S14.E01: The Anglerfish Stratagem

[JTMacc99]

Quote

The Agency teams up with Interpol to take down a highly organized ring of jewel thieves. Archer's skeptical as their Interpol contact seems to be treating the mission as more of an audition... but for which side? Written by Mark Ganek.

 

[AnimeMania]

Natalie Dew as Zara Khan

[Galileo908]

"Are we working for magpies?!" The sheer joy in Archer's voice when he asked that question.

"Pam gets to go!"
"But we LIKE her."

Man, that cold open felt like classic Archer. It was nice seeing the office filled with randos again. But the gang is so close knit, the new folk are not putting up with their usual shenanigans. I honestly missed that dynamic. And Lana realizes she's turning into Malory. But man, I liked her in this.

Loved that the first thing Krieger says when a dead body falls out of a wall is "well, it's not one of mine." And just casually chucking it down the elevator shaft is just classic.

It was great to see more Ray lore. Having flashbacks about being a waiter at the nicest restaurant in his tiny shitty town when he was in high school.

The new girl, Zara is fun. I hope she sticks around. 

[Chaos Theory]

I really liked Lana in this.   She started out wanting to be different than Mallory because Archer Vice happened while she was pregnant and being broke and running cocaine while pregnant must have been scary.  If Mallory had been up front about the spy agency not being strictly legal they all could have hidden their assets  so of course Lana in charge would have started out being more upfront….until the first dead body shows up.   Then she turns into a version of Mallory because it works.   And Cheryl was fun in this as well.  Basically Lana’s  assassin squad.   
 

I am not sure what the show is doing with Archer but my guess is finally  pulling the trigger on the aging playboy spy.   He’s not as young as he used to be.  He has a kid. His mother is dead (or at least gone) so there is no one to rebel against.   He is still acting like a child himself.   Maybe it’s time he grows up. 
 

Edited September 1, 2023 by Chaos Theory

[DoctorAtomic]

I guess our new agent wasn't a flash forward to AJ all grown up. 

I was kind of calling out Archer being not into the heist, but it's fair he thought the whole operation was a double cross to set them up. I'm glad he was proven right. Not exactly what he thought, but close.

I don't want the show to forget that Archer and Lana actually know what they're doing. 

Wow, I totally died at the Lana/Malory scene screaming on the phone. Brilliant line reading. I do hope Lana isn't sidelined too much being the boss.

We got two 'fucks' from Lana.  

[Lantern7]

Fun episode. I think we'll find out if Zara is running a long con at the end of the season. I also figure we'll find out why Cheryl has kabob needles two minutes after that. Oh, Cheryl. I am going to miss your psychotic ass. She had holsters for those needles.

Random dead body aside, who wouldn't except weird shit at a spy agency? I'm curious how the new crew was brought in. Did Pam post on Linkedin? Are they leftover from IIA? Maybe one of them is a relative of Brett and will try to avenge him on the main cast.

On 8/31/2023 at 10:30 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

I was kind of calling out Archer being not into the heist, but it's fair he thought the whole operation was a double cross to set them up.

In his defense, Conway Stern. He went through the whole "He's the bad guy!" thing twice, and he was right both times.

 

[DoctorAtomic]

That too. The team forgets Archer actually knows what he's doing. 

[Joimiaroxeu]

It wasn't rhetorical! Or was it?

I like seeing Lana running the agency now and I liked the introduction of Zara. The rest kind of felt same ol' same ol' to me. I look forward to seeing how things develop for the better.