In part two of the Archer three week event, Archer finds that being Pirate King isn’t at all that it’s cracked up to be. In fact, it’s filled with the same sort of morale issues and office politics that his old position at ISIS had. Not very much for Sterling to ‘Whooo!’ about after all.At the beginning of the ep, we see that Sterling is taking advantage of all the spoils of his new title while refusing to care about any of his fellow pirates. His translator, Noah, comes in to address a series of concerns and of course Archer isn’t having any of it as in a series of cutaway gags we see that clearly if Sterling’s morale is up then so should everybody’s. David Cross steals the show as I figured he probably would when his character first came in last week. There are just very few people with the delivery and vocal charisma as Cross and his voice of reason character is a great balance to Archer’s reckless nature. And of course Noah can go from ally to the butt of his jokes in a split second. It’s true too, about the vicious cycle Rip Riley (Patrick Warburton) later mentions about how people who go for majors like anthropology only wind up teaching…anthropology.
While Sterling, Noah, and eventually Rip try to fend off a mutiny and the effects of grenade-induced Tinnitus, Lana and Ray are getting closer to the pirate base on their rescue mission. Of course Ray took his own pleasures in what the area had to offer him on the plane ride there, while Lana definitely showed some of the affection she claims to no longer have for Sterling. They’ve been violently off and on for years and I kinda wonder if when she’s there to work with Archer to get them out of their next mess, (in this case Lana and Ray getting captured by the pirates and put in a cell with recently-imprisoned Sterling, Rip, and Noah), if she won’t start feeling more ‘on’ again with him.
Meanwhile, back at the ISIS agency, Mallory is a wreck with worry that her son might be dead and Carol/Cheryl is pissed that she has to stay and man the phones in case Lana calls with an update. As she so often does, Pam had one of the best and worst moments of the show. Best would be drunk Pam, always an amusing crowd-pleaser. And the bad would be the aftermath of drunk Pam–I could’ve lived quite well my entire life without ever having seen her naked backside and I’m sure Cyril, when sober, felt the same way.
Overall, this was a much snappier episode with better pacing and focus than part one of this run. This show has some of the best word-play and dialog of any current comedy. The bit about how idioms don’t really translate was a highlight of the episode. It’s going to be interesting to see, not if Sterling, Lana, Rip, and Ray bust out of their prison and escape the base, (I love Noah but he’s probably going to wind up dead when it’s all said and done. It’s the Archer way.) but what methods they use to do it. It’s going to be even better once Mallory finds out that her beloved-only- when- he’s- probably-dead son has been mostly fine this whole time despite his ear condition. She’s way more dangerous for Sterling than a pack of pirates are.
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