Recap: 'Archer' - Coyote Lovely

Archer, Cyril and Lana stage a trap for an infamous illegal immigrant smuggler near the Mexican border. Love struck by the female mastermind Coyote, Archer knocks out Cyril and Lana to help her and the Mexicans. However, they afoul of two border patrol agents and Archer ends up wounded with a gunshot to his leg. Meanwhile, Cyril and Lana attempt to explain to Mallory the situation who thinks Archer wasn’t to blame for the mission failure. As his situation worsens after being treated by an unlicensed veterinarian, Archer is forced to call for a medical helicopter, but it won’t be from ISIS.

The setup for this episode goes far out of its way to make Archer a jerk. I get that he’s supposed to play an inept, love stricken agent, but physically beating the crap out of Cyril and Lana feels like a bit much just for Archer to go on a road trip with Mexicans. Not to mention the office plot goes nowhere with the exception of Bilbo’s death which was just a throwaway gag. The gags themselves are all over the place revolving mostly around racism, autism and homosexuality. They’re mostly hit and miss. The only joke that really stuck was Archer’s interactions with the elderly Lupe regarding her constant prayers, handling of guns and hogging Dorrito’s.

This was certainly an episode that will test the faith of the fans. If you’re one of those viewers who are easily offended or angered whenever a character makes a really stupid decision, this is definitely not an episode for you. Much like with season 3, you really have to swallow a lot of Archer’s ineptitude to enjoy the rest of the gags. If you can, this isn’t a terrible episode, but definitely an underwhelming one. I just wish it had an ending that wasn’t a last-minute plot twist identical to last week’s episode.