Archer season 10 Review: Sterling’s back and the gang too!

If you don’t know Archer by now, then shame on you!

Yip, shame, shame, shame…

Archer debuted in 2009 as a sort of animated fusion between James Bond and The Office. Adam Reed’s FX show chronicled the misadventures of titular superspy Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) as he deals with covert international missions and, more significantly, HR, accounting, and working for his mother at ISIS, the International Secret Intelligence Service.

But when real-world events caught up with Archer and being an ISIS agent wasn’t a laughing matter anymore, Reed reinvented the show.

The writers largely abandoned the office setting in favor of a series of themed seasons that got progressively weirder and funnier after Sterling was put into a coma at the end of a season 7 plot paying tribute to the 1950 film-noir classic Sunset Boulevard.

Archer heads to space for an “Alien” encounter, flexing its creative muscles…

When season 9 of the hit animated show finished, nobody knew where and how Archer could have survived the last episode of that thrilling season.

Culturedemandsgeeks were pining for more of the foul-mouthed wit that accompanies Adam Reed’s animated action extravaganza.

And season 10 doesn’t disappoint, either…

The 10th season of the animated series includes the subtitle 1999 and finds Sterling and his friends on a space salvage ship.

Archer: 1999 is very much what “Archer” has been for the past three seasons and change: filled with lush visuals, quick wit, and inventive, genre-inspired storytelling. In this season, the show pays homage to everything from “Alien” to “Arena,” the 10th season of Adam Reed’s animated action extravaganza travels to the final frontier in search of more material to spoof.

And it succeeds.

Similar to past seasons, each profession lines up with pre-established character traits, as Archer’s latest dreamworld conforms to the reality he’s come to know (which also helps satisfy fans who’ve come to love each character for who they are).

And Culturedemandsgeeks applaud the most improved character this season is Cheryl Tunt (Judy Greer), originally the incompetent, neurotic personal assistant of Sterling’s mom, Malory Archer (voiced by Jessica Walter, with all the contempt and haughtiness she brought to Arrested Development). So when Cheryl turns out to be an amazing pilot who would rather shoot down her own ship than the enemy’s fleet, it comes as no surprise but still plenty of chuckles.

And she plays it in a similar mold of Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck. “I’m going to have to keep doing stupid fighter-pilot missions, and they’re so boring, because I’m so good,” she whines while making a list of pros and cons about whether she should rescue the crew from the gullet of a giant space squid in episode four, “Dining with the Zarglorp.”

Same goes for Krieger’s mad scientist whims, which peak when he gets to study dozens and dozens of alien eggs that his crew can’t stop eating. Doctor Krieger (Lucky Yates) started as a version of James Bond’s gadget supplier Q who was perpetually developing troubling side projects. But he’s steadily grown into a member of the main cast.

He was particularly enjoyable as Sterling’s wisecracking parrot Crackers during season 9, aka Archer: Danger Island. But he gets back to his engineering roots in Archer: 1999 as Algernop Krieger, an artificial human.

BEWARE THOUGH…

Ethical programming still doesn’t stop him from getting up to no good… and he has a tendency to want to hurt the crew with his twisted experiments, but at the same time be liked by his fellow crew.

The rest of the crew hasn’t changed much, despite the new setting.

Lana Kane, the wonderful (Aisha Tyler) was Sterling’s ultra-competent spy ex-girlfriend in the original run, and here, she’s his ex-wife, sharing control of the ship due to a joint custody agreement.

As usual, her job is to maintain a level head and keep everything running smoothly while chastising Sterling for generally being irresponsible in the name of looking cool.

While Malory Archer is also in her usual role of command and control. Though, here, she inexplicably has the ability to turn into a ball of energy that can possess machines. She’s still a bitter alcoholic who only cares about herself and Sterling.

And Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell), as the ship’s first mate, remains Sterling’s hated rival for Lana’s affections.

Reed, himself, voices Ray Gillette, who started as another spy in the original seasons, and his nice-guy attitude faded over time, but he was never vindictive enough to compete with the characters who started at each other’s throats.In the current run, Ray is a spacefaring courtesan, a parody of Firefly’s Inara (less desirable). I

And then we have Barry, Archer’s arch-nemesis as a vengeful leader of space pirates (It doesn’t end well!)

FINAL VERDICT:

By the end of the first episode, Culturedemandsgeeks were laughing loud as Archer, and especially Pam Poovey (Amber Nash), who is literally built like a rock in this 10th season, and who it seems have completely outgrown Archer to be the main character of season, and her interactions in season 10 just kept us all in giggles with her foul-mouth wisdom. Considering last season, Nash described her character as Chewbacca to Sterling’s Han Solo when the two were co-pilots of a cargo ship.

Much like the previous seasons the energy and flair in the writing style and dialogue between the main cast members are amazing, and the animation is so enthralling, you just wanna watch the show every goddamn minute of the day.

Reed has said he plans to leave Archer after season 10. Luckily, after 10 seasons and a host of settings, Reed has provided a strong template if FXX decides to hire someone to take the reins.

And Culturedemandsgeeks hope they do… and as for Reed, we hope to see some of the man’s charisma and obvious talent in future shows.

5/5 STARS