Archer Season 3 Review

Archer was a show that had been sitting in my Netflix Streaming favorites for probably 2 years before I decided to actually watch it. So my wife's friend came to stay one weekend and I decided to start watching it while they were at the mall. I fell in love with it instantly. My wife also fell in love with the show almost instantly and it's been our not so secret obsession for about six months now.

We don't have cable so we're a season behind on the show. To our joy, season 3 was released on blu-ray this week. So I ran to Bestbuy after work and bought a copy and it took us exactly 3 days to blow through the 13 episodes.

Spoilers ahead!

Episodes 1-3: Heart of Archness: This really started to drag as a three parter. I have to add, the novelty of David Cross guest starring on this type of show has really worn thin with me. I would've probably found his contributions funny about a decade ago but now it just kind of felt like he's just being David Cross. Several of the events here, such as Ray ended up in a wheelchair, make an impact on the rest of the season. Overall though, these 3 episodes are probably some of the weakest Archer episodes out there.

Episode 4: The Man From Jupiter: This episode guest stars Burt Reynolds who starts dating Mallory. My wife leaned over during the first 10 minutes of this show and commented that this season wasn't as good as the others and the show seemed to respond. The second half of this episode got pretty funny as Archer and Reynolds save Lana and co. from a Cuban hit squad. Overall, this episode had it's moments but was a little slow to start.

Episode 5: El Contador: Cyril becomes a field agent in this episode. I'm not really a fan of Cyril in this series. He was introduced as Lana's pussy whipped boyfriend and an object of scorn for Archer and Mallory. Once you took the Lana relationship away he really didn't serve a purpose on the show. This episode felt like them trying to make him relevant again. I'm not a fan of Cyril as a field agent because how many jokes can you make about him being incompetent? Anyways, this was a solid episode. You could see the series start building some steam here. My hope was restored that we were going to get a good Archer season.

Episode 6: The Limited: Isis is transporting a terrorist back to Canada. Baboo the ocelot makes a return as it turns out this train line is owned by Cheryl. This was another good but not great episode. Again, this episode was better than the last so the series continues to build on itself as the season progresses.

Episode 7: Drift Problem: Archer gets a special super car for his birthday and it's promptly stolen. This leads to Lana and Archer infiltrating the Yakuza with Pam to try and find his car. This is another one of those "Pam is awesome at some seedy activity" episode. And this was quite funny. A very good character episode as you yet again see how Malory screwed up Archer through her bad parenting. This is the first episode of the season that I would give some consideration for a top 10 list. I'm not sure if it would make the cut but I would give this one a critical eye.

Episode 8: Lo Scandalo An Italian diplomat ends up dead in Mallory's apartment and hijinks follow. There's a scene where they have a fake dinner party to fool the police and it was absolutely hilarious. I called this a pantheon episode at the time and Ii stand by it after a single viewing. By pantheon episode, I mean this would make a top 10 no questions asked and it would be in contention for my top 5. Just a really funny episode and the kind of format that made the show great in season 1 and 2. I would say this was the best episode of season 3.

Episode 9: Bloody Ferlin: We find out that Ray hasn't been paralyzed all this time. Ray heads home to help his brother out who happens to be a "drug farmer" and also a shameless wife swapper. Again, this one I would give top 10 consideration to. I like the Ray character a lot and the focus on him was a welcome change of pace.

Episode 10: Crossing Over: Archer has sex with Pam and it's absolutely amazing. They set it up so well in the beginning of the episode. It slowly dawned on you that they did it and the reveal for Archer was brilliant. And he kept going back for more depraved farm girl action! This was a really good episode. Archer and Pam hooking up was done better than shows that have teased potential romance for years. It was funny, they made it interesting and afterwards you were glad they threw that wrinkle into the show.

Episode 11: Skin Game: Krieger brings Katya back as a cyborg. She ends up leaving Archer for Barry at the end of the episode. I wouldn't call this episode bad or anything like that. I really wasn't interesting in having more time devoted to Katya. This was better than the middle Pirate episode but it was probably the second weakest episode of the season. I think that stems a lot from my apathy towards Katya though. My wife might have liked this one better.

Episode 12-13: Space Race: There was a scene where the bad guys were trying to open an airlock and said "This is like a combination of adamantium and mythril" and that's probably become the most quoted line around the house since then. The followed that up by saying Dwarven technology several times which was also amusing. I think Kelly and I differed greatly on this one. I really enjoyed these episode, Kelly seemed to like them less. I thought it was a good finale for the season. It left me excited for season 4.

Extras: There's a cooking segment with Alton Brown and Archer that ends up being pretty funny and a good trailer for Gator 2 in the extras section. It's funny to me that they got a guest star for a DVD extra.

Overall: Archer season 2 was a masterpiece for me. Every episode was great, the show really hit it's stride and was fulfilling it's potential on a weekly basis. Season 3 felt more like season 1 to me. Really fun and enjoyable but some clunkers mixed in with brilliance. I found myself using the word good instead of awesome or great with season 3. I will note though, I feel Archer becomes a stronger show with repeat viewings. Once you know the twists and turns of an episode, you can then begin to peel away the layers of the show and start to find the little tiny character moments which make this show such an absolute joy to watch. I imagine that when this hits Netflix instant that we'll give it a second run through and I might amend this review at that time. Right now I would give season 3 a B+ for an enjoyable season.