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Sunday, February 5, 2012

Archer - "The Limited"

Season 3, Episode 6 

Tackling Archer's third season as I have, by discussing the various ways that the show does and does not conform to it's formula (or if it even has a formula), and whether or not that is a detriment to the show's humor and comedic rhythms, has been an interesting one, for while I still enjoy the show immensely, I'm always waiting for that other shoe to drop, and for the format to stop paying off dividends. But “The Limited”, which works in many ways like a sequel to the first season classic “Skytanic”, would seem to suggest otherwise, that the show can keep working in the same format, provided it finds ways to changed up the elements for every episode. 

What I've been most impressed by this season is that the show is starting to somewhat embrace continuity, both through dialogue and it's jokes. Granted, the show did this somewhat during season two, and it's always had its share of running gags/catchphrases, but I finally feel that the show is taking advantage of these for reasons other than just world-building. Thus when we see the return of both Carol's wealth and influence, and more specifically her pet ocelot Babou, the show can quickly jump into the established humor, without having to stop and re-explain the joke. For that's usually so slight when it comes to plot/story, this is a bold move on the part of the show, and one that I think pays off handsomely.

Along those lines, the show also seems to be experimenting with outright serialization, in the forms of Cyril's continued role as a field agent, and ISIS current economic straits. In the case of the former, continuing Cyril's path to becoming a field agent isn't all that surprising, given that the worse idea would be for the show to continually keep him in his position of company accountant, and keep repeating the same jokes over and over. Instead, pushing Cyril forward forces the show to build new jokes while simultaneously linking it to new plotlines. As for the latter, I realize that ISIS generally sucking at gigs isn't exactly new, but the show has shown them having greater success in the previous two seasons, and I wonder if Adam Reed is really pushing harder on this aspect for a reason, or if it's just sort of happening. Personally, I would like the former to be true, because as with the narrative drive of Cyril, I think it could open up new avenues for the show, or at the very least push this joke into some insanely funny directions.

(On that note, I would also like to see the show use Ray as something other than the guy in the wheelchair. Ironically, Adam Reed actually wrote/broke a few stories that heavily featured Ray, before remembering that he had been paralyzed during the events of “The Heart of Archess”. So maybe there's still hope on that front.)

What does all this mean for “The Limited”? Apart from what I've already stated, not actually all that much, considering these new bouts in serialization are really only something that take significance in the long term. In fact, a lot of this episode was still Classic Archer. Archer ran around on a mission, while actually being distracted by far more selfish impulses. Lana took off after him to clean up his shit. Cyril remained pretty fucking useless. Mallory was pissy and offensive to everybody. Ray was bitter and sarcastic. And Pam and Carol ended up where they weren't wanted.

In fact, tonight's episode functioned as a bottle episode, in spirit if not in practice. While bottle episodes are most known for their cost cutting measures, and sticking the cast together in one place for the whole of an episode (usually using plot contrivance to do so), my favorite part is sticking the cast is one place – and it can be anywhere, really – and just letting their personalities bounce off of each other. Archer is at its best when it can just deliver rapid-fire jokes, and the more characters in can pile into one plot, the better. And that's exactly what we got tonight.

Quotes and Other Thoughts:

“Help! Help! Extraordinary Rendition! Extraordinary Rendition!”

“Is that why you blew up a donut shop?”

“Are you drunk?!” “WINNER!” “Nice.”

“Ergo – Latin – plenty of time to sleep it off.”

“Thanks, Freddy Foreshadowing.”

“Please tell me he's a renowned Chicken 'n' Waffle chef, because I am starving.”

“I was playing dominoes with a Dominican biker gang. Or was it Maj Jong? I can't remember.”

“'Oh, we don't know the meaning of private! Let's all barge in'.”

“LAAAAANNNNAAAAAAAAA!” “What?” “HE REMEMBERS ME!”

“I'm looking for a terrorist and a ocelot...not necessarily in that order.”

“They just killed the black guy....I know right? Welcome to America.”

“Apparently my great-grandpa was nuts for skating. That and the Klan.”

“They look like prints from a house-cat, only bigger and awesomer.”

“I bet you never played hockey, huh? Probably too busy running around and shooting black guys.”

“Well not to belabor the point, but they're still Canadians. I doubt we're in that much trouble.”

“I don't care Frank, we are going to beat that record, so put this train in train-gear, and floor it!”

“We will you not suck at this?” “When you stop sucking at...shut up!”

“Yeah, paralyzed, but other than that, I'm fine.”

“Ow, the dust! It's like being shot in the eyes with a glitter gun!”

“Did you hear that? He called you 'exotic', which is people for 'awesome'!”

“You fox-eared asshole.”

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