Now that all the hype surrounding the long-waited return of the beloved sitcom “Arrested Development” on Netflix has subsided, the talk has shifted to how the fourth season fared. Despite the fact that the Bluth family’s return to television was highly anticipated, the reviews have been mixed from negative to positive to everything in between.

In comparison to previous seasons, the major change viewers saw in the new season was its structure with each episode focusing on one character with other cast members sporadically appearing in intersecting storylines. The Guardian columnist Hadley Freeman said while the concept initially sounded intriguing since previous episodes quickly cut back and forth between characters and left fans wanting more, it only worked with a few of the characters. She said one character that it didn’t work for was Michael Bluth, played by Jason Bateman. She wrote that “once the well-intentioned straight guy of the series [he] has become less likable, and not in a fun way, and spending too much time with him felt like a drag.” Moreover, she said that the criss-crossing plotlines also only worked occasionally, saying when they did they fell “into place like a successful sudoku clue” and “when they didn’t, they lurched tediously onwards.” Although she says that the show’s creator Mitch Hurwitz deserves credit for trying to revamp the series, her overall feeling is summed up with her phrase “it doesn’t really work, but as failures go, it is a very noble one.”

Mike Hale of the New York Times put out a harsher review with his first line reading, “Chalk one up for the Internet: It has killed ‘Arrested Development’.” He said that “the self-referential and metafictional humor” that the helped turn the show into a cult classic wasn’t “enough to really enliven the episodes or distract you from the story’s dullness.”

Speaking of the fourth season’s humor, The Hollywood Reporter‘s Tim Goodman writes that “the comedic payout beings to multiply with each succeeding episode” and he encourages viewers to watch the season more than once “to better appreciate the skill that went into the season.” Similarly, Forbes contributor Seth Porges suggests re-watching the season as “many of the show’s jokes were simply not designed to make any sense the first time you see them.” He said that those that are already making comments about the season’s quality or legacy based on one initial viewing are going against “the very qualify that makes ‘Arrested Development’ great.” He brings up the fact that the show didn’t develop a cult following until after its original run with DVDs and streaming services enabling individuals to re-watch old episodes to better under the subtle humor within the show.

Sadie Gennis of TV Guide also agrees with the idea of viewing the season multiple times, saying, “After Episode 7, Arrested hit its stride, leading up to a final fantastic four episodes…I even believe that if I went back and re-watched Episodes 1-6 – now knowing how it ends – I’d find a whole new appreciation and enjoyment in them.”

What did you think of the fourth season of “Arrested Development”? Do you agree that it should be watched multiple times in order to form an opinion about its quality? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.