Archer: "Jeu Monegasque"

Season 2, Episode 11

A disappointing drop in quality from an overall strong season

I suppose the problem lies in the basic premise: Something about the ISIS gang dealing with gambling and bearer bonds just seems so normal for this show. Granted, casinos have long been a staple of the James Bond world, and more recently the Oceans movies, but something about this choice just seemed too easy. I’m not going to say that there wasn’t some funny stuff in here (I have of course included some quotes for you edification/enjoyment), but it wasn’t as funny as I could have been.

For example, I liked how the show twisted the heist formula to have Ray dress up like Mallory, as having a gay man dress in drag added an extra layer to a joke that has been done before. But having Archer lose all the money at the tables? Not only was it predictable, but there wasn’t anything to help individualize it for this show. (Something that could probably only be found on this show: Archer acting drunk to hide the fact that he lost all of the money. Now that was funny.)

Now, some might say that the action set pieces were fairly cool, and the story clicked along at a nice pace, and while both of these are true, I can’t shake the feeling that is was all this plotting that got in the way of the jokes. In my opinion, Archer is at its funniest – and best – when allows the characters to bounce off of one another, resulting in these humorously escalating back-and-forths between the characters. There were, by my count, only two tonight, and they were placed fairly close together and shared two characters. This kept the humor relatively isolated, leaving some scene far less humorless than they should have been.

The better plot – and the one I wish has more screen time – was the reaction of the drones back at ISIS HQ when they learned that their 401K accounts had been drained in order to provide the $4 million in bearer bonds. Not only was that a move that only Mallory could have pulled off, but there was something great about watching the Cyril and the others slowly descend into desperation/madness in order to recoup my losses. But as funny as those scenes were, I can’t shake the feeling that they would have been much funnier if there had been more of them, thus allowing the madness to grow even greater. And since these scenes were short-shifted in order make room for the less-funny A-plot, well that loss becomes an even greater injustice.

But hey, at least we had Krieger. And his choke-bot.

What did everybody else think?

Additional Thoughts:

In case you haven’t heard, Archer has officially been picked up for a third season, which will contain 16 episodes.  Three of those will air after It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the fall, before the other 13 return next spring, to be coupled with the new series Townies. (Though I have to wonder what this means for The League.)

“Where’s the other one? Greasing up in the bathroom?”

“And yes, the ‘A’ stands for awesome.”

“Sorry, I was laughing at your name.”

“I can’t even say it without saying ‘balls.’”

“And there goes my erection.”

“Seriously, not many women could bring to orgasm in front of my mother… I don’t think.”

“This is like taking candy from a candy-hating baby.”

“Gummy bears all around!”

“Why was I dressed as Hitler?”

“Either she’s getting Alzheimer’s….or she thinks it’s another sex tape.”

“Uh, allegedly disgusting.”

“Can you not rob your dick in my mother’s pantyhose?”

“There’s a zoo here?”

“Balls….Oh, the moment’s runined.”

“I am getting off. I love this.”

“Would vomit. Too tired.”

“Aww shit…plus I gave them all my stickers.”