Archer - "Heart of Archness, Part 2"

Season 3, Episode 2

The question of serialization 

“WOOOOOOO!”

-Archer

The real question that this three-episode mini-series is bringing up is whether or not Archer should become serialized going forward. Though certain episodes of season two seemed to point to ‘no’, it must be taken into consideration that a lot of that awkwardness was due to the show attempting that it hasn’t done before. But now that we are in the heart of serialized territory, the question can be more appropriately considered.

Archer has never been big on plot. Most episodes often with just a minute or three of setup, and then just let the jokes take the story the rest of the way. So to say that the “Heart of Archness” trilogy is serialized is a slight mistake in nomenclature. Though each of these episodes feed into one another, as in one episode starts where the other left off, it’s not necessary to watch the previous episode to understand what’s going on in the current one. Each episode of the trilogy seems to be broken down into sizable chucks, which is a boon for the comedy, which needs room to build in order to achieve maximum humor.

Let’s take tonight’s episode as an example. The first act, which while funny but not hilarious, had to go through the business of setting up the morale problem among Archer’s new pirate hoard, as well as drop in on how ISIS (especially Mallory) was coping without Archer, and make sure we knew where Lana and Ray were with their rescue plan for Archer. Sure there were jokes, but the show had to bounce around a lot, and there wasn’t a change to build comedic momentum. But once all that setup was done, the show just allowed the other plot points – Archer’s “king fight”, the mutiny, Cyril getting drunk and swindling money/banging Pam, and Ray and Lana getting captured – to evolve naturally, and thus allow them to feel naturally akin to the jokes around surrounding those bits of plot. The best example of this was the mutiny, which ended up with Archer being captured, but was propelled by so many fast paced jokes that you didn’t even notice how the episode was moving the characters into place.

So should Archer be serialized when it comes back next season? Yes and no. Though I appreciate how having a similar plotline among episodes allows what amounts to long-form running gags that only get funnier as the serialized story goes on, I’m not sure if Archer should get too serialized, or for too long. Part of the joy of the show is watching them cram a whole lot of mad-cappery into 22 minutes, and I’m not sure if I would want to go without such episode. Additionally, I would hate for the show attempt to do a full 13-episode arc and run out of story halfway through, leaving it to make up shit so random it wouldn’t be funny. The show can do intentional mad-cappery well, but when it’s unintentional, that’s more of a crapshoot. So Archer can have its on-going storylines, but give us some standalone episodes, too.

Quotes, Etc:

“I think $5,000 for week was a steal. Look at him, he’s lithe.”

“That was insane. I’d never even heard of that position. Did the missionaries not swing by here?”

“I’m drunk and covered in every bodily fluid there is…This is about as pirate king-y as it gets.”

“C’mon, karaoke night is a big hit.”

“Just find the money, Cyril. You’re an accounting genius, Cyril. That’s right, bitch.”

“For the jillionth time, nobody is raping anybody!”

“Man, that is not going help morale.”

“Is a pig’s ass pork? I’m sorry, did you want to hear what I think, or just what you want to hear?....He asked, pretty sarcastically.”

“We hold erection for king!”

“That won’t translate. That’s like last week when you said ‘lend me your ears.’”

“If the king loses in one-on-one combat, he has to step down. Or stay dead.”

“Do you even know what idiom means?”

“Your 3/5^th of an opinion is noted.”

“Way to eschew traditional gender roles, pirates.”

“I’m sorry, what were you going to say?” “…cock.”

“But since it was never explicitly forbidden…tough titties. Wow, I never realized how often we rely on idioms.”

“Way to eschew traditional labeling, pirates.”

“Okay, I’m going to go ahead and change ‘morale problem’ to ‘potential munity.’”

“No, Noah, do not upgrade that mutiny.”

“What comes after ‘insipient’?” “‘In progress.’” “Brilliant!”

“They not ghost, they just white.” “Racist.” “Pah! You’re racist.”

“My field’s anthropology, guy.” “Good luck with the job search.”

“Zzzzzzz…just jackin’ it…”

“Hey, pirates."