Season 12, Episodes 1 and 2

“Identity Crisis,” season 12, episode 1

Archer is old.

It’s not a novel observation. As an animated sitcom, the series has been on the air (on FX, and then FXX) for 12 years now, suffering right alongside its title character as he’s gotten shot, stabbed, en-coma-fied, etc. across a decade-plus of adventures. Over that period, the series has flirted, maybe more than any other show of its era, with trying to find some radical new direction for itself, whether via the three-season genre jaunt heralded by that aforementioned coma—an effort that often veered wildly between “stunt,” and a genuine effort to expand the series’ storytelling—or slightly more subtle shifts, like the “Well, we’re all coke dealers living in a mansion together now” action of…