SPECIAL GUEST ALERT: Archer Art Director and friend of the program — and previous voice of Brett Buckly (R.I.P.) — Neal Holman is joining our discussion at 12PM ET today. Please play it as cool as possible when asking all the questions about Cherlene’s bus/album/poster art.
To add to the excitement we’ll be rewarding our second Archer Season Four Blu-Ray set to whoever asks Neal the best question. That person will be named in next week’s recap. Be good at this.
OK, let’s talk “Southbound and Down,” the Archer-ized homage to Smokey and The Bandit that we’ve been waiting for since Matt provided us with the big reveal before the season started. And before we get to the bullets let’s take a moment to congratulate Floyd Count on the simply fan–f*cking–tastic art and animation work behind the episode (must check out GIFs on the next couple of pages). I could devote this entire write up to the specific details and would still probably miss three-quarters of them. Neal tweeted it best here.
Now the best lines, moments, and references, along with a few irrelevant thoughts from yours truly.
- I really want to get excited about Ray getting the use of legs back but there’s just no way he’s not back in a wheelchair by the end of the season is there? Dammit.
- Never Forget when you claim you don’t fly: “Cyril choke-banged you on a blimp.”
- I’ve had an uncle go on pretty much that exact same Malory rant over public broadcasting.
- I hope I’m not the only who appreciated the line about free advertising for Pontiac after the last time everyone assumed Dodge paid for product placement.
- “You would never be in the blocker car.” — New go-to put down no one will get but me.
- I was going to attempt to write something clever about “emotional nutsack” but I’m not beating this Amber Nash tweet from last night.
- “We’re talking about Texas. Somebody somewhere wants enough cocaine to forget they live there.”
- “It’s not supposed to be funny,” has to be in the pantheon of Krieger episode-stealing cutaways.
- I’m convinced Pam and Archer are cosmically intertwined beings and the more one becomes an asshole the less the other one does. Think about it.
- “Because even a goddamn baby knows in craps you never go the hard way.” — Me at every craps table for the rest of eternity.
- Someone please make Archer’s riff on gun shops the go to YouTube explanation for irony and satire.
- “Looks like ole Snowball done it again.” — And THAT’S how you close an homage episode.
- Pop Culture Reference Count: All things Smokey and The Bandit, “Eastbound and Down,” and Burt Reynolds. Also: Austin City Limits, “Jerry Reed’s character in the Smokey-verse”, Frank Sinatra Jr., Colonel Mom Parker.
I feel like I missed a lot this go round, especially on the Smokey reference front. Hat tip in advance for assists in the discussion thread. Reminder: Cherlene’s for real country album releases next week. I seriously can’t stop listening to the Kenny Loggins duet. I swear we’ll have something more for that shortly. Because, you know…
SO MANY killer Chet Manley GIFs on the next couple of pages. Do yourself a favor and check them all out while thinking up your highly insightful questions for Neal.