The bastard child of James Bond and Space Ghost: Coast To Coast, the animated workplace sitcom Archer presents the misadventures of a self-involved and dimwitted spy and his equally screwed up coworkers. It is, quite frankly, one of the weirdest and funniest shows on television right now. But if you’ve never seen it, Archer: The Complete Season Four — which Fox Home Video has just issued on DVD and Blu-ray — is not the place to start, you’ll just be lost. Once you catch up, though…
Presenting the thirteen episodes that aired in 2013, Archer: The Complete Season Four starts off, rather inside-jokily, with Archer thinking he’s a guy named Bob who runs a burger joint (and if you don’t know why this is especially funny, then you might want to check out the credits on Bob’s Burgers).
From there, we follow as Archer gets sexually harassed by a snake (“Once Bitten”), Lana and Archer go undercover as newlyweds (“The Honeymooners”), and Archer protects The Pope from an assassin (“The Papal Chase”), before ending on yet another meta bit when Archer goes all Sealab 2021 for a two-parter called “Sea Tunt” that features the voices of Kristen Schaal and Eugene Mirman from — you guessed it…no, the other one — Bob’s Burgers.
It is, quite frankly, yet another solid season for a show that, much like the equally weird and hilarious Venture Brothers, just keeps building upon itself in a never-ending shame spiral.
Best of all, you get to watch all thirteen episodes as God intended: with no stupid Justified promos popping up on the bottom of the screen.
As for the extras, well, this is where Archer: The Complete Season Four comes up short. Sort of. While a sticker says this collection is “Bulging With Extras,” there’s actually only two. First there’s “Fisherman’s Daughter,” an anime short starring Dr. Krieger and his gal pal that’s as funny as it is spot-on. Then there’s a twenty-minute featurette on the “Archer Live!” stage show, which makes these events seem as weird and funny — i.e. Archer-esque — as the show itself.
But while both are well worth the price of admission, it’s annoying that they’re the only extras. Especially when you consider that they left off some pretty cool stuff. For instance, why didn’t they include the uncut footage of the “Archer Live” show they shot for the featurette? Or the “Perfect Day” promos they did with Archer, Lana, Cyril, Pam, and Cheryl?
Also, did anyone ask the cast if they’d do commentary on the episodes? Because I’m guessing they probably would’ve done it. Y’know, like they did on the Archer: The Complete Season Three DVD and Blu-ray.
Even without the extras this could’ve and should’ve had, though, Archer: The Complete Season Four is still worth picking up. Well, assuming you’ve seen the previous seasons already.
SCORE: 8.0
