Archer/Analysis/Season 8

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Season 8: Dreamland

The characters in the season are dream personae and so are not identical with the show's original characters, leading to division among the fans. This page can be used to compare and contrast the characters and the trope makeup between 'classic Archer' and the dream season that is Dreamland, as well as to contrast the genre-shifting that has taken place across the seasons.

What's a Trope Like You Doing in a Dream Like This?

• Big Bad: Barry Dylan steps up as "Dutch" Dylan.

  

  • Big Bad Evil Guy: Turned Up to Eleven in the finale.
• Break The Cutie: multiple instances:
  • Cheryl/Charlotte starts off elegant then ends up in prison attire
  • Poor Berenice.
  • Lana.
• Chekhov's Gun: played with with the Dobermanns.
• Cyborg: Krieger turns Barry into one.
• Darker and Edgier: this season takes on a much darker tone visually and thematically.
• Dirty Cop: Figgis.
• Downer Ending: especially for Lana fans.
• Dreamland: the season is named after this trope, with the central setting of the season being a 1940s jazz cub/speakeasy called "Dreamland", owned by a crime boss called "Mother" based on Archer's mother, Malory.
• Drugs Are Bad/Playing With:
  • Archer goes on a bender which could be described as the "Adventures of Dex and Cody"
  • Ray gets his band repeatedly arrested for marijuana use, proving that drug laws are worse.
• Faking the Dead: attempted by Cheryl/Charlotte.
• Femme Fatal: subverted with Cheryl/Charlotte.
• Film Noir: the whole season embraces the tropes of this genre.
• Genre Savvy:
• Genre Shift: blending Film Noir with Sci-Fi and World War II themes.
• Hollywood Acid: Barry's preferred method of dispatch.
• Kick the Dog: Turned Up to Eleven by Barry.
• Nazi: Played With and Subverted as the audience is lead to the expectation that Krieger is a Nazi scientist when in fact he is a Jewish scientist bent on boondoggling the Nazi robot program.
• Manipulative Bitch: Mother.
• Moral Event Horizon: Barry's tableau, the dog incident and just Barry in general.
• Nightmare Fuel: the whole season is a bit of a nightmare for Archer, what with his nemesis turning into an even more psychotic cyborg than usual at the hands of Krieger, who is supposed to be some kind of a good guy.
  • The last couple of episodes in particular, especially Barry's tableau and the dog incident/noises.
• Rimshot: played with and averted by the Dreamland House band.
• Running Gag: each episode begins with a variant of "So what are we doing? Are we just - jumping right into this? Or...?"
• Scenery Porn: Lots of great shots on 40s L.A. including the Griffith Observatory, and Trexler's Mansion.
• Shout Out:
  • Boys From Brazil: Krieger has robotic-Dobermanns that respond to his command "Aktion!"
• Undercover Cop Reveal: Lana.
• What's an X Like You Doing In a Y Like This?: Krieger asks Charlotte "what's a society dame like you doing in a place like this?"

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