Sterling wants to know who his father is. Unfortunately, Mallory has no idea, but it was quite a weekend. Jackov hires those two Swedes again to bring Archer in and put a chip in his brain so they can control him. Unfortunately for them, it doesn't work because it is a Soviet invention and the satellite that runs it is all screwed. Meanwhile, Lana decides to punish Cyril for his indiscretions in the last episode by pretending to have sex with thirty- seven men. She doesn't do anything but charges them to use bragging rights. Anyway, there is an interesting conclusion involving a grilled cheese sandwich with the wrong kind of cheese. What else is new?
5 Reviews
8
Edvis-19979 February 2020
Archer Season 1
Seras1112312 June 2022
Maybe not the best episode to close this season on, but a solid one nonetheless.
This adult comedy centers on a dysfunctional spy agency. Season 1 of Archer suffers from some minor problems but overall I found the mix of smugness, interesting characters and a lot of wit to actually back up the humor it goes for.
This adult comedy centers on a dysfunctional spy agency. Season 1 of Archer suffers from some minor problems but overall I found the mix of smugness, interesting characters and a lot of wit to actually back up the humor it goes for.
Season 1: Fun mix of crudity, great dialogue, great timing and strong deadpan delivery with a strong voice cast
bob the moo23 December 2014
This was one of those shows I kept hearing about but never got around to watching; the story is about a spy agency called ISIS (no, really – but they had the name first) where the main spy is a suave Bond- esque character whose mother happens to run the agency and whose ex is also one of the other main spies. While they get involved in missions around the world, with high-stakes, the majority of their time seems to be taken up with resentments, office politics, relationships, personality dysfunction, poorly aligned priorities, sexual indiscretions, and the actions of Archer himself – who is not exactly the model of professionalism.
I had heard the show was not for everyone, and I guess this is because fundamentally it is a very silly show – and if you do not understand that after watching this season, then a look at the DVD extras will convince you since it contains an alternative version of the first episode but with the Archer character replaced by a velociraptor (including all his dialogue replaced by growls), seemingly just because it was funny to do so. Like this throwaway extra, the silliness does work though because it is very well constructed silliness – something that takes work rather than spontaneous silliness that usually ends up being dumb rather than clever; and Archer is clever.
There is a lot of crudity as the base, but for me the more pleasing thing was the dialogue and its delivery. It is very smartly written and has plenty of quotable lines and dialogue that I can listen to many times over; there is also a certain controlled randomness that works too. A few times the crudity comes over a bit too heavy with low blows or easy jokes, but mostly it is brisk and very funny so it doesn't matter too much. To make the most of the writing the delivery is very good. A talented cast not only get the deadpan tone just right to help make the silliness funny rather than stupid, but their timing is also great through, with many exchanges made funnier by the delivery. Animation is stylish and yet simple, which adds well to the deadpan and genre/period feel to the show – which helps the spoof aspect work.
It may not be for everyone but I think many people would be surprised by how funny it is once they get into the spoof deadpan tone of this first season. I know for me that I was only a few episodes into the first season when it was clear that this would be a show that I'd be catching up on the rest of the seasons.
I had heard the show was not for everyone, and I guess this is because fundamentally it is a very silly show – and if you do not understand that after watching this season, then a look at the DVD extras will convince you since it contains an alternative version of the first episode but with the Archer character replaced by a velociraptor (including all his dialogue replaced by growls), seemingly just because it was funny to do so. Like this throwaway extra, the silliness does work though because it is very well constructed silliness – something that takes work rather than spontaneous silliness that usually ends up being dumb rather than clever; and Archer is clever.
There is a lot of crudity as the base, but for me the more pleasing thing was the dialogue and its delivery. It is very smartly written and has plenty of quotable lines and dialogue that I can listen to many times over; there is also a certain controlled randomness that works too. A few times the crudity comes over a bit too heavy with low blows or easy jokes, but mostly it is brisk and very funny so it doesn't matter too much. To make the most of the writing the delivery is very good. A talented cast not only get the deadpan tone just right to help make the silliness funny rather than stupid, but their timing is also great through, with many exchanges made funnier by the delivery. Animation is stylish and yet simple, which adds well to the deadpan and genre/period feel to the show – which helps the spoof aspect work.
It may not be for everyone but I think many people would be surprised by how funny it is once they get into the spoof deadpan tone of this first season. I know for me that I was only a few episodes into the first season when it was clear that this would be a show that I'd be catching up on the rest of the seasons.
No I will not grill you a cheese
throwaway-8828513 March 2020
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