“El Contador”
Last night’s Archer was full of hilarities and an unlikely hero in Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell). Since Ray (Adam Reed) is unable to fulfill his field duties Malory (Jessica Walters) took him out and replaced him with everyone’s favorite comptroller at ISIS. So out Cyril goes into a deadly jungle mission in South America with Sterling (H. Jon Benjamin) and Lana (Aisha Tyler) where they must take out a drug dealer named Calzado (Joaquim de Almeida) and bring back some cash-ola for ISIS. Meanwhile Malory institutes new mandatory drug tests, which throw the rest of the ISIS office into panic mode.
After the Heart of Archness three-parter and last week’s Burt Reynolds goof, it was great to see Lana and Sterling working together again, in tandem and off of each other’s biting antagonisms. And let me tell you, Lana knows how to emasculate a guy.
Lana: Shut your dick-holes!
That they could both pick on Cyril only made the unlikely team of three a comedy of tragic failure, especially when the accountant showed up in safari gear. But it wasn’t Cyril who jeopardized the mission, he was cool, calm and collected when he suddenly found himself separated from Lana and Sterling and in front of Calzado’s men–well except for having the South American runs in his safari gear.
The extreme laughs though, came from Cheryl (Judy Greer), Pam (Amber Nash), and Ray who frantically tried to cleanse themselves of all the drugs currently in their system. Krieger (Lucky Yates) scammed them each of $100 to use his herbal remedy, “Kreiger Kleanse,” which was really one of his clinical studies that he wanted to perform on the team.
Ray: First thing Monday morning we all gotta pee in a cup, which I can’t even do ya’ll. [Ray sniffles.]
Cheryl: We just paid $100 for liquid fart.
Pam: Yeah, well, here’s shit in your eye!
Hallucinogenic hilarity ensues.
Not knowing that Cyril had infiltrated Calzado’s camp, Lana and Sterling had suddenly found themselves on a rescue mission.
Lana: You’re looking for Predator aren’t you…
Sterling: He has a tell-tale shimmer
It was Cyril though who gave Lana and Sterling enough time to think of a plan to get them out of the boiling pot and to take out Calzado. But it wasn’t pretty. Caged like animals, Lana and Sterling had this exceptional exchange when a neighboring tiger was gunned down ruthlessly.
Lana: Well go ahead and say it. How since we’re going to die in the morning, We should have sex now.
Sterling: I’m not really in the mood. I can watch while you masturbate, but I can tell you my heart’s not going to be in it… It’ll be with that tiger’s family.
The rest of the jungle adventure falls a wee bit flat but in the end, but this was a solid pleasure ride made memorable with the fact that neither Sterling nor Lana collected a receipt for Calzado’s return and that made their entire operation null and void. I don’t know how much I want to see Cyril in the field, and I am beginning to miss Ray but for now, this promotion for Cyril has given the season a nice little jolt of freshness.
Not to be forgotten were memorable references to Marlin Perkins, Jai Alai, and Decepticons; A naked Cheryl adorned my TV along with a beat-boxing Pam. And I must give the animation department props on the bugs flying around in the jungle. Call me easy to please but I literally could have zoned out watching them buzz around for 25 minutes. This was a good week of Archer.
Look for Archer’s third season to continue on FX Thursday nights at 10pm ET/PT.
