Season: 6 / Episode: 10 / FX
This week continues the turn of events from last week when Lana and Sterling rekindled their…whatever they’re relationship followed by break up followed by cancer sex followed by fallout followed by artificial insemination followed by THIS, is. Apparently the B squad (Pam, Cyril, Cheryl, Ray and Krieger) are speaking with my voice because they’re pretty disgusted by the new obnoxious love affair and want to break them up. After deciding that finding a prostitute that Sterling HASN’T slept with in all of New York might be too difficult to find, they decide to put in a call to the KGB and get Katya Kasanova to come and seduce him. This was a decent episode. My annoyance of the Lana / Sterling stuff aside, it was pretty pedestrian for the most part. It was interesting, however, for the B Squad to be the most entertaining part of the episode as they are often a take it or leave commodity. The (successful) joke per minute count in the first 3 minutes of this episode happens at almost an epic rate and I would challenge anyone watching it to try and catch them all on one run through. Cheryl’s flipbook as a visual aid to her proposal of kidnapping A.J. which ends with A.J. being raised and trained by Ra’s Al Ghul, gets an automatic entry into the Archer Hall of Fame.
Despite this season having some incredible episodes, two distinct weaknesses come to mind. There’s a heavier reliance on old storylines more than other seasons past. For cats like me that have not only watched every episode of Archer, but watched them repeatedly, it is largely rewarding. But I imagine it’s not the easiest show to jump on to in season six as most comedies would be. Almost all the scenes with Katya including the very last scene of the episode with Lana requires some very specific jokes from previous seasons without any refresher. It’s a risk/reward system that has paid off largely for the show, but sometimes proves to be a blind spot for it.
The second weakness is the all but disappearance of Malory. Outside of the episode where she was babysitting A.J., I’m not sure she’s had more than 3 or 4 lines in any other episode this season. That’s a shame, because Jessica Walter as Malory is outstanding. Her delivery and presence on the show helped set the tone for what that show now is, so it’s sad to see her in such a muted role.
All in all, a good-not-great episode, though the jokes from the Team Break Up squad hit some homeruns. Lana and Sterling may not be so cozy next episode which for me, will make them interesting again.
Mic Drops:
[check_list]
- “Nobody is rubbin off in my face” / “Yeah, that’s the point.”
- “Cyril, you can lie to yourself” / “That’s obvious, just look at that sweater.”
- “The solution to every problem isn’t freakin’ acid.” / “Unless the problem is a solution with an overly alkaline PH balance.”
- “If I wanted to hear you people scream, I’d have you flown to a CIA blacksite in Morocco and listen to your torture session on speakerphone.”
- “For a man like Archer, it’s all about the hunt.” / “Well, they’re all gonna have–” / “I said hunt.” / “Oh…still though.”
- “How do you not murder her everyday.” / “…I do.”
- “Dinner. Tonight. My Place. Stir Fry. I’ll cook.” / “What is this, word scramble?”
- “I’ll always have a place for you in my heart. And obviously my slideshow.”
[/check_list]
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