How did I forget this absolute gem? Archer is one of those shows which just shouldn't be as good as it is. The principle ought to lend itself to a lacklustre, episode churning filler programme: animated spy parody with just enough humour to hook the lowest common denominator. The Big Bang Theory of the action genre, if you will. For some reason, though, the team decided to go full tilt on the parody, crank up the adult humour to the point of obscenity (though never really going full gross-out, which I thoroughly applaud) and embrace geek culture harder than a Joss Whedon online-only franchise. It was a bold move but has resulted in a very deserved cult status and an extremely loyal fan base.

But then they tried to switch things up completely in season five with Archer: Vice. It was a fascinating switch, again very antithetical for a now profitable American comedy, turning the premise of the show on its head and really forging forward with a whole new outlook. Fan opinions were, shall we say, mixed. At the start there was uproar, though like many I personally persevered and placed faith in the showrunners. Still, I feel like that initial kick-back was sufficient for them to do a second 180 turn into season six.

So here we are, back with ISIS, back in the spy industry and back to the same old stories. Barry's back, Archer's an employee again, they've all been to rehab and the days of drug smuggling are just glossed over with no real implications. Really, you could jump from season four to six without really missing a beat, and apart from the odd meta reference your only confusion would be having missed Lana's pregnancy. I'll admit to having enjoyed Vice quite a lot by the end of its run but I'm still glad to see ISIS return. Somehow, the spy genre is just so much more lucrative for parody.

That said, season six is firm proof that, for the show to continue, shaking up the plot will need to happen. The first four seasons worked so well because they leaned so hard on tropes from classic franchises like James Bond and Mission: Impossible but that well has slightly dried up. The big plots have been done and the result is that there isn't much left for them to play with in season six. It's still a very enjoyable ride and the humour is back on point but there aren't many truly, genuinely stand-out episodes. For the most part, the show skates by on old plot lines (a la Barry the Cyborg) and the slight shakeup that having a baby in the cast was bound to provide (though what exactly has happened to Woodhouse?). That works well enough and has both appeased fans of the first four seasons whilst proving that the fifth really wasn't all that bad.

As a result, I'm a huge fan of how season six ends. Yes, it was great getting back to the spy-based roots of Archer, but I'm seriously pumped for where they're going to go next now that ISIS is, once again, toast. There are a lot more action genres out there ripe for parody and the core group of characters are just so well developed and hilarious together that I doubt any are beyond the show's scope. Hopefully there are several more seasons left for the taking!

Well, I wanted them to shake up the settings, plot and genre after a slightly lukewarm season six and the Archer team have once again delivered. Season seven sees the team leave the espionage business behind (again) to pursue more grounded, yet legal (mostly), work in L.A. as private investigators. For the most part, it leaves the show open to tread fan favourite paths, without needing quite so strong of a character shake-up as Archer: Vice did, but still leaves plenty of wiggle room.

As with most previous seasons, the main areas of character development are focused on Archer and Lana's ongoing will-they-won't-they personal life. Whilst it looked like season six was a turning point for Archer in particular, season seven doubles down on the (understandably) shaky grounds of trust the relationship is founded on. Largely this takes the form of sticking Hollywood starlet Veronica Deane in the crew's path repeatedly, providing a clear temptation for Archer himself and a point of jealousy for Lana. Honestly, I feel like the show handles this part well, keeping their interactions fluid and funny without overly leaning on it to move the plot forward. There's much less of AJ herself, which is fine, and it leaves the rest of the cast open to less serious side plots. I will say that the increased cast, including two brilliant cops and a host of Hollywood elite stereotypes, leaves almost too little time for the normal diversions. Having spent several seasons really fleshing out the side characters to more than 2-D punchlines, season seven appears to largely reduce them back to these rolls, with Pam and Cheryl particularly badly hit. It's a shame but, overall, not a huge hindrance.

Possibly the biggest letdown of the series was the complete lack of pay-off to the "big mystery". Clues are dropped from the very first episode that Deane and friends are involved in something a lot more sinister, with files and papers alluding to a particular scheme that never really appears. It is wrapped up in the two-part finale but I didn't even realise that the reveal was happening until Archer explicitly mentions it. The finale did a good job of resolving several subplots whilst setting up one hell of a closing shot/cliffhanger, but it definitely feels like they dropped a couple of balls near the end of the season. Perhaps the number of episodes was suddenly cut, which would explain quite a lot, or maybe (in true Archer fashion) the whole point was to be pointless, but it results in the series feeling slightly rushed.

Still, a small gripe that allows for the show to lead itself, once again, in a very different direction. I'm pumped for the concept of Archer: Noir and very much looking forward to seeing how they cope with the characters being the versions of themselves that Archer sees. I feel like there is a huge amount of comic potential there and, possibly, an interesting way of having Archer himself go through a series of character strengthening self-realisations. I'm not sure if season eight is going to be the last but it does present a very nice way of tying off the series as a whole. Whatever happens, I'm certain I'll be watching it very soon!

I had high hopes for this film-noir twist on the series, and Archer: Noir (apparently now renamed to Dreamland, which may be a reference that went straight over my head but otherwise feels like a worse choice 🤷‍♂️) did not disappoint. The comedy and hijinks that make Archer such a fun series are still here, but this season is imbued with a strong sense of atmosphere that adds a whole new dimension. Plus, as with Vice before it, Noir's new setting allows them to parody and homage a whole new set of films, movies, and tropes, which they do very well.

I thought they balanced the need for the rest of the cast to "fit" the new universe well with the central conceit that these are Archer's version of them; the people that he imagines them to be. They play with this gimmick well, whilst somehow treading a fine line which means the season will still be accessible to stand on its own, without the whole "coma" thing playing a major role. In that sense, it reminded me a lot of the British classic, Life on Mars, which is high praise indeed.

In terms of the plot they went with, it makes a lot of sense. Archer is still torn up about the loss of Woodhouse, so obviously that's where his mind fixates. Each of the characters fits that theme well, and the finale brings it all together nicely. Even the repeat of Barry's descent to villainy makes sense in this place, and I really didn't mind it at all.

The result is a breath of fresh air; a completely new Archer. It looks like we aren't getting a second season of Noir, instead (Inception-style) descending to another, deeper level of Archer's subconscious. I'll be intrigued to see where this goes, but kind of wish we could have more of this 😅

The premise of Danger Island was a solid one, but it never quite lives up to the atmosphere and intelligence of Noir/Dreamland. That said, it's still more enjoyable than Vice, with better individual moments overall, which makes for an entertaining season. They definitely had a whole lot of fun making it and came up with some great ideas, though it almost felt like they'd had to cut the plot in half. I definitely feel they could have had more fun with the "getting to the temple" bit and allowed Cyril's Nazi Commander character to more slowly lose everything and go insane; what they actually did almost felt jarring and too abrupt.

Also, the sudden twist into talking about The Hobbit whilst making Lord of the Rings references... I don't know if they just got confused, if they realised their timelines didn't fit and ran with it (though elsewhere they'd used this quite cleverly), or if it was a swing'n'miss on the whole coma thing that we have going on, but it just didn't work. I'm exactly the target audience for those jokes and none of them landed; honestly, the Temple of Doom stuff was way more clever, and I'm not an Indy kind of guy!

Issues aside, parrot Krieger was god damn excellent! I am sad to say goodbye to the bird that no one can explain. Actually, I thought all of the recasting was well done and fit nicely into the theme, whilst giving each character some more nuance. If Noir was Archer's ideas of an idealist version of the cast, then Danger Island may well be his brain going into preservation mode, but what it created was comedy genius at times.

That said, unlike Noir I definitely feel like they did everything they would want to with this setting, so I'm glad they're shaking things up again moving forward. Space is a very interesting choice and I am so on board with Malory as an AI!

I had not seen Archer in space coming, even when they started down this route of alt-universe coma parodies. That said, a retrofuturist setting is ripe for the skewering and feels like a more concrete grounding than Danger Island did as a fantasy/action-adventure homage. 1999 certainly kicks off with a solid start, introducing our (newly reinvented) crew and the vague world in which they live well. I thought Mallory as an AI was going to be fun, and it definitely was; her ability to just run away was used to comic- and plot-effect well multiple times. I also thoroughly enjoyed Pam as an alien and Krieger as the Alien-esque cyborg was perfect. I even thought robot crimelord Barry worked out well, though his inclusion was a little boring initially. The result isn't quite as great as Noir/Dreamland but holds together well, provides some hilarious gags, and lets them heavily detour into areas (like alien psychedelics) that are both deeply entertaining and genuinely help to progress Archer as a character.

That last part is important, and something I think Danger Island really missed out on. Both Noir and 1999 serve to show Archer some meaningful insights about himself, which is necessary when he is the only actual character. As the rest are all figments of his imagination, their own character development is necessarily meaningless, so these coma series can only work if Archer is properly centred. In that sense, 1999 does remarkably well 👏

The main plot does steadily unravel – much like the previous season – but I was glad to see this time it had a purpose. Archer's "hallucinations" of the real world and supposed descent into madness was handled well, providing just enough confusion in the details to make you slightly question which reality was, in fact, real. That it sets us up to finally return to ISIS and espionage made for a solid payoff and a great finale.

And the coma is over! Archer returns to the primary timeline, with the titular character trying to recover from years spent out-of-action whilst getting to grips with how much has changed in his absence. Overall, I thought this was a clever time skip used to great effect. Most notably, it allows the writers to effectively just ignore Archer and Lana's kid, who is now old enough to not need constant care. I had worried where they were going with that plotline – many comedies have tried the "add a baby" formula and few have pulled it off – so I'm actually pretty happy with this decision.

Similarly, it was fun seeing what ISIS looks like without Archer in it. The answer is: a highly functional, successful organisation which is thriving. That was another fun twist and provided some strong comic moments and good character development. Everyone is happy to have Archer back, and he's still clearly an asset, but this season (more than any other) really highlights just how much of a destructive influence he is on the group. Every single one of them ultimately backslides. I'd have slightly preferred to see Cyril maintain his field agent status a bit more clearly, though they're obviously leaving him in a position to be more useful on missions moving forward.

Of course, with a return to familiar settings and the familiar cast, we also get the risk of falling back into lazy plots. Luckily, season eleven seems to largely avoid the pitfalls of season six. Sure, we get plenty of returning villains, but they're given new life. Barry, for example, is back, but now as an ally and almost friend, playing a pivotal role in a Terminator inspired episode. Best of all, the show seems to have built up a new list of TV and films to satirise, which gives the feeling of a fresh layer of paint. Sure, movies like The Thing and Taken aren't exactly recently released, but they somehow feel more thought-through than homages of the past.

Throw in some fun hijinks with Archer having realised in his coma how much he loves Lana, only to discover that she's now happily married, and a brilliant subplot around his quest to replace Woodhouse, and season eleven is a return to top form, with fun stories, clever jokes, and plenty of excellent action. I'm not really too sure how much of the show they can possibly have left, but at least it feels a bit more revitalised. A triumphant return.

A short but sweet return to top form for the show, season twelve is packed with excellent humour and fun character moments, with a clearer connecting storyline than many previous seasons which works well. I really enjoyed the rival agencies schtick, and thought they balanced it well to still allow the show to indulge in off-the-wall moments when it wanted to. Plus, the whole environmentalist rebranding provided some excellent asides to explore the wider cast. In many ways, this felt like they were really driving the show towards a definitive conclusion in a season or two, which makes sense.

Where it really shines is once again leaning into the ensemble cast. Episodes in London, a drunken night out, and the excellent team-building/plane jacking combination were some of the best in years. On top of which, the finale moment where Lana just asks her and Pam to cause chaos, and she immediately produces a blowtorch from nowhere and deadpans the line "Everything I've ever done has been leading to this moment" is one of the best character payoffs I've ever seen and had me in stitches. The show has always been funny, but that really got me for some reason 😂