Easily one of the highlights of this year’s San Diego Comic Con, the cast of FX show Archer returned for a hilarious panel featuring off-the-cuff quips and numerous spoilers. The panel showcase one of the episodes of the season finale in full.
Attention: SPOILERS FOR SEASON 10 OF ARCHER TO FOLLOW. CLICK AWAY IF YOU WANT TO REMAIN SPOILER-FREE.
Without going into too much detail, the penultimate episode of season 10 Archer 1999 features a story of Archer essentially losing his mind and going crazy trying to murder Lana. Archer being crazed and generally super strong knocks Lana down and attempts to suffocate her with a magazine. A sequence is shown where Dr. Krieger hilariously fails to enter the passcode for the door in question which is apparently a twenty-digit code that he has to start from scratch if he even gets one keystroke wrong. The rest of the team busts in and attempts to save Lana, and it takes Pam’s rock monster form to subdue him. Though, not surprisingly as Pam attacks Archer she starts to morph back into the usual sweater-laden normal-world version of Pam. Several other characters morph into their real-world versions of themselves as well, hinting that perhaps Sterling is beginning to come out of his coma in the real world. Mallory orders Sterling locked in the brig, and as Sterling continues his crazed rantings in jail, suddenly his former, now deceased servant in the real world Woodhouse is there with him, not in space garb, serving him a drink. Archer makes reference to how Woodhouse probably shouldn’t be here and Woodhouse humorously responds, “Yes, sir.”
The panel then returns with the cast featuring H. Jon Benjamin, Aisha Tyler, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell, Lucky Yates and Amber Nash. Each is in their own way astoundingly witty and charming. Tyler tells a story about how she enjoyed the Archer: Dreamland season because it gave her a chance to sing. After the cast (and the crowd’s) prompting her to sing, she does a pretty spot-on a cappella rendition of Mark Ronson/Bruno Mars’ song “Uptown Funk.” After being asked by the panel moderator about what their superpower would be if they could choose one Parnell mused that he’d like the power to fly. Yates replied, “But wouldn’t it be cold when you’re up high?” to which Parnell quipped, “Not if you’re only flying at thirty feet.” When an attendee during a brief Q&A asked what each cast member’s biggest fears were (in reference to Archer’s three biggest fears of alligators, crocodiles and brain aneurysms) Walter had the best reply, stating plainly, “Mine is the coming election.” Parnell stated flatly, “Another four years of Trump would be fucking awful.” Executive producer Matt Thompson revealed a detail he’s never explained before about one of the show’s repeated Easter eggs. The number 934 TXS that has been used throughout the show for myriad reasons is actually a reference to a weed delivery service that Thompson and show creator Adam Reed once used. When you called for a delivery you had to provide a three-digit code and a code word. The code they used to use was 934 Texas.
In light of that reveal, Thompson then indicated with finality they wanted to reveal one more spoiler as they were going to show the very final five minutes of the season finale. The finale shows Archer and his endless nemesis Barry (apparently back in track-suit form) fleeing the Seamus in an escape pod as it explodes violently. A montage is shown, encompassing hundreds of brief seconds of classic moments from the show and then finally, Archer awakens from his coma in the hospital. Mallory is there at his bedside and has been there apparently for three years straight. Her and a nearby doctor try to gently break it to Archer how long he’s been out and that the world has changed significantly since he lapsed into the coma. The doctor leaves and Mallory implies heavily that she couldn’t bear to leave his side wanting to be present when he finally came out of it, and, that theirs is a love story. She leans in almost creepily letting that sentiment linger as Archer looks super confused before finally hilariously saying, “Ick.”
The lights go up and Thompson proudly proclaims that the show has been renewed for an eleventh season and that the story would finally return to the original spy agency story that made the show famous.
Photo by Raymond Flotat