Archer: Danger Island: Comparative Wickedness of Civilized&Unenlightened Peoples

June 7, 2018 10:55 AM - Season 9, Episode 7

Archer helps defend a village from party crashers intent on ruining oysterfest.

Archer Recap: Here Comes the Chub Club (Charles Bramesco for Vulture)

It could only have ended in war. Ever since the Danger Island season introduced the MacGuffin of the idol — still unseen by the end of this week’s half hour, an ace up the show’s sleeve that the writers are waiting until the very last moment to play — the many competing factions of characters have been on a collision course with one another. The dramatis personae and the churning geopolitical forces animating them now include Malory (ruthless, self-interested capitalism), Archer and Pam (a sense of right and wrong), Cyril and his Nazi buddies (imperialist domination), Lana and the royal family (respectful isolationism), and the local chapter of cannibals (hunger, the greatest motivator of all). Throwing together this volatile combination of tensions results in the most exciting episode in a season that’s spent most of its run building anticipation. In the tautly made battle sequence that fills most of “Comparative Wickedness of Civilized and Unenlightened People,”* Archer makes good on the promise of the last month and a half, and that’s before a meth-crazed Cyril commandeers a robotic exoskeleton straight out of Aliens.

*That's the full episode title, I had to do some creative editing to squeeze it into the FanFare episode title character limit.

posted by filthy light thief (9 comments total)

Best episode of the season.
posted by Pendragon at 12:24 PM on June 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

And, dare I say, best episode of the last 3 seasons ?
posted by Pendragon at 12:27 PM on June 7, 2018

Exoskeleton straight out of Castle Wolfenstein 3D you mean (the original)
posted by some loser at 3:31 PM on June 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

The Nazi logs were strangely adorable.
posted by peeedro at 4:43 PM on June 7, 2018

I love Chub Club
posted by jason_steakums at 5:15 PM on June 7, 2018

Biggest laugh for me was when KriegerBird referenced the Dead Kennedys.
posted by The Nutmeg of Consolation at 6:43 PM on June 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

Between Fuchs/Cyril turning into Hitler and eventually MechaHitler from Wolf3D (after Archer trying to explain the concept of a boss fight to the natives), the Dead Kennedys reference, and Cheryl going into another power trip, this was a great episode.
posted by lmfsilva at 9:11 AM on June 8, 2018 [4 favorites]

William Hughes of TV/A.V. Club was also a fan, noting this was the 100th episode of Archer, and calling out a lot of the references for those (like me) who missed (some of) them.
posted by filthy light thief at 10:40 AM on June 8, 2018 [1 favorite]

"...they might have schnapps!"
posted by Chrysostom at 6:21 PM on June 9, 2018