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Is not your kid's cartoon...
I've already admitted to a taste for guilty pleasures. The adult cartoon, Archer, is another. This late night FX TV MA LSV offering is named for Sterling Archer, a self-absorbed super spy who is prone to say things like "All I've had today is, like, six gummy bears and some scotch." He works for a quasi-governmental, quasi-commercial spy agency ISIS (the International Secret Intelligence Service), owned by Malory Archer, the boss from hell and his mother. ISIS also employs Lana Kane, a buxom super spy with man hands, whose favorite fashion option is the sweater dress, and who knows her way around a TEC-9 machine pistol (Where do you even get those these days?). The ISIS staff also include a secretary with a variety of issues and some disturbing tastes, a comptroller with a secret or two, an HR manager with a past and a taste for doughnuts, and a scientist who may be one of the Boys From Brazil.
Recurring characters include the owner of a competing security and espionage firm with a secret interest in ISIS, a KGB director with a secret American love interest, and a pair of hapless German assassins.
Archer offers up all the buckets of blood we knew were there but never got to see in Johnny Quest, which Archer resembles stylistically. It also serves up ludicrously sized portions of shootings, explosions, sex, drug abuse, eating disorders, sexual innuendo, dysfunctional relationships, hostile work environments, deviant sexuality, mommy issues, graphic violence, sex workers, tight budgets, adult language, sex addiction, alcohol abuse, smoking, dangerous sex, and accurately detailed depictions of firearms and military ordnance. I know, it sounds great, right?
I've been watching Archer on NetFlix where it is included in their Watch Instantly service. Season One was brilliant all the way through. The second season sags a bit but recovers neatly. I'm really looking forward to season three (and a fourth has been announced). Archer is what we like to call "a hoot." Not a show you'd watch with your kids, or your parents, but it's a hoot.
Images: http://archer.wikia.com/wiki/Archer_Wiki
