Season 3, Episode 12
“Fucking space.”
Let's face it, there have been a lot of bad movies made about people going into space. Of course, there have also been a bunch of good movies about people going into space, but when you narrow it down to “contemporary humans who travel into space” subgenre, you get a lot more bad than good. (Just think about how many terrible movies have involved astronauts, or space camp. Not to mention all those terrible Alien rip-offs.) Archer has long been a show that is aware of the clichés of whatever genre it's trying to be any given week (usually it's the spy drama, but in cases such as “Pipeline Fever”, other weird subgenres are tackled as well), and can use the awfulness of those clichés to make the episode even stronger.
But going into space? That's just a heaping pile of clichés, a lot which Archer tackled in a very short amount of time, and it's a small wonder that somehow they didn't grate. A large part of it was, as always, the show used Archer's own obliviousness and sense of what's “awesome” to comment on how terrible these were, and as the clichés starting piling up on themselves to an almost ridiculous degree, it became it's own sort of subtle joke that added to the proceedings and allowed the show to go in the ridiculous direction that it did without straining believability.
But after a while, what really made this episode start to click was when the episode moved past just rolling out all the clichés that it could think of, an instead became a truly action-packed, crackerjack of a half-hour. I know that we are used to thinking of Archer as a comedy, because that's its primary function, but I've always been impressed at the show's ability to becomes an action series (when it wants to, anyways), and I enjoyed the heck out of the episode's second half, which allowed the plot to take center stage (in a good way) for the first time since I can't remember when. Archer has always been good at remaining relatively plotless, but it's also nice to know that Adam Reed is capable of telling different kinds of stories as well.
And that bodes especially well for next week, which finishes up the storyline. While I admires the “Heart of Archness” trilogy for it's scope and ambition, I was as as happy with the plotting of it all, as the episodes just sort of ran into one another a bit too much to make each individual episode work as a whole. There were no specified beginning and ending to each episode, and that ruined the momentum of each individual piece. So while the ending of “Space Race, Part I” was perhaps a bit predictable (even if Bryan Cranston's character got a hell of a closing line), it was also a nice pivot from the action before it, and will allow next week's episode to have it's own particular narrative goals, which should help it quite nicely.
And all of this talk of plotting is to say nothing of the humor, which it normal Archer style ramped up nicely through the hour, and in untraditional Archer style, managed to play nice with the heavier plotting. The best part was how the show managed to get all of the characters into space in a believable way, with Archer sneaking Pam aboard in case he wanted to bang one out (note: this will never get old) and Carol tagging along, and Mallory also coming along in an over-sized space suit.
I haven't really been so impressed with the past few episodes of the show, which have made some weird and unnerving decisions in terms of plotting and pathos, but this episode marked a return to form, and seem to be sending the season out on a high note.
So, who's ready for part two?
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
“Is mutiny funny to you, Mr. Archer?” “Well, maybe a mutiny of Clowns.”
“Would you be saying that we would be heading into a zone of danger?”
“And astronaut training suck ass. Literally. What is with all the enemas.”
“Six enemas is a luxury we can ill afford.” “Six?” “Who knows? He put me under. Maybe twelve.”
“I hope to God that was alcohol.”
“Wooooo! Weightlessness!”
“Exciting, right?....I think it is.”
“Can we expect a pharmacy?” “Lana, it's not a strip mall. Although I assume there's a bar.” “A bar?” “Or a cantina. Whatever.”
“And can it be fired with an erection?”
“Son of a snit-snacking whore.”
“There's teriaki?”
“Good luck fighting a bunch of space pirates...or whatever...wihtout me!”
“Oh, for God sake's woman – Dramamine!”
“SURPRESSING FIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRREEEEEEE!!!”
“Little miss, uh....” “R2-Double-D2?”
“Do I have to do everything?....He asked, hoping to be facetious.”
“Wow Charles Beneditc Davenport. Uh, the creator of Eugenics. Jeez people, read a book.” (Wrong: Davenport was a prominent American eugenicist, but the idea actually comes from Sir Francis Galton.)
But going into space? That's just a heaping pile of clichés, a lot which Archer tackled in a very short amount of time, and it's a small wonder that somehow they didn't grate. A large part of it was, as always, the show used Archer's own obliviousness and sense of what's “awesome” to comment on how terrible these were, and as the clichés starting piling up on themselves to an almost ridiculous degree, it became it's own sort of subtle joke that added to the proceedings and allowed the show to go in the ridiculous direction that it did without straining believability.
But after a while, what really made this episode start to click was when the episode moved past just rolling out all the clichés that it could think of, an instead became a truly action-packed, crackerjack of a half-hour. I know that we are used to thinking of Archer as a comedy, because that's its primary function, but I've always been impressed at the show's ability to becomes an action series (when it wants to, anyways), and I enjoyed the heck out of the episode's second half, which allowed the plot to take center stage (in a good way) for the first time since I can't remember when. Archer has always been good at remaining relatively plotless, but it's also nice to know that Adam Reed is capable of telling different kinds of stories as well.
And that bodes especially well for next week, which finishes up the storyline. While I admires the “Heart of Archness” trilogy for it's scope and ambition, I was as as happy with the plotting of it all, as the episodes just sort of ran into one another a bit too much to make each individual episode work as a whole. There were no specified beginning and ending to each episode, and that ruined the momentum of each individual piece. So while the ending of “Space Race, Part I” was perhaps a bit predictable (even if Bryan Cranston's character got a hell of a closing line), it was also a nice pivot from the action before it, and will allow next week's episode to have it's own particular narrative goals, which should help it quite nicely.
And all of this talk of plotting is to say nothing of the humor, which it normal Archer style ramped up nicely through the hour, and in untraditional Archer style, managed to play nice with the heavier plotting. The best part was how the show managed to get all of the characters into space in a believable way, with Archer sneaking Pam aboard in case he wanted to bang one out (note: this will never get old) and Carol tagging along, and Mallory also coming along in an over-sized space suit.
I haven't really been so impressed with the past few episodes of the show, which have made some weird and unnerving decisions in terms of plotting and pathos, but this episode marked a return to form, and seem to be sending the season out on a high note.
So, who's ready for part two?
Quotes and Other Thoughts:
“Is mutiny funny to you, Mr. Archer?” “Well, maybe a mutiny of Clowns.”
“Would you be saying that we would be heading into a zone of danger?”
“And astronaut training suck ass. Literally. What is with all the enemas.”
“Six enemas is a luxury we can ill afford.” “Six?” “Who knows? He put me under. Maybe twelve.”
“I hope to God that was alcohol.”
“Wooooo! Weightlessness!”
“Exciting, right?....I think it is.”
“Can we expect a pharmacy?” “Lana, it's not a strip mall. Although I assume there's a bar.” “A bar?” “Or a cantina. Whatever.”
“And can it be fired with an erection?”
“Son of a snit-snacking whore.”
“There's teriaki?”
“Good luck fighting a bunch of space pirates...or whatever...wihtout me!”
“Oh, for God sake's woman – Dramamine!”
“SURPRESSING FIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRREEEEEEE!!!”
“Little miss, uh....” “R2-Double-D2?”
“Do I have to do everything?....He asked, hoping to be facetious.”
“Wow Charles Beneditc Davenport. Uh, the creator of Eugenics. Jeez people, read a book.” (Wrong: Davenport was a prominent American eugenicist, but the idea actually comes from Sir Francis Galton.)
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