Archer – He’s a pirate!

I can only imagine the writing process for Archer. This is the only show I can think of where the writers could say, “He thinks he’s the world’s greatest spy…and now he’s going to become a pirate king!” and it would actually work. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to “Heart of Archness,” what FX calls a three-part “special assignment” while we wait for season three in 2012.

It’s been three months since Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin, he of three television series) saw his fiancee Katya killed by his arch-nemesis Barry. How does he cope with the tragedy? He disappears off to French Polynesia, where he grows a beard, becomes a bartender, and sleeps with a newlywed. Aside from the facial hair, it’s typical Archer.

His overbearing mother and boss Malory (the incomparable Jessica Walter) wants her son back. Except when ISIS comptroller Cyril (Chris Parnell) tells her that the spy firm is finally turning a profit in his absence. In fact, the whole workplace is better off. He doesn’t miss the bullying. Ray Gillette (series creator Adam Reed) can wear black turtlenecks without reproach. And Pam (Amber Nash) has plenty of free time, since most of her job consists of handling sexual harassment claims against Archer.

Yet this is still Malory’s son, so she brings in Rip Riley (Patrick Warburton), himself a former ISIS agent, to fetch Sterling. This goes about as well as you’d expect. Thanks to Archer, they end up crashing their seaplane and being captured by pirates, and thanks to Archer, they also slaughter the pirate captain and take over his boat. Thus, our hero has the grand idea that he should become the new “pirate king”…because that seems like such a good idea.

It was an interesting move by FX to bring Archer back early for three episodes before its actual third-season run, and I hope it pans out; maybe some of the It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia audience will stick around for the animated shenanigans. If any show can do something with a limited run, it’s Archer, which isn’t bound by the trappings of live-action TV or even human sanity, and uses that creative freedom to its fullest. “Heart of Archness” is no exception. There’s a tropical backdrop, a crashing seaplane, a bloody shootout on a boat, and arrival at a pirate island — things that would devour a budget if they actually had to be done in the real world.

Yet for all that, the episode’s best jokes are in the ISIS workplace, where we get a glimpse of what things are like without Archer. We can infer that it’s Archer’s fault the agency hasn’t turned a profit in forever, and everyone else seems to get along quite well. (Except for mad scientist Krieger and Archer’s butler Woodhouse, who are sadly absent this week.) It’s a relatively normal workplace that I might actually be able to tolerate. At the same time, that also proves that Archer and his many, many flaws are what makes the job – and the show – so inappropriately awesome.

So if he wants to be a pirate king? Let him. It’s not going to end well, but I’m surely going to have a fantastic time watching.

Clacked by Brittany Frederick
on Sep 16, 2011 @ 07:46 EST5EDT