Archer: The Holdout
January 9, 2015 12:44 PM - Season 6, Episode 1 - Subscribe

Archer must salvage a computer from a crashed plane in the Season 6 premiere.
posted by Pendragon (21 comments total) 6 users marked this as a favorite
 
So loved this. The hologram office. Brilliant and cruel. Loved it. The shout-out to the Six Million Dollar Man, non-coked up Pam, Thai lady-boys, clone (?) in the hot tub. Good stuff. Welcome back, Archer.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 2:00 PM on January 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


This was a great "Okay, here's all the changes since last season, now we're all up to speed" show right up until Archer shot up the rescue boat to give Ken time to talk to his family. And then it was fucking awesome.
posted by Etrigan at 3:17 PM on January 9, 2015 [1 favorite]


I thought it was established that Archer is perfectly a-ok with kathoey? I thought that could have been handled better.

Otherwise, pretty classic! Introspective, though.
posted by porpoise at 7:37 PM on January 9, 2015


Great Apocalypse Now opener, and overall great episode. Although, Archer has feelings? I was expecting him to be ignoring Ken at the end on the beach, but he was calling Ken's family. That's a kind of change. I expected that scene to end with Archer saying something like "What?! Yeah...?" showing that he tuned it all out.

I had more to say, but I'm drunk and can't remember, and somehow that's appropriate here.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:49 AM on January 10, 2015


The hologram office reveal was excellent beyond words.
And Milton!
posted by Thorzdad at 6:07 AM on January 10, 2015


Although, Archer has feelings? I was expecting him to be ignoring Ken at the end on the beach, but he was calling Ken's family.

I have a feeling that the through-line of this season will be Archer trying to care about family (calling Ken's) in his own Archeresque way (shooting up the rescue boat).
posted by Etrigan at 6:14 AM on January 10, 2015 [5 favorites]


That was a fun new season reboot, but I guess I was confused, do they work for the CIA now, or was it just one job for them? (I thought Mallory said she was now CIA, but then they get their old office back so...?)
posted by mathowie at 7:15 AM on January 10, 2015


I think the mission Archer went on was a sort-of "audition", and if it was successful they would continue working for the CIA. I'm assuming as a contractor, thus they'd need their own offices.

The old office had been destroyed, and there was a committee in charge of designing the new office from the ground up.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:28 AM on January 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yeah I thought the CIA had basically given them a contracting gig.

I was mildly disappointed by the "genetic female" line, it seemed a little out of character for Archer. I feel like he's usually more laissez faire than that.

I read a comment on some other site where they were saying "Archer realized how much crushing pain Ken had been in for half a century..." Archer doesn't seem to think about stuff that deeply. He seems to more skim the surface of what's going on and do the easiest thing he can think of to resolve it and this way he usually stumbles into the right thing to do. Which in this case was calling the family and shooting up the boat.
posted by bleep at 1:31 PM on January 10, 2015 [1 favorite]


I liked Archer's acknowledgment that things just kinda work out for him and he takes it for granted.
posted by Ik ben afgesneden at 6:05 PM on January 10, 2015 [2 favorites]


I was mildly disappointed by the "genetic female" line, it seemed a little out of character for Archer. I feel like he's usually more laissez faire than that.

There's an interpretation that he was just desperate to prove Lana and Mallory wrong about the 'cobra whisky and ladyboys' crack.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 12:11 AM on January 11, 2015 [5 favorites]


Yeah he didn't seem too overly upset that they weren't "genetically female".

Incidentally, 100,000baht is like 3,000usd, so who knows what was going on there.
posted by Literaryhero at 12:22 AM on January 11, 2015


I kind of interpreted Archer calling Ken's family as him basically wanting to show off modern technology (just what year is it anyway?) and be all "yeah we can do that now" to a guy who has been cut off for over half a century.

I'm glad the whole Archer Vice storyline is over though. It was fun for a little while, but ran its course.
posted by zachlipton at 9:42 AM on January 11, 2015 [1 favorite]


(just what year is it anyway?)

Wodehouse fought in World War 1 (and therefore would have had to have been born at least in 1896 to have been of age). Archer has always played fast and loose with time.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:44 PM on January 11, 2015


I know. They've hung a lampshade on it a few times:

Malory: "What year do you think this is?"
Archer: "I uh, yeah, exactly, good question". (Lo Scandalo)

The creators have acknowledged several times that they don't really care about the time period within a pretty huge range.
posted by zachlipton at 3:26 PM on January 11, 2015 [3 favorites]


The whole "genetically female" thing got thrashed out a bunch in the AV Club comments. I think it is fair to say the line is a) ambiguous; but b) could be interpreted as being pretty uncool, so that c) it probably should have been re-written.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:26 AM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


(just what year is it anyway?)

It seems like they're finally locating it in more or less the present day (just with really shitty technology in the office), since Archer's catch-up speech to Ken included a little mention of the Cold War being over ("and now we and Russia are sort-of friends"), so maybe not Putin-era, but close.
posted by psoas at 11:18 AM on January 12, 2015


I just assumed it was always modern day as in whatever year it is now like on other shows. I can't think of anything to suggest it's not..?
posted by bleep at 12:13 PM on January 12, 2015


(just what year is it anyway?)

Year 6 of the Ambiguous Era.
posted by Etrigan at 1:13 PM on January 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


I just assumed it was always modern day as in whatever year it is now like on other shows. I can't think of anything to suggest it's not..?

Wodehouse would have to be like 120 years old. And Mallory's husband, Ron Cadillac, was a young adult in the 30s, which would make him, like in his 90s in the show, I think? Which he clearly isn't. Like I said, they play fast and loose with time.

But apart from that I think it's pretty clear that it's present day with a bit of scifi futuretech thrown in.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 2:32 PM on January 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


not only scifi futuretech, also 50's and 60's tech ( reel-to-reel mainframe systems, punch cards).
posted by Pendragon at 11:21 AM on January 13, 2015


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