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"El Contador" is the fifth episode of the third season of Archer.

Plot[]

Synopsis[]

Cyril is promoted to field agent, while Malory institutes a strict drug testing policy for her employees. Cyril accompanies Archer and Lana to South America to collect on a bounty of $1,000,000 on Román Calzado. Ray, Cheryl and Pam enlist Dr. Krieger to help them pass the drug test.

Summary[]

Cyril is promoted to field agent, while Malory institutes a strict drug testing policy for her employees, neither of which sit well with the staff at ISIS. As Cyril is promoted to field agent, he accompanies Sterling and Lana to South America to collect a bounty of $1,000,000 on Román Calzado. Ray, Cheryl, and Pam know they will not pass the drug test, so they enlist Doctor Krieger to help them. Krieger sells them "Krieger Kleanse, which he claims will rid their bodies of detectable drugs, but he doesn't tell them it also induces wild hallucinations.[1]

Calzado captures Lana and Archer and plans to hunt them. Cyril poses as "El Contador" (The Accountant) under the guise of aiding Calzado. Cyril plans to hunt Lana and Calzado will hunt Archer. Cyril catches up to Lana, and they use Archer as bait to capture Calzado (after a brief fight). However, they did not get a receipt when they turned in Calzado, so ISIS gets no reward money.

Cast[]

Cultural References[]

  • Stargate SG-1 - Archer says he must "get back to Earth before the Stargate closes" and that "the chevrons are locking."
  • Transformers - Pam acknowledges Malory's request to stop beatboxing with "Transform," marking the start of her references to franchise.
  • Teddy Roosevelt - Archer chides Cyril that his field clothes are look like those of Teddy Roosevelt during his time with the Rough Riders.
  • LZ means landing zone.
  • Pam calls Ray Ironside, referring to the 1967 television crime drama starring Raymond Burr as a wheelchair-bound San Francisco police detective.
  • Heckle and Jeckle - Lana calls Archer and Cyril these animated birds from the post-war period.
  • Marlin Perkins was a zoologist and the host of the popular TV show, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
  • Archer scans the trees for Predator before being captured.
  • The hunting of Archer and Lana is in reference to The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Conell (1924).
  • Archer asks, "Jai alai?" in response to Calzado saying he's going to hunt "the most dangerous game." This is a reference to "Honeypot" where Archer challenges Ramon Limon to a game of Jai alai, per Limon "a dangerous game, amigo."
  • Malory threatens to have Pam flensed, a process where the blubber is cut from a whale to make commercial goods.
  • Archer approaches the bottle of booze with his spear exactly like the Ewok, Wicket W. Warrick, approaches Princess Leia Organa in "Return of the Jedi".
  • Just after Pam tries to rip out a toilet to "destroy the Decepticon (i.e. her hallucination of Ray in his wheelchair)", Krieger makes a note to himself to "call Terry". This is likely a reference to Terry McGovern, who was a voice actor on the 1980's Transformers cartoon, playing characters such as Onslaught.

Frisky Dingo[]

  • After getting shot in the hand by Lana, Calzado screams "What the hell, damn guy?" This is a reference to Adam Reed's previous show "Frisky Dingo".

Running Gags / Callbacks[]

  • Awkward/Surprised Hello - Cyril says "Hola!" and Lana says "Hello!"
  • Lana's Hands - When Lana sneaks up behind Cyril and covers his mouth, he's relieved it's her and remarks "Oh thank God, I thought those were yeti hands".
  • Flensing Threat - Malory again threatens Pam with flensing, the implication being that Pam is a whale (or manatee - which Archer calls her in the first episode).
  • Lannna! - Archer calls for Cyril instead of Lana in a variation of this gag.

Continuity[]

  • Archer expresses his fear of crocodiles.

Trivia[]

  • During the scene where Archer scans the trees for Predator, he is carrying a rare left-handed M-16. Whether this is intentional or an animating mistake is unclear. Other weapons have been "flipped" – notably the antique muskets in "A Debt of Honor", so it's likely an animation mistake.
  • Lana mentions FARC and the ELN.
  • Cyril officially becomes a Field Agent.
  • Cheryl hallucinates that the ground has turned into lava. This is a reference to The Floor Is Lava game where players move from one furniture to the next without touching the floor. Cheryl even shouts the words used to start the game: "The floor is lava!"
  • Next to the bathroom door, a sign says that Pam must wash hands before returning to work.
  • In the scene where Ray is dancing shirtless in a club, the body of Spirodon Skorpio can clearly be seen on the left side of the scene.
  • Cheryl/Carol mentions the gypsy woman.
  • The script makes several references to the use/misuse of "literally" and "figuratively".
  • After Lana forcibly corrects Archer with, "He said cereal" Cyril explains to Calzado that 'he wants breakfast,' to which Calzado replies, "People in hell want ice water", which is a phrase said by Malory. Calzado responds to Archer calling out Cyril's name with, "No breakfast for you," later in the episode.
  • Cyril reading the dossier saved their lives, whilst Archer, being Archer, never read it. So Cyril saved their lives. 
  • When Archer guesses Jai Alai when El Contador tells them he will be playing the most dangerous sport, Archer is actually referring to the real life sport based on Basque Pelota. The sport has Latin America and Hispanic influences, adding to the theme of the episode.

Locations[]

Quotes[]

Lana: My problem is I don't want a thousands balls of steel to shred my genitals.

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Gallery of Images[]

There are 14 images of El Contador on this Wiki, visit the El Contador gallery to view all the images and screenshots.

Here is a sample of images from the gallery:

Transcript[]

El Contador/Transcript

Navigation[]

Notes[]

  1. For a full description of this experiment, see here.
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