'Archer' Recap: 'Un Chien Tangerine'

"Un Chien Tangerine" followed a more stand alone model. However the episode did add some dimensions to the character of Sterling Archer. The episode plot was Archer and Lana were sent to Morocco (via coach class) to extract a foreign agent. Turned out that the agent was not who they thought him to be.

The episode kicked off with a crotchety Lana waking up off the floor of a Moroccan hotel room. She rose and we the viewer saw Archer in the only bed, which was covered in beer bottles. Lana rebuked Archer for not letting her have the bed. He reiterated that he offered her the bed, but she didn't want it. She expressed that she wasn't going to sleep with him to have the bed. Which Archer hysterically asked, "then whose fault is it you didn't get the bed?"

Lana continued chiding Archer for picking this room. She yelled at him saying he was a fool for believing this was the hotel room of Allen Ginsberg, and the place where he wrote Howl. Archer asked Lana why the clerk would lie about something like that. She explained because they were American tourists, and he was an idiot. The scene cut to the exchange where the clerk tricked Archer. The flash back scene was classic Archer humor at its best.

The two then got into a car and drove through Morocco looking for the agent. The agent's name was Kazak. Lana complained during the ride about the smells and the country as a whole. Conversely, Archer explained to Lana the great aspects of Morocco. During the two bickering, Lana noticed people in a vehicle were following them. Archer evaded the tail by driving down and through back ally ways. Archer stopped the car and a shrill Lana asked why he stopped. Archer explained the GPS tracking device indicated the target was near by.

Archer and Lana bust open a door hoping to find the agent Kazak. Kazak according to Mallory was a Moroccan intelligence officer she wanted for ISIS. But after the door was kicked in a large dog jumped on Lana barking and drooling. Archer deduced that the dog didn't like guns and that the dog was indeed Kazak.

Lana was furious and bitter that Mallory sent them to Morocco for a dog. The three began driving to their hovercraft extraction. But it was blocked by Moroccan agents. Archer decided to drive into the desert for an alternate extraction point. During the drive Lana quit ISIS. Between the insult she felt from this particular mission and Archer's constant "button-pushing" she had enough. She put a gun to Kazak throat and demanded Archer let her out of the car. He conceded because he was very fond of the dog.

Archer left Lana and continued onward. However during the drive, him and Kazak have a conversation. Really Archer was talking to Kazak who barked back at Archer. Archer pretended that Kazak's barks were imploring remarks to save Lana. In a moment of introspection Archer acknowledged that he had pushed Lana's buttons. Between that and his feelings for her, he returned to save her.

As he was driving back to where he had left Lana he called Mallory. He demanded that she provided an extraction via chopper in the desert. Archer complained that Kazak was a dog, and Mallory explained something on the phone to Archer. But the viewer could only see Archer's facial response to Mallory's words.

Archer reached Lana. He found her captured by Moroccan agents in a pick-up truck. He devised a plan to leap onto the truck while Kazak steered the car. But before exercising his plan, Kazak leaped into the pick-up and dispatched Lana's capturers. Archer then jumped on the vehicle shot out the trucks engine, and let the driver run of into the desert.

Archer screamed asking if Kazak was okay. Lana and Kazak were not injured. Lana was disappointed Archer was more concerned about the dog than her. Archer took a box from Kazak’s neck and told Lana he had to tell her something. Lana saw the box and Archer on his knee about to speak. She yelped no Archer, thinking it was a proposal. However, Archer explained that the box contained micro-film. Mallory had told him when he called.

He told Lana they sometimes do good work together and doesn't want her to quit. Lana agreed to stay with ISIS. The episode ended with them in the truck with Kazak barking then stopping abruptly to fart.

image: Fox