Archer: The Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Archer: The Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie Review

Counter Intelligence

Reviewed by Casey Broadwater January 16, 2013

If you haven't been watching Archer, you've missed out on what's arguably—and I'll argue for it any day—one of the best sitcoms on television, and almost certainly the funniest animated sitcom. Series creator Adam Reed has called it "James Bond meets Arrested Development," and you'd be hard pressed to find a better description. The super-spy workplace comedy features the voice acting talents of several Arrested Development veterans—Judy Greer, Jessica Walter, Jeffrey Tambor—and the weird, Oedipal, momma's boy issues of its otherwise dashing titular protagonist (H. Jon Benjamin) are straight out of Buster Bluth's set of neuroses. Pour in a little Mad Men (in the show's 1960s fashion affectations), shake it with bit of Johnny Quest (in the thick-outlined animation style), and you've got the recipe for Archer's potent comic cocktail. If you're new to the show, check out seasons one and two first—I'd even recommend a blind buy, the show's that good—but you'll definitely want to pick up the brilliant third season as well, a batch of thirteen episodes that are hilarious, crude, and clever, often at the same time. For longtime series fans who perhaps haven't caught up to the third season yet, read on for a brief overview of what you can expect.

Heart of Archness, Parts I, II, and III: The third season opens with a three-part mini-movie that picks up where season two left off. Mourning the death of Katja Kazanova, his hot Russian fiancee, Archer disappears to the South Pacific, where he bartends, grows a massive beard, and sleeps with a bride on her honeymoon. Malory (Jessica Walter) sends seaplane-flying former ISIS agent Rip Riley to bring her son back, but Archer and Riley end up kidnapped by a group of Malaysian pirates, necessitating a second rescue mission by agents Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler)—Archer's buxom ex— and Ray Gillette (Adam Reed). What they don't know is that Archer has been made Pirate King and started his own island lacrosse league. Highlight? David Cross as the voice of an enslaved anthropology doctoral candidate who can't poop when everyone is watching him.

The Man From Jupiter: This might go down as one of the best Archer episodes ever. In a hotel bar, Archer meets his lifelong idol Burt Reynolds—gamely guest-starring here—but it turns out that Burt is actually there on a date with Malory. Disturbed, Archer tries to break up their nascent relationship, but he also needs Burt's help escaping a Cuban hit squad. Highlight? Either the reveal that Gillette is now confined to a wheelchair after being shot in Heart of Archness, or Archer pitching Reynolds on a sequel to Gator.

El Contador: In a play on The Most Dangerous Game—the oft-adapted and parodied short story by Richard Connell—Lana and Archer are man-hunted by an insane Columbian drug-lord (who has unwittingly employed an undercover Cyril as his accountant). Meanwhile, back at ISIS headquarters, Ray, Cheryl, and Pam turn to Dr. Krieger for help passing a company-mandated drug test, only to be drawn into one of his mad- scientist experiments. Highlight? See if you can catch the call-back to the season one episode, Honeypot.

The Limited: The Trailer Park Boys star Robb Wells plays a guest role as Kenny Bilko, a Nova Scotian separatist/terrorist whom the ISIS gang is extraditing back to Canada. They take the train—Malory likes to travel in style, and Cheryl is apparently the granddaughter of a railroad tycoon—but this makes it easy for Bilko's cronies to sneak aboard disguised as Mounties. Think of this as an homage to all the great thrillers and action movies set on trains. Highlight? Cheryl's pet ocelot makes another appearance, spraying its piss everywhere.

Drift Problem: As a surprise birthday present, Archer gets a souped-up, gadget-i-fied Dodge Challenger—with "rich Corinthian leather!"—but when it's stolen from the ISIS parking garage, he has to venture into the world of underground street racing and take on the yakuza, led by George Takei as "Mr. Moto." Highlight? Learning that Pam is a renowned drift racer in yakuza circles, earning her the nickname "Shiro Kabotcha"—the "White Pumpkin."

Lo Scandalo: This deranged whodunit opens with Malory calling Archer and Lana to her apartment in the middle of the night. In her living room, tied to a chair, wearing a latex body suit, with a large "marital aid" lodged in his rectum, Italian Prime Minister "Savio Mascalzoni" is found dead of several gunshot wounds. Afraid of being accused of the murder, Malory stages a massive coverup—Dr. Krieger is called in to dismember the corpse, natch—but the truth inevitably comes out. Highlight? It's hard to top Lana in a French maid outfit.

Bloody Ferlin: Gillette is probably my favorite character on the show, so I'm always excited for more Ray-centric episodes. Bloody Ferlin doesn't disappoint. When When a local sheriff starts harassing Ray's brother Randy—a "racist homophobic wife-swapping drug grower," voiced by 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer—Ray convinces Archer to come to rural West Virginia with him to help sort out the mess. The only problem? Ray hasn't yet told his brother that he's gay, so he brings along Cheryl as his "beard." Everything goes wrong from the second they arrive. Highlight? The reveal that Ray has spent the last six months only pretending to be "handi-capable."

Crossing Over: Archer gets blackout drunk and starts a depraved and top-secret sexual relationship with Pam. Meanwhile, Soviet officer Nikolai Jakov—Archer's possible father—decides to defect to America and takes up residence in the ISIS safe house, where he's hunted down by the android Barry, Archer's nemesis and the new head of the KGB. Highlight? Either Pam eating a waffle on the toilet, or her line, "You make me sound like some kind of chupacabra, but for dicks."

Skin Game: Katja is alive! Well, kinda. Dr. Krieger has resurrected her as an android, but this doesn't stop Archer from falling in love with her all over again. At least, that is, until he finds her robot vagina—which looks "like a transistor radio and a veal cutlet had a baby"—detached in his bathroom sink. Archer manages to overcome his revulsion, but he has a new romantic rival in Barry, who's also half machine. Highlight? The spot- on reference to The Graduate at the end of the episode.

Space Race, Parts I and II: In the two-part season finale, the ISIS crew is contracted to stop a mutiny on the International Space Station. What they don't know is that they're actually being lured into space by the mutineers themselves—led by a delusional flight commander voiced by Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston—who need more females for their half-hatched plan to terraform and populate Mars. (Cheryl volunteers to be "Queen of the Red Planet.") Expect much discussion of Lana's boobs in zero gravity, Malory drinking isopropyl alcohol straight from the bottle, and too many Star Wars references to count. Highlight? Barry shows up with bottles on his fingers to do the "Come out and play-ay" taunt from The Warriors.

Archer: The Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

I end up reviewing a lot of animated sitcom releases, but Archer is my favorite on Blu-ray, where its distinctive visual style—realistic characters, thick, black, almost rotoscoped-looking outlines, occasional CGI transition scenes—really shines. Not much has changed, picture quality-wise, from seasons one and two, and that's a very good thing. The show's 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation is nearly perfect, with a consistently crisp picture that's vividly toned and nearly dimensional in appearance. There a few fleeting instances of aliasing, but otherwise, I didn't catch any video-related quirks—no harsh compression artifacts, no serious banding, no macroblocking or glitches. The Blu-ray image seems absolutely true to intent, and that's really all there is to say here.

Archer: The Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with the previous seasons, Archer roars onto Blu-ray with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks for each episode. For an animated sitcom, the sound design is atypically punchy, mostly thanks to Archer's line of work—you'll frequently hear machine gun fire, potent explosions, car chases, rocket launches, and more, with subwoofer accompaniment when necessary. The rear channels probably aren't used as often as they could be for directional effects, but you will hear quiet ambience on occasion. Most importantly, the zippy dialogue is always clean—well, clear in tone, if filthy in content—and easy to understand. There are optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles for each episode.

Archer: The Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries: The set features three commentary tracks, all on the first disc. El Contador features Chris Prnell, Aisha Tyler, and Adam Reed, Drift Problem features Judy Greer, Amber Nash, and Adam Reed, and Lo Scandalo features Reed and Jessica Walter. Funny stuff, all around!
• Heart of Archness Trilogy Enhanced (HD, 58:30): On the second disc you'll find the opening three episode re-cut as one hour-long special.
• Book on Tape Fail (HD, 2:10): A promo for the upcoming book How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Also Cocktails Ever Written.
• Cooking with Archer (HD, 3:13): Archer and celebrity chef Alton Brown teach us how to make "Eggs Woodhouse." Or, try to, anyway.
• Gator 2 Trailer (HD, 2:19): Archer makes his own trailer for his proposed Gator sequel.
• Archer Season 3 at Comic-Con (HD, 2:36): Archer delivers a special message to the show's nerdiest fans.

Archer: The Complete Season Three Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

I love this show. Archer is as funny as always in season three, with thirteen episodes of super-spy shenanigans, mommy issues, and plenty of crass and clever dialogue. The show experimented successfully this season with multiple episode story arcs—the three-part premiere and two-part finale are both excellent—and there are some killer guest stars too, from Burt Reynolds to Bryan Cranston. 20th Century Fox's Blu-ray release is solid all- around, so if you're a fan, there's no reason not to pick it up. For those new to the series, I'd suggest starting with season one and working your way forward; as in Arrested Development, there are lots of running gags and in-jokes that only make sense if you watch from the beginning. Recommended!