TV Review: Archer: "On The Carpet" 5x9

Season five of Archer has been an interesting ride thus far to say the least.

The gang was forced to give up the life of ISIS after not having government permission to actually be a spy agency so they found themselves in a bit of a situation.

Fortunately, there just so happened to be a ton of cocaine in their possession leading to their attempt to be a drug cartel.

As Archer has transformed into Archer: Vice, the show has still been funny but something has felt off and, at times, a bit forced.

While the Vice storyline hasn't always hit on all cylinders, it still makes for a highly entertaining watch and "On The Carpet" continues to show just how bad all of ISIS is at being "bad" guys.

Opening up with an angry Malory, we see everyone lined up next to each other: Krieger looking guilty, Lana looking judgemental, Ray, Cyril, and Archer looking beaten and battered, Pam spraying whipped cocaine into her mouth, and Carol/Cheryl/Charlene standing topless holding a rocket ice pop.

"On The Carpet" is told through flashbacks, which allows for some hilarious cuts to the present and B-stories that break away from the main story. Following the previous two episodes, Archer, Ray, and Cyril are flying the plane that they stole from the Colombians to an airstrip as they're running out of fuel quickly.

With their failures in Colombia, Archer, Ray, and Cyril have lost about 200 kilos of the cocaine that they were aiming to sell.

Lucky for them the plane they took had almost twice as much cocaine as well as a lot of guns Unlucky for them.

The amount of guns, cocaine, and the three of them are weighing the plane down so much that the plane is ready to land in the ocean.

The trio bicker and yell at each other when Archer makes it a point to mention that the Colombians had the airstrip circled, meaning that when the plane lands...what will people be expecting? Not a trio of white men that's for sure. The engines shut down, forcing Cyril and Archer to throw the guns out of the airplane and make a close landed onto the airstrip. Archer attempts to use his spy skills and take the persona of his usual identity, Randy, to talk with the people standing on the airstrip...with guns.

As expected, Archer is greeted by being shot with a shotgun to the chest. It was only a beanbag gun though so he's alive...just badly bruised.

The men waiting at the airstrip, according to Archer, happened to look ex-military with their leader being a man who goes by the name of Slater (voiced by guest star Christian Slater). And Archer decides to go with a different alias, but this time on the spot he chooses...Rando.

While Ray and Cyril are the "McCracken Brothers" -- Ray is Phil and Cyril is Odie.

Archer--I mean, Rando, comes up with a story on the spot to get Slater on his side, saying that Gomez was planning to take the cocaine and they were sent in to take care of it.

Slater takes the cocaine and gives Rando and the McCracken Brothers a ton of weapons, saying that "Calderon's good for the money." Slater also suggests that they're "flying south," so what has Archer gotten ISIS into now?

Obviously, Archer brings everything back to New York to go back to Malory and figure out a next step. This leads to some hilarious bickering between Malory and Sterling as no one seems to know who in the hell brought the cocaine into ISIS...I mean seriously, who did?! Lana puts together who Calderon is -- Gustavo Calderon just so happens to be the president of San Marcos.

Cutting to a brief clip of the civil war going on, it shows Calderon (voiced by the always hilarious Fred Armisen) discussing was going on and making a passionate speech about the spirit of San Marcos.

What all of this could mean is that Archer, Ray, and Cyril accidentally found themselves in a CIA operation involving San Marcos. Malory acknowledges how bad they've been at selling the cocaine only to hear even worse news -- Krieger attempted to make a submarine that would be undetected, allowing them to sell the cocaine in secret.

Of course, he names it the Red Kreigtober/Red Octkreiger.

Unfortunately...he built it in the headquarters pool...therefore...it's unable to feel the "wind on its face or taste salty spray of the sea." He also wound up using...almost all of the cocaine to figure out how it would work and when he knew he failed...he blew it up.

So there goes the cocaine and Pam's addiction and a change of business plans -- they're now in the arms business.

Archer: Vice took a major step forward this week, advancing an interesting potential storyline while bringing back some of the humor of being out on a mission from previous seasons. But it's understandable as to why Archer: Vice may not be what some people were hoping for.

It's also unsurprising that show creator Adam Reed has said that season six will be going back to the spy formula that everyone fell in love with from the start.

"On The Carpet" was a very solid episode and it leaves me excited for the final four episodes of the season.