Review: Archer: Danger Island “Some Remarks on Cannibalism”

A modest proposal told in confidence.

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Lana’s parents, the king, and queen grill her about the missing map to the idol, which may have magical powers, and figure out that she made a deal with Fuchs. She speeds off to find it first but is t-boned by Malory’s group who wreck their car at a tree, soon both learning of each others’ search for the idol as Crackers alerts them of Archer being stuck in quicksand, though they soon find they’ve already left. Fuchs’ men cut through the forest, killing monkeys along the way

Archer and Pam are taken naked to the cannibal village and tied up to be prepared for eating where they meet Noah, a researcher who’s been with the cannibals for four years, but get a chance to escape when the villagers wander off. Cutting themselves free (and having an awkward boner moment), they learn the villagers are preparing for battle against the Germans, and manage to win them over when Archer kills a German about to kill them.

OUR TAKE

What is this, Cannibal Wednesday?!

But yeah, this episode was kinda just continuing where we left off from the last episode. There’s plenty of progression in terms of the idol hunt, notably in how the groups have been streamlined to Archer & Pam, Fuchs & his troops, and Everyone Else, but not a whole lot to say regarding the character development. Archer and Pam are still on rocky waters despite them still clearly caring about each others’ safety (and possibly being attracted to one another), but now have some allies in the cannibals, who they’ve managed to ally with. And not to bury the lead here, but we finally get to see these cannibals in the flesh. They basically amount to savage village people with an undecipherable language, but I guess they seem more sympathetic than the Nazis coming down the way, so racist portrayal averted! Good job, FXX!

Although the real nugget of character development (at least relatively, since again, there’s not a ton this episode), is Lana meeting with her parents and sort of reverting to an entitled child. In previous episodes, she maintained a composed royal and authoritative manner that was certainly attractive, but also a bit shallow. Now that she suddenly knows she’s been bamboozled and likely in trouble with her parents, she is scrambling to get the idol before Fuchs and ordering anyone who will listen. Naturally, they do not follow anything she says, which infuriates her, and it’s…honestly kinda cute.

We’re down to the final two episodes here as things converge on the location of the idol, which may or may not be a monkey, may or may not be magical, and may or may not even be real, but things are due to wrap up one way or another. I’m still predicting that Charlotte’s going to have some influence over the soldiers and that the idol WILL be a monkey, and I think I’ll just throw out an even more crazy prediction while I’m here: The idol will be the key to Archer coming out of the coma. It’s a very long shot, and even I don’t really believe it, but we’re kinda running out of impossible things to happen in this show, and this will be the last finale before the end of the series, so it’s something to consider. In the meantime, look into A Modest Proposal, a satirical essay by Jonathan Swift! It’s about cannibalism.