“Archer” Review : More Comedy Gold From FX

FX, home to subversive comedies like “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “The League” has added another hit. “Archer” is an animated series about a dysfunctional secret spy agency ISIS, whose employees are supposed to be battling foreign spies, but usually wind up battling (or screwing) each other. “Archer”’s animation looks just like Lichtenstein pop art paintings (which is incredibly cool), as it spoofs other spy stories originating from the 50s and 60s, such as James Bond. The comedy is dirty, wrong, and irreverent, in the vein of Adult Swim cartoons.  This all means one thing:  You should definitely check this show out.

H. John Benjamin is the voice of Sterling Archer (code name “The Duchess”) the deadliest secret agent at ISIS… though you’d never know it from his behavior, which mostly includes getting drunk, screwing prostitutes, and arguing with his mother/boss Malory (Jessica Walter, of Arrested Development fame), for whom he seems to have some sort of latent Oedipal attraction/revulsion. Malory herself runs ISIS, though her day usually consists of popping various types of pills and yelling. Also occupying the ISIS headquarters are Lana Kane (Aisha Taylor), the other top secret agent, who is also Archer’s sexy, curvacious ex-girlfriend. Lana has a penchant for interracial porn, being generally pissed off, and rescuing Archer’s ass. Though she dumped Archer because of his weird relationship with his mother, there seems to be a hint of lingering attraction, even though she’s taken up with the nerdy ISIS comptroller Cyril Figgis (SNL’s Chris Parnell)… though apparently Cyril has a large secret weapon of his own. Rounding out the cast is Carol (Judy Greer), Malory’s secretary who has a huge crush on Archer, so much so that she changes her name all the time to something she thinks he’ll like better. Woodhouse (George Coe) is Sterling’s elderly butler, who is frequently the target of Sterling’s verbal abuse. Pam (Amber Nash) is the portly HR woman who has a lesbian attraction to Lana, and is the object of a string of fat jokes from Archer.

Each episode in “Archer” usually revolves around some sort of mission or event, in which foreign (usually Russian) spies seek to kill ISIS members or undermine one of its missions, yet these storylines are usually secondary to the bickering amongst the ISIS members, usually involving sex, drugs, jealousy, or some combination. The pilot episode revolves around Malory’s admonition of Archer, who has been using his ISIS expense account to go on all sorts of bacchanal vacations to exotic locales. As Archer tries to cajole and seduce Carol and Pam into helping him break into the mainframe and fudge the numbers to cover his ass, Lana discovers that there might be a mole infiltrating the ISIS network. Absurdity (and some cool comic book action) ensues.

Definitely check out Archer, especially if you’re into It’s Always Sunny, The League, Adult Swim, Family Guy, South Park, Arrested Development, etc. “Archer” is on Thursday nights at 10 pm on FX. Tune in! You don’t want this show to be prematurely cancelled (like “Arrested” and the first round of “Family Guy,” before its resurrection.)