WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Archer Season 11, Episode 8, "Cold Fusion," which aired Oct. 28, 2020 on FXX.
The Season 11 finale of Archer proved that the series is not ready to end just yet, as it left a lot of things unfinished. With a whodunit mystery to solve and a world ending disaster to prevent, the Agency had their hands busy in the finale, which left a few questions relating to Sterling's mental state and the structure of the Agency now that he is officially back.
The finale episode reveals that, while the members of the agency had done a lot of personal growth throughout the season, Sterling's return caused them to revert back to their old ways. At the beginning of the episode, audiences are introduced to someone from Lana's past -- an environmentalist that Lana has no memory of and was rude to as a result. Cyril is still tackling his degrading personality, and Archer's return only further diminishes his self confidence. Now, both Lana and Cyril's personalities have rapidly changed from the first few episodes of the season when they were more professional in their spying; however, the change may not be entirely related to Sterling's return. Sterling stated near the end of the episode, "Do you people ever consider that you need me around because you want the excuse to be your worst selves?" This made Lana realize how poorly she treated her old friend, which was very unlike herself, as she is the moral high ground of the Agency. Cyril's lack of confidence is only due to Archer's bullying, but blaming Archer for his self-inflicted downfall is a poor choice on Cyril. Audiences were introduced to a better, "World's Greatest Spy" Cyril, and making Archer the reason for his downfall is only a result of him falling back into his habits. These instances in the episode showed how the Agency uses Sterling as an excuse for their personal failures and didn't maintain the positive changes they'd had at the beginning of the season, slipping into a comforting persona rather than a better but harder to maintain one.
While first episode of the season clearly dictated how everyone has changed throughout the three years when Archer was in a coma, these changes were slowly erased throughout the season. Lana got married to a man she loves and loves her back unconditionally, Cyril worked on himself both mentally and physically to become a better agent, Pam dropped her sexual mannerisms for a more professional approach (more akin to her Season 1 personality) and even Cheryl sobered up and got her act together. Yet, as soon as Sterling returned, everyone had reverted back to their pre-coma days, except Krieger who will always be the resident mad scientist with a heart of gold. While it would be easy to blame Archer's return for these character's reverting back to their old ways, it is within the Agency's own will to maintain their positive changes rather than make themselves turn away from their newfound happiness. However, they are not the only ones changed due to Sterling's coma, as Archer himself also suffered due to it.
The episode reveals that Archer could either still be in a coma or could be suffering a sort of PTSD from the event. During Dreamland, Sterling played a veteran-turned-detective who suffered from PTSD visions of his war days. Similarly, during the end of the finale, Sterling started to flashback to his coma years, seeing the Agency as their Dreamland, Danger Island or 1999 personas. They glitched in his mind similar to how they were during the end of 1999 when Sterling was waking up. While it is less likely he is still in the coma, the episode showed that Sterling never fully healed from his time under, neither physically nor mentally, which was further proven when he saw Crackers (Kreiger in Danger Island) save him from drowning.
While it was only a coma dream, it is clear that Sterling grew fond of the lives and genres he lived while he was under, either as a way to escape from the unexpected changes in the real world or if he somehow felt safer living in the fantasy worlds where he was always the best.
This season has been a wild ride for Sterling, as he had to deal with the death of Woodhouse, Lana getting married, the Agency doing extremely well without him and a disability which rendered him unable to perform at his utmost best even with a spy-enhanced cane. With a Season 12 renewal, there is hope that Sterling's storyline will be further explored and he'll become a better person.