If there’s one thing that Sterling Archer is really, really good at doing, it’s getting himself into heaps of trouble but somehow, somehow getting out of it, sometimes deus ex machina style. As Ray points out later on, Sterling has little regard for his own life, and often ends up making things worse before they get better.
And while Sterling is no doubt used to people being exasperated with him, people rarely call him out on his own brand of jackassery. On a weird metatextual level, Adam Reed, as the voice of Ray, is acknowledging this.
But first: from the way “Smuggler’s Blues” ended, it looked as though this week’s episode could have been somewhat of a retread of the brilliant “Heart of Archness” trilogy from season three.
Instead, as Archer is wont to do, things go out of control. Cyril assumes he, Sterling and Ray are being carted off to Colombia’s most notorious prison. They quickly find out they’re just going to be killed — but even that changes when their captors swerve to avoid a cow, resulting in a hilarious and technically beautiful scene in which the jeep flips around dozens of times down a cliff until it finally lands.
Meanwhile, back at chez Tunt, Lana is not actually going to retrieve the three men from Colombia, instead monitoring her phone in case they call while going over Cherlene’s contract. After yet another instance of Archer’s elaborate voice mail pranks, this time partially deconstructed by Krieger, Malory once again proves herself to be at the end of her rope in her sincere sadness at having lost her fortune, husband and now possibly her son, too.
Lana tries to cheer Malory up with a spa day, but things get weird as Malory brings up a new venereal disease Sterling got, and Lana, Cherlene and Pam suddenly realize their sexual history is more linked together than they first thought.
Back in Colombia, Ray seems to become paralyzed again by the fall, leaving Sterling the task of carrying him as they launch onto a raft. As they paddle down the river, Sterling once again reiterates his fear: crocodiles. Crocs are to Archer as snakes are to Indiana Jones. And it doesn’t help when three large crocodiles attack the raft and devour the police who captured Cyril, Sterling and Ray in the first place.
When the three finally get near a plane, it drives Ray to the point of insanity how lucky Sterling is. He finally vocalizes it — Sterling doesn’t take anything seriously because he knows everything is going to work out in the end. Sterling admits that’s exactly the case — as he points out their ticket out of there.
There’s been a whole lot of realizations this season. Lana has acknowledged her feelings for Archer; Pam revealed her thought that no one likes her, which Sterling was quick to refute; Malory has finally realized how much she’s lost in such a short amount of time. As much as Archer Vice is blowing up its central premise, there seems to be a lot of healing as this season progresses, despite loss of life (R.I.P. Brett), fortune and a whole lot of blood.
Perhaps this “reset” was just what the series needed, as it’s brought about more genuine character moments than any season before it.
Lines that made the episode
“Speaking of rope…” // “You want some cocaine?”
“I’ve had three Valiums! If I get any more relaxed I will literally die.”
“Outlaw country, whoo!”
“What does Malory like?” // “Mr. Archer, money, liquor…” // “Besides that?” // “Other liquor.”
“J’accuse!”
“Eat a dick, jungle!”
“Oh look, she’s almost not terrifying.”
