[7.3/10] Well, I’m an idiot who accidentally watched episode 2 of this season, thinking it was episode 1, which meant a lot of the reveals of “Archer 1999” were already there for me when I realized my mistake and went back and watched this one.
Still, this is a good intro to the new season! It is still a sci-fi potpourri of references, but I like that. It’s basically doing an all-round sci-fi pastiche in the way Archer was originally doing an all-round spy pastiche. Beyond the obvious Alien reference, you have Ray as a Firefly-style courtesan, Pam as a Trek-esque rock monster, and Krieger spouting Asimov’s laws of robotics. There’s even a bit of the 2000s Battlestar Galactica in there with Cheryl as Starbuck.
But I also like the personal relationship setup. As Mrs. Bloom pointed out, this is a bit of a return to the original dynamic of the series, with Archer and Lana broken up while Lana is surreptitiously seeing Cyril. I also like the idea that they both own half of the ship and are trying to get it back home with Archer being his usual lucre-seeking, unreliable self. I’ll admit, I miss the show’s character development for Archer, but there’s still some juice to be squeezed from the original character dynamics, especially when everything’s in space.
The plot to rescue an alien prince, only to have the whole thing turn into a trap is a nice little swerve, and there’s even some damn good action with the firefight in space.
Overall, it’s a promising start to the new season (for real this time!) with an interesting new reimagining of the show.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2019-09-11T00:19:53Z
[7.3/10] Well, I’m an idiot who accidentally watched episode 2 of this season, thinking it was episode 1, which meant a lot of the reveals of “Archer 1999” were already there for me when I realized my mistake and went back and watched this one.
Still, this is a good intro to the new season! It is still a sci-fi potpourri of references, but I like that. It’s basically doing an all-round sci-fi pastiche in the way Archer was originally doing an all-round spy pastiche. Beyond the obvious Alien reference, you have Ray as a Firefly-style courtesan, Pam as a Trek-esque rock monster, and Krieger spouting Asimov’s laws of robotics. There’s even a bit of the 2000s Battlestar Galactica in there with Cheryl as Starbuck.
But I also like the personal relationship setup. As Mrs. Bloom pointed out, this is a bit of a return to the original dynamic of the series, with Archer and Lana broken up while Lana is surreptitiously seeing Cyril. I also like the idea that they both own half of the ship and are trying to get it back home with Archer being his usual lucre-seeking, unreliable self. I’ll admit, I miss the show’s character development for Archer, but there’s still some juice to be squeezed from the original character dynamics, especially when everything’s in space.
The plot to rescue an alien prince, only to have the whole thing turn into a trap is a nice little swerve, and there’s even some damn good action with the firefight in space.
Overall, it’s a promising start to the new season (for real this time!) with an interesting new reimagining of the show.