Review: Archer “Breaking Fabian”

Overview:

Sterling Archer and the rest of the Agency team literally fight for their lives when rogue smart drones begin to carry out an extermination clause with sinister origins. The neutralization of these deadly drones is dependent upon the help of a familiar face who Sterling and friends would have been happy to never see again. Bygones will have to be bygones otherwise the entire Agency team will go out in a blaze of precision bullets. 

Our Take:

Archer has overcome some impossible hurdles over the course of 14 seasons, but the major challenge that any series faces upon its conclusion is what’s the ending that makes the most sense for this show. It’s one thing to end a series while it’s still on top, but the truly great series finales are the installments that tap into their show’s very foundation to deliver an episode of television that’s as thematically rich as it is narratively satisfying. This becomes a more challenging task with each new season and it reaches a point where these expectations can almost be impossible to please after 142 episodes. 

“What is the perfect Archer ending?” is not a simple question and “Breaking Fabian” unfortunately begins with the deck already stacked against it. A season that could have beautifully set up the series’ finish has instead been largely episodic and frivolous in a manner that’s made this final season feel superfluous. “Breaking Fabian” begins as an episode about killer drones and ends in a homicidal robot rampage, but by and large it’s just a regular episode of the series. Archer doesn’t need to pull out all of the stops for its series finale, but “Breaking Fabian” feels like business as usual, which is slightly frustrating for the audience that has stuck around for 14 seasons. “Breaking Fabian” is a satisfactory season finale, but a subpar series finale. 

There’s actually a gripping angle with a little more gravitas than usual that kicks off “Breaking Fabian.” Former IIA employees are being assassinated en masse by smart drones as a part of the company’s “no fault severance” package. This puts the entire Agency team at risk unless they head to a facility on the other side of the world, along with Fabian, who’s the only one who can dismantle these flying assassins. This is a smart way to bring Fabian back into the fold and his character gains a certain invincible plot armor since the mission’s success hinges upon his survival. Fabian’s interplay with Sterling is temporarily entertaining, but no different than any other scenario where he’s stuck with someone who he’d rather execute. The threat of killer drones certainly adds something to the equation and there’s a particularly fun twist where Ray’s cheapskate qualities ultimately save Sterling and Pam’s lives since he’s bought store-brand drones whose killing power is limited in several areas

Archer’s visuals have become a hidden highlight, especially during the past few seasons. The series doesn’t get enough credit for just how well animated it often is, not to mention the fight choreography and action set-pieces that quite often go for broke. There’s a goddamn motorcyclist decapitation in this episode, which is easily one of the coolest things that Archer has done in seasons. “Breaking Fabian” takes Sterling and company to Liechtenstein, which includes some picturesque train sequences that showcase the European country’s scenery. This gets punctuated by a tense escape sequence from a moving train where all of these elements come together. The CG qualities that are used with Fabian’s murderous smart drones are distinct, but not distracting. It’s a technique that’s used to make this technology feel properly intimidating, but without pulling the audience out of the experience, which it accomplishes. 

“I did my best,” becomes Fabian’s excuse through most of “Breaking Fabian,” even when in the face of death. It’s hard to not view these sentiments as meta-commentary from the episode’s writer, Matt Roller (who also wrote this season’s particularly strong “30 for 30” and “Face Off”) in regards to Archer’s frenetic final season. There’s a lot to like in this finale and every character actually serves a purpose and has something important to contribute, but it still feels like it prioritizes the wrong elements for Archer’s final episode. It does its best to satisfy its individual conflict as well as the show’s grander goals, but it’s inevitably left to focus on the former when push comes to shove. Nevertheless, the ending sequence that plays out under Cyril’s inspirational montage is actually surprisingly moving and makes for a successful encapsulation of Agency’s teamwork and what they collectively bring to the table.

“Breaking Fabian” is fairly paint-by-numbers Archer for the most part, especially when it comes to their history with season finales over the past few years. The biggest surprise is how the series ultimately chooses to go out, which is less final than one would think. In a season that was widely advertised as Archer’s last, there’s a substantial cliffhanger that the series ends on after it’s publicly decreed that private spy organizations are illegal. It’s unclear if Archer plans to deliver some made-for-TV movie or one-off special as its true swan song. 

Such an installment would surely provide the emotional and narrative closure that’s otherwise lacking in “Breaking Fabian,” which is positive, but it allows this episode to cheat its way out of some difficult decisions and avoid doing what’s necessary of a series finale. “Breaking Fabian” is a fun and fast-paced finale that’s serviceable, but more or less forgettable in the larger pantheon of Archer stories, which is saying something when the final act involves heavy drone massacres. This episode is a serviceable finish to the season and likely to please the generic Archer fan, but it’s lacking many of the elements that would make audiences curious to watch an Archer series finale in the first place.