Arrested Development (TV series)/Heartwarming

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  • Michael Bluth gets a publicist to help improve the family's image. He starts dating her but then breaks it off because he is worried about it affecting his son. The publicist confronts his son and asks him why he is trying to keep his dad from being happy. Michael Bluth (without knowing this) takes the publicist out to dinner to try and patch it up where Michael's mother and sister confront her to attack her (she had written an unflattering article about them). Michael tries to stops them, however during the ensuing conversation the publicist mentions what she said to his son. Michael's response? "You said that?! You said that to my son!?" He steps back. "You're on your own." And his sister and mother proceed to beat the crap out of her.
  • Another great one is when George Bluth Sr. find out that his wife is in love with his twin brother Oscar and that Michael can get out of legal trouble if he turns George Bluth Sr. in. He proceeds to tell Michael to make a deal for himself as he (George) has no more love in his life. The episode ends with George waiting in the attic for the police to show up. Michael comes up and tells him that he did not turn him in, and he is sorry that he feels he has no love in his life. George Bluth Sr. says "I, I don't feel that way anymore." He then hugs Michael "Thanks Mikey, it's been a long time since someone stuck up for me," and kisses Michael on the forehead.
  • For this troper it was when George Sr. breaks back into prison to prevent his wife from sleeping with the warden, and tells her that however lousy their marriage is he doesn't want it to be thrown away, ending it with "No one is breaking this family apart, no one."
  • A touching moment occurs when Michael and GOB, both attempting to teach George Sr. a lesson, pretend to fight. During the tussle, Michael is seemingly thrown over the penthouse's balcony, to which George Sr. responds with a horrified "NO!". Of course, Michael is revealed to be safe, but the moment before this shows that for all his corruption and greed, George Sr. is at his core a father who deeply loves his son.
  • A sort of strange one occurs in Motherboy when Buster and Michael crash the Motherboy dinner-dance to rescue George Michael from Lucille, knowing how humiliating Motherboy is. Buster also crashes the party because he's angry at Lucille for basically rejecting him because of his hook prosthetic. At the end of all the mayhem they cause, he asks his mother if she'd still dance with him, even with his hook. She puts her scarf around his neck, tells him that he can be Captain Hook and she Peter Pan, and they dance together.
  • The end of "Storming the Castle" is a little bittersweet for Michael, but Lindsay does show him some genuine sympathy, and George Michael cuts him some slack for taking the chair from work. The look on Gob's face when he sees that Marta is the assistant Michael got for the show is also very heartwarming, as is his sheer happiness when he approaches his mother afterward. His happiness then inspires Lucille to accept Buster's relationship with Lucille 2 and have a sincerely friendly interaction with the latter. And, after years of stealing from Michael, Gob finally gives something back.
  • Heartwarming and heartbreaking all at once: "You gotta put family first. That's the stupid thing I believe."
  • You know it's true... Everything that I do... I do it for you.
  • When you think about it, the whole basis for the show. Michael gives up his chance to get away from his crazy relatives and finally be happy, all because his son was lonely and needed a family.
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