“Machines can hurt people.” – Archer
I haven’t been able to shake the feeling that something was off with the explosive ending of “Crossing Over.” It could have been that so much happened in such a short amount of time – Archer and Pam hook up, Nikolai Jackov defects from the KGB to ISIS, and Bionic Barry tracks him down and kills him. Or maybe it’s just that last one, what with the unresolved issues between maybe-father and maybe-son, and the fact that this is the first relatively main character to have been killed off from the show (not counting the mildly brain-dead Len Drexler).
But as one falls, so another one rises. Krieger’s crowning achievement – outside of his series of vans and innate fandom for Rush – is finally complete, and ready for unveiling: the computerized Katja (Ona Grauer). After plummeting to her death to save Archer from Barry in the Season Two finale, Krieger took it upon himself – and the hobo community – to reassemble the ravishing Russian as a cyborg.
Despite his embarrassingly rooted terror in machines with emotions, Archer is able to look past Katja’s “equipment,” until he actually has to look at it. After celebrating Katja’s return from the dead and her newfound employment at ISIS, Archer wakes up to find her vagina in the sink.
You did not misread that.
Much like the infamous slap-chop, Katja comes apart and is easy to clean. Sorry, crude joke, but it’s pretty much the only one that didn’t make it into the episode; there were too many other opportunities that couldn’t be passed up. An episode that starts in Krieger’s decrepit dwelling and drum room could only have led to such delightful depravity.
Katja and Archer get over their crisis, which apparently also means “opportunity” in what Cheryl lumps together as the Chinese language and agree to pick up on their fatally interrupted wedding. Just as the still-ordained Ray asks if there are any objections other than Mallory’s, Barry busts their ceremony again, breaking Archer’s heart just like last time. And just like last week, I’m left feeling unsettled.
Being the only two cyborgs in the Archerverse, Barry and Katja agree they belong together and leave ISIS further unharmed – even Archer agrees they look happy together. But that off-putting music as their smiles faded into awkward, unsure glances just doesn’t sit well with me. It doesn’t make the episode any less enjoyable, but these sorts of anti-endings leave me feeling as queasy as Archer after drinking Cyril’s grandfather’s scotch from Frank Sinatra.
Some stats and info about Archer, “Skin Game”
TV SHOW – Archer
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 3, Episode 11
AIRED ON – March 8th, 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.