The supposed penultimate season to the wrap-up of 2009 animated spy sitcom Archer comes to a close in the eight episode “Danger Island”. Having previously tackled the world of Noir crime drama, season 9 has Archer and co. in a parody of island adventure TV shows & films such as Tales of the Golden Monkey, taking on nazis as they hunt down a mystical artifact worth billions said to be held by a tribe of cannibals….who also happen to be heavily racist.

Archer is a 2009 animated sitcom, it is produced by Floyd County Productions & FX Productions, and is distributed by 20th Television. Season 9 is currently available through digital streaming outlets and is airing on FXX.

Lucky Yates & H. Jon Benjamin co-star in Danger Island as Crackers (left) and Archer (right).

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for Archer: Danger Island.

Continuing from the coma storyline of season 7 and following the first dream sequence story of season 8 “Dreamland”, Archer: Danger Island once again puts us into the imagination of Archer. In this dream sequence, Archer is an aging war vet, Krieger is Archer’s talkative pet parrot, Pam is Archer’s bodyguard & co-companion, Cyril is a nazi (because of course), Cheryl is a hooker, Mallory is a shady businesswoman (again), and Lana is a Princess. The group meet one another on an island while on the search of a mystical idle which just so happens to be plutonium.

Archer with bodyguard & sidekick Pam (left).

THE GOOD: While Archer: Danger Island & Dreamland are far shorter than any seasons preceding them, it does allow Adam Reed & his colleagues less stress in the writer’s room to get out the ideas they want to bring to life with the “coma-era”. Granted, I feel like seasons 8 & 9 would have benefited more with 45 minutes than 19-24, but this is a personal opinion. Danger Island is very much in tune with it’s targeted parodies, so much so that you often forget that Archer is a sitcom. That’s not to say that laughs weren’t present as there was more than a handful, but it’s obvious that being funny wasn’t the core point this season and it’s fine Danger Island did exactly what it wanted to do & felt like a genuine homage to it’s source.

Archer in typical Archer fashion dreams up the worst scenarios possible for Cyril. Last season he was a dirty cop, this season he’s a nazi, the main antagonist, and together with Lana.

As I mentioned earlier, Danger Island isn’t really about laughs this time around. It’s more focused on character & plot and there’s no problem with that. Archer as a whole began a bigger focus on plot & character development as seasons went on. Thankfully though, Danger Island never separates itself too much from it’s comedic roots. Cheryl is still one of the most hilarious characters on the show and there are some gems as episodes go on, particularly when the cannibal tribe is introduced. This also brings about the return of Noah the anthropologist from season three once again voiced by David Cross.

The central cast of characters of Archer: Danger Island sans Cyril.

Noah providing the comedic relief for the cannibals similarly to what he did with the pirates for season three was a hysterical highlight. It’s kind of funny that the cannibals had zero respect for Caucasians (specifically Noah), but allowed Noah more access into their village than any other white person prior to meeting Archer, Pam, and the rest. The continuous reminder that the cannibals absolutely despised white people was brilliant foreshadowing to the finale when they deliberately led them to the location of their so called “precious idle” that turned any who touched it into “human soup”, when in reality they just wanted to kill off the remainder of Archer and his comrades even after they helped dispose of the nazi forces. There was also a fun callback to Archer & Barry’s rivalry.

Archer season 9 is another short, but sweet ride for the series.

THE BAD: While Danger Island does it’s job as best it can with the run time per episode it’s given it was just too short for the number of push backs this season received before it’s eventual premiere. I also think the lack of real-life revelations is hurting the series more than helping it. I understand that the writers want to focus mostly on the parodying, but we still need to know more of the reality of Archer’s situation and how his friends & family are coping with it.

While Danger Island does suffer from sinkage it ultimately swims.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Archer: Danger Island keeps us in coma land, but tells us a solid enough story to keep viewers interested. Though light on laughs this time around, the funny moments that are present count due to their writing & placement throughout the season. It still feels like a missed opportunity by not informing us of real world Archer events, but time constraint issues are a likely cause. Otaku Dome gives Archer: Danger Island a 90 out of 100.