Reviewing the first part of a two-part episode usually can have its problems. You have all the action building and building, then…you have to wait till next week. Imagine watching Titanic, then leaving when the ship hits the iceberg; you’re only getting half of the story. But Archer has shown time and time again that it knows exactly how to handle a multiple-part episode and do it well. “Space Race” decides to take the ISIS staff off of Earth entirely, and it is a ridiculously good set-up for next week’s second half finale.
“Space Race” introduces the ISIS team to Commander Drake, who works for the International Space Agency and is voiced by the brilliant Bryan Cranston. Turns out the space station Horizon has encountered a mutiny and Drake needs a team of agents to go save the Horizon team. He needs highly trained astronauts, but the ISIS team will have to do. So in a basic attempt to get ISIS ready, they go into astronaut training.
Seeing the ISIS team go through space training is like watching a more screwed-up version of the beginning of Apollo 13. Archer simulates an electrical fire so that Cyril will crash his test landing since Cyril won’t let him try to land on Alderaan. Lana continuously vomits in the appropriately named Vomit Comet that leaves a weightless Archer riding Cyril through waves of Lana’s puke. It’s exactly the twisted sort of hijinx you would expect and want to see Archer get into when preparing for space.
Even though they are grossly underprepared, the ISIS team, along with Malory and Drake, head into space. Before they land on Horizon, they realize that they are overweight. And since any time the ISIS agents go on a trip Cheryl and Pam seem to make their way onboard, you know exactly why the ship is a bit overweight. Turns out Archer has stowed them away just in case he wants to have sex with someone. Malory is also there seemingly to just make drinks out of Tang and rubbing alcohol, which seems about as good a reason as any. Archer is left behind, since he keeps shooting his team with a plasma rifle, as the ISIS team goes to investigate Horizon, kept under the watch of Pam. But Archer finds a way to get out…and just in time too, since the ISIS team was struggling against the mutiny. But in the last minutes, we see that the team that was thought to be the mutineers are actually the hijacked team and that Drake is the leader of space pirates trying to populate Mars with ISIS’ women. Good thing Archer brought stowaways…
“Space Race” is continuously ridiculous, which is Archer’s forte, and exceeds expectations of the premise of “Archer goes to space”. Watching Archer’s giddy excitement as he floats in zero gravity, shooting plasma rifles and making Star Wars jokes alone would make the episode, but the entire cast gets some great moments, even Krieger, who has snuck into the ISA base to do unsanctioned tests on Archer, which include at least six enemas.
It’s also going to be hard to follow up this season in terms of voice acting. Not only did the season start off with Burt Reynolds, but now it wraps up with Bryan Cranston, who is so much fun as Drake, especially when he ends the episode by telling ISIS that they are truly in the Danger Zone.
“Space Race: Part 1” is a fantastic set-up for the season finale, building to a climax that is somewhat obvious once it happens, but it’s irrelevant since the episode is so much fun. Archer finales have been well done so far, and with the looks of the first part of the finale, Archer is on its way to continuing that tradition.