10 Small Details You Only Notice Rewatching Arrested Development

Arrested Development is one of the best-written television series of all time, and one of the main reasons it's such a good series has to do with the intricate jokes woven throughout the episodes. The series likes to play the long game when it comes to jokes, often taking several episodes or seasons for a payout.

A line uttered in a passing moment in the first season may not see any sort of punchline until season three, which makes it hard for any viewer to catch all of the jokes, jabs, or puns the first time they see it. That's one of the reasons the series is so great, and often demands a second or third viewing.

Even the most ardent of fans don't pick up on everything the first time around, which is especially true of the series' reliance on well-placed foreshadowing. Events that don't occur until several seasons later often have intricate nudges suggesting what is to come, and most people only catch these on a re-watch.

These ten examples are only some of the best intricate details from Arrested Development most people didn't catch the first time watching the show. See if you saw any of these things the first time around, and share any in the comments we didn't cover in this article.

One of the biggest events in Arrested Development had to be the loss of Buster's left hand. Anytime a character loses a significant body part, it has to be a big deal, so it seems likely the series would keep it a secret until it finally occurs. Arrested Development did the opposite, but hardly anyone noticed.

There are a ton of reveals in the form of foreshadowing, which indicate Buster will lose his hand to a seal. The only problem is unless you knew it was coming, there's no reason you would assume that. Going back and watching the previous episodes reveals it was pretty obvious. Here are all the moments of foreshadowing:

-Buster left his Army training to play a claw game. He won a stuffed seal.

-When Buster sees his hand-shaped chair in Lupe's home, he says, "I never thought I'd miss a hand so much."

-While sitting on a bench in his Army uniform, the bench's add for Army Officer training reads, "Arm Off."

-In the episode where he loses his hand, there's a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man with a missing hand.

-When Gob released the seal back into the ocean, he says, "You're not going to be hand-fed anymore." Of course, the seal then immediately feeds on Buster's hand.

-Buster was warned of a "Loose seal" by a passerby shortly before he loses his hand, but of course, he heard his mother's name, Lucille.

-In the episode where he actually loses his hand, George Bluth says this about his son, "What if I never get a chance to reach out and touch that hand of his again?”