Hi folks! Welcome back to our weekly recap of Archer’s fourth season, on the Multiversity Summer TV Binge 2022. This week’s episode is named “Midnight Run” and features a team up between Archer and his stepfather Ron, let’s dive right in!
1. On the ambiguity of crossing illegally the border
Archer wakes up in Canada without passport and Malory is not willing to help him, thankfully for him, he has a new dad who cares for him, or maybe he just wants to get points with Malory… the point is that this is the opportunity for a little bonding between the newfound family, but first, they have illegally cross Archer between international borders.
Ron proposes that Archer hides in the trunk because the border agents won’t check it, that just happens in the Mexican border, and it works! This joke reflects one of the most baffling realities of North America, while the southern border is a militarized line of racism with state-of-the-art technology to find immigrants, the northern border tends to be so lax that its blurriness is a common joke in media. And I never understood that, all those advancements in ways to find people handling and people still cross the border unnoticed, while the northern border is crossed illegally even *on accident* and nothing happens.
2. Boring Ron
The problem with Ron, is that he is boring, his own wife thinks so, even his travels seem boring, because he is in Schenectady doing god knows what, but he goes to Montreal to pick up Archer and in they travel back to New York, they get attacked by muggers, because apparently, Ron’s not capable of doing his usual business without being threatened.
They survive the attack, and end up hitchhiking, and they are picked up by a truck driver, that’s when Ron reveals the truth of his life…
3. Cool Ron
He wasn’t always named Ron Cadillac (obviously) and before selling cars, he and his gang used to steal them until they turned their life of crime into legit dealerships, sadly, his team got arrested, but they never ratted on him, so now he travels all the way to Schenectady to give them a little bit of back pay in gratitude, and Archer helps him connect the dots, Fat Mike is the one sending the goons to steal Ron’s money.
And just like that, Archer discovered that Ron wasn’t so bad, he had a cool life and not always was a “legal” car dealer, he even stole a tank once! And he argues that he is good for Malory, he is trying to give her a good life and Archer shouldn’t want to take away that.
I want to take this opportunity to talk about the actor who voiced the car dealer, Ron Leibman was the husband of Jessica Walter, and what began as a nice reference to real life -the actors and the characters both married to each other- ended up becoming a nice tribute to their life together. Rob Liebman died in 2019, and just fifteen months after, Jessica Walter also left this world, they were together till death did them part.
We are still far from talking about the twelfth season (at this pace, we have 8 years to go), but Mallory’s last scene and farewell to the show, was accompanied with her lifelong partner Ron, a touching farewell to both actors.
4. The sexual trucker gang
Back to the episode, Ron and Archer are suddenly trapped in what seems to be a DIY studio for snub porno, and they barely manage to escape the gang of truckers in lingerie thanks to a pit of mud and a train.
There Ron confronts Archer, and he ends up admitting that Ron is in fact good for Mallory, so, they now have to get to New York in time for the Opera.
5. A friendship is born
And suddenly, they have an idea, if Archer drops off Ron in the Opera, that would make Malory mad, and they choose to do that only because they both will enjoy her annoyance, and just like that, they have bonded, and all it was needed was a travel across international lines, getting attacked by goons and sexual predators, but now, stepfather and son can have a healthy relationship…. Or something like that.
Continued belowJoke of the week:
Ron speaking, as the camera pans out to reveal the trucker in lingerie: Come on, he’s an independent trucker, a small business owner out here busting his hump to provide for his family. I’m telling you… guys like him are the lifeblood of America…
And that’s it for this episode, Ron raised his hand and asked for the opportunity of a place in the family. What did you think of this one? Leave your comments below and join us next week for our take on episode 4×05, “Viscous Coupling.”
