Archer (Season 6)

By: Robert Murphy 

Being a super spy is a dream that I'm sure a lot of guys would imagine wanting and why wouldn't they, James Bond makes it look so damn appealing with the amazing cars, cool gadgets and beautiful woman. Sterling Archer also helps with this appeal as well as he parades around the world narrowly escaping death at every turn and single handedly keeps the worlds scotch and whore house industry going. However, the last season of Archer, Archer Vice, saw a departure from his world renowned exploits and him and the other members of ISIS tried their hands at being drug smugglers. Hey, how hard could it be right? Well. as it turns out it can be very difficult when you're working with the incompetency of this sorry lot. Now that this all over, Archer and his friends are back doing what they do best or rather adequately or um, yeah, they do alright I guess. They are now a division of the CIA and for whatever reason they see the former espionage group as a valuable asset to have and they go back to business as usual, literally, it's the same building, same layout and just as funny as it always was. 

The first few episodes of this latest season feel like a return to form for the series, we've stepped away from being criminals and going outside the law (sort of) and now Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) can go back to shirking his responsibilities and still somehow getting the job done. If you honestly missed the entirety of the last season, you could almost say it never happened when you click over the channel to start watching it all over again. This isn't a bad thing when you think about it because you need a little time to return to form. However, the other half of the show starts to bring home a new angle for the series and that is the fact that Archer is now a father (the only thing you really learned last season). Yes, it turns out that the child Lana (Aisha Tyler) was carrying is somehow Archer's and things enter into a whole new realm. Archer isn't exactly new to parenting though as he played foster parent to one of his call girl's children, let's just hope that he doesn't get this one a tattoo.

The entirety of this season is really about two thing, Archer and Lana and their new dynamic and Archer coming to terms with actually being responsible for another human being. This second point become exceedingly obvious in the episode entitled "Sitting" where Lana trusts Archer enough to actual watch their child, alone. The whole episode is a very touching one as he starts to feel a bond with baby A.J. until a strange visitor comes a knocking and Archer goes into full butt kicking mode and starts "Archering" all over the place. You heard me right, that's a thing this season. The only difference is now he realizes that he has something to protect and we see an extremely serious and an extremely scary side to Archer, one I've never seen before. It turns out a serious Archer is one you don't want to mess with. The experience proved that Archer isn't a goof all the time and some of the best moments through all of season for the show were when Archer dropped the act and was truthful about his feelings.

Moving on to the other fact I mentioned, the second half of this season centers around Lana and Archer who officially get back together. It's something that people always hate in shows, why would you put the main characters together, it'll ruin the show. Well, it would seem that doing this actually makes Archer more intriguing if anything. Three of my favorite episodes from this season revolve around Archer trying his best to behave but ending up being his usual self and ruining everything. At one point, Lana returns home with A.J and Archer so her parents can meet their grandchild and the idiot that is responsible for her birth. There is a moment in the hot tub that will leave you cringing.

Our other characters also go back to their old ways after being criminals doesn't work out, Cyril (Chris Parnell), Pam (Amber Nash), Krieger (Lucky Yates), Cheryl (Judy Greer) and Malory (Jessica Walter). As I said, things are back on course for each of them in terms of their characters but the writing still remains top notch and keeps the dialogue between each of them just as good. The episode entitled "Vision Quest" proves this through and through as everyone except for Malory ends up trapped in the elevator to work, needless to say tension are high and I wouldn't want to be trapped in a small space with these sociopaths. Malory though isn't left out at all this season, her character makes her mark by constantly trying to make changes in Lana's parenting style and showing the trademark bad parenting she used with her own child. Malory tries to bribe Lana to change A.J.'s name to her own, starves her because she thinks the baby is too fat and plenty of other eyebrow raising moments.

In conclusion, it's nice to find out that even though plenty of the dynamic has now returned to the way it was before Archer Vice, the show still can offer great dialogue and interesting new stories. Even the earlier episodes that I glossed over in my review were some excellent new missions, my particular favorite was when Archer, Lana and Ray must climb a treacherous mountain with a potential killer in their midst. It's fraught with danger and plenty of moments for Archer to bugger the whole thing up. I hope that Archer now being a father brings things closer to us discovering who is actual father is and learning more about his past. We never know what the future of the show holds except that it will be filled with Archering action all over the place.

Good:

- The show returns to it's usual spy format with some great new missions

- Dialogue is still sharp as ever

- Animation is on the top of it's game

- Archer as a father and the new avenues it opens up with Lana and for the story was great

Bad:

- Some of the earlier episodes do feel like the same old same old for the Archer story you've already seen

Scully Rating: 8.5 out of 10