Oh, it's definitely dark and weirder now. The "wholesome" aspect is completely gone and you're left with empty, hollow beings with no souls. You're left with strange feelings with each episode's end, like you've just witnessed a murder and liked it. It's different in a big way. But I like it. In a different way.
I'd be happy with it being a a run for another season without all the "Hey remember why you loved Arrested, well we make a reference to every small thing from the past three seasons." I thought it was annoying after awhile. It came to the point when they make a whole episode about George Michael inner metronome that I was done with it. We get it. Jesus.
I would agree that S4 tried a little too hard and unsettled major fans by being such a different experience. But it wasn't awful. It was ambitiously brilliant. Hurwitz made a bold, bold move. He didn't pander to the criticism of the original series - that the humor went past the King of Queens crowd, that it needed a laugh track, that there were too many running jokes that newbies didn't understand. He actually went the other way. Instead of making it more episodic, he all but made a 15-part movie. S4 was definitely frustrating the first watch. Formula was gone, it was like Tarantino gone mad, only a couple episodes were hysterical standalone (episodes 4, 7). It's a season where you need to watch it all so that you can watch it again and enjoy it. Fair to say that you shouldn't make fans work to be entertained....but it beats a cheap imitation of the originals. Also feeds into AD's rewatching culture, and helps Netflix's payoff. They dropped all 15 at once, but if you just watch once, you're not getting full value. Nutshell, I'm good with it. Go Big or Go Home, and Hurwitz went big. Only thing I didn't dig about S4 was Michael Cera. He almost killed it for me. Loved all the newcomers and guest-alum.
Niiiccceeee. Watched all seasons last months and definitely one of my favourite shows. Also love how they handled the difficulties in the actors' schedules and basically made season 4 as a huge puzzle where everything unfolded and made more sense later on.
It definitely was different... but it holds up on repeated viewings, and there's definitely more inter-episode references that you pick up after watching all of them. I could have done without the Tommy Tutone/Tobias/fantastic 4 musical....
The first three episodes were ****, it begins to pick up at episode 4. People online feel the same mostly, so I recommend starting the season at that episode. The season is a masterpiece when you see all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place as the season progresses.
I thought it was a genius puzzle that came together incredibly well by the end of the season. I had read elsewhere that the showrunner intend to the entire cast back all at once for the new season so it didn't have the fractured feel of last season which turned a lot of people off.
There were rumors of Netflix releasing Season 4 in chronological order. I think that will make it easier to watch.
this is amazing news - I started my annual re-watching of the show last week I am just re-starting season 2. I only have season season 4 once so I am looking forward again to watching it. Besides being super funny - the show was shot heavily in culver city in the areas where I lived for over 8 years and up until this past Jan. Re-watching the episodes and seeing all the spots where I used to go to and all also makes me miss the place.
I agree....I loved the show, and I never finished the last season on Netflix. I eventually unsubscribed from Netflix, because I so rarely watched it.
I'm happy to hear that it's resurfacing for another go-round, but I'm not optimistic that that they will recapture the original wit of the first three seasons! I thought the last season was a bit too aggressive with certain topics and could've been toned down a bit! Hopefully, the show finds a balance between being funny and being over the top! I got to admit, I'm looking forward to seeing the Bluth clan back on the tube! (4K TV) ....... ....... .......
