Arrested Development Season 5 Review: 6 Ups And 3 Downs

2. A Few Characters Don't Work

While the show largely does a good job in getting the band back together, a few characters don't land like they used to.

Although a huge plot point is Lindsay Bluth's run for Congress, but the character herself is little more than that device. Portia de Rossi has retired from acting, which is an unfortunate happenstance, but she does still appear here. The trouble is those appearances are so sporadic that it makes the plotline fumble - it'd be way stronger if she were actually there for most of it - and it's quite clear she filmed most of her scenes separately, with the sequences where she was clearly digitally inserted feeling really distracting.

Her old husband, Tobias, doesn't fare too well either. The show tries to make a joke of the fact that he doesn't fit in with the family, but without Lindsay there it's simply a sad fact. The character was always bizarre, even by Arrested Development standards, but where that previously led to humour over his being a Never Nude and their failing marriage, here it's a more annoying presence and there doesn't ever feel like a need for him to be there.

The process of introducing Ron Howard more continues too, with the actor/director - and his family - making a few more appearances outside the VO booth. His narration continues to be excellent, but the cameos in-person are a little more distracting.