Katya And Karma Are A Bitch

Archer, S03E08

After losing his maybe daddy in the last episode, Archer gains his only true love we've seen so far, Katya in return.  Krieger, through a convenient yet believable plot hole, took her body to his home lab and has been working on her ever since to make her a cyborg.  Great news for Archer, for the most part.

Archer doesn't deserve someone who can look past all of his flaws and simply love him, but somehow I want to see him happy with Katya anyway.  He has a lot of issues, but maybe if someone cared about him in the right way (not like his mother who is smothering at best), he might be a fraction less of an asshole.  I mean, someone as selfish as Archer could eventually look past the disgusting fact that his beloved could detach her vagina and put it in the sink and ask her to marry him.  I would have really liked to see him married and have Katya stay on as a regular character.  My favorite line of their short reunion is when Archer asks her to close her eyes because it felt like he was "banging taillights on a country road."

The almost wedding is interrupted when Barry crashes in to effortlessly beat the crap out of Archer with a bottle.  I hoped for a fight that Archer could actually have a chance, but with Barry made of metal, it didn't look like he could do anything.  However, Katya came to her man's rescue, and the two cyborgs started to have a pretty cool fight (cool for this show that hasn't seen much action).  We didn't get to see much of the fight because they turned off the lights so that the cyborgs would lose most of their power, and Archer could beat Barry in a more even playing field.  As he is looking for Barry, he has another dirty joke that I would have missed if not for the "phrasing" gag.

[Archer] Oh, Barry, I am coming for you.

[Guy on floor] Phrasing.

I'm really enjoying that joke now.  More than I would have thought.  I might have to use that on someone, but I doubt they will get it (if they are anything like me at first).  

Sadly, when Archer does find Barry, he is banging Katya over a desk.  I did not see that coming, but I should have.  Barry really got his revenge good, without having to necessarily kill anyone again.  Not the titillating conclusion I was hoping for, but all right, I guess.  I couldn't help but feel bad for Archer, especially because even someone like him couldn't refuse to accept Katya's happiness (she assumes she'll have it with her own kind).  As much as I liked Barry in the previous episode and he made me laugh, I didn't care for him much in this one.

At the very end, after Mallory was lording over being right and ignoring Archer's heartbreak, we see that the cyborgs hopped happily on a bus together.  But they stopped smiling and then looked awkward and possibly regretful?  Not sure how I feel about it not being the love connection that the two claimed it would be.  Even if Katya realized that she had made a mistake, I wouldn't want her to come back to Archer.  Possibly a fight between them would be cool, but no more romance.  Barry's always welcome to come back, and I'm sure he will as he is the new head of the KGB.

In the end Barry won his revenge, and Archer ended up back where he started--alone and right where Mallory predicted.  At least balance has been restored, and we can expect the same ol' Archer that love to hate.