Review: Archer “Identity Crisis” / “Lowjacked”
Overview:
Sterling Archer and his cantankerous spy crew are back for Archer’s twelfth season, which wastes no time getting these special agents back to work and getting their hands dirty. Unfortunately, the gang doesn’t get a chance to celebrate their recent successes and a scrappier and more desperate version of the team is sent out to resolve some international incidents. For the first time in ages, The Agency is left with minimal resources and pushed to more dangerous and impoverished corners of the world. Suddenly an arrogant attitude and disregard for safety may not be enough to keep Sterling Archer safe, especially when the disposition of his team and their public image continue to experience radical changes.
Our Take:
Archer and company hit the ground running after their recent antics of pulling off a little mission known as “saving the world” (ever heard of it?). Everyone is ready to return to their established status quo, but Sterling and the rest of the spy group find themselves in dire shape due to a minuscule budget, which means less alcohol, less expendable bullets, and a severe lack in “dark science,” but hopefully a new PR team can set this “new and improved” Agency on the right track.
From a narrative standpoint, it’s helpful to immediately put this little spy company on the defensive after what’s arguably their greatest accomplishment. They expect to be infinitely praised, but in reality they’re pushed even more out of their usual comfort zone. Archer and his team must now compete against “the man,” which in this case are major spy conglomerations like IIA–the International Intelligence Agency–which were teased throughout the background of Archer’s previous season.
The importance of branding and effective public relations becomes the focus of this premiere and new characters Kaya (Natasha Rothwell) and Alton (Harvey Guillén) become crucial figures in The Agency’s efforts to rehabilitate their image. These changes push The Agency towards a service called Global Spywire, which is almost like a fancy Craigslist for spy jobs. They’re still able to tackle missions with veracity, but now Archer and his team are actively competing against bigger and more reputable organizations for work.
These changes also mean that because The Agency has to operate at a freelance capacity that they now have to fund their own efforts and so they can’t live in the height of luxury like they’ve previously been able to appreciate. A new level of realism is added to the picture wherein there isn’t just a larger chance that Archer will fail, but that they have to live in squalor while they do it. That in itself makes every success resonate a little more strongly because they absolutely need it.
Archer’s more wild players are also given some entertaining comedic runners that punctuate the tenser action sequences and allow the series’ absurd voice to continually break through. The decoy plan where Cyril and Ray use a planted bug to make IIA think that Archer is with them when he’s actually outsmarting them elsewhere is fantastic. It might not be the most brilliant idea, but it’s smart enough for Archer’s spies and it’s able to lead to some satisfying laughs at the same time. “Lowjacked” is also excellent when it comes to subtle background details, like Cyril constantly fashioning napkin swans since he doesn’t have any better way to spend his time as a hostage, or that Ray sleeps through the entire ordeal.
Another element that’s grown into a genuine asset for Archer over the past few seasons is the excellence in animation and choreography when it comes to the series’ action sequences. Each season tackles more ambitious setpieces and season twelve of Archer makes inspired use of a helicopter. It’s a choice that feels big for the spy series, but it’s also amazing how some of these more exaggerated sequences feel more natural after seasons like Danger Island helped establish a framework for such grandiose elements through a variety of vehicles. There’s even an incredibly raw fist fight in this premiere that feels very reminiscent of Mission: Impossible – Fallout.
The start of this season also teases that certain members of Archer’s team might get poached by the International Intelligence Agency, which is something that almost certainly won’t happen, but it’d honestly do Archer some good. It’d make for a fascinating development if at least one person fell into these temptations if not permanently, then at least for the bulk of this season. Season eleven ended with Cyril in a very vulnerable place in response to his relationship with Archer and he’d be the perfect person to receive encouragement from IIA and become a legitimate threat to Sterling.
“Identity Crisis” helps establish the status quo for Archer’s 12th season, but “Lowjacked” digs deeper into these festering dynamics and attempts to trigger some change. An attempt at cathartic team building exercises gets interrupted by a well-timed hijacking, but this impromptu danger happens to function as the strongest team building exercise of all. There’s a palpable danger present in “Lowjacked,” but it’s routinely undercut by the atypical nature of these environmentally conscious terrorists who are more concerned about climate change than disposable wealth. It’s an entertaining change of pace and the episode is full of jokes about their skewed ideals and how they’re endlessly out of their league on this mission. This pushes Archer into a strange place of dominant subservience where he openly chastises and critiques his kidnappers, but is still ultimately forced to follow their demands.
The icing on the cake through all of these hostage subversions is that the terrorist attack happens on a plane, yet it remains docked for the entirety of the episode and never actually leaves the ground. It’s the most playful that Archer has been with its enemies in a long time and it’s a clever way to make a tired obstacle that’s been encountered dozens of times before in the show feel fresh and exciting. The terrorists are honestly the best part about “Lowjacked” and it wouldn’t be a disaster if Archer were to find a way to bring them back in a slightly altered capacity down the road.
Season 12 of Archer kicks off with a lot of promise and “Identity Crisis” and “Lowjacked” work as both a reintroduction to this world as well as decent standalone installments that are full of bombastic action sequences. A lot of this premiere and its subsequent episode are spent setting everything up for what’s to come and some of the character interactions occasionally feel like they’re on auto-pilot and just retreading their greatest hits. However, there’s still a spark to Archer that makes all of this work, even when it’s not exactly a radical reinvention that turns the show into a sci-fi or noir pastiche. The clock continues to run out on Archer and company, but it hasn’t yet reached a point of completely diminishing returns or that the show has morphed into a soulless version of itself. It’s still deeply satisfying to just spend time with these characters and “Identity Crisis” and “Lowjacked” leave the audience hungry for the heightened Agency hijinks to come.
Phrasing.
Oh, and there absolutely should be a spy-themed delicatessen named “S.P. Nosh.”
