"Sea Tunt: Part 2" Season 4, Episode
Our Rating
Readers' Rating

So… that wasn’t just me, right? Like, that didn’t really feel like much of a season finale, did it? I dunno, maybe Archer has spoiled me with its previous season finales, but something about “Sea Tunt: Part 2” felt a little anti-climactic. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was still a fun episode, but strong enough to end the season? I’m not so sure. Well, since season four of Archer has been overwhelmingly “meh” (at least in comparison to other seasons) I’m not terribly surprised that it ended like this, but I still wish that this finale had a little more to offer.

Still, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a “bad” episode of Archer is still a hundred times better than most of the stuff out there, so I’ll take it. I don’t even feel comfortable calling this episode bad. It really wasn’t. It had an action-driven storyline, accompanied by a charmingly inane B-plot, and plenty of jokes here and there to keep me amused, but it honestly felt like their heart wasn’t in it this time around.

Source: FX

The best way to describe it is actually through one of Archer’s more memorable, although laughable non-descript, jokes in “Sea Tunt: Part 2.” When Archer first appears, some of the first words out of his mouth are, “Something something something something Danger Zone! Honestly, it’s like I’m not even trying anymore.” While I would never accuse Archer of something so heinous as giving up on itself, there is something missing in this season and I haven’t been able to figure out what it is… It’s just been kind of all over the place. It feels like it needs to re-focus its attentions.

Honestly, I think that might have been what they were trying to do with the Lana storyline, but I’m still not sure about that. I’ve always said a show is in crisis if it resorts to one of three storytelling techniques.
1) Death of a character.
2) Outing of a character.
3) Pregnancy of a character.

Source: FX

In a show as bizarrely off-kilter as Archer, I’m not sure if this rule applies, but it felt like a desperate scramble for something new. Still, I’m intrigued to see what they do with this. I mean, can Archer survive another baby storyline? I’m still mourning the random disappearance of Baby Seamus. More importantly, what is this going to mean for Lana? Or how about that uncomfortably sentimental moment between Archer and Lana? These are all pretty big game-changers, but is Archer ready for that kind of change? I honestly couldn’t say… I guess we’ll hafta wait till next season to find out.