S14.E09-E11: Into the Cold

[JTMacc99]

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With the UN voting to outlaw independent spy agencies, Archer and the gang have to work outside the law to save the world from an unlikely duo in this epic series Finale Event. Written by Mark Ganek.

 

[Galileo908]

Starting at Carnivale in Brazil already seems like a return to classic Archer.

It was great seeing Barry again, now a demon fridge by way of a Game Boy interface. And now a demon vacuum. LOVED the reveal that his new body was action figure size. 

Caught the old ISIS sign among the trash pile.

Archer jetpacking naked through the skies of Rio just to get back as Slater and destroying Christ The Redeemer at the same time? Gotta be one of the craziest things to happen on this show. Slater just HAD to drop the "I know who Archer's Dad is" bomb just before he died, didn't he? I liked that Archer chose not to find out.

So, the final bosses of the show are Slater and Katya. Man, they're just bringing back everyone for the finale, aren't they? Borris, Rip Riley, AJ, even a "sploosh." And Archer finally doing with Katya AND Barry in one mind? Loved that.

Krieger can't remember how Tom Sawyer goes? Yeah...that's totally not good.

Loved how everyone got a time to shine. And Archer and Pam ride off into the sunset, in a cat and mouse game with Lana. I really want to see more of Krieger's werewolves.

People, it's been a pleasure. I hated to see this end, but this was a way more satisfying end than what that last season was.

[Chaos Theory]

The ending was kinda weird but it also really fit.

 

i liked how all the characters got their moments to shine in the end.  I also really enjoyed all the callbacks to past characters.   Plus….Slater being the final big bad just works.  “I am the best when saving the world happens to coincide with being super petty.”

“You are the biggest bunch of undisciplined petty weirdos I have ever met.  And my god  it has been an honor.”    
 

Solid finale ending with Archer and Pam out there causing chaos and a wistful Lana wishing things could be different with Archer just feels right.   
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AnimeMania]

[PinkRibbons]

My only question that remains: what THE FUCK was the point of Zara? I was hoping she was only introduced to eventually double cross everyone, but instead she just ended being the random Cousin Oliver added at the last minute for no real reason.

I LOVE that no matter what happens, Archer and Pam are together. He and Lana were always a disaster, and not just because of Archer. Lana could not handle a relationship with Archer because she just could not trust him. And it makes more sense for Archer to continue on banging random chicks and having Pam being the source of love he really needs. Also, I assume Alessia is going to continue to be a presence in Pam's life, so she gets the romance she deserves.

I wonder if the showrunners ever knew who Papa Archer was? I tend to lean towards it being Nikolai Jakov or the guy in Italy Malory mentioned. I know he was supposed to have met Archer when the latter was a young kid, but that may have just been a hallucination from snake venom.

Also Slater's threat of having deleted the DNA results is kind of silly. Archer should try an ancestry website. Doubt his dad is on one, but who knows about siblings or even cousins?

I can see this show getting a theatrical follow-up. I mean they left enough loose strings to pull if they want.

[Chaos Theory]

Zara’s point is like a lot of things on Archer.  There really was no point.  If anything she was the audience’s  “closest to a real person” entry into the group.    Someone to deliver the line “you are the biggest bunch of undisciplined weirdos I have ever met.  It has been an honor.”   That is her entire point.   
 

and Cheryl using her money to back Kreigers increasingly crazy science stuff could actually be a new show.  

Edited December 18, 2023 by Chaos Theory

[MrWhyt]

a fitting send off.

[DoctorAtomic]

Pam and Archer going off into the unknown together to wreck shop is the best ending in the history of television. 

Somehow, there needs to be a Leverage-Archer&Pam job. 

Archer is really kind of the best at the spy game. Brilliant to use Slater's ego against himself and knowing Slater would turn the chopper around. 

17 hours ago, PinkRibbons said:

I can see this show getting a theatrical follow-up. I mean they left enough loose strings to pull if they want.

Monk just had a movie and that show has been off the air for ages. They could easily do a one off adventure here in a couple of years. 

I did like the philosophical discussion about whether returning to the Cold War would be better. I actually brought up the discussion in class. Someone had remarked, "nowadays everything is an existential threat so no one can do anything about anything." It was kind of easier to just point to the Soviets and say, 'those are the bad guys.'

Lana's rant in the gun library might have been the best monologue delivery of the series. 

The CIA-MI6 could use Lana for a ton of off book missions; not just tracking Archer. 

[Morrigan2575]

12 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Pam and Archer going off into the unknown together to wreck shop is the best ending in the history of television. 

They're my favorite part of the show, I love their friendship.

I'm curious about the Rwst, I guess Lana gets to hire Cheryl, Cyril and Krieger back to help track down Archer.

This was a fitting send off, I'm glad FX gave us an Archer Movie to wrap everything up.

I still have no idea why Zara was added in the final season. 

[JTMacc99]

SO MANY long running shows have unsatisfying endings. This was not one of them. 

It hit on all the right notes for me. I'm sorry to see this show go, but I loved the way it wrapped up.

[Chaos Theory]

58 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

They're my favorite part of the show, I love their friendship.

I'm curious about the Rwst, I guess Lana gets to hire Cheryl, Cyril and Krieger back to help track down Archer.

This was a fitting send off, I'm glad FX gave us an Archer Movie to wrap everything up.

I still have no idea why Zara was added in the final season. 

Lana will likely work for the government doing the operations that can't be connected directly to the government.    There was that scene at the bar at the end where they all kind of hinted what everyone would do.  Cheryl would fun Kriegers insane projects and Cyril found his love of accounting again.  Of course they all would likely all find their way back to Lana once she opens up shop again because....well of course they would but in the mean time they have stuff to do.

There are two ways of thinking about Zara. 

The first is that Archer wasn't supposed to end when it did so Zara was supposed to have a few more seasons to be drawn in.   It did take the show a good couple seasons to decide on all the personalities of all the main cast so to expect Zara to have her personality fully formed in the first season is a double standard.

The second is that she is the audience stand in.  The character dropped in from "the real world" who is early series Lana but without being attracted to Archer.  Someone competent and able to keep up with Archer while Lana takes over the roll of Mallory.    But also the one to utter lines like “you are the biggest bunch of undisciplined weirdos I have ever met.  It has been an honor.”  

I really like the way the show ended the Lana/Archer thing.   I am glad they didn't end up together because Lana and Archer really are a train wreck.  They might be sexually attracted to each other and may love each other deeply but some people are just wrong for each other.  

 

 

[bmoore4026]

Bittersweet ending.  I'm glad they finally cleared up the whole Katya/Slater thing.  That thing was nagging me to no end.

Kind of sad that Archer can never see AJ or Lana again.  But he is what he is and if it means being a rogue spy, that's how it is.  At least he has a partner in Pam.

This wasn't exactly Venture Brothers level of closure, but it was better than nothing.  Thanks for the journey, Sterling Archer.  The show maybe over, but the adventures never end.

[Lantern7]

I'm gonna miss those guys.

It's fitting that the end of private spying can be directed to Archer and his rampaging ego. Sterling Archer ended the series the same way he started . . . as a mostly unrepentant asshole. Also, the only supporting character that had a definitive ending was Pam . . . .a character whose voice actor (Amber Nash) wasn't in the credits in the first season. I find that oddly fitting for this series as well.

Krieger teaming up with Cheryl . .  . yeah, it's probably good that we're ending the series now, because that is a terrifying pairing. Bright side: we got a "lycan" pun out of that.

Ray finally used his robot legs! And he dropped a Frisky Dingo reference. "Kick pants!"

Slater died as he lived . . . a total asshole. Trying to bargain with Archer with the identity of his father probably would have worked in the first three seasons, tops. Maybe four.

Lana came through in the end, and she gets an off-the-books gig as well, chasing Archer. Nice to have AJ back for the final scene. I wonder if she put two and two together about Archer being her dad. Yeah, probably. Why have another generation with an unknown dad?

Barry gets the most bizarre development . . . from refrigerator to vacuum (perhaps the same model that nearly killed Archer) to action figure to dual consciousness with his one-time girlfriend in the same smokeshow body. That leads to a threesome with Archer . . .  and isn't that the way things should have ended? Given the incestuous nature of the agency formerly known as ISIS, I figured the endgame would've been Archer sharing a bed with his mother. With Malory gone, that was off the table. Probably for the best.

There are a lot of questions that the finale left us. My main query: what does Adam Reed do next?

[CoyoteBlue]

On 12/19/2023 at 8:20 PM, bmoore4026 said:

Kind of sad that Archer can never see AJ or Lana again. 

"Visits with AJ are off-limits?"

"Obviously."

(I guess you could read it as him getting visits with AJ in the future would not be allowed, but I assumed it meant no using his custodial visits to capture him.)

On 12/20/2023 at 12:29 AM, Lantern7 said:

I wonder if she put two and two together about Archer being her dad. Yeah, probably. Why have another generation with an unknown dad?

AJ calls him Dad in her last scene: "We had cotton candy. Dad got me a-"

Edited December 23, 2023 by CoyoteBlue