Archer Season 6 thread (spoilers!)

[Guardsman Bass]

Is anyone else watching this? The season's pretty good so far, better than "Archer Vice" last season. "Vision Quest" in particular is my new favorite episode, and an excellent "bottle episode" for the show playing off the cast's character dynamics rather than a driving plot. The most recent episode was mostly meh, although it had some funny moments . . . plus Lana and Archer having probably the most graphic sex scene the show has shown while implicitly getting back together.

I'm also marathoning the show, and just finished Season 1 again. It's funnier than I remember, and holy shit is the Cyril-Lana relationship way more dysfunctional than I remember. He's pretty clearly a "rebound" guy for her, he's dishonest and whiny, Lana only seems to like him when he's completely servile and predictable - it's a sad reflection on Cyril's life that he calls it the "best period of his life by far" in the "Wind Cries Mary" episode.

[TronPaul]

I've been loving this season, the return of older characters has been great

Conway Stern: I lied! That is my real name!

and the cast interactions has been spot on. This season has started off much stronger than Archer Vice, and is currently my favorite season after season 1.

[Joun_Lord]

I'm loving it. Its showing a different side of Archer when it comes to his daughter. His little speech to the guy in the server room after he threatens Abbijean was pretty badass even if he did cock it up after that. Also Archer is getting wrecked this season. He's always been a magnet for trouble but he's been fucked up in nearly every episode so far.

I did enjoy Archer Vice, it was different and broke the mold of the show for awhile, but much do prefer them going back to ISIS.

Though other then a shot of the logo in the 1st episode there hasn't actually been any mention or other shots of ISIS or its logo (that I can recall) for obvious reasons.

[Thanas]

I much preferred Archer vice to this.

[Guardsman Bass]

I get the impression that Archer Vice ultimately took them out of their comfort zone, so they came back to what they were doing before (at one point the show-runner considered doing a season with them partially in prison). They even joked about it with the office in the first episode of Season 6, which I thought was funny at first but now seems annoying.

Still a lot of fun, though, at least to me. I tend to enjoy the episodes that aren't "plot-heavy" more than the ones that are - that's why "Vision Quest" is my favorite episode now. Total bottle episode with great re-watch value. While I enjoyed Archer Vice at the time, I've found that very few of those episodes are enticing to re-watch.

[Ziggy Stardust]

I personally liked this season and Archer Vice equally. Don't have a problem with either. Or any episode of the show, really.

[Pelranius]

Well, Archer Vice did have more opportunities (so far) to go to new and exotic locales compared to this season, but I'm still a bit sore that some of the stuff from Sterling's imagination spot in Episode One of Archer Vice didn't make it into this season (as of writing).

[Guardsman Bass]

Good point. Did we ever get the scene where he was in camo gear with Chi(?)? Can't remember.

That said, they might be setting things up for a break with the CIA in the season finale. Usually there's some type of change to the season status quo in the season finales.

[Guardsman Bass]

Where is Woodhouse?!!! He's completely disappeared for this entire season, which Archer apparently didn't notice much until recently - and naturally, rather than filing a Missing Persons Report, he's putting up flyers like Woodhouse is a lost dog. That's got to show up somewhere later this season, like we'll find out that he's working with the CIA (or Archer & Friends will casually run into him in hiding in an episode, leading to a Woodhouse chase-down).

They're definitely building to something, especially with the CIA going silent after the fuck-up with the royalty protection job. As Mallory pointed out, the FBI and CIA could turn on them in an instant, although it might be more painful if ISIS were simply cut off and left to wither with no work or money.

That was a pretty tense episode, with a darkly humorous ending befitting of Archer after the old cracks showed up in the Lana-Archer relationship anyways. The preview for the next episode didn't bode well for the relationship.

It was pretty sad how they left Cyril, with Lana's mocking laugh and her and his co-workers' contempt. Maybe something will come of that, although it wouldn't be the first time they built something up with Cyril only for it to not pay off and simply revert back to the status quo. Season 3 had hints that he might be a good field agent if placed in roles that used his strengths, and Season 4 had an increasing anger towards Archer that showed up in the "immigrant" episode and in the "pope" one. Nothing came out of it, though.

[Joun_Lord]

This last episode bothered me. It relied too much on the incredibly tired old trope of people just not being able to explain themselves like any normal human being IRL would be able to. Archer should have said, "Hey Lana my ex-girlfriend was here and wanted to reconcile but I said no." Instead he stammered and couldn't do anything.

Now of course she might not have believed him considering his track record with women but she certainly ain't going to believe him now with him looking like he screwed hi sex and tried to cover it up but was too dumb to cover up her robo-vag.

I did enjoy Cyril being screwed over again. He's just an asshole and not even a likable asshole like Archer. Archer can be pretty selfless at times while Cyril I can't really think of any moments of him being selfless save maybe him sacrificing his ring to save Lana (and Archer) in like the 1st or 2nd season. He's got all the negatives of Archer, sleeping around on women, being a douche, fucking things up in life and missions, being a danger to people, and thinking far too highly of himself, with none of the positives. Plus unlike Archer he should know better. Archer is a bit......special and doesn't seem to realize most of the time how he acts but when he realizes it atleast tries (and often fails) to change.

I wonder how long Ray is going to be handless before Kreiger builds him a robot hand. Also poor Ray is becoming more and more cyborg.

[Guardsman Bass]

Good question. It's looking pretty obvious that this is a Krieger clone, so does he know how to make bionics the way the old Krieger did? Considering the success with his legs and spine (as well as the lack of insurance coverage for prosthetics), you'd think Ray would have gone to Krieger immediately to ask him to install a bionic hand.

You're mostly right about Cyril, although in his defense he really never should be sent on field missions - he's an accountant. They've given him no training at all in field operations, and just generally don't do much to encourage him to become better at it. The one time he actually did show competence as a field agent, it was immediately undercut in a brutal way by Lana and Archer.

Archer should have said, "Hey Lana my ex-girlfriend was here and wanted to reconcile but I said no." Instead he stammered and couldn't do anything.

That's a relationship with a lot of distrust and cheating in its background. If he told Lana that Katya was there, she might not believe him if he said nothing happened.

[Joun_Lord]

I don't know if Krieger is a clone (well he's obvious a clone, just not one of the 3 clone bruders). He seems to forget some things but other things like the lego sticker microchip he knew about. His forgetting of his coworkers names and other things could be attributed to his fall from the missile tower and probably quite a bit of stress brought on by meeting and then killing his clone bruders. I know it would be quite the doozy to have it confirmed you are a clone (possibly of Adolf Hitler) and then essentially killing yourself 3 times.

Cyril didn't exactly help himself with regards to being sent in the field. He was only too happy to go out to try to impress Lana or show up Archer, though in his defense I can't really see him (or most anyone else) telling Malory no.

And yes, Lana might not believe him as I said. She certainly isn't going to believe him if he says nothing though. Actually coming right out and saying "she was here but I didn't tap that robotical badonkadonk" has a better chance if not fucking shit up.

I could attribute this to Archer being a bit dense about normal human communication but this is a problem that is very, VERY common in tv sitcoms with people who are supposed to be mentally normal.

[Guardsman Bass]

Found it. The last episode Woodhouse appeared in was "On the Carpet", when Mallory sent him to go get supplies.

[Thanas]

I don't know if Krieger is a clone (well he's obvious a clone, just not one of the 3 clone bruders). He seems to forget some things but other things like the lego sticker microchip he knew about. His forgetting of his coworkers names and other things could be attributed to his fall from the missile tower and probably quite a bit of stress brought on by meeting and then killing his clone bruders. I know it would be quite the doozy to have it confirmed you are a clone (possibly of Adolf Hitler) and then essentially killing yourself 3 times.

Didn't they make it clear that he is one of the clones by showing dead Krieger in normal krieger clothes at the bottom of the silo?

[Guardsman Bass]

That was the weakest episode this season so far. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't really good either aside from the make-out scene with Lana showcasing how much the show's animation has improved (seriously, watch any episode from season 1 and compare it to season 4 and onward). It also wasn't particularly funny, aside from the gag of Krieger & Team attaching a black person hand to Ray's arm (one of his "jazz hands" maybe?).

[Dartzap]

Haha, I found the last ep great. What possessed 'em to make an episode set in Wales of all places?!

[Guardsman Bass]

Probably the possibility of making jokes about difficult-to-pronounce names.

So, the two-part season finale is called "Drastic Voyage". I would not be surprised if it was actually a spoof of "Fantastic Voyage", where they shrink a crew down and send them into a person to repair brain damage.

[Guardsman Bass]

I can safely say that wasn't what I expected. I mean, it was a spoof of "Fantastic Voyage" (and the Sealab 2021 spoof of "Fantastic Voyage"), but other than that it was unexpected.

This season sets you up thinking that Archer Vice was the diversion, a year spent trying and failing to sell cocaine and make ends meet before Mallory finally managed to finangle them back into active espionage service. But it was this season was the diversion, one where their fuck-ups finally have consequences and the CIA so thoroughly kicks them to the curb that they can't even get a ride back to town after it. After years of fucking things up and getting an increasingly terrible reputation, they're finally out of the espionage. It makes me excited for the next season, to see where they'll go with it (Archer's "ideas" are probably half-cocked - I wouldn't be surprised if they end up back at Cheryl's mansion at some point and find Woodhouse there).

I especially like how exhausted they feel at the end of the episode. When Mallory says she'll just have to try and get them back in with the CIA, Lana says "Why bother?" - and she's right. Why bother spending more time knowing that you'll just fuck it up, serving people (the CIA) that you hate working for, only to end up back at the same place you're at now or dead? Mallory's been the one in denial, operating an illegal espionage agency for years and then trying to resurrect it all over again after Archer Vice while learning effectively nothing. At least now, Archer will have a much better chance of getting out from under his mother's toxic influence, and A.J. has a better shot of not ending up parentless.

So the ending was good. The rest of the episode (and two-parter) in general not so much. It wasn't bad, and there were a few laughs, but I still think overall that it was the weakest of the Archer season finales even in spite of that good ending. Most of the running gags weren't particularly funny either - one of the "TV's Michael Gray" ones was okay, and the whole thing about Dr. Slodowkvska having wildly inappropriate timing for bringing up sex was funny.