Elmo3000
Since: Jul, 2013
08/26/2018 00:00:00
I genuinely had absolutely no idea that season nine was even out and I think that just about sums up where the show is these days.
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[Season 9] Nuuuuuupe
Last week I suggested that the new animated TV show Disenchanted needed a couple more seasons to develop its gags and characters. Archer as of now is into its ninth season and is doing its damnedest to avoid all of its already developed gags and characters.
For the last couple of seasons, Archer picks a new setting each time, and as such, has to reinvent the wheel each season. Each of the same characters need to be reintroduced, their dynamics re-established, their story role recreated. It's a horrible handicap to give to a series that is renowned for running gags, callbacks and longform story telling, bringing us weaker and weaker seasons. Which brings us to season nine, yet again hitting the reset button and displacing the story to a 1930s adventure island. How does it fair this time? Well, by the time I finished I realised I hadn't laughed once over all ten episodes.
Nine is a disaster, with infrequent and unfunny jokes, a lack of decent character dynamics to play off of, and a lack of imagination when it comes to the brand new setting. It even recycles a few gags from the previous better seasons, only to start playing them straight for the sake of this new story. Most of the main cast don't have enough to do in their new roles, and have to act out of character to accommodate some of the more bizarre conceits thrown in. For instance, Klinger is a talking parrot now, and that's his entire joke for the whole season; hey, parrots aren't eloquent! What's the deal with that? Where did that rapid wit and knack for clever, esoteric references go?
The worst thing though is how the season ends with an assurance that we will, yet again, be jumping to another location for the final season. What a disappointment.