Review: Archer ‘On The Carpet’

Spoilers Below:

Ah, the ol’ flashback episode. Who doesn’t love a good flashback? (Unless it’s war-related.) It adds mystery to a story, and let’s you know who survives and what condition everyone is currently in, which, now that I said it, kind of seems like it would take away from the excitement. But we don’t need to take that turn toward Negative Town, especially when we remind ourselves that we are still talking about a cartoon here.

Flashbacks are an interesting storytelling device, because they allow time to be manipulated for the sake of entertainment, and in some cases, suspense. A flashback can be used to highlight the important events that led to the present, but can still cut out all the middle junk without making the plot seem too jumpy – which would occur in a traditional linear storyline. Instead, key moments can be cherry-picked, leading up to the inevitable present. However, in this episode’s case (and in flashback-heavy films like Reservoir Dogs) catching up still leaves unanswered questions, namely: “But what the hell now?” Sure, Sterling, Cyril, and Ray all survived – but that doesn’t mean they’re even close to being through with their problems.

Speaking of problems, remember in the last episode, when Ray (a la Archer) said that they’d worry about landing the plane when they get to that point? Well, the recounting of the flashback began with this very landing crisis.

First on a long list of potentially fatal issues related to landing: the amount of gas in the plane was “barely enough” to get three passengers and an assload of cocaine to a small airstrip in the Florida Everglades.

Second, the airstrip the gang was heading toward was the same one the Columbians intended to fly to, which is obviously not the ideal place to land a Columbian drug plane when you’re the three white guys who just stole it.

However, when confronted by a group of (ex-U.S. Military-looking) drug & gun thugs led by Slater (guest voice Christian Slater…creative, right?) Sterling convinced the leader that Cyril, Ray, and himself actually rescued the plane from a double-crossing associate of Slater whom he thought he could trust.

The thugs then loaded up the plane with guns and were told to continue south, where a man named Gustavo Calderon (a.k.a. “Baby Gus,” the President of San Marcos – guest voice Fred Armisen) would buy them.

At first, I was a bit fuzzy on the significance of this whole ordeal from a political standpoint, until Malory summed it up nicely (because Sterling was also a bit confused): “I think you’ve managed to stumble backwards into a CIA-backed, anti-communist, drugs-for-arms operation.” Not whatever the hell Archer initially thought.

Of course, the ex-ISIS agents didn’t go through with the deal, and became the owners of a substantial weapons cache.

As for the blow? Well, the Colombian coke is long gone, and the in-house supply was blown up by Krieger in a good showing of extremely poor decision making. So in the season of constantly changing roles, the gang are no longer drug dealers; they’re arms dealers.

In other news, Malory and Ron Cadillac decided to give their relationship another shot, this time as an open marriage. Of course Cherlene and Pam were the first chicks he called.

In Case You Missed It:

1) I’ll never look at Firecracker Popsicles the same again.

2) “Filmfilmfilmfilmfilmfilmfilm!”

3) Look at the balls on Cyril this week: punching Archer and pulling a gun on him.

4) As much as I love the random tidbits of obscure historical fact, Houdini did not actually die because he was hit in the chest between heartbeats. (Or of AIDS, Pam.)

5) Phil McCracken. Ha. Always been a sucker for this gag.

6) Lana’s best line of the episode: “I love Freaky Friday as much as the next gal, but let’s just press on, operating under the assumption that one – or more likely both – of you are lying.”

7) Leave it to Archer to make Tanzania funny.

8) Pam had several good lines this week, including: “Cows. Bees. Hang on…bees!” and (to Cyril): “Dude, your balls are made of pussy.” And you know what’s nice about these jokes? They didn’t involve cocaine. Sure, the cocaine jokes were funny for a while, but it’s time for a new bit. Luckily, the snow pile has dwindled.

9) This was one of the best Krieger episodes all season, most-likely because he actually had a decent amount of screen time. I especially liked when he said “eep” or his Planet of the Apes joke: “I blew it up! Goddamn you all to hell!”

10) Was anyone else hoping, prior to Krieger revealing his submarine, that his newest creation would be something Piggly related?

Every Monday, prior to the new Archer, I think to myself that this will be the review where I don’t talk about change for once. I will finally break the cycle of routinely mentioning that Season 5 is new & exciting & totally different than the previous four…but not this week. No, I must mention that the flashback set-up was a unique way to tell the story, a unique way to keep the plot from progressing too quickly, and a unique way to change the ex-ISIS crew’s identities once again (and I’m not talking about changing Sterling into “Randy” or “Rando” or whatever) making them now international arms dealers.

Actually, that last part happened post flashback, but it was still another major change, so it counts.

So I mentioned it, but there’s no need to dwell on the topic yet again. Everyone watching at this point is on board with how the show is moving, and is willing to ride it out wherever it takes them. Otherwise, they would have gotten off already. (And gotten loaded, right?)

As long as it’s still funny, and all the characters keep twinkling in all their assorted, unique little snowflake ways, the series will continue to succeed.

Last night’s episode may not have been the funniest of the season, and it definitely isn’t among my favorites, but I can’t and won’t say anything that would imply this was anything less than a solid, well-crafted episode.

Each week brings a bit of uncertainty just before the new installment airs, because we as fans have no idea what direction the series will take. But luckily, there is no uncertainty in regard to quality – we can always count on the fact that we’ll at least get an intelligent, well-timed, amusing, and humorous show.

At least.