The third season of the animated television series, Archer originally aired in the United States on the cable network FX. The three part episode "Heart of Archness" aired from September 15, 2011, until September 29, 2011. The rest of the season started on January 19, 2012, with "The Man from Jupiter" and ended with the two part episode "Space Race" on March 16 and March 23, 2012, respectively, with a total of thirteen episodes.
Overview
It was announced on March 29, 2011, that Archer was renewed for 16 more episodes.[1] FX had originally intended the first three episodes of Season 3 to air in the fall of 2011 as a "Special Assignment" three-part event, with a further 13 episodes (a normal sized season for most FX shows) to air at the beginning of 2012. Series creator Adam Reed later clarified the situation. He explained that while FX had intended the second set of episodes to be 13 episodes, he had believed that he was only going to be producing a further 10 episodes (with the first three episodes completing the standard order of 13 episodes). While he attempted to produce the full 16 episodes after he realized his error, it soon became clear that it would be impossible to produce three additional episodes. The order was eventually reduced to 13 episodes.[2]
Malory hires an adventurer named Rip Riley to find Archer, who has been missing since Katya Kasanova sacrificed herself to save Archer on their wedding day. Rip finds him on a tropical island, but Archer, who is still grieving, has no interest in leaving.
After being captured by pirates, Archer emerges as Pirate King, but he has bitten off more than he can chew, getting little help from his first mate, Noah. Meanwhile, his ISIS colleagues keep up their attempts to rescue him, sort of.
Special guest stars: David Cross as Noah and Patrick Warbuton as Rip Riley
Archer, Rip, Lana and Ray try to escape the island. Meanwhile, Cyril realizes he hid all the agency's money while drunk and has to find a way to get it back.
Special guest stars: David Cross as Noah and Patrick Warbuton as Rip Riley
Against her other agents' wishes, Malory promotes Cyril to field agent and sends him with Archer and Lana to capture a drug lord, where they find out he might actually have a talent for it. Back at the office, Malory institutes a strict drug testing policy for her employees, forcing Pam, Cheryl, and Ray to use Dr. Krieger's purifying herbal tea to beat it. Its side effects, however, cause them to have horrifying hallucinations.
ISIS helps The Royal Canadian Mounted Police capture a Canadian terrorist while on a high speed train. Malory finds out that the support staff have tagged along with Cheryl, and the terrorist escapes when Cyril leaves him alone. The agents have to search the train to find him, but Archer is more concerned with finding Cheryl's pet ocelot when it escapes.
Archer and Lana discover that Ray has been faking his paralysis all along when he's caught stealing weapons from ISIS. Ray needs to help his drug-dealing (or 'Farming') brother which leads to a trip to Ray's backwoods hometown of Ferlin, West Virginia where Ray has Cheryl pose as his wife.
When Barry becomes the head of the KGB, Jakov decides to defect to the U.S. with ISIS protecting. Archer finds himself in a relationship with a woman who gives him the best sex of his life: Pam.
Krieger revives Katya as a cyborg but Archer is jarred by her inhuman nature despite his love for her. Barry comes back for revenge by taking Katya from Archer.
The team (including Malory but not Pam and Cheryl/Carol) receive emergency Space Training; before heading to The Danger Zone, this time an international space station called Horizon where murderous mutineers have apparently gained control. While in transit Pam and Cheryl are discovered to have been stowed by Archer who continues to have his affair with Pam.
Special guest star: Bryan Cranston as Commander Tony Drake
