The Best Adult Animated Series Sabotages Itself And It’s A Fatal Flaw

Archer was created and developed for television by Adam Reed, who previously found success launching a number of esoteric Adult Swim cartoons such as Sealab 2021 and Frisky Dingo. The show centers on an international spy agency titled ISIS, and relies on reference humor, razor sharp wit, and exceptionally tight writing, alongside some of the best stylistic animation in television history. Obviously, the decision to title the spy agency ISIS would later become a major issue for the series, as the international terrorist organization called ISIS began rising to power across the Middle East several years into the show’s run.

But the rise of the real-life ISIS wasn’t the only problem plaguing Archer, as later seasons of the show saw the workplace spy comedy heel-turning to become something of an anthology series. While this bold choice was admired by some, other die-hard fans quickly surmised that Archer‘s writers had run out of steam with its original premise, as seasons 7 and beyond barely resembled the original show.

In the season 7 finale, the main character Sterling Archer is shot, causing him to enter into a years-long coma. From there, the series branched into a number of “coma dream” seasons, which saw the main cast taking on new roles. While the coma seasons still maintain solid writing and interesting gags, they pale in comparison to the early years of Archer, as they are not grounded to any genuine consequence or stakes.

Archer’s coma years see him embarking upon imaginary missions as a private investigator, an adventurer on a pirate island, and a space-faring member of a futuristic science fiction civilization. If Adam Reed had pursued any of these concepts as their own original series’, they may have all been excellent in their own right, but dragging over three years of non-sequitur material out of the main character’s coma without ever giving fans a glimpse into the “real” world of the show eventually rubbed most viewers the wrong way.

Archer eventually returned to its workplace spy roots for its final few seasons, but the damage was already done, and many viewers had already jumped ship. Despite these issues, the show always maintained its stellar cast, who have some of the best line delivery in any animated project. Bob’s Burgers‘ H. Jon Benjamin leads the cast, while Jessica Walter, Judy Greer, Lucky Yates, Aisha Tyler, Amber Nash, and Fallout‘s Chris Parnell round out the ensemble.

GFR SCORE

Regardless, those interested in checking out Archer can stream the entire 14 season catalogue on Hulu. Today, the series has a critic score of 91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, though this average may be heavily weighted by the far superior early seasons.