex drive, George Sr. consults Dr. Norman, who sends him to Orange County Imaging for an MRI. “Ride that MRI to climax,” Dr. Norman urges. Cut to a scene we’ve already seen within the first few minutes of the show: George Sr. entering a bodega in his floppy hat seconds after G.O.B. has walked out the door with his Forget-Me-Now Rx filled. Further puzzle pieces start to fall in place as George Sr. mistakenly walks into Orange County Imagine and runs right into Michael. Now we know why George Sr. had the Mexican porn magazines! We also find out that it was actually Oscar who had told Michael to go to hell. George Sr. agrees to sign off on the release after Michael agrees to convince Herbert Love to withdraw his support of the wall.
After rebuffing Lucille’s advances, Father B. calls Michael and orders him to give G.O.B. a job selling houses in Sudden Valley. The two brothers reunite at the model home to catch up and brag about their love lives, since both of them are dating people “kinda famous-y.” Upon entering the model home, G.O.B. and Michael hear a noise that they dismiss as a vulture and discover that someone has stocked the cabinets with Mike’s Hard Lemonade. The narrator reveals that they’re actually from John Beard, aka the man who would later entrap Tobias. The Bluth brothers get drunk and have a heart-to-heart about Michael’s disappointment in George Michael.
Cut to the Cinco festival. George Sr. runs into Michael, now sporting a big bruise on his face. Son reassures father that he took care of getting Love to denounce the wall. On his way to meet Dr. Norman for the results of his testosterone test, George Sr. is confronted by Lucille 2. She’s angry that he gave money to Love’s campaign since she’s running against Love and is president of a company building a wall that she campaigned against. He assures her that everything is taken care of and she tells him it better be. The episode ends with the crowd chanting “Put up this wall!” as George Sr. puts on a discarded red wig. We also learn that Lucille Astero went missing at the Cinco festival.
I loved this episode. It was riddled with callbacks (“It’s good to be out of that sweaty old hotbox.” refers to “How am I supposed to find someone willing to go into that musty old claptrap?”) and finally gives us a glimpse at what else was going down on Cinco de Quatro. But what really brought it home for me was the scene between Michael and G.O.B. because it felt just like old times.
Things to Note:
- Lucille’s prisoner number is 07734, which is HELLO when you hold it upside down on a calculator. HELLO = Anyong! Amazing.
- Ostrich reference: G.O.B.’s boxes of bees fell over on his way to the colony when he had to swerve to avoid an ostrich.
- Love asks George Sr.: “What do I look like to you? Carl Weathers?”
- We get another “No hugging!” which is turning out to be this season’s version of “No touching!”
- Barry is buying a step ladder while on the phone with George Sr. Perhaps to help reach the chachi?
- Callback to Buster’s days in Cartography class.
- We learn more about Rebel Alley: She’s Ron’s illegitimate daughter who, like her half-sisters, was named for the place she was conceived.
- New running gag: Rebel does PSAs directed by her dad based off of crimes she’s committed.
- Oscar’s theme music plays when Lucille mentions “their son.”
- You won’t know to look on first viewing, but you can see Buster on stage during the fundraiser.
- Call back to my all-time favorite AD line during the pier scene with Dr. Norman: Dr. Norman: “You sir, are a very funny lady.” George Sr.: “That’s what they always say to the unattractive one.” …Her?
Timeline:
- Lindsay mentions she hasn’t seen George Sr. “since last January.”
- George Sr. establishes that this episode takes place one year after “Borderline Personalities.”
