Several weeks ago on Monday, Jan. 13, FX premiered the fifth season of one of its most popular shows, "Archer." So far, two episodes in, it has proven to be one of the most transformative seasons yet.
With the show’s official title changing to “Archer: Vice,” the crude animated spy comedy has evolved into one of its most exciting forms yet.
After the hilarious and dramatic antics of the entertaining fourth season, fans’ faces all over the world were brightened by the return of the critically acclaimed program.
After a teasing through various social media outlets hinted that a team member of the fictional International Secret Intelligence Service (ISIS) would be killed during the premiere, tensions were high as the episode aired at 10 p.m. that Monday.
Our boorish womanizing super spy, Sterling Archer is featured exiting the fabled elevator into the ISIS headquarters, under a veil of a dreamlike sepia tint. Someone who is normally a horribly unpleasant person to speak to, Archer strolls peacefully through the cubicles without uttering a word, and is accompanied by ISIS workers waltzing to a soft orchestral track.
After brief interactions with each of the main characters, including Archer’s now pregnant old flame, Lana Kane, he arrives with a bouquet of flowers for his mother Malory Archer, the equally disagreeable head of ISIS.
A fierce but contained explosion rocks the upper floors of the seemingly normal office building as smoke billows all around the ISIS staff. The real Archer is back to reality.
With the violent explosion bringing Archer back to planet Earth, he springs into action to confront a SWAT team of enemies firing at the ISIS team.
After making a few cracking jokes at a usual extra character named Brett, an ISIS “drone” who has been accidentally shot enough times to bring him to the point of paralysis, Archer watches as Brett is shot through the head, the “Archer” writing staff thus coming through with their guarantee to kill a character. This doesn’t faze our bombastic espionage agent (not that it was expected to), and he turns to continue fighting off the tactical assault squad.
After injuring one of the assailants and realizing that the team is a task force of the FBI, the entire ISIS team throws down their weapons in horror.
After an FBI agent arrests the entire ISIS staff, he explains that for its entire existence, ISIS has been performing counter intelligence without the consent of the U.S. government.
This news is a surprise to all but Malory, who casually brushes it off as she is known to do. The remainder of the “meat” of the episode consisted of a series of interviews with each ISIS employee by the FBI that was almost like an anniversary recap of all the outrageous things the spy agency has done over the past four years.
After Malory makes a deal to keep the team from being convicted of treason, the group heads back to her office for what might be the last time. Following a discussion of what the individuals plan to do without ISIS, Malory cuts in and reveals that she (of course) has thousands of pounds of confiscated Columbian cocaine that could set each member of the ISIS “family” for life. Archer is now romanticizing a vision of the insane and adventurous happenings that could play out if the former ISIS organization became a drug cartel that is embodied as a several minute montage of the remainder of the new season. He exclaims, “Archer … Vice!” Thus concluding the most experimental and volatile episodes in the show’s history.
The most recent episode, and first official installment of “Archer: Vice,” shows the incredible potential the following season has to offer and was an entertaining and hilarious first drug dealing adventure.
The fifth season of FX’s most popular comedy has already proven to be a formidable landmark in appointment television.
"Archer: Vice" airs on FX Mondays at 10 p.m.
