Archer - "The Man From Jupiter"

Season 3, Episode 4 

Welcome back, Archer fans, to the rest of season three, which frankly has a lot to live up to after the fairly ambitious three-part epic, “Heart of Archness” mini-series that aired back in September. Since those three episodes were obviously paired with It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in an attempt to boost ratings, it would be correct to say that there's a lot riding on the next few episodes in terms of holding new viewer's attention week-to-week – or least there would be, if “Archness” had experienced any sort of rating bump. (Tellingly, it did do better in that time slot than The League usually does.) Of course, I can't tell if that was for the best, because I'm not entirely sure what to make of last night's episode.

To the credit of “The Man From Jupiter”, it did come up with some proven premise for comedy – a new paramour of Malory's causes Archer to confront her active sex life; he's quite indifferent to an actual threat, much to his detriment; the rest of the office get dragged down into his shit, which allows for a good deal of back and forth. But I have to wonder if, after 28 episodes, if this is a formula that's maybe getting a bit old. Now, I understand that Archer is the kind of show that rises and falls based on it's ability to produced one-liners and/or rapid-fire exchanges (more on that in a bit), so I'm not arguing for a complete overall of the formula. But this felt like a lot of the same rhythms that the show has hit before, and plot-wise, it's a little boring. Archer, like all Adam Reed show, seems works best when it's given chances to just become a little weird, and sticking to a formula not only robs the show of that, but also the chance to surprise us, which I would argue is one of the key components of a good comedy.

I also must give credit to Special Guest Star Burt Reynolds, and perhaps more importantly, the way in which the show used him. Too often on lesser shows, the guest star, as benefits the economics of television, is given a large amount of screen time, and it tends to wreck the natural rhythms of the show get thrown off. Even though Reynolds did get a lot of screen time, it worked from a comedy perspective, as it allowed for a good deal of fawning on Archer's part, perhaps a bit of a meta joke on the general approach television shows take to their guest stars.

And while the show stopped just short of making Reynold play himself as a spy (something which Chuck has done twice this season), using his on-screen persona as a badass allowed the show to keep Reynolds in the action without any sort of contrivance. This allowed to a good deal of humorous rapid-fire exchanges between him and Archer, long, drawn out conversations that were funny mostly for the convoluted paths they took as opposed to any particular line that was said. Now, Archer has been known in the past for it's punch lines over it's exchanges, so this was a bold move, and while this episode didn't make me laugh out loud in singular moments quite as much, it did keep me quietly chuckling most of the way through, and I think that's just as effect.

Yet the one things that I think the show failed to do was make proper use of the fact that Burt Freakin' Reynolds was dating Malory, at least in terms of what it meant for Archer. Yes, we saw him uncomfortable with the idea of his mother dating/fucking someone, and yes, he got plenty of chances for hero worship of Reynolds, but it didn't feel as if the show made the connection between these two feelings. In reality, there should have been some sort of dialectic between the two, where Archer's uncomfortableness fought with his hero-worship, and that battle brings about a large psychological response, instead of something on the same level as what we've seen before. In that respect, it just seems like a wasted opportunity.

Quotes and Other Thoughts: 

For those of you curious about where the title comes from: Burt Reynolds spent some years of his childhood in Jupiter, Florida. So now you know.

“Isn't it pronounce val-ey?” “Yeah, if he's parking your car.”

“You going to take her upstairs and give her the 'longest yard'?”

“I mean, obviously sex was implied...”

“Hah! Elaborate voice mail hoax! Leave it.”

“I'm just sitting her with a mustache and memories of last night.”

“You good drown a toddler in my trousers right now.”

“YOU'RE NOT MY SUPERVISOR!...Wait, who is my supervisor?”

“I bet they were perky and big.”

“The California Redwood is endangered.” “Well, I already have my hot tub.”

“Your Pim's Cup, sir.” “Doesn't it come in a silver chalice?” “That's a PIMP's cup, sir.”

“I forgot about Hawk!”

“Now it's officially a chase.” “Hooray!”

“Not sexual needs – well, maybe those too.”

“Sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of my giant, throbbing erection.”

“My pants are now literally wet.”

“Leave me for some twenty-year old? Then I'll just find a ten year old!” “Ew.” “Yeah, you don't want to do that.” “Shut up!”

“And I, for one, will go watch Hooper and masturbate till my fingers bleed.” “Just tape them up.”