Template:Episode infobox "Archer Vice: Baby Shower" is the ninth episode of Archer Vice (season 5) and the fifty-fifth episode overall.
Plot
An irritated Lana breaks up Cherlene’s latest recording session with the group, pointing out that recording at the “golden hour” only applies to film, before bringing up to Malory that their financial situation is weighing on her. Taking the idea to heart, Malory orders the team to find ways to bring in money, for which Krieger claims to have set up a foolproof online method to sell and ship their cocaine store.
Over breakfast, Ray poses that Lana’s recent mood might have something to do with the fact that no one has thrown her a baby shower, something even Malory finds egregious.Archer takes charge, but quickly hands the decorating tasks off to Woodhouse, borrowing Pam for a special mission: recruiting an in-town Kenny Loggins to play Lana’s shower.
Feeling nostalgic for his spy days, Archer takes Pam to Madison Square Garden to con their way in backstage, but the security guard points out that Kenny would most likely be found at the Tuntmore hotel, not at the venue itself. Upon arrival at the Tuntmore , Archer plots to look up Kenny’s room number, until Pam simply points out the singer himself in the lobby. Archer introduces himself, but a disinterested Kenny simply signs Archer’s suit and begins to walk away. When Archer grabs the singer’s arm, Kenny’s bodyguard Ricky quickly puts Archer down with a tazer.
While Malory attempts to keep Lana from walking in on Woodhouse setting up the baby shower, Archer and Pam bribe a hotel maid for disguises to get up to Kenny’s room. Once they arrive to the suite however, Ricky immediately recognizes and attacks Pam, while Archer slips inside to deliver room service. Kenny quickly sees through the ruse, however, taking a defensive stance, and assuming that Archer is a hired gun for a man named “Borgnar,” looking to reclaim a suitcase emanating an eerie purple light.
Pam continues to fight Ricky as Archer chases Kenny to a dangerous balcony pool area, assuring the singer he doesn’t work for anyone else. Pam and Ricky’s fight spills out onto the balcony, knocking Kenny into the pool and accidentally shattering its glass wall. Archer leaps into action to save Kenny from falling, explaining how he’d only wanted the singer to play a baby shower.
Kenny begins a “Danger Zone” duet with Cherlene, as Lana is welcomed into her party and showered with gifts. Malory explains that Krieger’s delivery service freed up their finances for all the gifts, before Krieger accidentally reveals he’d purchased the cocaine himself to give Malory the impression of success. Archer reluctantly gives up his own baby crib as a gift for Lana (who is overjoyed), but draws her attention to the main event, Kenny Loggins singing “Danger Zone.” Only half-aware of the reference, Lana lets slip to an irritated Archer she has no idea who Kenny Loggins actually is, or that Archer’s reference came from a song.
Trivia
- Title Explained: The title is, of course, in reference to the party held for Lana.
- Kenny Loggins voices a fictionalized version of himself in this episode. In yet another nod to the show's intentionally nonsensical time setting, Loggins is depicted as being in his mid-thirties, the age he was at the release of "Danger Zone" in 1986, rather than being in his mid-sixties as he was when the episode aired.
- Krieger's scheme to sell the cocaine through an anonymous online black market, utilizing an onion router and digital cryptocurrency, is similar to that of the Silk Road and Bitcoin.
- Archer berating Pam to not make fun of Messina is a nod to musician Jim Messina, who was a member of the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield, a founding member of the country rock band Poco (as noted by Archer), and was one-half of the soft-rock duo Loggins and Messina, along with Kenny Loggins.
- Cyril and Ray packaging the cocaine in their underwear is a reference to the film New Jack City in which workers at the drug processing facility must work in their underwear. In the film, this is required so the workers cannot steal anything. However, Krieger simply tells Cyril and Ray to not worry about why he made them do this.
- After hearing Ray's gross idea for a baby shower game, Cyril threatens to rub cocaine in Ray's eyes until he goes blind, to which Ray replies "God damn, Shawshank!". This is a reference to a scene in The Shawshank Redemption where Tim Robbins' character Andy Dufresne tries to fend off a prison rape by threatening to throw lye in his attackers faces and blinding them.
- Ricky, Kenny Loggins' bodyguard, is called "Lurch" by Archer. Lurch is a character from The Addams Family.
- "J Alfred Gotrocks" is a dual reference to "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" by TS Eliot and J. L. Gotrocks, a character from an episode of The Flintstones. [1]
- Just before cutting to commercial, Pam pops one of her cocaine "mints" and smiles, after which a tiny sparkle appears in the corner of her mouth. This is a clear reference to a series of commercials for Mentos from the 1980's and 90's, where it was marketed as "The Freshmaker". The packaging for Pam's "mints" even resembles the packaging for Mentos from that time period.
- A continuity error occurs when Archer first enters Kenny Loggins' suite. Kenny Loggins' robe pockets are empty while he's seated and when he first jumps up, but after the camera cuts back to him after Ricky and Pam enter, a hand mirror appears.
- When the glass pool on the balcony is shot, Sterling says "one of one fairly predictable thing is going to happen." This is a back reference to "Sea Tunt: Part II ," where Captain Murphy says the same thing when the wall of the sea lab is cracked and begins leaking water.
- The mysterious glowing briefcase which Kenny Loggins carries may be a reference to Pulp Fiction, in which much of the plot revolved around a briefcase which emits a golden glow when opened. The exact contents of the briefcase are not shown in the film, with some fans speculating it contains cocaine, or the soul of the crime boss who owned it - the former of which drives the plot of Archer Vice, and the latter Archer referred to when speculating what Kenny's briefcase contained. Although in the script to Pulp Fiction it's clarified that the briefcase contains diamonds - the same diamonds that were stolen in Reservoir Dogs, another movie by Quentin Tarantino.
- Archer says he'll plant a red fern for his broken jug referring to the book Where the Red Fern Grows which was also referenced in Pipeline Fever.
Quotes
- Archer: Jug down! Jug down!
- Malory: As difficult as that would be.
- Archer: I'll plant a red fern for ya jug.
- Archer: "Cyril shut your pout-hole, accept the fact that Lana was so far out of your league that impregnating her would've basically been inter-species breeding, and get on with your life!"
- Kenny Loggins: "Zap Ricky Zap!"
- Archer: Hey... Aah!
- Kenny Loggins: "Uh hang on. Hit him again."
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