Archer, “Edie’s Wedding,” (6.4) - TV Review

Archer, Season 6, Episode 4, “Edie’s Wedding”

January 29th, 2015, 10:00 PM,FX Network

Pam is distraught to learn that her sister and lifelong rival, Edie, is not only getting married, but that she’s been invited to her wedding as a bridesmaid and not a maid of honor. Archer takes pity on Pam, agreeing to head into Wisconsin to the Poovey Dairy Farm as her date – but neither are aware that Bionic Barry has chosen this very moment to rise and take his revenge on Archer. He kidnaps Pam, leaving Archer to use Edie as a helpmeet to track down his dangerous rival to a familiar grain silo from her shared youth with Pam.

Meanwhile, angry that Archer’s taken off for Wisconsin without letting her know his plans and with nobody to leave Abbijean with for the weekend while she takes a survivalist course, Lana bounces from member to member of team Archer looking for a new sitter. Circumstances cause her to settle for Cyril, who offers to help her out…and also seems completely unable to let the past go.

Finally, we have a remedy for the doldrums the show’s settled into this season – and it involves getting Archer and Pam out of the office and on another trip, a premise that provided one of Archer Vice’s bright spots. This time out we have to deal with Pam’s frankly bitchy sister, who is so vividly unpleasant and wholly without Pam’s jocular sense of humor and genuinely sympathetic core to balance her out. The show acknowledges her unpleasantness thoroughly with even Archer being mildly annoyed by her insults – in the end when karma comes calling it’s a sweet moment.

And we get our seasonal Barry reappearance tonight. After watching him lord his superiority over Archer for the past two seasons, having seduced his fiancée away and having climbed to the top of KGB, this is a broken-down and purely violent and vengeful Barry we meet in this episode, yet he remains fully the gentleman killer. The action choreography remains terrific – after the blistering final battle scene that works well as both comedy and pure revenge fantasy.

Paradoxically, the Lana plot sadly feels very tacked on. I’ve been giving the show the benefit of the doubt when it comes to portraying her as a mother, but stories with her have generally devolved into two different types: Lana experiencing babysitting problems and Malory being an only semi-horrible grandmother. I know motherhood changes a person, but the situation is getting a little repetitive. As for Cyril’s inclusion in the plotline, is it possible that we’re heading towards the team fracturing and Cyril turning villain? Is it necessary? It wouldn’t be surprising, that’s for sure. Might even be a lot of fun, with a little bit of luck.

“Edie’s Wedding” manages to be funny and enthralling. If you’ve been missing Barry and you want to find out more about the nature of Edie and Pam’s troubled relationship – or you just want to watch a tipsy Archer have a brawl with Barry in an abandoned grain silo – this is a marked improvement over earlier episodes this season. Pam fans will, in particular, be thrilled with the latest exploits of their fave heroine.
The Roundup

• Ron and Malory are indeed back together. Oh Malory.
• Pam had a boyfriend named Arn. Or well, a guy whom she was attracted to NAMED Arn..
• We’ve heard multiple times about Pam’s rivalry with Edie, though we’ve never seen the rift between them in action until this week.
• Actress Uma Thurman was at one point set to portray Edie.
• Pam’s full name is indeed Pamela.
• Yeah, I’m starting to think we have a case of Clone Krieger here. Also his forgetting Abbijean’s existence must mean something.
• The brown note, besides being a famous urban legend, was also the subject of a beloved same-titled South Park episode.
• It’s also worth noting that Katja broke up with Barry.
• Next Week: The gang gets stuck together in an elevator in “Vision Quest” .< /li>