''Archer Dreamland'' is the eighth season of the animated television series ''

Archer Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In modern ...

'', created by Adam Reed. The first season to air on FXX since the series was moved from FX, consisting of eight episodes, and the first part of the "

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

dream A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

" trilogy (followed by '' Archer Danger Island'' and ''

Archer 1999 ''Archer 1999'' is the tenth season of the animated television series, ''Archer'', created by Adam Reed, and the final season for Reed as a full-time showrunner. The third and final part of the "coma dream" trilogy (preceded by ''Archer Dreamlan ...

''), it aired from April 5 to May 24, 2017.

Production

FX renewed ''Archer'' for three more seasons with each season consisting of a total of eight episodes. On January 12, 2017, it was announced that the series would relocate to FX's sister channel FXX, beginning with Season 8 onwards. This season was notable for portraying

Sterling Archer Sterling Malory Archer, almost exclusively referred to by his surname Archer, and sometimes referred to by his codename Duchess, is a fictional character and the titular protagonist of the American adult animated sitcom '' Archer''. Created by A ...

in a more sympathetic light than all previous seasons, i.e. far less narcissistic and irritable, while

Dave Willis Dave Willis (born May 1, 1970) is an American voice actor, screenwriter, and producer. He is the co-creator of the Adult Swim animated series ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'', '' Squidbillies'', and '' Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell''. Willis also ...

and

Jeffrey Tambor Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American retired actor. He is known for his television roles such as Jeffrey Brookes, the uptight neighbor of Stanley and Helen Roper in the television sitcom ''The Ropers'' (1979–1980), as Hank ...

were promoted to the main cast as new incarnations of Barry Dylan and Len Trexler. After the success of the hidden scavenger hunts in Seasons 6 and 7, animator Mark Paterson devised an

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR), also known as mixed reality (MR), is a technology that overlays real-time 3D computer graphics, 3D-rendered computer graphics onto a portion of the real world through a display, such as a handheld device or head-mounted ...

mobile phone app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on des ...

called ''Archer, PI'' to run side-by-side with the show. It featured 8 interactive cases, one for each episode, that could only be accessed by viewing the episode through the phone's camera, "something that had never been attempted in the history of television" according to the creator. The app won two

Clio Awards The Clio Awards, also simply known as The Clios, is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel of advertising professionals. The award ...

in 2017 and was a finalist for several awards in 2018. The episode "Auflösung" (German word for "resolution") is dedicated to

George Coe George Coe (born George Julian Cohen; May 10, 1929 – July 18, 2015) was an American actor. He was a cast member for the first season of ''Saturday Night Live'' and voiced the character of Woodhouse in '' Archer''. Early life Coe was bor ...

, who was the voice of Woodhouse in the first four seasons of the show and died on July 18, 2015, before the episode aired.

Synopsis

This season resolves the cliffhanger from the previous season, which ended with Archer floating lifeless in a swimming pool after being shot several times. It is revealed that Archer survived but has been in a coma for three months, trapped in a 1947 noir-esque Los Angeles. It also reveals the fate of Woodhouse (whose original voice actor

died in 2015), the heroin-addicted valet of Archer dying shortly before the season premiere. In this season, Archer appears as a freelance detective who seeks to find justice for his murdered partner Woodhouse. Malory Archer is "Mother", the owner of the luxury

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

called "Dreamland" along with a henchman named Zerk and a rival to mobster Len Trexler. Detective Figgis (played by Cyril Figgis) is a corrupt Los Angeles police detective who is secretly working for Trexler along with the right-hand enforcer "Dutch" Dylan (played by Barry Dylan). Figgis' partner is a female rookie, Detective Poovey (played by Pam Poovey), who is also crooked but still has some sense of honor. Krieger is Dreamland's bartender but secretly carries out experiments with bionics in an underground laboratory. Lana is an undercover agent with the Treasury Department investigating Mother who gets a job as the featured lounge singer at Dreamland. Charlotte Vandertunt (played by Cheryl Tunt) is a ditzy heiress who wants to escape her "quasi-incestuous family".

Episodes

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

the season has an approval rating of 86% based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

the season has a score of 72 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * {{Archer 2017 American animated television seasons Archer (2009 TV series) seasons Fiction set in 1947 Neo-noir television series Metafictional television series