Michael and George Michael leave for Phoenix but go back to ensure the family misses them. Lindsay's desire for an open marriage causes Tobias to try to join the Blue Man Group, because he thinks they are a support group for depressed men. Lucille signs Buster up for the Army after being goaded by a Michael Moore lookalike. Gob becomes president of the Bluth company.
The Arrested Development episode "The One Where Michael Leaves" provides examples of:
- Crossing the Burnt Bridge: The whole episode consists of Michael's repeated attempts to leave the family, only to have to return for one reason or another.
- Gilligan Cut: Michael jokingly asks his son if he's not too old to sit in his father's lap and steer the car. George Michael awkwardly replies that he probably is too old, but then the scene cuts to them being pulled over by the police, revealing they did it anyway.
- Noodle Incident: Michael's announcement to leave the family is the latest in a succession of similar threats, all related via brief flashbacks of other incidents that pushed him to breaking point, (a family dinner that ended with Lucille punching Tobias in the face, Michael having to be cut out of locked chest, one of Lindsey's animal rights protests that ended with an orangutan being shot).
- Take That!: Gob's seven minutes of silence is a reference to George W. Bush sitting for seven minutes in a book reading about a pet goat after being notified about 9/11.
