Review: Archer Dreamland “Sleepers Wake”

Archer Dreamland has thus far been magnificent. It’s still as witty as ever, though “Sleepers Wake” snoozed a few subplots.

Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) persists in attempting to glean Mother (Jessica Walter) her fortune for the ransom of Charlotte Vandertunt (Judy Greer). But Detective Figgis (Chris Parnell) and Pam Poovey (Amber Nash) have different plans. Figgis is a crooked cop, whereas Poovey tries to thwart her partner Figgis. However on occasion, and as is the case in “Sleepers Wake,” Poovey must go along with Figgis’s plans.

During “Ladyfingers,” Dr. Krieger (Lucky Yates) emerged as the bartender/mad scientist. This hearkened back to previous Archer canon in the “Bionic Barry” narrative. Dutch Dylan (Dave Willis) received limbs a la Krieger. He escapes the mad doctor’s lab, which is in the Dreamland bar basement. Climbing out of this Dylan remarks, “Dreamland has a whole goddamn Nazi robot farm in the basement…in this economy?”

Dylan struts into a biker bar and demands “I need your clothes, your boots, and your motorcycle.” It’s a neat throwback to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Charlotte Vandertunt levels up her crazy when she asks Mother, “You’re not planning to blindfold me and hide me in a bomb shelter with limited oxygen and send my family cryptic notes about how to find me in a race against time for my life?” When Mother says no, and wonders aloud who would go to all that trouble, Vandertunt replies “Johann Schmidt, aka the Red Skull in my Nazi kidnap slash rape fantasy.” Mother aptly replies “Ew.”

Archer bungles the ransom handoff, leaving a (semi-iteral) cliffhanger. There’s a lot I like. A few running gags persist like the ba-dum-tish after jokes, this time with a shout of “Diminishing returns Cliff!” But hey, this gag is still hilarious. Poovey keeps talking about cuy, or guinea pig. Again, a few moments cut back to Poovey’s apartment with the Chinese women. Poovey demands, “hey, who keeps leaving the seat down?” I really appreciate how Poovey doesn’t break character and remains a man in Dreamland.

But “Sleepers Wake” for its advancement of the Vandertunt ransom and Bionic Dutch seems to elongate its storylines. I’m curious where these plots will converge. Notably, I’m not sure how Bionic Dylan will weasel its way into the Vandertunt ransom plot. Presumably, there’s a massive conglomeration planned with Len Trexler (Jeffrey Tambor) at its core. However, it’s unclear where Archer Dreamland is headed.

Still, I quite enjoy the serialization and how episodes pick up from where the last left off. This element further lends a noir vibe to the series. Despite its plodding pace for “Sleepers Wake,” Archer Dreamland refrains from lulling the viewer to sleep.