Archer: Danger Island: Disheartening Situation
May 5, 2018 10:39 AM - Season 9, Episode 2 - Subscribe
Archer works to overcome his dead stick while Pam and those who bailed try to survive the local nightlife. Meanwhile, Mallory gets Charlotte out of a sticky situation with Capitaine Reynaud.
Archer Recap: Welcome to the Jungle (Charles Bramesco for Vulture)
Archer Recap: Welcome to the Jungle (Charles Bramesco for Vulture)
“Disheartening Situation” won’t rank among the smartest, darkest, or even the funniest episode in the series, but it has a winning liveliness that can be loads of fun if a viewer lets it. Last week’s premiere wound itself up with a cliff-hanger in midair, as Archer was left to safely de-board a plane with faulty landing gear while Lana, Pam, and Cyril parachuted out of the frying pan and into the fire. (For simplicity’s sake, all characters will be henceforth referred to by their original names and not their island names, despite how weirdly pleasant typing “Lanaluakalani” feels on the fingers.) This episode tracks a desperate two-front fight for survival, and does so with an agreeable stylistic aplomb. So what if Archer might not be tunneling deeper into its protagonist’s tangle of neuroses? Supersized Komodo dragons are afoot!Archer's best character gets a chance to shine, fart, and shoot some shit (William Hughes for A.V./TV Club)
I figure I get about one of these reviews a year to just sort of riff on the general awesomeness of Pam Poovey. More than that, and I’m doing little more than preaching to the choir; any less, and I’m criminally underselling you on how important this once-minor character has become to my ongoing love of Archer as a show. And, given that Pam starts “Disheartening Situation” parachuting into a hostile jungle with a massive machine gun in her hands, ends it by decking our “hero” and planting a fart directly in his face, and spends the intervening time gunning down dragons, murdering massive snakes, and just generally being amazing, I think I’m justified in making this my one.
Interesting play with Pam rejecting Lana's sexual playfulness.
Also, she and Archer are like, lifelong friends/partners without any hint of romantic feelings.
For some reason, Pam's machine gun kept making me think of the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) but the carrying handle is uncommon enough leading me to think that it might be a FN Model D.
But Pam, I think, is being portrayed as "All American" so maybe it is a BAR with a carrying handle (also, no bipod mount on the gas cylinder and no fins on the barrel also suggests that it's a Browning).
But American caliber ammunition might be hard to come by (although the BAR has also been chambered for Mauser rounds) whereas the FN BAR is chambered for Belgian caliber ammunition which might be more common where they are.
That Cyril survives because he's completely constricted by a big-assed snake was ok - not having the snake visibly "suffer" more was a missed opportunity.
Crazy Cheryl painting the walls of her cell turning out that it was les chocolates was a little tired. I am not liking Malory's wanting Cheryl to be a 'courtesan' and positioning herself to be the pimp.
The big lizards were kind of ridiculous, but the sheer number of them ended up being a little funny.
posted by porpoise at 5:58 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
Also, she and Archer are like, lifelong friends/partners without any hint of romantic feelings.
For some reason, Pam's machine gun kept making me think of the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) but the carrying handle is uncommon enough leading me to think that it might be a FN Model D.
But Pam, I think, is being portrayed as "All American" so maybe it is a BAR with a carrying handle (also, no bipod mount on the gas cylinder and no fins on the barrel also suggests that it's a Browning).
But American caliber ammunition might be hard to come by (although the BAR has also been chambered for Mauser rounds) whereas the FN BAR is chambered for Belgian caliber ammunition which might be more common where they are.
That Cyril survives because he's completely constricted by a big-assed snake was ok - not having the snake visibly "suffer" more was a missed opportunity.
Crazy Cheryl painting the walls of her cell turning out that it was les chocolates was a little tired. I am not liking Malory's wanting Cheryl to be a 'courtesan' and positioning herself to be the pimp.
The big lizards were kind of ridiculous, but the sheer number of them ended up being a little funny.
posted by porpoise at 5:58 PM on May 5, 2018 [2 favorites]
I thought the Archer and Pam plots were great.
The Cheryl courtesan plot leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Malory is acting in character, but with where we are in the culture, it's just not funny.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Cheryl courtesan plot leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Malory is acting in character, but with where we are in the culture, it's just not funny.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on May 5, 2018 [1 favorite]
The vulnerability of Cheryl here is...not funny, I agree. One thing that gives me hope with that the first season of Archer started with Cheryl as the vulnerable, single-note, perpetually sexually available Bond girl. And then...wow, did they zag with Cheryl. I'm enjoying seeing the characters with a slightly different dynamic (Ray and Lana holding positions of relative power, Archer displaying far more affection for Pam and less subservience to his mother, whatever the hell is going on with Krieger), but I'm hoping we'll still see the Cheryl situation backfire on Mallory.
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:27 AM on May 6, 2018
posted by grandiloquiet at 10:27 AM on May 6, 2018
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posted by Pendragon at 3:49 PM on May 5, 2018 [4 favorites]