Borderline Personalities

"Borderline Personalities"
Directors: Mitch Hurwitz & Troy Miller — Writer: Jim Vallely & Richard Rosenstock — Aired: May 26, 2013 —    ◄    ►

"Borderline Personalities" is the second episode of Arrested Development's fourth season.

George and Lucille create a plan to get back on top by making a border between the U.S and Mexico, but George Sr. gets sidetracked by a new get rich quick scheme involving his brother Oscar's Californian-Mexican land. 

Synopsis

After his exoneration party and his wife's arrest, George begged Michael to turn The C-Word around so Lucille wouldn't flip on him. After meeting with Barry at the harbormaster's lodge and agreeing to help Lucille's defense, George visited Stan Sitwell and tired to cash out. There he saw Stan's plans to build a fence on the border of Mexico (but George thought it was a 15 mile tall monument to George W. Bush). Lucille suggested the underbid Sitwell and in order to do so, they would need to fake a divorce to avoid any legal trouble. 

George at the family meeting

Soon thereafter, George became lonely and visited the Balboa Club where he found his twin brother Oscar using his identity to eat lunch with his friends Heartfire, Dr. Norman, and China Garden. Oscar invited him down to see their shared land on the border of Mexico, where they all ate the maca plant and sat in a sweat lodge. George bought the land to gouge the government when they wanted to buy it, but the Mexico wall plan stalled so he came up with a plan to make money in the meantime: build a "Sweat and Squeeze" lodge where he would have Oscar take CEOs into a sweat lodge for an hour, then swap with his twin brother to charge them $10,000 or more for a cup of lemonade.

Oscar and Lucille

The plan worked for a while but started to wear George down. He was no longer physically attracted to Lucille anymore either, and their "divorce paperwork"/conjugal visits became tedious. Barry stopped by the desert and informed George that he was $15,000,000 in debt for the land. Barry suggested bribing the far-right Herbert Love to build the wall. George asked Oscar to keep Lucille company while he visited Love and Oscar, who was becoming more and more aggressive, had a passionate night of love with Lucille.

Appearances

Main Cast

Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth

• Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth and Oscar Bluth
• Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth
• Jessica Walter as Lucille Bluth
• Tony Hale as Buster Bluth
• Will Arnett as G.O.B.
• David Cross as Tobias Fünke (no dialog)
• Portia de Rossi as Lindsay Bluth Fünke (back of head, no dialog, "Development Arrested" archive footage)
• Michael Cera as George Michael Bluth (back of head, no dialog)
• Alia Shawkat as Maeby Fünke ("Development Arrested" archive footage)

Recurring

John Slattery as Dr. Norman

• John Slattery as Dr. Norman
• Mary Lynn Rajskub as Heartfire
• Allan Wasserman as Herb Zuckerkorn
• Karen Maruyama as China Garden
• Max Winkler as Young Barry Zuckerkorn
• Mac Brandt as Coast guardsman
• Rich Chrisandanost as Divine Spirit (actually Chris Diamantopoulos as Marky Bark)
• Henry Winkler as Barry Zuckerkorn
• Kristen Wiig as Young Lucille Bluth
• Seth Rogen as Young George Bluth
• John Beard as Himself
• Ed Begley, Jr. as Stan Sitwell

Guest

Dan Harmon

• Todd Jeffries as CEO #1
• Tom Yi as CEO #2
• Greg Worswick as Maitre d'
• Eric Zuckerman as Workman
• Busy Phillips as Joan
• Natasha Leggero as Jackie
• Dan Harmon as Yurt clerk
• John Hartmann as CEO #3

Recurring themes

Celebrity References

Halliburton Teen

Hal & Burton's Frozen Goat Cream

A young Barry Zuckerkorn

• Halliburton - The oil drilling conglomerate has rebranded two divisions into "Halliburton Teen" and "Hal & Burton's Frozen Goat Cream".
• Ray Romano - When George is mocking the man who he thinks is an Indian, he asks for tickets to his casino to see Ray Romano perform standup comedy.
• Elizabeth Taylor & Richard Burton - Oscar hallucinates about the celebrities while eating maca.

Callbacks/Running Jokes

• Showstealer Pro Trial Version - Scenes from "Development Arrested" are watermarked.
• Barry's bad legal advice -
  • ​In 1982 George and Lucille meet with their attorney Herb Zuckerkorn and his son Barry, who suggests holding all meeting on a boat in the ocean to keep them safe and that a husband and wife can't be charged with the same crime. ("Pilot")
  • Barry admits that he went to law school in the Virgin Islands (graduated 1982) and that he paid a lookalike named Stuart to take the California Bar exam for him.
• Maca - Oscar and his friends introduce George to the Mexican drug.
• Something - The word "Google" can't be used, so George tells Heartfire to do a "something" search.
• Caged Wisdom - George remembers his faith video series when becoming the spiritualist "Father B."
• Lemonade - In this episode, George "squeezes" money from millionaires for a glass of lemonade. Oscar sold lemonade off his lemon grove in "Whistler's Mother" and John Beard uses lemonade to entrap local predators in "A New Start".
• "Look what the homosexuals have done to me." - Lucille repeats a complaint she used in "Pilot".

  

  Maritime waterproof cameras

• Maritime law - Barry tells Lucille and George that Lucille's crimes fall under maritime law. The cameras in her penthouse must be waterproof.
• Sitwell Enterprises - We see inside Stan Sitwell's company again.
• Security cameras - Security cameras are installed in Balboa Towers. Cameras record George and Lucille talking in a cell.
• Lupe - Lupe bleach stained Lucille's teal blazer, making her want to build a wall between the US and Mexico.
• "I don't want these..." - George says this line about Oscar's friends Dr. Norman, Heartfire, and China Garden. G.O.B. says the same thing about the Veal family in "Colony Collapse".
• "The O.C." - John Beard's new show is called Good News O.C. and he calls Orange County "The O.C." in the opening.
• "Hot Mess" - Oscar calls a passed out George a "hot mess".
• In-flight magazine - George appears in an exclusively first class magazine called we12. Michael appeared in a coach in-flight magazine called Altitude. Both Bluth men make prayer hands.

  

  George poses with prayer hands

• Prayer hands - George makes prayer hands in his magazine, and the greeting at the sweat lodge is to make prayer hands then wipe your brow.

Hidden/Background Jokes

• Young Barry Zuckerkorn - The actor portraying the young Barry Zuckerkorn is Max Winkler, Henry Winkler's son.

  

  Good News O.C. with John, Joan, and Jackie

• Good News O.C. with John, Joan, and Jackie - John Beard's rocky television career temporarily leads him to a morning coffee show until he quits on camera.
• Bees - George and Oscar call themselves "Father B." at their colony.
• Ashamed of their name - Oscar and George don't use their last name in their sweat colony. George Michael is ashamed of his name and Michael calls his new company "The Michael B. Company" in "Flight of the Phoenix" and his movie "The Untitled Michael B. Project" in "The B. Team". The episode title "Queen B. is a continuation of this.
• "I'm going to sit opposite you so it won't look bad." - George says this to Oscar, a nod that they are both played by Jeffrey Tambor and the editing used to make them appear on screen at the same time can look fake if done poorly.
• Mexican makeup - Lucille 2 dresses her adopted Hispanic son in a red wig and freckles, seen to be a favorite of Hispanic audiences previously in "Key Decisions".

Foreshadowing/Future References

The cave's ad on Craiglist

• Craigslist - Heartfire buys a cave off Craigslist.
• Ostrich - George mentions that Divine Spirit looked like an ostrich. Also, many ostrich screeches are heard while in the desert.
• Herbert Love - This is the first episode Herbert Love is mentioned.
• Perfecto Telles - A photo of Perfecto and Lucille 2 is shown.
• Red wig - Lucille 2's adopted son wears a red wig.

Quotes

Young Barry: Take to the sea!  

Notes

• In the opening credits, George's instrument is a guitar.
• Tobias Fünke is fully visible while Lindsay and George Michael are partially visible in this episode. None of the three have and dialog. Maeby only appears in archive "Development Arrested" footage.
• Herbert Love is first mentioned.
• Oscar's middle name is revealed to be George.

Images

→ See 107 pictures from Borderline Personalities at Images from Borderline Personalities.

SEASON FOUR EPISODES
1. "Flight of the Phoenix" 2. "Borderline Personalities" 3. "Indian Takers" 4. "The B. Team" 5. "A New Start"	6. "Double Crossers" 7. "Colony Collapse" 8. "Red Hairing" 9. "Smashed" 10. "Queen B."	11. "A New Attitude" 12. "Señoritis" 13. "It Gets Better" 14. "Off the Hook" 15. "Blockheads"
Season One • Season Two • Season Three • Season Four • Season Five