Altar Egos (Arrested Development)

Michael (Jason Bateman) and the family gather to discuss George Sr.'s (Jeffrey Tambor) upcoming trial, where lawyer Barry Zuckerkorn (Henry Winkler) reveals that they've received a plea offer, which Lucille (Jessica Walter), speaking for George Sr., wants to accept. Cindi Lightballoon (Jane Lynch), an undercover FBI agent, falls in love with George Sr. and tells him that she knows for a fact that he can beat the government's case against him. Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) receives a letter from Maeby's (Alia Shawkat) school saying that her daughter is failing, so she and Tobias hire George Michael (Michael Cera) to tutor Maeby.

Michael sits down to read the plea, but Gob (Will Arnett) suggests he have a one-night stand with a lawyer instead. As Michael reads the plea, Maggie Lizer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), bumps into him, and he introduces himself as "Chareth Cutestory," a maritime lawyer, eventually going home with Maggie. The following morning, Michael realizes that Maggie is blind, while George Sr. presses Cindi for information about his case, where Lucille catches him and storms away. When Michael comes home, Gob tells him that he has gotten married during a series of escalating dares.{{efn|Gob's wife is played by Arnett's then-wife Amy Poehler.}}

Michael then has his second date with Maggie, and George Sr. is approached by Cindi, who tells him she knows for a fact he will be set free. It is then revealed, however, that she understood George Sr.'s statement of "faith is a fact" as a philosophical assertion, even though in reality it was simply a mispronunciation of "faith is a facet" and thus included in the bloopers section. At the high school, Maeby pays George Michael to do an essay for her then runs off. George Michael then attends the fundraiser for "Surely Fünke," where he discovers that Maeby has been collecting charity money by posing as a dying girl in a wheelchair. At the courthouse, Michael meets up with his family, but neither he nor Barry have read the plea deal. George Sr. decides to take the plea even though no one has read it, and the hearing gets underway, where Maggie is the prosecutor. Michael later visits Maggie, and she hands him the Bluth case file so he can advise her about it.

Maeby attempts to deposit her check from the Surely Fünke fundraiser, and Gob adapts to married life. Tobias breaks into Maggie's house to steal evidence, where she is revealed to not really be blind.

"Altar Egos" was directed by Jay Chandrasekhar and written by producer Barbie Feldman Adler.{{Cite web |last=Manager |first=Mr |date=2020-07-05 |title=Season 1, Episode 17: Altar Egos |url=https://deconstructingad.com/2020/07/05/season-1-episode-17-altar-egos/ |access-date=2024-07-11 |website=Deconstructing Arrested Development |language=en}} It was Chandrasekhar's third directing credit and Feldman Adler's second writing credit.{{Cite web |title=Arrested Development |url=https://directories.wga.org/project/192692/arrested-development/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=directories.wga.org}} It was the sixteenth episode of the season to be filmed after the pilot,{{Cite web |date=2011-10-30 |title=20th Century Fox - Fox In Flight |url=http://www.foxinflight.com/tv/8/ |access-date=2024-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111030035137/http://www.foxinflight.com/tv/8/ |archive-date=2011-10-30 }} and the fourth of Fox's second episode order for the season.{{Cite web |date=2011-07-20 |title=Arrested Development: "Beef Consommé"/"Shock And Aww" |url=https://www.avclub.com/arrested-development-beef-consomme-shock-and-aww-1798168971 |access-date=2024-07-08 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240708183924/https://www.avclub.com/arrested-development-beef-consomme-shock-and-aww-1798168971 |url-status=live }}

In the United States, the episode was watched by 9.62 million viewers on its original broadcast, an all time high for the series, and an increase of over 4 million viewers from the previously aired episode, "Staff Infection".

The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode and it's follow up, "Justice Is Blind", saying "they're a prime example of how [Arrested Development]'s writers, cast and crew can sustain an intricate, comedically fertile, largely self-contained story for longer than just 22 minutes."{{Cite web |date=2011-08-10 |title=Arrested Development: "Altar Egos"/"Justice Is Blind" |url=https://www.avclub.com/arrested-development-altar-egos-justice-is-blind-1798169208 |access-date=2024-07-09 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en |archive-date=2024-07-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240709131346/https://www.avclub.com/arrested-development-altar-egos-justice-is-blind-1798169208 |url-status=live }} In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode as the 15th best of the whole series, saying it "serves up hysterical performances and characteristically ridiculous plots".{{Cite web |last=Tallerico |first=Brian |date=2019-03-18 |title=Every Episode of Arrested Development, Ranked |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/arrested-development-every-episode-ranked-worst-to-best.html |access-date=2024-07-07 |website=Vulture |language=en |archive-date=2020-07-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200708110816/https://www.vulture.com/article/arrested-development-every-episode-ranked-worst-to-best.html |url-status=live }}

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Category:2004 American television episodes

Category:Arrested Development season 1 episodes

Category:Television episodes directed by Jay Chandrasekhar