Archer Season 6 Episode 8 Review: The Kanes
Orrin Konheim
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Lana's been a bit of a drag this season with the baby amplifying her self-righteous tendencies to lecture everyone else on their faults.
With that in mind, I was not expecting much from this season's obligatory Lana episode.
Fortunately, Archer Season 6 Episode 8 was a surprisingly great installment.
It was likely my fault for assuming that because Lana isn't the most exciting character in the room, Lana's parents would be boring. Don't get me wrong, academics can certainly be boring in real life if you haven't studied their field. On the other hand, academics in the world of Archer is a formula for a good time as we learned this from David Cross's guest role in Archer Season 3 Episode 2.
The very idea of Archer pretending he was majoring in Medieval Slavic studies (and watching him try to wiggle his way out of it) is a great example of the potential when you put people who are the polar opposite of spies (any academic outside of a James-Bond style academy) alongside Archer in a scene.
Lana's mom: What is it you're studying?
Archer: Um..Medeival-Slavic History
Lem Kane: Really? That must be fascinating
Archer: Well, everyone thinks that but---
Lem Kane: So tell me what are your thoughts on the Battle of Kosovo 1389
Archer: Um, no opinion (squirming his way through the answer)
Lem Kane: Not even as it relates to the rise of Serbian nationalism?
Archer: Um, nope? Also, that's a bit reductionist
On top of that, these are Lana's parents who are pre-disposed not to like Archer. Why they don't like Archer is hard to say since we're not privy to everything Lana's told Archer. The reason probably has less to do with any traditional ideas of a relationship with a baby born out of wedlock (the show builds them up to be liberal stereotypes with all the Berkley referencing) than Archer being one of the worst boyfriends in the world to take home to your parents.
Fortunately, they're not together which keeps the back-and-forth entertaining. I almost forgot how well Archer and Lana can bounce off each other. Even the mission to Argentina with Conway Stern in Archer Season 6 Episode 2 lacked this level of banter. I suppose Archer accidentally offering a three-way to his in-laws is the kind of catalyst which can get Lana angry enough to stoke some good banter.
At the same time, it's not just the anger between Archer and Lana, but the fact that they'll eventually ease back into conversation that makes their interaction good between the two. Lana is often the voice of reason, but Archer's not entirely an idiot either (Cheryl, who's behavior is starting to mimic Archer lately, also falls into this category). He's even occasionally right: Being from Berkley is not an iron-proof excuse to get into a hot tub naked with someone and expect them to not freak out.
Archer: Who gets into a hot tub naked with a stranger?
Lana: Because everybody? Because Berkley?!
Archer: How doese a whole city get a pass from acceptable behavior!
The second half of the series involves a car chase and that seems logical enough, because very few episodes of Archer don't involve an action scene of some sort (if you know of any other than Archer Season 6 Episode 5, leave them in the comments). With the hilarious dialogue and top-notch visuals, it's one of the best chase scenes I think the show has done.
Outside of this, there's a B-plot involving the van of Cyril, Cheryl, Pam and Krieger breaking down en route to their bowling league championship. I actually saw this week's screener a week ago, and completely forgot this B-plot existed by the time I did my write-up today. It wasn't necessarily bad, but it was a little too short and superfluous to make an impression. I would not mind seeing more of this bowling league, however.
What did you think of the episode. Did you like the Kanes? Should they make more return appearances? Was that the best car chase so far? Don't forget you can watch Archer online here.
Next week in Archer Season 6 Episode 9, Slater orders the gang to swindle a royal family in what should be an exciting heist.
Orrin Konheim is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and his personal blog at Medium.
