Hi folks! Welcome the to our weekly recap of Archer’s third season, on the Multiversity Summer TV Binge 2021. This week’s episode is named “El Contador” and now that Ray can’t do field work, the agency need a new spy, let’s dive right in.
1. The team need a new agent
After Ray lost the use of his legs, now he is bound to a wheelchair and, as we saw last episode, this is a problem to do field work. So, the team needs a new agent, surely this is the time to get a new, capable, dynamic and most important of all, professional spy… but instead, Malory decides to give the job to Cyril. Yay! A Promotion!
This is an opportunity that Cyril has always wanted, but everyone thinks that he is not at all suitable to do missions as a spy, at the end of the day what can an accountant do against a drug dealer in the middle of the jungle?
Going against Calzado is not an easy mission, ISIS wants to catch the criminal because the DEA offers a reward of one million dollars, money that Malory does not need but would never reject, so she launches her team on a deadly mission for his self-benefit, as usual.
2. Krieger Kleanse
Meanwhile in the office Malory warns everyone that, because of Pam, there will be a drug test and those who do not pass it will be fired This worries literally all the staff since Pam smokes marijuana, Cheryl is literally consuming gummies with drugs in the dining room and Ray, now demoted, is an alcoholic and takes pain relievers.
“Luckily”, Krieger has a purge tea that they can use, of course with a very high cost, but ultimately cheaper than getting fired, so the team drinks the tea, but they begin to have “mind shredding” hallucinations, more on that later.
3. Walking on the jungle
The spy team walk through the jungle to catch Calzado, Archer takes on the mission of teaching Cyril how to be a proper spy and how to survive in a hostile environment like this one, after all, he has the experience in such situations.
Cyril, on the contrary, prepared himself by doing what every spy should do: read the briefing documents with the information of whom they are trying to arrest. Problems ensue when Archer turn his head for a second and, unsurprisingly Cyril disappears, then they hear gunshots and Lana can only assume that their rookie got himself captured.
4. Experimenting with your coworkers
Back in the office, Ray hallucinates that Pam begins to melt; Cheryl hallucinates that the floor is lava and, usual in her, she gets naked, and Pam hallucinates that Ray is a Decepticon and decides to kill him. It turns out that Krieger gave them an experimental drug and is recording all their movements. However, Pam is resistant to the drug and instead of ending up in coma, she becomes a wild, uncontrollable Bigfoot and Krieger has to hunt her, a parallel with the main plot of the episode.
These are the episodes where Krieger becomes a more important part of the team, starting this season; he causes many of the misadventures that happen in ISIS. Upping the crazy scientist as a regular in the cast was a great decision for the writing team, he has one of the most interesting backstories and the inherently funny voice of actor Lucky Yates makes Krieger one of the best characters in the series.
5. Thinking tactically saves the day, but not the money
Finally, back in the jungle, when Archer and Lana get caught, they discover that Cyril was not at risk, instead he was posing as an assistant to Calzado’s boss, who can help him manipulate the accounting books to earn more money for them.
The bad guy shot a tiger mercilessly, which seriously affected Archer, this opens the dialogue to talk about one of the most interesting things about this show. We have already discussed Archer’s moral ambiguity, for example, he is usually more concerned with the wellbeing of felines than humans, but still isn’t a good person. However, comparing him against him with his enemies, who are the kind of bastards who are capable of killing a tiger just for fun and as a show of power, it’s easy to choose who are you rooting for.
Continued belowTalking about power plays Calzado plans to hunt Lana and Archer but, luckily, Civil intervenes and helps the team escape and catch the bad guy. At the end Lana and even Archer unwillingly congratulate Cyril for his ability to act in moments of crisis and think in a tactical way … except at the end when they deliver Calzado to the DEA and do not ask for a receipt.
So they will not receive the million dollars promised, they may have been able to perform outstandingly in the field but the bureaucracy will always show that you cannot fight the ineptitude that causes so many useless rules, even in the world of Spies.
Today I learned: Marlin Perkins was a beloved zoologist, most known for his TV show, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom
Joke of the week:
Lana: Go ahead and say it.
Archer: What?
Lana: How since we’re gonna die in the morning that we should both have sex with each other.
Archer: Well after seeing a tiger get murdered, Lana, I’m not really in the mood. Well if you wanted to, I could watch while you masturbate, but I’m gonna tell you, my heart is not in it, my heart is with that poor tiger’s family. But go ahead, I mean, start.
And that’s it for this episode, it was an hilarious episode, and after seeing Cyril in action in season 11 as the lead spy of the new agency, we see how much he and the rest of the team have been growing. What did you think of this episode? Leave your comments below and join us next week for our take on episode 306, “The Limited”.
