At its core, “Archer Vice” has been a sharp and funny season, but with one fundamental difference — no one has a safety net. Despite all of the crazy adventures the members of ISIS got up to, there was always somewhere to return to. Perhaps because of this sense of relative safety (both in terms of what the character felt and the overall narrative), there were not as many emotional connections between characters as they could have been.
All of that was shaken up when ISIS was eliminated. Every character saw his or her circumstances lowered. Arguably the biggest sufferer was Malory; she lost her home, her company, and — briefly — her husband, to the point where she actually had an emotional breakdown, something that didn’t seem possible in other circumstances. Lana was also left with a lot to lose, having lost any semblance of leading a normal life while pregnant.
“Archer Vice” started out as the former ISIS group trying to move a literal, non-metric ton of cocaine, and also sort of about turning Cheryl/Carol into a country star. And then it was about arms smuggling, and then it was about preventing New York City from being hit by a nerve gas missile. But really, it was about characters coming to terms with each other.
Following the events of “Filibuster,” the clock is ticking for two major events. Lana is going into labour, and Krieger is trying to figure out how to disable the nerve gas missile.
Before either of this things are resolved, we are finally clued in on how the ton of cocaine got into Cheryl’s mansion in the first place — the CIA (specifically, Agent Holly) planted it there, so that the money could be used to buy arms from Iran (or Iraq, “doesn’t matter who,” Holly says, a line that will become a running joke throughout the episode). He then figuratively drops the bombshell that Sterling knew about the operation from day one. As expected, this leads to some tension with Lana, who grabs an assault rifle and corrals everyone into submission.
Back at the palace, Krieger is having no luck disarming the warhead, and Malory, realizing the futility of Krieger’s efforts, tells everyone to grab as much as they can out of the palace and get out of the country. Cyril is resistant to leaving at first, but when he hears that the CIA is going ahead with “Operation Dropkick” (a full-scale bombing of San Marcos) along with the news that the First Lady is having (another) affair, he gets in on the looting.
Back at the airport, despite his concern, Sterling isn’t much help to Lana since he refuses to examine Lana’s vagina. Lana at this point is an emotional mess, not helped by the fact that Sterling was in on the CIA operation — until he tells her that he knew nothing about it. It therefore makes a lot more sense when Malory says it was her plan. As she tells Lana near the end of the episode, when Lana announces her intention to quit ISIS: “When have I ever been honest with Sterling?”
Eventually Krieger realizes that the missile has no explosive payload, so he and Ray take out the cannister of nerve gas and get to the airport with Malory, Pam and Cyril. We also cut a few times to a pair of fighter pilots who will bomb the presidential palace. The running gag is hilarious as one pilot asks who in the other person’s family is into tapas, in a tangent that seems like it was torn out of Adam Reed’s Frisky Dingo.
Once at the airport, Malory and Pam help Lana deliver her child, a baby girl.
“Any of you who had ‘black guy,’ pay up,” Pam says on announcing the successful delivery. It doesn’t take long for Lana to reveal that the donor was none other than Sterling himself, dating back to the second season, where he could have died from breast cancer and froze vials of his sperm.
The talk between Lana and Sterling is the most tender scene of the whole season, and it’s nice to see that Sterling finally has a child whose life he can become involved with (sorry, Wee Baby Seamus).
Malory also successfully blackmails Holly, who will likely rise in the ranks of the CIA, to put ISIS on the payroll, which means it’s back to being secret agents next season.
So we can look forward to more workplace comedy next year, but given the excellent continuity of this show, we can also look forward to stronger character dynamics. And less cocaine.
Lines that made the episode
“I don’t know anything!” // “I find that to be literally true.”
“Damn, dawg, that was my B.”
“Aw… all the gardeners are running away!”
“Like you’re the only one who has ever delivered a baby in a war zone.”
“You mean all I had to do this whole time was believe in myself? And inject a sticker into my brain?”
“Am I just now coming out of a coma after having drowned saving you eight months ago?”
“It’s a long story. A long, racist story.”
