Archer The Chef

Archer, S04E07

ISIS was employed to work undercover at Seize restaurant, but they had no idea what kind of threat they were supposed to be watching for.  Their cover was also compromised by the filming of the reality show Bastard Chef.  Archer began to follow the example of Chef Casteau, and thought that his true calling might have been cooking instead of spying.  Lana tried to bite her tongue at the chef's harsh treatment of her and kept investigating why they had been tasked to do security on the restaurant, while the others fumbled around in the kitchen.  Mallory bullied Carol and Pam into getting her a reservation at Seize and took Pam's fish hostage until they got her what she wanted.

I think my favorite thing about this story was that Archer was starting to fit in really nicely at Seize and cooking food that the hardass Casteau seemd to approve of.  It's always interesting to see Archer exhibit skills outside of his spy set.  I wouldn't have guessed that someone who probably has little experience cooking would be able to make anything remotely delicious, but Archer could.  Plus, his tendency to order people around and be a general bastard suited well for a sous chef who has to keep on top of others in the kitchen to get dishes out quickly and correctly.  The ambassador of Albania even complimented him on the dish he made from his home country before he died, making Archer's role look less like a cover and more like his true calling.  However, thanks to Castuea being in league with the KGB, he took away Archer's confidence as quickly as he had gained it.  Guess Archer will still remain a spy.

I also liked that the fake threat that Mallory had used to get them inside of Seize turned out to be real and Casteau was the culprit.  I didn't expect to see Barry and Katya in this story, so that was a nice suprise at the end.  I'm really starting to like Katya because she has Barry on lock and key now.  One little comment from her and she can shut his mouth and ruin his fun.  Plus, she threw Casteau out of the helicopter without thinking twice.  Once again, it's really fortune for Archer that she's not out to kill him because she's just as ruthless as Barry is.

It was messed up that Mallory made them waste their time at Seize under the pretenses of a security threat and a possible future employment with the government.  Forget that KGB wanted them to look foolish--Mallory's doing a great job of that on her own.  It makes me wonder what the hell she's trying to do.  She makes her employees look more like her personal assistants rather than talented and dangerous spies.  I'm just glad Lana figured it out because Mallory might have gotten away with it.

I didn't like that Carol had to give Rodney a hand job to find out the number for Seize.  Not really because it was beneath her (she has some twisted sexual preferences), but because it was just a gross exchange in general.  We didn't get to see everything she did, but we had to hear Rodney enjoying it and see his face.  Eww.  And Pam was just standing there watching.  Geez.  At least give them some privacy while you whore out your coworker.

I liked this episode.  It was a nice change of pace to see Archer cooking skillfully instead of murdering people with ease.  Someone did end up dying, but that was just thanks to Katya's excellent plan to use Casteau for her own purposes.  I just wish that Archer could continue to pursue this hidden talent of his.  Even an asshole like him could be beloved if he could compensate for his personality by making delicious food.  Mallory, as the owner of ISIS, needs to get it together.  Either she's going to employ her spies to do something they've been trained to do or she should demote them to being her gophers.  If she's not careful enough they'll probably get destroyed by the KGB before they even know it.   I'd almost like to see that if it'll encourage them to get back to a semi-legit organization again.

Rodney Rules The Armory

Archer, S04E03

Krieger offered to fix Ray's legs with bionics and when Archer learned of this, he took drastic measures to put a stop to it.  Lana and Cyrill, in turn tried to stop Archer before he ended up killing Ray out of fear of robots.  Mallory was annoyed at Ron for giving her unwated advice on how to run ISIS.

I felt pretty bad for Ray who has it tough for an injury that Archer caused.  On top of the struggles of daily life, he has little sympathy for his handicap from his coworkers and boss.  Not that any of them would give anyone special treatment because of a disability, but it still sucks because it's obvious that Ray wanted desperately to get back to being more useful.  However, I would have probably never taken Krieger's help, knowing how he rolls.

All the gore aside of the operation, it was really gross to think of Pam assisting in that surgery when she was drinking beers and eating tacos.  I't's a miracle that Pam didn't help Ray to die in the end, as talented as Krieger is.  I have to admit that while Krieger is shady as hell, it's undeniable that he's a bit of a genius.  He doesn't even know the name of bones, nor where they are supposed to be placed without the help of a picture from his phone.  Krieger has the resume of some kind of ghetto, psuedo doctor, yet performs unbelievable medical feats.  I like Ray, so I couldn't help but be worried that he was going to be dead in the end.  Thank goodness he was fine and could walk again (although Mallory certainly didn't give a damn).

I'm now noticing that a lot of stories involve Archer doing whatever the hell he pleases and Lana and someone else going to clean up his mess (or stop him from making a mess).  It's pretty dumb I haven't mentioned that before.  Anyway, the best part of Archer going after Ray was him being held back by Rodney in the armory.  Now that Mallory has put someone in charge of the weapons, there's a lot more opportunities for Rodney to give Archer and the others a hard time.  It's no wonder that Archer was still a jerk to him even when he finally got the gun or whatever he had wanted to shoot down Krieger's door:

[Archer] Thank you--uh, sorry, what was your name again?

[Rodney] Rodney.

[Archer] Thank you...asshole.

I know Rodney is just doing his job, but I still liked that Archer got a second to rub his victory in Rodney's face.  In the end, I still think Rodney got the best of him because he locked Archer in the armory and Archer couldn't blast his way out.  I mean, Archer did escape through the vent, but that ended up just being a hot prisoner for him over the weekend.

I'm surprised that after spending a weekend in an air vent with no food, clothes, or cool air that Archer would be able to parody The Terminator for even a second.  He should have been too delirious to even remember that movie.  Then again, maybe that was him being delirious.  Even in an exhausted state, Archer can still manage to take a jab at someone.

It's nice to see that Ron actually does get on Mallory's nerves sometimes.  I couldn't believe that she would have a marriage where it was all rainbows and smiles.  That would be hard to swallow, knowing Mallory's personality.  I see, though, how they make a good match for each other.  They both are so prone to say racist things that they're not even really aware of (or maybe care about).  At least the two of them can laugh about those sort of horrible things together.

This episode was all right.  It was a little gross with the surgery thing, but Ray being able to walk again made that worthwhile.  I'm starting to like the new situation with the armory.  There are a lot of opportunities for Rodney to make the agents of ISIS unhappy with his strict policies.  Just hope that Archer or someone else doesn't manage to get past the glass and doors protecting him.  Wouldn't want Rodney to get killed before he can stir up some more amusing trouble.