Slick’s Nit-Picks: Archer, Episode 306–The Limited

Less than half a season in and a lot has happened on Archer, so let’s do a quick recap. First, Archer, in attempts to drown his sorrows over the loss of his fiancée runs away and becomes a pirate king. While trying to rescue said runaway, Ray nearly loses an eye and completely loses his lower mobility and everyone gets a big ol’ case of crabs (not the good kind). Burt Reynolds teaches Archer a life lesson, bangs Malory and saves most of ISIS from a Cuban hit squad. Cyril replaces Ray as field agent and does pretty well on his first assignment. And finally, the C.I.A. cuts ties with ISIS after Archer and company successfully capture a South American drug lord but forget to get a receipt for his delivery. Through it all, Cheryl manages to delve further and further into the depths of mental instability which of course, no one really notices. Things still seem pretty normal a few floors up from Popeye’s dry cleaners.

^{BLAME CANADA!} The episode opens in Grand Central Station and Cyril is on his second field assignment. Along with basically all of the ISIS crew, he boards a train to extradite international terrorist Kenny Bilko. back to Canada. As with any trip they have been on, Malory bitches about not having the most elite of accommodations but in the railroad world, Tunts rule, so Cheryl treats Pam and Ray to all the comforts of her five private cars. Things get nuts when both the Mounties and Bilko’s associates (dressed as Mounties) board at the border. Everything from gunfire to grenade blasts bring the train to a screeching halt long before Cheryl is able to break the record train run to Ottawa.

^{SILVER BULLET} Archer definitely suffers from Peter Pan Syndrome. How many times have we heard him rant over always wanting to do something? Of all the moronic ideas in his head, fighting atop a speeding train has to be the worst one yet, which at this point even he will agree to. There are tunnels to deal with, emergency brakes that pretty much spell death for anyone standing on the train roof at the time and oh yeah, the sheer force of the wind in your face. I mean, I get it; if you are a bad guy and running away from someone, the roof might seem like a good idea since trying to dodge someone on a train is about as effective as trying to play hide ‘n’ seek on a football field. Hopefully, having gotten this fantasy out of his system, Archer will think twice before attempting the next one.

^{TUNT PUNT} You are fooling yourself if you think that Cheryl is not the most dangerous person on this show. Every episode you see more of it and adding four personal train cars to a commercial train just caps it. I do not care how rich you are, who does that? I mean, last I checked, insanity was not genetic, but I have a feeling that the Tunt family might be an exception. I hope we get to meet her brother at some point because he’s got to be a gem. On a list of dangers to the ISIS office building, Miss Tunt needs to be number one. She’d probably throw her trains at the ISIS building if she could. We already know that she has contemplated burning it down on more than one occasion.

One has to wonder what is in store for Archer and what else could possibly be thrown at this guy. Will he and Babou make up? Will he ever get to eat real homemade Canadian bacon again? Sadly the answers all lie within him. We have to wonder what idiotic thing he will do next. I am also interested in seeing if Cyril can become a competent ISIS agent by the end of this season, as laughable as those words are together. Malory was quick to replace Ray with whatever she could find and that raises the question as to how safe is Ray’s job if he cannot be an agent anymore. I am sure the upcoming episodes will have some interesting developments.

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