by Lady Victoria Irwin
Senior Correspondent
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Fans of animation, intelligent humor and voice actors take note: Archer Season 4 is now available on Blu-Ray. In a season where Archer loses his memory, Mallory goes on to meet a new man and Pam is well, Pam, anything can happen. Season 4 made character development key and featured both a surprise marriage (or two) and an unexpected pregnancy twist. The writers have slipped into the comfortable space where the show is established and popular enough to really try new content and be more elaborate. Unlike other animated shows created for adults, the humor is for the most part high-brow and wordplay based. Famous voices, such as chef Anthony Bourdain, Justified’s Timothy Olyphant and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm find their way into convoluted and highly enjoyable story-lines.
The box slip cover art features the master of spying and snark, complete with his amnesia-grown mustache and all. Unfortunately, very few added bonuses found their way to the Blu-Ray set. Highlight clips for the the New York leg of Archer Live are hilarious. Seeing the voice actors, especially Aisha Tyler, portray their characters on stage with fans is great for a laugh and enjoyable. Possibly my favorite moment comes where a female fan gets a chance to kiss the “real Archer” and then starts to try to back out when H. Jon Benjamin appears. Benjamin manages to win the kiss, but the whole process is hilarious to witness. Also included is an animated short entitled The Fisherman’s Daughter, which involves Krieger and Pam creating a very borderline pornographic Anime film. Complete with tentacles and double entendre, the special is laugh-out-loud funny. As a semi-obsessive Archer fan, I would have loved to see more special features in this box set. Two additions is enjoyable, but it would have been nice if the collection also included the special bumper commercials created by FX as well.
For fans of the hit FX tv show, the Archer Complete Season Four is a must own. The episodes alone are worth a second, third, or fifteenth watch. Be warned, the Fisherman’s Daughter will likely spawn some awkward cosplay this year during convention season.
