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 “The Papal Chase” and this time the team has to prevent the murder of the Pope, Let’s dive right in!
1. The setup
Well first, that’s right, I think I’ve never seen a black nun, how weird is that?
There is a lot of commotion in the office that there seems to be an important mission and Lana doesn’t know about it because Malory is hiding it from her, after some pressure, a safety door destroyed, and the always chaotic Cheryl she discovers that it is an assignment in the Vatican.
It doesn’t help that the cardinal who hired them is on a video call, he and Malory had a past, and they have no reservations when they ‘reminisce’ about those glorious days, even when Ron is there in the office, an implication of the deteriorating relationship between them.
2. Who’s going to the Vatican
Well, anyways, there’s a plot to kill the pope by, allegedly, a “radical” faction of the Swiss Guard, and Lana is not on the roster for the mission because she is black, and she would stand out in the Vatican; Ray is not going because he’s gay and Cyril won’t go because he’s apparently scared of people in religious attire.
So, who’s going? Of course, Archer is going, I mean, it’s obvious, he’s the titular character, but this is an opportunity for Pam to prove that she can be a good field agent, and she does make an effort, for example, in the flight she spends the time learning Italian. And, ultimately, Malory admits that the team needs someone capable of handling the team and Lana goes as intelligence.
3. Woodhouse/Pope
Also, the Pope has a familiar face, he looks exactly like Archer’s butler, Woodhouse, so he also goes on the mission to serve as decoy. The problem is that he is a heroin addict, and he is constantly in withdrawal, so he is not a good “field agent”, much less a good decoy.
As I’ve said before, it’s weird the amount of abuse that the character of Woodhouse has to endure, it seems that he was created only to be the end of jokes on, what? Elder abuse? This is the last season before George Coe, the voice actor passed away, and he appears much less regularly in the next season, until he is written out, so, it seems that the team realized it was a mean joke and they slowly stopped using it.
Anyways when Archer and Pam enter the pope’s bedroom, he looks like a dead raisin, so Pam tries to use a mirror to see if he’s still breathing, but she takes a wall mirror and ends up squashing his holiness, fortunately he is still alive, but not safe.
4. The Chase
Suddenly, the attackers arrive, and they have to flee, Archer finds a mini car that they use to escape, and when I say mini, it is so tiny that the front of it is the door, well, anyways, they start a persecution and they will surely be caught by the Guard easily, so it’s up to Archer to prevent this.
They begin to connect the dots, why would a “radical” wing of the Swiss guard openly use their uniforms and official vehicles to pursuit them? There’s more to it than what was previously thought, fortunately, Archer puts a flare in the gas tank of their enemies and, after an explosion they do save the pope, even if by accident.
5. Why were they hired?
Turns out that the cardinal was planning to kill the pope in order to become the next pope, and his plan accounted for ISIS’ ineptitude, he assumed that they would easily fail in their mission, and the blame can then be put on them instead of anyone else.
The team knows that they fail missions frequently, but it is a shock to them to be confronted by the idea that someone hired them because he trusted that they would make a mistake and end up being an accessory in the murder of the Pope.
Continued belowIt must feel weird to succeed in their mission and still discover that they are famous because of their very low success rate, this was both a triumph and a defeat for them.
Joke of the Week:
Pam: So, hey, can I squeeze in a confession?
Pope: (Laughs) Oho, ora dov’e il tuo Martin Luther?
Pam: Fine! I’ll buy a damn indulgence!
And that’s it for this episode, well, at least they didn’t fail this time, am I right? What did you think of this episode? Leave your comments below and join us next week for our take on the first part of the season finale, “Sea Tunt: Part 1.”
