Review: Archer ‘Live and Let Dine’ – Should You Be Flaming Here?

When I first heard that Anthony Bourdain was going to guest-star in an episode of Archer this season, I was a little worried. Stunt casting – even for a strong show like Archer – can prove to be a fickle thing, whether it’s the presence of a bad actor, or the writing playing to said guest star’s strengths and making them a thinly-veiled version of themselves (or the exact opposite: Brad Pitt as the former fattie on Friends)… which usually makes for a less entertaining version of that person, and throws the balance of the show all out of whack. But ‘Live and Let Dine’ mostly works, mainly because it’s an episode of Archer running at full comedic power, another messy adventure for the ISIS crew.

It begins a bit oddly – while Anthony Bourdain is definitely enjoying himself, there’s isn’t a lot of personality in his voice as Lance Casteu, and the straight delivery of his many ironic lines aren’t quite up to par with the rest of the cast. But the script gives him enough good jokes (“Oh, you speak French?” he says to Lana, “then go answer the goddamn phone!”, not impressed in the least), and does a great job capturing the ebb and flow of an upscale restaurant kitchen, it overcomes his somewhat monotone performance.

The premise is also a bit ham-handed: the ISIS crew is called to Casteu’s restaurant, which is filming a reality show called Bastard Chef. Again, the writing is what lifts it out of “another reality show parody” realm: after the first few scenes, it moves away from moments like characters talking to the producer behind the camera – and acknowledging the presence of the camera itself – and settles into using the reality format for funnier bits, like everybody’s nicknames (Ray as Gilles de Rais, a 15th century child murderer and former commander of the Royal Army) and Casteu trying to attach a bumper line to everything.

I’m not sure how I feel about the ending, where it’s revealed that the plan to kill the Albanian ambassador and ruin U.S/Albanian relations was orchestrated by a pissed off Katya and Barry. It’s a little odd how aggressive Katya is going after Archer – there hasn’t been much reason for her anger to this point, except that Archer left Barry in space (something she manipulated him into solving). More so, it seems pretty clear nobody at ISIS is going to catch onto what’s happening until the end of the season, which makes it inherently unnecessary to have them be pulling the strings on every adventure they’re having. I do like where it appears to be heading: I could see a season finale where a pissed off Barry joins forces with ISIS to take down a wildly unhinged Katya.

The final scene is a bit of a necessary twist, however – without it, ‘Live and Let Dine’ would feel very familiar to season one’s ‘Skytanic’, another operation gone wrong, catalyzed by Mallory’s selfishness and exacerbated by everyone else’s self obsessions. The most common complaint of Archer‘s fourth season is that it’s humor has been too self-referential at times. Those trends certainly continue here, but as long as Adam Reed and company keep the laughs coming, it’s still enjoyable as hell to watch.

Grade: B+

Other thoughts/observations:

– Pam owes $14,000 grand to the Yakuza (I’m assuming) for fish-fighting debt. That almost makes me want a sequel to ‘The Limited’.

– Chet Manly lives!

– A.B.B.A.B.: “Always be belittling and berating.” As a former employee at a fancy four-diamond restaurant, I can safely say 95% of head chefs live by this rule.

– a little Ron goes a long way: “Kicked out after the first act.” “At least we didn’t have to wait for a cab!”