El Contador

Template:Episode infobox"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, 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 really induces wild hallucinations.

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.

MoltenPam — Ray hallucinates Pam melting.

Dr. Krieger's Experiment

Unbeknownst to Ray, Pam, and Cheryl, Dr. Krieger tricks them into being subjects for an experiment leading to vivid hallucinations. He does this by promising that the components will make them pass the ISIS drug test.

Dr. Krieger notes on an audio recorder that, as expected, Cheryl and Ray have fallen asleep. However, Pam remains 'at large'. Later in the episode, Pam is seen riddled with tranquilizer darts and Kreiger is screaming to seal the area.

Trivia

Pam calls Ray “Ironside”, referring to the 1967 television crime drama starring Raymond Burr as a wheelchair bound San Francisco police detective.
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".
Archer says he must "...get back to Earth before the Stargate closes" and that "the chevrons are locking." These are references to "Stargate SG-1".
Pam acknowledges Malory's request that to stop beatboxing with "Transform," marking the start of her references to Transformers.
Lana calls Archer and Cyril Heckle and Jeckle, animated birds from post-war period.
Marlin Perkins was a zoologist and the host of the popular TV show, Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
The hunting of Archer and Lana is in reference to The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Conell (1924).
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.
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."
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".
The script makes several references to the use/misuse of "literally" and "figuratively".
Malory threatens to have Pam flensed, a process where the blubber is cut from a whale to make commercial goods.
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.
Archer scans the trees for Predator before being captured. During this scene, 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 if Honor”, so it’s likely an animation mistake
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.
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!"
Cheryl/Carol mentions the gypsy woman.