Archer starts things off with a bang (literally) for its fifth season. The fifth season opens as there’s an explosion at ISIS headquarters and our favorite spy agency finds itself under attack by the FBI. In order to avoid prison for treason, ISIS must suspend all operations and forfeit its headquarters as well as Archer’s penthouse.

What are these now former spies supposed to do for a living? Cheryl could pursue her longtime dream of becoming America’s number one Country star, Archer could pursue professional lacrosse, Pam could reenter the world of underground fighting, and Cyril could go back to being a lawyer/accountant. Or, they could just take the metric ton of cocaine in their vault and start their own drug cartel. And so begins Archer Vice.

Despite reinventing the series in this fifth season, Archer is still the same hilarious, irreverent, and totally un-PC show it has always been, and that’s a great thing. What I loved about this season and its Archer Vice approach is that it allowed the show to change up the scenery and give us one continuous arc for the entire season. It was great to be able to marathon the entire season via the Blu-ray, instead of having to wait for each new episode week-to-week!

It was a lot of fun seeing our favorite spies on the other side of the law this time around (even though they previously walked a very thin line). And in addition to the main storiyline, there are also some hilarious parallel plots, such as Cheryl exploring her music career as Cherlene, a svelte Pam constantly (and literally) eating into their drug profits, a newly-pregnant Lana with a mystery baby daddy, and Mallory’s marriage issues.

We also get a fun change of scenery this season as the group is forced to relocate their operations to Tunt Manor, Cheryl’s ancestral mansion/home. This new setting gives a kind of Scooby Doo vibe to the series and is the source of a lot of hilarious moments.

There are some amazing guest stars this season, including Gary Cole, Fred Armisen, Tom Lennon, Ron Perlman, Ron Liebman, George Takei, Kenny Loggins (as himself), Lauren Cohan and Christian Slater.

If I had one complaint about the season, it’s the final 3 minutes of the season premiere. While at first it appears to be a dream sequence, it turns out that it’s actually a 3-minute spoiler-filled trailer for the season. I wish they hadn’t included that in the episode, and let viewers be surprised about all the craziness of the upcoming season!

The picture and sound quality of the Blu-ray is fantastic—the series looks and sounds even better than its original HD airing on FX. The bonus features on the disc, however, are a bit disappointing— there are just three shorts that total under 10 minutes of runtime! This is such a fun show, and a vastly different season that it would have been great to get an audio commentary or two, some alternate takes, or some other fun behind-the-scenes material. However, the three extras that have been included are entertaining, and I’m thrilled that Fox has continued to release a Blu-ray version of this series while many other recent shows have been relegated to DVD-only status.

What’s Included:

Episodes: (4:29:31)

• All 13 Episodes of the fifth season:
  Disc 1: “White Elephant”, “A Kiss While Dying”, “A Debt of Honor”, “House Call”, “Southbound and Down”, “Baby Shower”, “Smugglers’ Blues”
  Disc 2: “The Rules of Extraction”, “On The Carpet”, “Palace Intrigue: Part I”, “Palace Intrigue: Part II”, “Filibuster”, “Arrival/Departure”
• 1080p / Widescreen 1.78:1
• Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
• Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras:

• “Midnight Blues” Music Video by Cherlene Tunt (3:54)
  Set to Cherlene’s song, we find Lana as a neglected small-town housewife who leaves her drunk husband (Archer) and heads to a bar to finally get away and enjoy herself. Cherlene is playing on the stage and her bandmates and the bar patrons are all other characters from the show. As Lana enters the bar her hair and clothes are transformed, but when last call is made, she losing her boot in the rush to leave and is transformed back into her old self.
• Cherlene Tunt Interview on Wake Up Country (1:54)
  Cherlene is interviewed one year after her rise to stardom, but she can no longer remember anything that happened.
• Old Pam Poovy (3:17)
  Pam tries to stop AJ from crying by singing “Old Pam Poovey Had a Farm”. Cyrus joins in once he hears the song heading in a pro-GMO direction.

Final Thoughts:

Archer really changes things up for its fifth season, taking the characters from running a spy agency to running drugs. However, even with these changes, it still remains the same hilarious show we’ve grown to love over the previous four seasons! The Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing, but contains very little in regards to bonus features. However, the episodes themselves are highly-rewatchable and hilarious and this release is easy to recommend based on the show itself.