While plowing through all 15 new episodes of "Arrested Development" in a single binge can be tempting, the best tactic is to take them in 3-4 episode chunks.

Any faster and you risk burning out on an ambitious storytelling web that links big laughs later in the season to small details in the first few episodes.

To those sitting through the first couple episodes and wondering, "What happened to the show I used to love?" - hang in there. Satisfying payoffs come as soon as episode four.

Not surprisingly, reaction to Netflix's revival season of "Arrested Development" has been mixed. Cast schedules and budget restrictions prevented creator Mitchell Hurwitz from recreating the traditional "Arrested" structure. Really, there's only one scene with the entire Bluth family together, though the scene is played from different perspectives in several episodes.

Credit Hurwitz for using the cast limitations to swing for something bold - a 15-episode puzzle that fills the gaps between when the show ended in 2006 and present day. Turns out, members of the Bluth family are much more destructive as individuals as they ever were together.

While each episode focuses on a single character (most of the cast get two spotlight episodes), there remains quite a bit of overlap, and Jason Bateman as the seemingly level-headed Michael Bluth has something substantial to do in every episode.

Chances are viewers will be primed to most enjoy the episodes that spotlight their favorite characters. Michael's second episode, the only Buster (Tony Hale) episode and both Gob (Will Arnett) episodes were my favorites, but there are numerous callbacks to previous seasons as well as a cornball-filled mountain of new runners in all the episodes to make the disjointed storytelling worthwhile. Only the two George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) episodes stand out as misfires, but both occur early in the season to clear the way for momentum to build in the season's second half.

As an ardent and longtime fan of "Arrested Development" and a firm believer that this resurrection is a good thing, I feel defensive of this new season to some of its detractors. Rather than string together a collection of obvious references to the classic episodes, Hurwitz and the writers have tried to expand the "Arrested Development" universe and fill it with all new things for us to revel on repeat viewings. The callbacks to old seasons are organic rather than mere "fan service," and the method of storytelling is unlike anything else on television right now.

Season Four isn't perfect, of course. Rather than the traditional 22-minute format of previous seasons, the new episodes run more than 30 minutes, with some pushing into 40-minute territory. More isn't always better though, and most episodes feel like they have a few minutes of content that deserved to hit the cutting room floor.

And, oddly, the narration by Ron Howard, used to such brilliant effect in previous seasons, is too prevalent in these new episodes. While there's a lot to explain, it becomes more of a storytelling crutch than it ever did in even the most complicated of episodes from the original run. On the other hand, Howard's onscreen guest arc throughout the season is hilarious.

This isn't the same "Arrested Development." The show's first three seasons are the very definition of pop culture lightning in a bottle. I'm glad Hurwitz knew it was impossible to recreate the same vibe. The new "Arrested Development" is clever, complicated and, yes, bloated, but it creates a whole new bag of tricks... err, illusions.

All four seasons of "Arrested Development" are available for streaming on Netflix.

Tyler Wilson can be reached at [email protected].