Hi folks! Welcome the to our weekly recap of Archer on the Multiversity Summer TV Binge 2019. This week’s episode is named “Killing Utne” and, as usual, everything got off of hands for Malory and her team. Let’s dive right in!
1. The struggle of being a private spy agency
This episode’s conflict occurs when Malory organizes a dinner for Utne from the UN, she wants to win a security contract that has been with Odin, an antagonistic agency, for five years.
Instead of the classic cool guy doing stunts and killing foreigners, it’s funny to see the spying business as a series of negotiations, often stained by corruption and personal interests, like being seduced. As you most probably know, one of the best aspects of Archer is portraying the spying world as it would really be/is in real life.
Utne is an unashamed pervert, seduced at first by Lana’s boobs, and then by Elke, and you know, for being in charge of choosing security agencies, he is very bad with his own safety, he almost died of food poisoning, poison injection and ended up killed by gunshots.
Malory’s overcomplicated plan seems to, at first, advance ISIS economic well-being (a constant struggle in the show) only to become a plan to benefit only to her, framing the deaths to her neighbor Trudy Beakman.
2. Racism and elitism
Damn that Oxycontin/Xanax joke was harsh, I mean, we all expect an entitled rich white old woman to be racist, but to be totally disinterested by her employee’s health is another level. This is a recurrent joke in the series, including Archer’s coping with her mother’s education.
Archer is not as racist as her mother, although he often is, but he is still an asshole to Woodhouse and to “the help”, it’s not the chef’s, or the employees, it’s “the help”, which goes to show us that this main character is not someone to be admired, but an exploration on entitlement and privilege in the world.
3. Mannfred & Uta
Speaking of “the help”, this episode we meet Mannfred and Uta, a German-ish killer contracted by both Mallory and the KGB and his young girlfriend obsessed with the idea of being pregnant. Although they only appear in season 1, these are one of my favorite characters in the show, it’s hilarious to see a Léon-type killer struggling with a childish lover, yet again showing us what would happen IRL if the stuff on movies and TV were real.
4. Krieger
Finally, Krieger spoke in this episode, although it was very little dialogue about “Fister Roboto”, we are at last introduced to one of the weirdest and most hilarious characters of the show, always doing weird stuff of involved on some crazy shit. Now, we are only missing Gillete and the cast will be complete.
5. At the end we all laugh
One detail that stood up to me, is the last scene, were everybody is back in the table and they laugh about Kladdkaka, except for Cheryl Carina and Lana, who laugh about the dead people in another person’s apartment, which shows us how desensitized they all are to deaths. Spying is not a happy business.
Joke of the week:
Mannfred: Why are you so immature?
Uta: …I’m 19.
And that’s it for this episode, overall, a great exploration of the dark side of the spying world. What did you think of this episode? Leave your comments below and join us next week for our take on episode 105, “Honeypot”.
And remember! Season 10, Archer: 1999 is airing right now on FXX, the fifth one is airing tonight! Go watch it!
