Season 4, Episode 1

Flight of the Phoenix

Originally aired Sunday, May 26, 2013

Michael says goodbye to the family business and starts his own. And the life of the family is turned upside down when their mail man Pete dies.

21 recurring jokes in this episode

... reference Peanuts

Michael cannot kick the tumbleweed in a scene reminiscent of Charlie Brown being unable to kick a football because Lucy pulls it away at the last minute.
... don't understand Spanish

Cinco de Cuatro
... flirt with incest

Michael: "Didn't tell me it was your cousin." George Michael: "He doesn't know."
Prayer hands

Michael folds his hands in prayer on the cover of Altitude magazine.
Michael uses prayer hands when voted out of George Michael's dorm room.
... don't know how to tip.

George, Lucille and Michael fail to tip the movers at Lucille's condo.
Michael tries to tip a construction worker at Sudden Valley.

"Family first."

"I don't need them."
... wants to be a lawyer

Michael is revealed to have taken a year of law school with a focus on maritime law.

Related Joke: Maritime law

"I've made a huge mistake."

The Altitude Magazine story on Michael is subtitled: "Michael Bluth is Praying You'll Fix His Huge Mistake."

Related Joke: Prayer hands
Forget-Me-Nows

Narrator: "It's almost as if he'd found a way to simulate amnesia."

... gets panic attacks

Buster panics when Lucille and George Sr. tell Michael of their upcoming divorce.
seal

Michael's power of flight during "The Trial of Captain Hook" inadvertently loosens a bronze seal from a wall.
The mural behind Michael in the Phoenix airport shows a seal in a yellow bow tie in the water.

"He's very good."

Barry misses the trial because he doesn't know what time it starts.
Lucille 2's vertigo

Michael triggers Lucille 2's vertigo several times.

Related Joke: Hot mess
banners

"Your Future Starts Now George Michael"
"Drive Safely"
meta

Michael's phone calendar is stuck in 2003, the year that Arrested Development started.
Maritime law

Michael is revealed to have taken a year of law school with a focus on maritime law.
Hot mess

Michael refers to Lucille Austero as a hot mess when she falls down behind her door.
Beverly Hills

Get this, Beverly Hills.
Stress stuttering

Michael: "Look. Listen. Look. Listen. Lookit."
Ostrich troubles

An ostrich tramples Michael as he walks into Lucille's condo.

Sources: Joke data compiled by Adam Cole / NPR. Episode metadata from The TVDB via a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States (CC BY 3.0 US) license.