This one time, I went to see a friend’s band play a gig in a bar. They were always fantastic live, but they were extra fantastic on this night. Halfway through their set, they finish a song and the bass player immediately screams, “Yes!” in jubilation. He seemed to be just as aware they were nailing it as the audience was. I had the same exact reaction to tonight’s Archer, except I was sitting alone in my apartment and not playing in a sweet band. Oh, God …
Tonight, we learned the origins of Archer’s butler, Woodhouse. He was a pilot’s assistant in the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War (they’re all great). His story is an epic tale of true bromance that ends with him raising Archer alone for five years. Meanwhile, the office drones, inspired by Woodhouse’s likelihood of ending up with the winnings of a tontine, begin to put money down.
I loved Woodhouse in the first season because he was such a sad character. Archer always threatened to punish him in awful ways like rub sand in his “dead little eyes” and would toss his clothes off of the balcony for not poaching eggs properly. In season two, we’re beginning to learn that Woodhouse was, and still sort of is, a total badass. Archer still threatens to do nasty things to him, though. He threatens to force Woodhouse to eat spider webs, to be more specific. The image that conjures up, of a man forcing an impossibly old World War I veteran to eat spider webs, is absolutely hilarious and quite dark.
Last week, I said that Archer had hit its stride. It seems that Adam Reed and friends have somehow managed to improve upon their already near-perfect show this week. They’ve eased up a little on joke repetition to prevent over doing it, they’ve made the unbelievable somewhat believable and they have the most clever and literate gags in any comedy on the air.
Yes!
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