Though not as relentlessly entertaining as “Part 1,” “Space Race, Part II” is still a terrific episode of Archer, and it’s a great way to end the show’s third season. Where season two ended with some deliberate drama—and the death of Archer’s wife—season three ends in much higher spirits, even though there’s a moment of something like actual character growth for everybody’s favorite asshole (before that growth is wiped away by the constant need to feed his own ego). The ISIS gang manages to escape the space station Horizon—after leaving Barry behind to wait for someone to come pick him up—and return to Earth, but it’s not without cost, as Archer’s attempts to land leave everybody at least mildly injured (but for him, of course). Gillette’s back in a wheelchair, and I sort of perversely hope the show waves that injury away as well next season.
There isn’t a big action climax to “Space Race,” which somewhat surprised me. Sure, we get the ISIS crew—with the nearly naked Lana—racing through the halls of the space station, firing away at whatever gets in their way (up to and including the walls), but the actual final showdown with Drake involves Pam putting a gun to his head and Tony putting a gun to Archer’s head. In truth, it’s a little lackluster, but I admire the show for then having the guts to not force a huge climax with a fight between Archer in the spacebot suit and Barry. That’s something I think any fan of the show would have loved to have seen, and I’m amused by the way the show pushed it to season four—if we ever get to see it. Archer, like all comedies, needs to leave its status quo mostly intact, so that means Barry must always be lurking out there. This was a funny acknowledgement of that.
Bryan Cranston is, once again, terrific. I loved how he comes more and more unhinged as the episode goes on, until Drake is essentially just gibbering about Mars onboard the space shuttle. (And then he blows his head off because he won’t get to be the king of Mars.) Closing Drake up with Pam and Cheryl ended up being a strong choice for the show’s comedy, and I loved the scene where Cheryl insists she is the Queen of Mars, before realizing she is probably going to have to have babies if that was the case (and they are not clawing their way out of her vagina). Honestly, Drake descends into your garden-variety madman in this episode, and that’s a little disappointing, but Cranston is able to sell it so well that I didn’t care.
Our other characters, meanwhile, try to fight their way back to the space shuttle, using Lana’s very attractive form to distract their guards, opening fire in the middle of hallways, and refusing to dive through the wall into a garbage compartment of some sort. (I liked how the episode tipped its hat to Star Wars here and there without being too blatant about it.) Along the way, Cyril and Gillette get to sing the praises of their spacesuits, Lana obsesses over whether her breasts have gotten saggy, and Archer finally admits he’s read Animal Farm in one of the episode’s funniest gags. (The only one that made me laugh more was when Pam asks if Malory and Cheryl knew what happened when the bank came to repossess the family farm.) Keeping the group separate doesn’t always work, but it works well here, with the two sides fighting to get back to each other and the ticking clock of Drake needing the shuttle to push the Horizon off on its voyage toward Mars. (I have no idea if his plan makes any sense. Any astrophysicists out there?)