Last week, Sterling Archer went to space. This week, he proves that his arrogance and stupidity can, in fact, extend beyond the planet Earth.
In trying to stop Drake’s (Bryan Cranston) mutiny plans, Archer and the agents of ISIS also managed to cause as much trouble as they stopped. Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) had to be talked out of kicking the ass of a randomly appearing Barry Dillon. We had Cyril (Chris Parnell) start randomly shooting up the joint again, leading to the deaths of Drake and his henchmen just as the latter had surrendered. Lana (Aisha Tyler) was mostly naked and chose to complain about Archer’s description of her boobs in the middle of a firefight. Malory (Jessica Walter) invented the word “whorediot.” And poor Ray (Adam Reed) ended up in a wheelchair again.
This was all classic Archer, in that most of the humor in this show comes out of the characters themselves. The episode could have been set anywhere, and my favorite jokes still would have worked. Compare that to a show like Family Guy, which I enjoy but which seems to rely a lot on cutaway gags, and you can see how Archer is a different kind of animated comedy. It can be crude, but that’s not its stock in trade. Its success is because these characters are ridiculous.
I must admit it was nice to see Archer have a rare moment of maturity, in choosing to go home rather than chase after Barry (even after Barry’s little reference to The Warriors). Of course, because this is Archer, I knew he’d then do something to invalidate that, and he did, getting everyone but himself (of course) hurt in a crash landing.
The season finale also bugged me for a moment, as Barry’s return clued us in to what happened to him and Katya post-the oddly uncomfortable “Skin Game.” Apparently, they’re living together (as she wasn’t content with their choice of sofa) and he’s already lying to her as he continues his quest to kill Archer. That all came off as one unhappy relationship…which then made me feel sorry for Katya all over again. I’m still torn on that; while it’s nice that Archer isn’t just total mayhem without sense, I watch it to laugh, not to feel pity.
What are you hoping to see in Archer season four? Me, I’m still waiting for the return of double agent Conway Stern – but now that Archer’s been a pirate and an astronaut, anything’s possible.
Clacked by Brittany Frederick 
on Mar 23, 2012 @ 01:56 EST5EDT
