Archer: "El Secuestro"

Once I bemoan the absence of Krieger, I’ll offer up a review of tonight’s episode, after the jump….

Given the way that Archer has been expanding its world this season, it was inevitable that we would be presented with a Pam/Carol-centric storyline. (Actually, it was only certain that the center of an episode would be on a supporting character, which makes me wonder – where’s our Ray-centric episode? Huh, show, where?) But what wasn’t a sure thing was that it would actually be any good, since often times when a show delves into an underdeveloped character, the episode itself only appears to be half-baked (cough*”Tragical History”* cough).

Luckily, tonight’s episode was quite good, as it both helped to develop Carol more as a character, and it made sure that Pam wasn’t underserved as she served as the butt of everyone’s scorn tonight, effectively negating all of that hatred by having her (presumably) beat the shit out of Mallory at episode’s end. If I have to lob a complaint, it would be that for a majority of this episode, it wans’t certain that things were going to come out so even for Pam. Archer is a show that is chocked full of sociopaths, and often it’s best jokes come from the fact that these people can’t stand one another, that they are only brought together by a common employer. But we have also seen that they do have an odd sort of chemistry with one another, a series of relationship that means that they come close to resembling friends. Tonight’s episode lost sight of that, and the fact that Mallory repeatedly left Pam to die was just a tad more meanness than I could handle.

We can compare this with Cyril’s kidnapping of Carol about halfway through the episode. Yes, both his and Mallory’s actions were guided by financial greed – Mallory wished to keep charging Carol for ISIS’s protection, Cyril wanted her to pay him back his $3700 – but there was one significant difference: Cyril’s actions never placed anyone in danger. Sure, it was a selfish, dick move, but he only wanted his $3700 back, as opposed to whatever Mallory was going to end up charging Carol. (And then there the fact that Mallory seemed to prefer saving Carol over saving Pam, which just makes things that much uglier.) There seems to be a fine line between being mean yet still funny and plain mean – a line that the show generally stays on the right side, and did of for most of tonight. As long as the show stays on the right side, then it can stay highly enjoyable; but as soon as it crosses this line, things start to fall apart.

But at least everything else about the episode was fantastic, and it almost – ALMOST – made up for all the Pam-hate. Carol’s – whose real name is Cornelia Tunt, so I guess that’s what we’re calling her from now on (?) – secret life as a rich railroad heiress was a nice turn for the character, yet one that makes total sense, given how entitled and selfish she acts. And it was pretty great to see the rest of the ISIS team rally to save Pam, both in their attempts to temper Mallory’s selfishness, and watching them foiled by their own ineptitude.

I don’t want to make it seem like I hated this episode – in fact I enjoyed it quite a bit. But the Pam-hate bugged me just enough that I can only say that this episode was “good,” but not “great.”

What did everybody else think?

Additional Thoughts:

Still no official word on the show’s renewal, but the AV Club contacted some of the higher-ups at FX, and the source seems to think chances of renewal are "very likely" I’ll follow up on this story when the official word is given.

We never did see Cornelia’s brother, Cecil. That’s too bad. I bet he would have made a welcome addition to the show.

“You’re a moped.”

“I thought he meant I was fuel efficient.”

“I think she said it was a dwarf.”

“Yes! Just keep shouting your own name!”

“Thanks, Pam, way to drag out a kidnapping. Now I’m late again.”

“Like a huge, sweater-y Lindberg baby.”

“Apparently slavery was pretty awesome.” “Prove it.” “What to prove? It’s free labor.”

“Total shitbox. They’re weird.”

“I’ve never seen an ocelot!”

“Not for your parents’ funeral!” “I don’t know all of your rules!”

“I am literally wet with jealousy.”

“Because he is DESPERATE for stuff to play with.”

“It’s like Meow-schwitz in there.”

“Billion? With a ‘B’?” “Followed by a ‘–illion.’”

“Well, now you know how Babu feels.”

“Not you, Bloodmobile.”

“Guess how many pygmies did cutting it down?....Six.”

“I’ll tell you what I’m not doing Lana: negotiating with a goddamn cyborg.”

“How do you think I paid for college?”

“It’s been an extremely violate year.” “In the stock market?” “Sure.”

“And I bet that sneaky little chief dumped them all into one medium-sized hole.”

“My eyes still hurt pretty bad.”

“I hope you kidnap the shit outta her.”

“The IRS? How many Irish gangs are there?”

“We look totally gay.” “I am gay.” “Well I’m not.” “They why are you wearing a turtleneck?”

“Brett, for the love of god!”

“Awww, don’t be dicks.”

“Hey, Trainspotting, can you dial that modulator down a bit?”

“Okay, I’m done masturbating. Goodbye.”

“Does internet porn know you’re cheating on it?”

“They’re not going to shoot you Pam, their programming won’t allow it.”

That vest may be bullet proof, but it is, you know, a vest.