Archer: Dreamland Season Premiere Review

When it was announced that Archer’s eighth season would move transplant all of the beloved characters into a different time, fan theories were rife with the belief that the eighth season would be Sterling’s coma-induced dreams. Of course, the season’s title, “Dreamland” also made it a very compelling theory.

The creators didn’t waste anytime confirming what many people thought, offering a brief fakeout as we see the gang at a funeral for Woodhouse. Woodhouse’s voice actor passed away in 2015 and the character was understandably absent from the show afterwards. This episode finally resolves the issue of Woodhouse’s disappearance in a way that pays respect to George Coe. In this case, I am glad the character gets to pass along with his voice actor.

Once the funeral is wrapped up, we see Archer, and his five o’clock shadow resting in a hospital dead. Three months after getting shot by Veronica Deane. I was originally upset that Archer’s life could potentially end at the hands of a starlet, especially after all the other threats he’s faced. However, I realized that such a fate would actually fit Archer’s personality and history. Archer has always let his guard down, thinking with the head below his waist instead of in his brain, whenever a beautiful woman comes along.

While I loved seasons 1-3 as a whole, 4- 7 have been weaker entries in the series. There have been some good episodes throughout the show’s run, but seasons 1-3 offer the most consistently entertaining episodes. Season 7 was an improvement over 5 and 6 in my opinion, and season 8 looks like it is also getting closer to the standard of the first few seasons.

The noir setting offers a fresh take that is stunningly appropriate for Archer, and has also been used to offer brilliant alterations of the supporting cast. All of the main characters have been re-introduced in one way or another, while also maintaining parallels to their original selves. Cyril is still a dick to Archer and vice-versa, Lana is still a love interest who knows how to Archer in his place, Krieger still deals in illegal goods, Pam is still badass, Mallory is still a domineering boss, Cheryl is still crazy, Barry is still an arch-nemesis etc.

In terms of humour, this episode holds promises for a season that could potentially usurp number four as my fourth favourite, and maybe even go higher.

Archer: Dreamland

Spoilers for seasons 1-7. 

March 3 is rapidly approaching and I am already making plans to see Logan, ideally in IMAX. In the meantime, I caught another tv spot for Archer’s eight season, which reminded me that Dreamland is set to premiere on April 5.

While I do not love season 5-7 as much as the first four, I still believe that Archer is one of the funniest shows on television. The first four seasons are tv gold and the last few still caught my interest more than shows such as The Office or Parks and Recreation.

I first came across Archer during its third season, due to persistent ads on Teletoon at Night. Curiosity got the better of me and I checked out this video on YouTube.

It was then obvious that I needed to check the show out. H. Jon Benjamin is masterful as Archer and he is the kind of voice actor that plays off any other character/actor well.

While previous seasons of Archer have never truly indicated a specific year, Dreamland will be set in 1947. The season will be similar to an anthology series, like American Horror Story, where we have many of the same characters and actors returning, but in different roles. Archer is now a private detective, and Mallory is no longer his mother (from the advertising we’ve seen so far). This is somewhat unfortunate since I find their twisted relationship to be one of the most consistently funny things about the show. Although the setting is reimagined, the trailer makes it clear many of the characters still have their quirks. Archer is still arrogant, Krieger is still some kind of weird scientist, Cheryl is still insane and Pam is still badass.

Season 5 and 7 both featured less drastic attempts to reinvent the series, without actually reinventing the character’s temporal setting. I wasn’t a big fan of Vice, and season 7 was an improvement over it in my opinion.

Of course, season 8 does bring up one issue for me. Seasons 9 and 10 are green lit and I wonder if the timeline we are familiar with will be re-visited in future seasons. Does this mean Archer’s life was truly ended by some starlet in season 7 after surviving against far more formidable foes?

There is a fan theory that this entire season will turn out to be one of Archer’s coma-induced dreams, and for once, I might actually like the idea of such a reveal.