“I wasn’t sure if you knew what “amenable” actually meant, until you followed it up with “nonplussed.” – Archer
When I haven’t been puzzling over the bizarre timeline that allows Archer to take place when the KGB and smart phones exist simultaneously, or waiting for Mr. Ford to show up again, I’ve been trying to come to terms with Ray’s apparent paralysis. After getting shot in the Heart of Archness mini-saga, fabulous ISIS agent Gillette has been confined to a wheelchair, allowing for Cyril’s promotion to field agent. Turns out he was lying.
Technically we just assumed that he was paralyzed because he left the hospital in a mandatory wheelchair, but he didn’t do anything to change that perception, even while he was getting shot at by Cubans and rolling dirty at a rave. Lana and Archer are the first to detect Ray’s deception, catching him gearing up in the ISIS armory after-hours when he trips the security system. Ray is getting ready for a trip back home to Ferlin, Georgia, but he needs a few things before he leaves – guns, armor, explosives, and a wife.
Ray’s drug-farming redneck brother Randy (30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer) and his wife Janelle (Sons of Anarchy’s Paula Malcolmson) are in dire, White Lightning-esque need of protection from their dirty local sheriff (The Walking Dead’s Michael Rooker). The prospect of moonshine and trailer-park pie is enough to convince Archer to tag along, but Lana’s ethnic circumstance ultimately exempt her from heading south, so she hangs around at ISIS manufacturing an elaborate story to cover up Ray’s lies and his overnight security breach.
Ray and Archer also bring Carol from her mansion in the middle of the night so that she can pretend to be Ray’s new wife. Obviously – and ironically, considering McBrayer’s role as Kenneth on 30 Rock – Randy doesn’t know or believe that his brother is gay, only that he’s a big-shot playboy decorator in New York. Instead of preparing for the Sheriff’s impending arrival, Randy and Archer occupy themselves with a bible lesson on open relationships, prompting a confrontation between the Gillette’s brothers (pronounced with a hard “g” down South).
As the final confrontation between Randy and the Sheriff grows less tense the more the truth is revealed, the opposite can be said for the atmosphere at ISIS. Having caught up Cyril, Pam, and Krieger in her attempt to keep the truth about Ray and Archer’s whereabouts from Mallory, Lana is forced to make the break-in appear worse than it is. Pam ends up spilling the beans when Mallory asks her about the electric-shock gloves she agreed to use in Kriger’s Ultimate Bum Shock Fight, but the fallout is being saved for next week.
Back in Ferlin, Ray hands over Randy and his wife to the Sheriff, who only wanted to scare some sense into the redneck criminal; though with all the guns, dope, and landmines on the property, it seems as though Randy is going to prison for the rest of his life. Carol manages to lie her and Archer’s way out of being involved with the local police, and Ray flusters over the suggestive hints being dropped by the law-abiding, law-enforcing church elder.
Some stats and info about Archer, “Bloody Ferlin”
TV SHOW – Archer
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 9
AIRED ON – February 23rd, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX/Hulu
GENRE – Animated Shows, Spy Shows, Comedy
CREATED BY – Adam Reed
CAST – H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Chris Parnell, Aisha Taylor, Lucky Yates, Jessica Walter, Adam Reed
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.