Can ‘Archer’ Recover From Season 5?

The satirical spy comedy cartoon Archer has its season 6 debut tomorrow night, and fans are eager to see if it can pull itself out of the slump that most agree it had in season 5. Below I will explain why I think season 5 went off the rails so badly (well, ultimately not so badly, but the damage had been done). That said, if you are a fan of the show but are not caught up with the previous season, SPOILERS AHEAD.

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In its first four seasons, Archer followed a formula that worked well — standalone episodes with occasional touches on an overall theme (who is Sterling Archer’s real father) and the return of popular characters in modified roles. The spy agency ISIS sent Archer and his coworkers on missions around the globe, and wildly farcical hi-jinks ensued when alcoholic sex addict Archer inevitably screwed things up — and sometimes came (phrasing!) to the rescue to save the day from the mess he made. Archer is like Maxwell Smart, if Smart suddenly became Jason Bourne or James Bond in a fight.

And that is part of what is wrong with season 5. Sterling Archer becomes a shadow of his former self, for no better reason than his job as a spy disappears when ISIS gets blown up at the beginning of the season’s first episode. Ultimately, by episode 6, he almost loses in a gunfight to none other than Kenny freakin’ Loggins.

Not only did Archer essentially get emasculated in the first half of season 5, he also got dumber. One of the best parts about the earlier seasons are the moments when Archer shows off his boarding school education and drops amazingly literate or super nerdy references (often ended with “For God’s sake, read a book!” when no one gets it). There is almost none of that in season 5.

In fact, all characters undergo enormous changes in the first half of the season, as they all take up residence in Cheryl Tunt’s palatial Tunt Manor. That leads to the first half of the season playing essentially like Seinfeld, with more booze and sex. And as anyone who knows me well knows, I am not a fan of Seinfeld.

Archer worked as brutal satire because the characters were sarcastic, mean, self-centered but hip. In season 5 they become neurotic, mean, self-centered and very unhip — the very definition of the characters in Seinfeld.

Then there was the change in the story structure. As I mentioned, in the first four seasons, most episodes were standalone stories with call outs — a formula perfected by Joss Whedon in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Season 5 plays out almost like a long serialized season, with most of the episodes flowing logically from one to the other. That may have allowed creator and writer of most episodes Adam Reed to feel it was OK to have a slower buildup to what is ultimately a hugely important payoff. Sadly, his audience didn’t seem to like that idea.

The final episode of season 5 had less than 50 percent the number of viewers as the final episode of season 4.

There is hope, however. At the end of season 5, ISIS leader and Sterling’s mom, Malory Archer, convinces the CIA to fund a rebuild of ISIS — yes, I know it won’t have that name in season 6 due to the association with the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria — and the season 6 teaser ads show everyone coming back as if season 5 had never happened.

Let’s hope that Reed realizes it did happen, and it taught him some lessons about his audience and what works for his show.