[9.1/10] Crackerjack episode of Archer. I absolutely loved the triumvirate of Lana, Trinette, and Cecil. For one thing, Lana and Trinette’s back and forth about Lana being a special agent for the IRS was just tremendous. It has the perfect Archer patter that cracks me up every time, including riffs on the racism and sexism of the FBI, hooker jokes, and running gags about potato-based nicknames for the glove compartment. Adding Eugene Mirman’s character’s blithe awfulness to the mix was ingenious, and the combination of him and Trinette annoying the crap out of Lana made for some really funny moments.
So did Archer trying to keep alter while combining uppers and pain killers. For one thing, the cold open with him in Mother’s office, playing strangled charades while Cheryl guesses “palm reader” to everything was a perfect little scene that only this show can do. Archer talking to himself wasn’t as funny as when there were fake outs, but there was still some humor in it.
And Cyril and Poovey have made for a pretty great team as well. Poovey telling Cyril that based on his demographics he’s basically already dead was cold but funny, and the imagine spot where all of Poovey’s kids are graduating from high school was guffah-worthy. To top it all off, the reveal of what Dutch/Barry had done to his former associates at Len Trexler’s mansion was pretty shocking but not exploitive. Creating a morbid version of The Last Supper was certainly gruesome and even horrifying, but there was some artiness in the animation that made it work. Certainly a hell of a note to end on.
Overall, an excellent episode that had tons of great comic back-and-forths, with a punch of an ending to boot.
The intro jokes, the jokes about the FBI and the mention of waxing gibbous makes for a memorable episode, although I miss something from the older seasons.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParent2017-05-20T23:49:18Z
[9.1/10] Crackerjack episode of Archer. I absolutely loved the triumvirate of Lana, Trinette, and Cecil. For one thing, Lana and Trinette’s back and forth about Lana being a special agent for the IRS was just tremendous. It has the perfect Archer patter that cracks me up every time, including riffs on the racism and sexism of the FBI, hooker jokes, and running gags about potato-based nicknames for the glove compartment. Adding Eugene Mirman’s character’s blithe awfulness to the mix was ingenious, and the combination of him and Trinette annoying the crap out of Lana made for some really funny moments.
So did Archer trying to keep alter while combining uppers and pain killers. For one thing, the cold open with him in Mother’s office, playing strangled charades while Cheryl guesses “palm reader” to everything was a perfect little scene that only this show can do. Archer talking to himself wasn’t as funny as when there were fake outs, but there was still some humor in it.
And Cyril and Poovey have made for a pretty great team as well. Poovey telling Cyril that based on his demographics he’s basically already dead was cold but funny, and the imagine spot where all of Poovey’s kids are graduating from high school was guffah-worthy.
To top it all off, the reveal of what Dutch/Barry had done to his former associates at Len Trexler’s mansion was pretty shocking but not exploitive. Creating a morbid version of The Last Supper was certainly gruesome and even horrifying, but there was some artiness in the animation that made it work. Certainly a hell of a note to end on.
Overall, an excellent episode that had tons of great comic back-and-forths, with a punch of an ending to boot.