Archer: Archer 1999: Cubert
July 25, 2019 11:02 AM - Season 10, Episode 8 - Subscribe
The crew of the Seamus find a mysterious cube floating in space and bring it aboard.
A lot to unpack in this episode. Archer is starting to lose his mind. Or wake up.
AV Club: Archer's mind is cracking, and a legitimately shocking twist comes oozing out of the gaps
A lot to unpack in this episode. Archer is starting to lose his mind. Or wake up.
AV Club: Archer's mind is cracking, and a legitimately shocking twist comes oozing out of the gaps
Please tell me you didn’t try to have sex with the ghost cube.
This was fun, the twist was satisfying, and goddammit I can't wait for next week.
posted by General Malaise at 7:48 AM on July 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
This was fun, the twist was satisfying, and goddammit I can't wait for next week.
posted by General Malaise at 7:48 AM on July 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
I agree with the AV Club's William Hughes, that the announcement that there'll be an 11th season (link to a comment in last week's episode), and he'll wake up, at a recent Comic-Con panel took some of the mystery out of this week's episode. Once Lana appears in her space whore prior outfit, it's clear what is happening.
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I feel like Krieger's line "The scanner shows normal vitals and doesn't show anything physically or neurologically unusual. No drugs in his system and just what I assume is a therapeutic level of bourbon." is about his real-world evaluation.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:39 AM on July 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. I feel like Krieger's line "The scanner shows normal vitals and doesn't show anything physically or neurologically unusual. No drugs in his system and just what I assume is a therapeutic level of bourbon." is about his real-world evaluation.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:39 AM on July 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
Okay, I have been lukewarm on the season so far, but this one kept me hooked.
posted by wittgenstein at 1:33 PM on July 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by wittgenstein at 1:33 PM on July 26, 2019 [1 favorite]
I have to give it to them; maybe the Show will prove me wrong.
Have to keep reminding myself that this is all in Archer's head. The stupid bits are all Archer.
Which retroactively makes my aspersion of s10e06 Roadtrip look buffoonish. jerkArcher knows deep down that he's a huge jerk and may even cut himself up over it (magnified effect) through imagining a niceArcher.
Which would also be consistent with Archer wondering what he'd look like bald.
On that note, the initiated (domestic) violence towards Lana is completely fucked up. On one hand, it demonstrates the severity of Archer's condition, but is a really cheap shortcut/ shorthand. On the other hand, it explores the depth of Archer's being; he's probably subconsciously aware of Seamus, his son, and his relationship with Lana ("co-Captain."), and he still did what he did.
On the gripping hand, this feels like a stunt. Unless they address domestic violence/ elder abuse in the final episode before S11.
posted by porpoise at 7:50 PM on July 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Have to keep reminding myself that this is all in Archer's head. The stupid bits are all Archer.
Which retroactively makes my aspersion of s10e06 Roadtrip look buffoonish. jerkArcher knows deep down that he's a huge jerk and may even cut himself up over it (magnified effect) through imagining a niceArcher.
Which would also be consistent with Archer wondering what he'd look like bald.
On that note, the initiated (domestic) violence towards Lana is completely fucked up. On one hand, it demonstrates the severity of Archer's condition, but is a really cheap shortcut/ shorthand. On the other hand, it explores the depth of Archer's being; he's probably subconsciously aware of Seamus, his son, and his relationship with Lana ("co-Captain."), and he still did what he did.
On the gripping hand, this feels like a stunt. Unless they address domestic violence/ elder abuse in the final episode before S11.
posted by porpoise at 7:50 PM on July 26, 2019 [2 favorites]
Mallory: How does that thing know all that? (referring to the scanner)
Krieger: I know! Pretty great!
Mallory: All right, keep scanning or whatever
As a one-off, it'd have amused a certain subset of media consumers, but they built it up through the episode and brought the viewers who were naive to the concept/ joke into the fold.
posted by porpoise at 7:55 PM on July 26, 2019
Krieger: I know! Pretty great!
Mallory: All right, keep scanning or whatever
As a one-off, it'd have amused a certain subset of media consumers, but they built it up through the episode and brought the viewers who were naive to the concept/ joke into the fold.
posted by porpoise at 7:55 PM on July 26, 2019
I've watched every episode of Archer but I've missed some detail. What do people mean when they say he's going to wake up? When did he fall asleep?
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:06 PM on July 27, 2019
posted by The corpse in the library at 2:06 PM on July 27, 2019
TV's Michael Gray!
posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:10 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
Also: Mr. Mom reference!
posted by Chrysostom at 8:15 PM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:15 PM on July 27, 2019 [2 favorites]
The corpse in the library, Archer's been in a coma since he got shot at the end of season 7. Dreamland, Danger Island, and 1999 have all been in head.
posted by Chrysostom at 8:23 PM on July 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
posted by Chrysostom at 8:23 PM on July 27, 2019 [3 favorites]
Oh. Huh. I missed that — I thought he died and that we were just, I don’t know, still going.
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:53 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 9:53 PM on July 27, 2019 [1 favorite]
So did they just clip out "yes sir" and "no sir" from previous George Coe recordings, or get an impersonator, or what?
posted by Monochrome at 3:33 PM on July 28, 2019
posted by Monochrome at 3:33 PM on July 28, 2019
I assume it'd be trivially easy to do the former, Monochrome.
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:38 PM on July 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
posted by fiercecupcake at 2:38 PM on July 30, 2019 [2 favorites]
> On that note, the initiated (domestic) violence towards Lana is completely fucked up. On one hand, it demonstrates the severity of Archer's condition, but is a really cheap shortcut/ shorthand.
I found that pretty disturbing too. Possible explanation (rather than excuse): Could be a clunky attempt to reenact an iconic scene from Alien with the Archer cast. There have been Alien references sprinkled throughout this season but they were especially direct in this episode: Cheryl choking at the mess table is of course the chestburster scene (down to the line "The food's not that bad"); the Archer-Lana scene with the rolled-up adult magazine closely mimics the Ash-Ripley fight, with all the subtext/psychoanalysis parallels we want to read into that.
> On the other hand, it explores the depth of Archer's being; he's probably subconsciously aware of Seamus, his son, and his relationship with Lana ("co-Captain."), and he still did what he did.
It's weird that Seamus is at least acknowledged (the spaceship's name) despite Trinette's revelation that he's not Archer's son but there has been no mention of Abigene (with whom Archer has both a biological and time-spent-together connection)--Why is the ship Seamus if it's co-captained by Lana and Archer, who are parents of Abigene? Lana is portrayed as still being "baby-crazy" in the space ocelots scene so maybe this memory/dream is stuck in the pre-Abigene era?
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:33 AM on May 31, 2022
I found that pretty disturbing too. Possible explanation (rather than excuse): Could be a clunky attempt to reenact an iconic scene from Alien with the Archer cast. There have been Alien references sprinkled throughout this season but they were especially direct in this episode: Cheryl choking at the mess table is of course the chestburster scene (down to the line "The food's not that bad"); the Archer-Lana scene with the rolled-up adult magazine closely mimics the Ash-Ripley fight, with all the subtext/psychoanalysis parallels we want to read into that.
> On the other hand, it explores the depth of Archer's being; he's probably subconsciously aware of Seamus, his son, and his relationship with Lana ("co-Captain."), and he still did what he did.
It's weird that Seamus is at least acknowledged (the spaceship's name) despite Trinette's revelation that he's not Archer's son but there has been no mention of Abigene (with whom Archer has both a biological and time-spent-together connection)--Why is the ship Seamus if it's co-captained by Lana and Archer, who are parents of Abigene? Lana is portrayed as still being "baby-crazy" in the space ocelots scene so maybe this memory/dream is stuck in the pre-Abigene era?
posted by Sockin'inthefreeworld at 4:33 AM on May 31, 2022
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posted by Marticus at 4:57 PM on July 25, 2019 [1 favorite]