Incredibly glad that Archer has finally woken up from his coma. It will be interesting to see how he adjusts after being bedridden for three years. Was a very sweet ending, seeing that Malory has been there by his side too!
Why is the title Robert De Niro?
[7.6/10] I’ll be candid. I didn’t care that much for the space portions of this episode. They weren’t bad, or anything, but it was not quite as strong or momentous as I might have hoped for from the season finale.
I did enjoy the courtroom scenes quite a bit. The group dynamic there, with Ray presiding, Archer hallucinating, and everyone else chiming in, made for some great comedy. It’s a nice dig at the number of “military tribunal” episodes Star Trek would pull out of the chest, and the show makes good with riffs about holodecks and who’s flying the ship and T.V.’s Michael Gray.
But once we run into Barry 6 again, things become a little more predictable. Sure, there’s some neat enough scenes with our heroes fending off their attackers. And the Westworld-esque refuge in a holographic saloon is solid. But it mainly comes off like the show’s treading water until it can get to the climax (space phrasing), even if Archer’s hallucinations of the real world versions of the characters are intriguing.
That said, the end game of the episode is really really good. It’s a second season in a row where Archer, for however self-absorbed his friends (rightfully) accuse him of being, chooses to sacrifice himself so that everyone else can escape. It is, if not necessarily character growth given the circumstances, then maybe fodder for an epiphany in the waking world if nothing else.
From there, the show gives us a fantastic montage of the series’s most famous recurring bits, the outlandish thrills and spills Archer has gone through, and his relationship with his coworkers, the woman he loves, and his mother. It’s a nice little two-minute slice of who and what Archer and Archer have been for the past decade.
But it’s when he wakes up that really grabbed me. Part of that is just the fact that it’s our first glimpse of the real world (or however real Archer’s world gets) in three years. Part of it is that the show commits to the whole coma thing, sticking with the idea that he’s been unconscious for three years. Part of it is the possibilities that this three year gap creates.
But the biggest part of it is that Mallory basically just stuck by his side that entire time. I’ll cop to the fact that I got a little bit misty when the nurse revealed that (along with a shorthand between Mallory and the nurse that shows how familiar they’ve come). If there’s an overall arc to Archer, beyond an escalation of raunchy jokes, generalized insanity, and fantastical situation, it’s been one of people being jerks to each other in their day-to-day but really caring about one another when it really counts. Mallory waiting by her son’s bedside for three trips around the son may be the utter peak of that.
I’m not sure where the show was going with Mallory’s final monologue exactly, but color me impressed every time this crazy show manages to channel some genuine sentiment. “Archer 1999” has definitely had its fun with the space-bound misadventures, but it’s good to get the crew back to reality, and exciting to wait to find out what’s happened after all that time.
Oh YEAH! Finally! I hope next season brings more of the Archer we love. It is going to be very interesting to see how Archer will deal with life after three years in a coma. Can't wait!
Review by Paladin5150BlockedParent2019-08-02T06:56:13Z— updated 2019-08-03T18:27:59Z
A STERLING end to a stellar season, as the eponymous Archer finally finds his way back to to life, back to reality, much to the surprise and relief of his number one fan and supporter, his Mother, Malory. Knowing this episode, and as a matter of fact, this entire season was penned BEFORE they knew for certain they were being renewed for an 11th, but hopefully not final season, one has to wonder if the "Archers greatest hits" super cuts homage toward the end of the episode, which quick cut scenes from his "real" life, interspersed with the internalized fantasy dream life he has lived, the past three years, was possibly meant as a fitting, so long..., and thanks for all the fish" series finale, in case they weren't.
That the said super cut was backed by Queen Sarah Saturdays bop, "Robert De Niro", a possible allusion to same said actors turn as coma patient Leonard Lowe in "Awakenings", we then realized what the episodes title was referring to, that is Sterling's own awakening. And how fitting it was that he would awaken, not to see Lana and his daughter, or, the rest of the former ISIS, cum (phrasing) CIA staff, but the woman who, in spite of her (we now realize) feigned disappointment and hostility, is first and foremost, a Mother, who despite his best efforts, deep down clearly loves her son....., perhaps, as Archers visible discomfort showed, .....in a really creepily oedipal way. And trust me, it wasn't just the phrasing.
So, what will the future hold?, Well for the past nine seasons Adam Reed wrote all of the episodes. This season he only solo wrote three, turning over most of the work to others. Next season, which he has stated would be HIS if not Archer's last, he is slated to write only one, so, if the writing team can deliver the goods one more time, to decent ratings, perhaps Sterling Archer won't end up older, hobbled, weakened, and frail, as his character most certainly will be after being bed ridden for three years. Maybe he will really prove to be, as he fantasized in the super cut, a "Highlander"...., Sterling MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod, that is, Immortal.