| Series: | Arrested Development |
| Season: | 2 |
| Episode: | 8 |
| Director: | Andrew Fleming |
| Photographer: | Greg Harrington |
| Editor: | Richard Candib |
| Production: | 2AJD08 |
| Length: | 22 minutes |
| Guests: |
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| Prev: | Switch Hitter |
| Next: | Burning Love |
| Season Article: | Arrested Development season 2 |
| Episode List: | List of Arrested Development episodes |
"Queen for a Day" is the eighth episode of the second season of the American television satirical sitcom Arrested Development. It is the 30th overall episode of the series, and was written by producer Brad Copeland and directed by Andrew Fleming. It originally aired on Fox on January 23, 2005.
The series, narrated by Ron Howard, follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family, who made their money from property development. The Bluth family consists of Michael, his twin sister Lindsay, his older brother Gob, his younger brother Buster, their mother Lucille and father George Sr., as well as Michael's son George Michael, and Lindsay and her husband Tobias' daughter Maeby. In the episode, when the Bluth company stock is unfrozen, Michael sells his shares to buy a new Corvette and Tobias uses his shares to purchase a gay nightclub called the "Queen Mary".
George Michael (Michael Cera) comes across a box of love letters he had written but never sent to Maeby (Alia Shawkat), and hides them in the attic, while at the studio, Mort Meyers (Jeff Garlin) tells Maeby that he is waiting on notes for a pile of scripts he sent her. Buster (Tony Hale) asks Michael (Jason Bateman) to go dancing with him while he is on furlough, but Michael declines and Tobias (David Cross) offers to go instead. Gob (Will Arnett), wanting a job at the Bluth company after being fired by Stan Sitwell (Ed Begley Jr.), says that he wants a company car since he had one at Sitwell. George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) tells Michael how bored he is in the attic and asks for some reading material. Barry (Henry Winkler) tells Michael that the company stock is unfrozen, and Michael asks if he could sell enough to buy a car, and Barry says as long as everyone doesn't sell it would be fine because they could lose control of the company.
After Maeby gets a paper cut from reading her scripts and quits, George Sr. is happy to have something to read, and begins to make notes on them. Michael buys an expensive sports car, and Tobias brings Buster to the "Queen Mary" where he meets Lucille Austero (Liza Minnelli), and Michael introduces Starla (Mo Collins) to Buster, who have the same interests as each other. Michael discovers that Lucille has had some work done in the bathroom, which stole some space from Lucille 2's apartment, and that she paid for it with her portion of the unfrozen stock. He learns that Gob is planning on buying a yacht, Lindsay promised her share to the country club, and Tobias had already bought the Queen Mary. Barry tells Michael that they're 2000 shares short of being the majority stock holders, and the current majority stock holder is a company called Standpoor, which Michael assumes is Sitwell since it's the opposite, and Lucille tells him that it's Lucille 2's company.
Michael and Lucille decide to give Buster to Lucille Auster, taking him away from Starla. When he is confronted by a group of roughnecks outside the Queen Mary, Tobias recruits them as dancers. At the office, after Buster breaks up with Starla, Michael tells him to stick with Starla and says he'll take care of Lucille 2. Michael brings Lucille 2 for a ride in his new car, which retriggers her vertigo. Tobias takes his gang on the street where they meet a real gang which they try to turn to good, and are subsequently beaten and one of them is shot. Michael apologizes to Lucille 2 and confesses that the only reason Buster had asked her out that night was because they wanted to get control of the company again, and Lucille says that she loves the Bluths and agrees to give Michael the shares necessary for him to regain control of the company. Gob comes into Michael's office and says he slept with Lucille 2, and she's not going to give the shares back, but is going to make Gob president of the company again.
Lucille 2 pushes her wall back, giving Lucille Bluth's bathroom less space, Tobias sells the Queen Mary to Barry, and Gob becomes needy with Lucille 2.
"Queen for a Day" was directed by Andrew Fleming and written by producer Brad Copeland. It was Fleming's first and only directing credit and Copeland's fifth writing credit.[1] It was the eighth episode of the season to be filmed.[2]
In the United States, the episode was watched by 5.20 million viewers on its original broadcast.[3]
The A.V. Club writer Noel Murray praised the episode, and commented on how "After several consecutive Arrested Development episodes with strong main plots alongside the subplots and serialization, “Queen For A Day” is pretty heavily skewed to the serialized side".[4] In 2019, Brian Tallerico from Vulture ranked the episode 68th out of the whole series, calling it "yet another mid-season sag of an episode."[5]