Archer Review: "Edie's Wedding"

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A familiar former ODIN agent turned cyborg makes a return to Archer this week for “Edie’s Wedding.” Following last week’s formulaic – but still great – episode, Archer comes back with a change of pace and a delightful trip to Pam’s sister’s wedding where nothing odd happens, nobody is shot, and blood isn’t sprayed in every conceivable direction. Ok, not really, but the episode is still one of the season’s best so far.
The first scene of this episode was particularly great. Archer working around an openly weeping Pam to make his coffee personifies his character perfectly, and it lasts just long enough to keep being funny but not feel dragged out. All the details of getting the coffee made, to getting the whip cream, to putting a tiny little spoon in it is done while Pam is weeping blindly into a towel. As it turns out, the reason she is crying sets up the entire episode.
In case you couldn’t tell by the episode title, “Edie’s Wedding” is about Pam’s sister Edie getting married. Sort of. Being that Pam has been continually made fun of and borderline tortured by her sibling since birth, she asks Archer to go with her as her plus one to the dress rehearsal and wedding. Well, I say ask, but it’s more like Archer begrudgingly feels obligated to do it when Pam mentions just how tortured she is. While they never actually make it to such a wedding (thanks to a sudden Barry intervention), both Archer and Pam are dressed up for the occasion throughout the episode.
It’s a simple premise that doesn’t require any big missions from the CIA or other setups, so the episode gets to the meat of the matter quickly. The meat in this case that includes the ex-ODIN agent and KGB-created cyborg, Barry, hunting them down. As with every Barry appearence over the years, hes even more mentally unstable this time around as he continually as he stalks Archer and Pam down to a motel in the middle of nowhere, and in turn freezes his “cyborg nuts off” just to murder them. All the while talking to the “other Barry” inside his head.
Archer and Pam is always one of my favorite pairings in the show, and it was no different here. Despite everyone hating and constantly ragging on Pam, most characters seem to have a soft spot for her when the prodding goes a step too far, especially Archer. In “Edie’s Wedding” this culminates in Pam and Archer teaming up to temporarily defeat Barry, with a lot of fun character building and great jokes along the way. It is also nice seeing a character, in this case Edie, who is so downright terrible and unwelcoming that she makes Pam seem like the innocent one.
What kind of blood did Edie spill on Pam? Does Archer’s suit make him look a gay waiter? What do Arn’s balls taste like? Why do the take all the grain up in the elevator when they could just put it in a mile-long trough with a “salad bar roof” to protect it from the rain? This episode was full of self-contained running gags, even if it didn’t include any of the Archer series staples. The only joke that didn’t really go anywhere, but hopefully set up something for later episodes, was Krieger’s gun that shoots the “brown note” at people and makes them soil themselves. It has just a brief appearance in this episode, but I’d love to see it come back and see what kind of ridiculous havoc Krieger can wreak in the future.
Lana-Krieger
There is also the story of Lana trying to make it to a survivor training camp while being forced to take AJ due to Archer taking off to Edie’s wedding. Not much is done with it, outside of Cyrill eventually being the one to help her out, it’s mostly another set-up for a future episode.
I hesitate to call this truly a filler episode, but it’s hard to admit that it does a whole lot outside of set up future events. All the big things that happened won’t have any real ramifications going forward – except maybe a more insane Barry in the future – but it  hints at some plot points to come. That said though, it’s still an episode crammed full of jokes that constantly had me laughing out loud and has a refreshing mix-up of the character dynamics and excellent writing. Four and a half dumb waiters MOARGeeks out of five.

Last Updated on January 12, 2019.

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