“Have you seen Archer?” a friend asked. I hadn’t.
I had no idea what they were talking about. It was my worst fear come true: someone
trying to engage in conversation about a piece of content pivotal to modern
culture and there’s me, oblivious and unable to take part. “You’d love Archer,” they went on. Things had escalated. Now this thing I had never heard of was
actually being recommended to me! I gave
the only response possible at the time: nodding silently while my mouth slowly
opened and closed. But I don’t think I
got away with it, as the same friend then insisted on showing me the programme
while I was visiting him in Beijing.
(This was the same dear friend who first recommended the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt to me, so he has a
strong track record).
Let’s relive my first thoughts during that initial viewing,
as this will help to bring the show to life for readers.
“So, it’s some sort of spy agency?”
Yes, it is.
“Wow, this is a work of art.”
Firstly, it’s adult animation. This doesn’t mean it’s a cartoon of explicit
jiggery and pokery for lonely men to watch with boxes of tissues. It means it’s something for grown-ups that
just happens to be produced from moving illustrations, like BoJack Horseman or Rick & Morty. But everything in Archer is drawn to look like
artwork by Roy Lichtenstein. The characters are pneumatic in their
attractiveness (though this still isn’t aimed at the hand-over-fist crowd). The backgrounds too add to the overall high
quality, while sixties lines and styling give everything a slight Mad Men feel.
I feasted my eyes.
“Isn’t that Bob from Bob’s
Burgers?”
Following the overload in the eyeballs, my ears attuned to
the aural assault. Lead character,
Stirling Archer, is voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, who
plays Bob in Bob’s Burgers. While Archer
isn’t exactly supposed to be a successful spy, it’s hard to forget the images
of a bumbling family man who flips burgers when Archer is seducing beautiful
ladies or rolling about on covert missions.
“Why is everyone shouting?”
The characters pursue all dialogue at a certain heightened
pitch. It’s the tone you use in a
conversation where each exchange elevates the previous sentence’s sarcasm,
irony or sardonic tone. It has nowhere
to go but shouting, which means that everything can feel a bit ranty, jokes
(though funny) don’t stand out and we end up with one level to the whole thing.
“But yes, this is quite funny.”
Once you overcome the scream at which lines are delivered,
you can appreciate the humour that laces everything. Jokes reoccur and harken back to former
statements, layering on themselves over and over till you can’t help but
chuckle or groan.
“Oh, so it really is only these characters then.”
We more or less stick to the world of ISIS, the spy agency
where Archer works. Fun fact: it’s run
by his mother, Malory (voiced, well, shouted by Jessica Walter from Arrested Development), so his relationship
with her is the source of about 60% of the humour because it’s funny and silly
to work for your mum as a spy. Around
eight characters feature in practically every episode, no matter what, which
starts to feel close and closed off across the nine seasons. Yes, nine.
Occasional relief comes from guest roles, for which some sort of
Hollywood comedy actor is always found, like a bit of an inside joke, so you
can have a great time trying to place the voice before giving in, checking IMDB
and seeing that it was Janice off Friends.
In short, this is a good man-show. I don’t want to be gendering things as we
move into 2019, but the humour can be schoolboy, Archer lives consequence-free
and I’m fairly certain the female characters only serve as garnish in order to
bait or foil (all while shouting of course).
Nevertheless, nine series is good going, so let’s go through how things
have been padded out and what my bodily responses were for each one:
Series one
Still getting to grips with the style, characters and tone,
we have an episodic approach with each instalment more or less resolving
itself. There’s an airship, among other
retro elements, with most conflict coming from a rival agency (and between
Archer and Malory).
Series two
More office management japes creep in, but the episodes
climax in Archer searching for the true identity of his father. We get into our stride here a bit more.
Series three
Things get joyfully further and further fetched, with more
action in the animation (versus perennial standing around posturing) and more
diverse settings. Robots appear, as does
a mission to space. Enjoyment peaks.
Series four
Just more classic Archer, with a hilarious Bob’s Burgers
crossover.
Series five
This is Archer: Vice.
We depart from the old office and the whole staff end up in South
America trying to offload cocaine.
Comedy comes from Pam doing most of the cocaine most of the time.
Series six
Back to nearly normal with more global travel. Some of the characters’ backgrounds are
fleshed out.
Series seven
Archers goes all Hollywood.
I didn’t really get what was going on.
Series eight
This whole series is a dream. No, really, it’s called Archer: Dreamland and
takes place in Archer’s mind during a coma.
It’s a shame he can’t dream up some new main characters.
Series nine
Completely clapped out, the whole thing moves to 1938. I lost the plot. I didn’t have a mental health episode, I
simply was unable to find any narrative to follow.
After the quick intro in Beijing, I’ve limped my way through
this show, possibly repeating series three, or, in fact, missing out whole
chunks of episodes altogether. Because
of its constant tone, I find myself easily distracted, even though each
instalment is short. As such, in an
effort to make it finally to the last episode (which wasn’t helped by series
nine dropping when I was knee deep in series six) it has become a background
show I put on whenever I am doing something else. Many a work email has been bashed out on the
old laptop while Archer and Lana scream at Figgis, or while Pam runs around
naked eating snacks and taking drugs.
Maybe a close-knit colleague collective of inept spies can only go so
far, yet Archer still feels unique in both the worlds of comedy and
animation. Within its overwhelming volume,
there are hilarious gems. So, if you
live life terrified of being caught out by someone asking if you’ve seen Archer
(and it’s only happened to me twice more and both times I could respond
confidently with a big fat yes) try a couple of episodes. If you hate it, then stop it and do something
else. And if you like it, then enjoy;
you’re welcome.
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