Surfing Cartoons: Archer – “Jeu Monegasque”
There are spoilers for this week’s episode of Archer coming up… BECAUSE OF THIS NEW THING CALLED SITUATIONAL AWARENESS…
There will also be adult content in this article, due to the fact that the show may be the single dirtiest thing on TV…
At first glance it might seem that we’ve had too many spy spoofs already, but Archer has been able to duck that trend thus far, partially due to the fact that it’s as much an office comedy as it is about the spy game. Many episodes lack a real action hook almost entirely. However, a few times each year the show seems to remember it’s supposed to be about a James Bond expy, and sends Sterling on an honest-to-goodness mission in a foreign country, complete with action sequences. These episodes tend to work for different reasons than the usual episodes of the series, if they work at all (I’m far from convinced that, say, “Swiss Miss” wasn’t the worst episode of this year so far). However, “Jeu Monegasque” was one of the more fun entries the series has had in this little subgenre, mostly because the jokes actually worked all the way through.
Archer and the gang are in Monaco during Grand Prix week, so that they can exchange four million dollars for a disc that may or not be Malory’s sex tape. What they don’t know initially is that Malory stole the $4 million from the 401ks of ISIS employees. Plus Archer is about to gamble away the majority of the money in the hotel casino by accident. And the money will be stolen by a bellhop named Benoit, whose name Archer is incapable of hearing without saying “balls” immediately afterward. This of course leads to the gang commandeering a bunch of cars and chasing Benoit through the Grand Prix, climaxing with Benoit’s car flying off a ramp directly into an attack helicopter. And haven’t we all had that happen, am I right guys?
Few shows can keep up as many fun little sidebars over the course of 22 minutes as Archer can. From Lana’s perfect French (and I love the fact that some of the jokes relied on us having decent French as viewers, like Lana’s chastened “Desole” after she stuck her gun in the guard’s mouth) to Gillette spending the latter stages of the story dressed up as Malory, nearly all of these worked. Unfortunately, half the show’s characters were shunted into a B-plot that took up maybe two total minutes of screen-time. That’s what kept this episode from really being one of the better entries’ of this series. The great part was I felt like if that brief B-plot had been the entire episode, I would have been just as happy.
Quotes:
-Gillette on his room: “It has two queens.” Malory: “Where’s the other one, greasing up in the bathroom?”
-”Sterling may be a possibly alcoholic man-whore, but gambling is not among his vices.”
-”It’s Benoit.” “HAHAHA… Sorry. Sorry…. I was laughing at your name.”
-”And I’d like my towels folded into swans. And new towels. As thick as possible while still being swan-shape-foldable.”
-”I must go find fresh towels and a whore.”
-This may have been the only instance of this joke in video media ever: “Not many women could bring me to orgasm in front of my mother.”
-”Now my gun’s all soapy. Pretty dumb taking a bath with it.”
-”Gummy bears all around!”
-”And now all the candy is mother’s because baby hit on 17 again. Like an idiot.”
-”Why was I dressed as Hitler?”
-”You don’t actually have to sleep with him.” “Well, wait, he is a duke.”
-”Allegedly disgusting, although… probably disgusting.”
-”There’s a zoo here?”
-”And some blow jobs!… I mean printers.”
-”Get off, you idiot!” “I am getting off. I love this.”
-”Y’all, my car is slowing down for no apparent reason. Must be out of… carburetor.”
-”I’m not the one who was handing out blow jobs like puffy stickers.”
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