The Big Picture
- Barry Dylan, Archer’s long-standing nemesis, is back in the form of an “artifridgeal intelligence” trapped in a smart fridge.
- Barry, who once had an alter ego called Other Barry, survived his fiery demise at the end of Season 12 and warns Archer that he’s in danger in this week’s episode.
- While Archer’s allies find Barry’s situation hilarious, new agent Zara is amazed by the seemingly impossible existence of the cyborg agent/AI.
Sterling Archer’s longtime nemesis Barry Dylan (and his alter ego, Other Barry) are back for what could be the last time on this week’s Archer. However, the cyborg agent has been reduced to life as an “artifridgeal intelligence”. As seen on the FX animated series’ official Twitter account, Archer’s cybernetic rival survived his seemingly fiery demise in Season 12‘s finale “Mission: Difficult”, but his consciousness is now trapped in a “smart fridge.” Now freed of his increasingly deranged alter ego, Other Barry, Barry is here to warn Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) and company of Other Barry’s imminent return — but they mostly find his predicament hilarious, especially Cheryl (Judy Greer), who dubs him an “artifridgeal intelligence”. Meanwhile, new agent Zara Khan (Natalie Dew), who joined at the beginning of this season and has experienced little of the series’ past sci-fi craziness, is in awe of the seeming impossibility of Barry’s existence.
Who are Barry and Other Barry?
First appearing in Archer‘s first season as an agent of competing spy agency ODIN, Barry Dylan was a rival to Sterling Archer, noted for his fondness for talking to an unseen alter ego, “Other Barry” who seemingly represented his darkest desires. Voiced by David Willis, of Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Squidbillies, Barry underwent a series of indignities, frequently at Archer’s hands, including stealing his fiancee, destroying ODIN, and abandoning him to die on a mission to the Soviet Union. Recovered by the KGB, Barry was rebuilt first into a cyborg (complete with a Six Million Dollar Man tracksuit), and later (after a number of encounters with Archer) a full robot with Barry’s personality. As he descended further and further into madness, Barry stole Archer’s fiancée (a cyborg herself), became the head of the KGB, and was abandoned in space. However, after Archer landed in a coma, Barry regained some of his mental stability and even became Archer’s friend upon his awakening. In Season 12’s two-part finale, it was revealed that “Other Barry” had become a full-fledged alternate personality who sought to kill Archer and his friends before seemingly perishing.
Debuting in 2009, the animated comedy Archer is one of FX’s longest-running series. Created by Adam Reed, the series has gone through a number of permutations over the years — originally set at an independent spy agency, the cast became drug runners, then detectives, before the series veered wildly into three “coma seasons,” where the cast was reinterpreted as residents of a number of outlandish settings, from a tropical island to outer space. However, for its 14th and final season, the cast is up to their usual spy hijinks. In her review, Collider’s Samantha Coley says Archer‘s final season “certainly feels like a return to form for the series, both in terms of the quality of the comedy and the cohesiveness of the storytelling itself.”
Archer‘s 14th and final season continues tomorrow with “Chill Barry,” check out the new sneak peek down below
