Review: Archer ‘Legs’ – Greek For Kick-Ass

As fun as Archer‘s romps around the world are (particularly travel-related), there’s nothing better than a bottle episode sticking all the characters in the ISIS building, which is exactly what ‘Legs’ is. There aren’t many spy shows or movies that have episodes completely villain-free, which speaks to how well the characters and relationships in Archer are written that the lack of a baddie isn’t even noticeable.

Everything happening in ‘Legs’ revolves around Ray: Krieger is trying to get Ray walking again, and Archer thinks he’s going to do it by turning him into the Terminator. Like many episodes of Archer, ‘Legs’ plays out as one long conversation, with each transition moving instantly into the middle of a completely unrelated conversation, connected by a mere homonym in most cases. It’s masterful writing, and in a bottle episode with a lot of characters moving around the building, it picks up the pace of an episode that might otherwise feel a little thin on the dramatic stakes.

The best part of ‘Legs’, though, are the running gags: the Fourth of Ju-Luau (and its after effects on the budget), the Terminator references, and Pam getting drunk were all highlights, underlined by Malory’s frustrations with her new husband, and everybody she works with. When there’s no place for characters to go (and nothing but their ear drums to blow up), the jokes have to be sharp, and everything in ‘Legs’ – like Brett getting shot again, this time by an apparently magic bullet – is golden Archer material (even who vs. whom makes an appearance, one of the show’s favorite jokes).

Archer doesn’t always have to be high concept to be at its best – although I love airships and train rides from Canada as much as the next guy, spending a day with crazy Cheryl(Archer: “I find it creepy how much you get off on physical violence”), or Lana and Cyril getting into their usual arguments makes for a side-splitting half hour. Meticulously paced and consistently hilarious, ‘Legs’ is an early highlight of Archer‘s fourth season.

Grade: A

Other thoughts/observations:

– FINALLY: it took three years, but my patient waiting to see Conway’s face was awarded. He’s got a bionic arm!

– Ron is reading The Paper while talking to Malory.

– Ray not only shits himself, can’t walk, and can’t get an erection: he’s got crippling debt from his medical bills.

– “Thank you… what’s your name again?” “Rodney.” “Thank you, asshole.”