Archer Dreamland and the sinking stock of a beloved series
I’m writing this sentence after finishing my piece to inform you, the reader, that I start off on the fence about Archer Dreamland, and then the fence becomes electrified. So I’m basically that hilarious scene in Jurassic Park. Enjoy!
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If you compiled the 8-episode mini season of Archer into a film, you’d be just short of three hours. In other words, the 8th season of Archer was extremely short.
On television, FXX of all places, the show ran from April until May…
Season 8 comes off the heels of a 10-episode season 7, whereas Archer was a 13-episode series for every season prior, except for the first. If show creator Adam Reed is getting Archer fatigue, a viable step would be to write an Archer film. Eight episodes is a tease. A well-made film could put a final bow on a series that has seemingly seen its peak. Important note: The series has been renewed until season 10.
I’m indecisive with my particular feelings on Archer Dreamland, the 1940’s noir-styled approach gave the season a nice aesthetic, but the story writing for the season was as present as it had ever been in a single season. I’ve had my qualms with this approach.
An Archer season based on a single arc started with Archer Vice (season 5) and was revisited with Archer PI (my title for season 7), but Dreamland felt drastically different than both.
A tonal shift.
My biggest criticism of Vice, PI, and now Dreamland is that the narrative based season takes away from some of the laughs. The scripts have to neatly tie together a coherent story from beginning to end.
Continuity has always been at the base of Archer and its main characters and there’s always storylines to follow through each season, but the unpredictability from episode to episode I rather enjoyed versus the narrative focus.
I don’t think the narrative focus is outright bad, and I’m an avid supporter of change, but with Vice, PI, and Dreamland, there has to be an effort to balance the laughs with the intrigue in the story.
It’s the intrigue where Dreamland struggled. PI I felt similarly about.
PI had a lot of buildup to its ultimate cliffhanger ending where Archer is presumably shot dead. Dreamland follows up with an unconscious Archer in the hospital dreaming up an alternate reality.
Dreamland is also a lot of buildup and I’m not sure if this is by design but ultimately plays out like a broke-man’s Scorsese impression of mobsters and crooked cops.
Dreamland’s biggest issue was twice trying to answer the question, “Why?”
Why is Archer having World War II flashbacks? Are they relevant to the main plot or just relevant to his character?
Why did the revealed killer kill Woodhouse? The killer explains he did, “Just because!” Which is about as unsatisfying an answer as one can give.
The reveal is also not done in spectacular fashion or in a way where it felt like being Woodhouse’s killer didn’t matter.
Now I wasn’t invested in Dreamland for the possibility of an enthralling murder mystery, but it would’ve been a nice touch. To be perfectly honest without that touch it really made Dreamland ultimately fall flat.
The undying supreme fandom hope in me is that 15 years from now I can return to Dreamland and feel like maybe it takes a 2nd watch. Maybe I should trust my instincts now and go full hot take proclaiming that Dreamland was the worst season of Archer.
I’ll unhappily admit it’s in the running. What’s really upsetting is that Archer P.I. left me with the same sinking feeling.
The sinking feeling is that Archer is always a show with promise despite it’s lackluster past two seasons. The characters and show writing is always at the very least passable enough to retain my attention even if my overall sentiment is disappointment.
The new environments and sequential storytelling give the show a fresh palate to work with, but so far the taste hasn’t been so sweet. There’s further potential in a more serious approach to the show, and there’s certainly moments in Dreamland where the suspense or action gets across, but it’ll take a shrewder approach if it’s going to work. I’m a believer that you have to practice and fail at something before you get it right. Adam Reed has two more chances to get it right if he chooses to follow the narrative based story which seems inevitable considering the two cliffhangers.
Our newest cliffhanger is a potentially devastating one if the main character that was killed off at the end of Dreamland remains to be dead for the next two seasons. I also was disappointed in the execution of the killing of said character as well, which wasn’t done with any grace or style.
I’m getting to the point where the more I talk about Dreamland, the worse I feel about it, so I’m going to stop while I’m ahead and conclude that Dreamland delivered the same quality of Daniel Craig’s worst Bond film.
