The fifth season of most shows is either a time for poor writing, leading to the show’s death, or a chance for the series to reinvent itself, starting a new arc that can last seasons. Fortunately for the show’s fans, the “Archer” season five premiere was just as witty, brash and obscene as the first four seasons.
That is not to say that everything is staying the same for Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin, “Bob’s Burgers”), his overprotective mother (Jessica Walters, “Arrested Development”) and the rest of the ISIS employees. At the end of last season, Lana (Aisha Tyler, “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”) informed the other ISIS members she was pregnant, receiving a surprisingly warm response from her usually jaded coworkers. Only Cyril (Chris Parnell, “Saturday Night Live”), Lana’s on-again-off-again boyfriend, seemed somewhat distraught at the news, while Ray (Adam Reed, “Sealab 2021”) was fairly distracted by once again losing the ability to use his bionic legs.
The first episode of season five, entitled “White Elephant,” opens with the ISIS gang being arrested by the FBI for treason. During the struggle for their capture, bullet magnet Brett (Neal Holman) is killed, finally ending the running gag that was his bullet-riddled body. In case you missed any of the past four seasons, the episode then proceeds to recap them in quick succession, as the captured ISIS agents proceed to spill their life stories for what they think is immunity from prosecution against the expressed wishes of Archer’s mother, Malory.
Malory, on the other hand, is busy attempting to secure immunity for herself and the rest of her employees. After making a mysterious call to an even more mysterious figure, Malory succeeds in getting it for them. In exchange, however, ISIS and all of its assets are to be handed over to the government, and Archer and the rest are banned from engaging in any sort of espionage in the future. It appears that ISIS never had official clearance to engage in any of the activities over the past four seasons, and now they must come up with something else to do.
They come up with a new business model using the massive amounts of cocaine they have stocked up from previous missions. Archer then plays out the coming season in his mind, a high-paced, drug-filled fantasy entitled “Archer Vice.” With a new base of operations at the mansion of Cheryl/Carol (Judy Greer, “Arrested Development”) and Pam (Amber Nash, “Aqua Unit Patrol Squad 1“) as a drug mule, the team ranges across the world in their quest to form a drug cartel to peddle the cocaine in their possession.
The move from spy agency to drug cartel is the perfect change of pace for the series. With the constraints of quasi-legal operations a thing of the past, the members of the ISIS cartel can now engage in a wide range of new adventures. The ability to go beyond these limitations will breathe new life into the already hilarious series, moving past the usual witty banter and hilarious references that is the hallmark of the series, though these were definitely present in the premiere.
While a series reboot is not a new idea, a total switch of this magnitude is rarely seen. As well as being an action-packed spy comedy, “Archer” is also a magnificent workplace comedy. The first episode of season five stays true to that workplace and spy dynamic, but with the end of ISIS, there is no guarantee they will ever be spies or in a workplace again. There is no doubt the humor of the past four seasons is still present in the premiere and will continue throughout the entire season, yet “Archer” may have completely removed itself from the genres which carried it up until now. Whether those genres are replaced with somethingelse is anybody’s guess, but there is no question that season five is yet another must-see installment of “Archer,” both for those who have watched it all along and those who are just looking for a new comedy to get into in 2014. “Archer” airs Mondays on FX.
