In "Live and Let Dine," Archer adds another to its ever-growing line of guest stars in the form of Anthony Bourdain. And, of all the people who've come through this show, Bourdain is undoubtedly the most baffling choice made thus far, which is partly why I wasn't entirely sold on this week's episode.
To begin with, I feel like I should address what I perceive to be the elephant in the room, which is Barry. Last week, Archer inadvertently helped him get back to Earth, tricked into it by his former lover, now Barry's fellow-cyborg cohort. And at the end of the episode, Barry was rushing towards Earth at a rather alarming rate.
Unfortunately, Karen will not be able to write this week's review so I, being no stranger to the show myself, am subbing for her. But when I agreed to fill in, I wasn't expecting this. I'd heard murmurs that "Conventions of Space and Time" was, by far, the lowest point in Community's run thus far, except I took those as the hyperbolic reactions of those who simply refuse to accept that Community can continue without its former captain, Dan Harmon.
After "Midnight Ron," I'm wondering if maybe I was being a bit hasty in my judgment of Archer's newly minted step-father, Ron. Prior to this week's episode, we hardly knew him. To us, he was, as Malory put it, "the most boringest man alive" (but not quite in those words).
I should have known this would happen eventually. Kreiger's brought back the dead, so un-crippling Ray provides him no challenge whatsoever. It's easy to forget about Ray, though. Of all the members of the main cast, he's the one we know the least about. Even Kreiger, enigmatic as he is, is less of an unknown quantity than Ray.
Archer so rarely introduces new characters, and does away with them in one way or another so quickly, that I've learned not to get too attached to anyone besides the major players. There's the occasional exception, such as Barry, but Reed knows better than to try and tinker too much with the dynamic he has going. Even when new characters are allowed to enter the fold, Reed keeps the focus squarely on ISIS, using those characters as the impetus behind their in-house conflicts.
If Archer maintains this level of quality throughout the season, season four could easily be the best of them all, and praise doesn't get much higher than that.
As is the way of most people who work in television and film, in talking about what's in store for Dexter in season eight, Scott Buck said a whole lot while actually saying very little. So little that I almost feel a spoiler warning is unnecessary to discuss what he let slip. Unless you're behind on the show, what follows isn't about to make it so you can go without watching the eighth season altogether.
When your show has had as much criticism levied against it as Dexter has for going downhill with the utmost speed, and when viewers have lamented the death of one Sergeant James Doakes for years, it's probably best if the teaser for your finale doesn't use a flashback to try to trick people into thinking Doakes is back from the dead.
