Office Comedy Week Part III: Archer

Archer is one of those shows intent on playing devil’s advocate in the issue of whether or not intelligence agencies are actually intelligent at all. I don’t know about you, but personally, I’m sick to death of “realistic” crime dramas where every cop is psychic and even better, the ones that follow FBI, CIA or other such groups who have magic underground rooms where they can see everything happening everywhere at any time forever. It’s like have magic mirrors. Computers don’t work that way. Profilers aren’t magic. Lab techs and hackers are not the same thing. NCIS was tolerable until they gave it a spin off. But in general? These shows drive me ape shit. How they could even have pretensions to realism is beyond me. So maybe my burning desire to tell millions upon millions of viewers that what they’re watching is stupid and why it’s stupid (because it isn’t what you think it is) has been influencing my viewing patterns for the last decade. I’m more likely to watch The Man Who Knew Too Little or A Shot in the Dark than James Bond, and I’m more likely to watch Archer than CSI or Criminal Minds or whatever.

The show centers around an intelligence agency- ISIS, and its key players. Namely, Malory Archer, former black ops specialist, and a drunk, horny woman. She’s also the world’s worst mother. Which is fitting since her son, the titular Archer is the world’s best-worst secret agent. Code named Duchess after Malory’s dog, Archer’s as talented in the individual aspects of the spy game such as shooting, driving get away, stealthy infiltration, and running the fuck away as he is emotionally retarded. Oh, and he’s as horny as his mother. Not that it’s easy to tell in this show. Of course there’s also Cyril the accountant, who is dating Lana, the other star field agent at ISIS and Archer’s ex. Then you have crazy Carol, or Sheryl or Cristal the secretary (she changes it in every episode) Pam, the disgusting HR director, and everybody’s favorite mad scientist, Krieger, inventor of the fabled Fister Roboto.

You may not think that randy, irresponsible spies is an office comedy. That’s because you’re thinking Austin Powers. You’d be surprised how much of the office aspect comes through in this show. Indeed, relatively little actual spy work goes on. The first episode has Archer accidentally uncovering a double agent when he tries to cover the fact he’s been using the agencies’ funds for personal use. And yet everyone seems to be more concerned that the donuts Lana knocked out of his hand will attract ants. It’s actually really clever how they work most of that stuff in. For instance, there’s the episode where they have to try and bribe a representative of the UN to give them a grant rather than their rivals, ODIN.

Really, the show has only one downside. It’s ludicrously foul. I have no problem with cursing, or disturbing imagery or ideas or even basic plot premises. It’s virtually impossible to offend me. Which is why this show doesn’t. BUT it’s one of those rare occasions where I can see someone saying “Why would they do that?” because sometimes it’s so excessive it overshadows anything else that’s going on. And usually the show is at its funniest when it’s kinda-sorta-pretending to hide its nature. Like a conversation between Malory Archer and the head of Odin (observant folks will note a clip from this scene is in one of the linked videos. And also, that Malory and the head of Odin are played by the mother and father from Arrested Development, which links us back to Better Off Ted. Re-read that post for a refresher if you’re not sure how)where every exchange between them is a double entendre and seemingly unintentional when taken individually but become increasingly obvious, sped along by Archer helpfully interjecting “Phrasing!” every time. Anyway, it ain’t a show to watch with the young ‘uns that’s for sure. But if you can get past the show’s penchant for excess it’s incredibly funny and unusually clever. Its second season just ended. I’m kind of expecting that’s all we’ll get. Good shows are usually lucky to get that. Anyway, although they took it down during the new season, the show is available instantly on Netflix and *used* to be on Hulu, so it'll likely come back to that as well. I’d imagine the second season will join it soon. Just be sure to only watch when the kiddies are at school.