For British Eyes Only

"For British Eyes Only" is the second episode of the third season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 42nd overall episode of the series, and was written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and co-executive producer Richard Day, and directed by John Fortenberry. It originally aired on Fox on September 26, 2005.

The series, narrated by Ron Howard, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family, who made their money from property development. The Bluth family consists of Michael, his twin sister Lindsay, his older brother Gob, his younger brother Buster, their mother Lucille and father George Sr., as well as Michael's son George Michael, and Lindsay and her husband Tobias' daughter Maeby. In the episode, Michael falls for a British woman named Rita while investigating a claim by George Sr. that a British construction firm tricked him into doing business with the Iraqis.

After George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) pleads to not be sent back to prison, Michael (Jason Bateman) has him placed under house arrest. Michael then tries to get Gob (Will Arnett) to spend more time with his newly discovered son, Steve Holt (Justin Grant Wade), while Tobias (David Cross) has painted Gob-like hair on his head with permanent pen in an attempt to convince Gob that he should be the look-alike for the performance of the illusion. Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) tries convince Michael to buy her a Lexus, and George Sr. explains his plans for his trial to Michael, and Michael tells his father that he should plead guilty. George Sr. claims that he was set up by British builders in his involvement with building houses in Iraq, and Michael sets off to find evidence for George Sr.'s claim.

Michael drives to the British district of Orange County, named 'Wee Britain', in order to check the records, but is turned down because he is American. Michael enters a pub across the street, and meets Rita (Charlize Theron). Upon finding out that she is British, he tries to employ her in order to access the files that would shed light upon his father's involvement in Iraq. Michael misses gaining access to the files, as the records office is working on Greenwich Mean Time, but he does arrange a date with Rita. As Michael drives away from Wee Britain, he calls Lindsay in order to gloat that he has a date, but the call is interrupted by Trevor (Dave Thomas), in a convertible car swerving into the stair car, who threatens him with regard to his interaction with Rita. He misinterprets the threat, thinking it has to do with the search for information regarding his father.

Michael returns to the Bluth Company office, where Gob is conflicted over his feelings about Steve Holt, and Michael starts to believe that he is being set up by his father. Michael visits George Sr., who denies that he set up his son, and then goes to cancel his date with Rita at her school. George Sr. tries to convince Gob to include him in his illusion in order to escape before the trial, and Tobias has had hair plugs implanted in his head in order to look more like Gob for possible use as his double in the illusion, but his scalp is bleeding horribly from the treatment. As the family arrive at the courthouse for George Sr.'s trial, Gob performs his illusion, where Steve Holt and Gob bond over their mutual love for magic. During the confusion, George Sr. tries to escape, but Lucille (Jessica Walter) uses a stun gun to stop him. In court, Michael pleads not guilty on behalf of his father, and Rita turns up at the courthouse. Michael decides to be brave and asks Rita out on another date, and goes back for a kiss, and she then leaves with Trevor.

"For British Eyes Only" was directed by John Fortenberry, and written by series creator Mitchell Hurwitz and Richard Day. It was Fortenberry's second directing credit, Hurwitz's 16th writing credit and Day's first writing credit.^[1] It was the second episode of the season to be filmed.^[2]

In the United States, the episode was watched by 4.02 million viewers on its original broadcast.^[3]

The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray said about the episode that his "biggest complaint about "For British Eyes Only" is that is so overstuffed."^[4] Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode 38th out of the whole series, saying that "The parody of British manners is very funny".^[5]

• "For British Eyes Only" at IMDb