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"Killing Utne" is the fourth episode of the first season of Archer. It originally aired on January 28, 2010.

Plot[]

Synopsis[]

Malory hosts a dinner party for the UN intelligence chairman, Torvald Utne, in an effort to get a new weapons contract for ISIS. Unfortunately, a group of rival assassins have targeted Mr. Utne for elimination.

Summary[]

S01E04-Utne's file

Do you not even skim the briefings in your inbox?

At ISIS Headquarters, Malory is briefing Archer on her plan to host a dinner party for UN intelligence chairman, Torvald Utne, in an attempt to coax him into considering ISIS for the UN defense contract. To Archer's surprise, he's actually invited, but for an ulterior motive that Malory remains cryptic about.

S01E04-Dead date

That wasn't her fault.

She is also very insistent that Archer doesn't bring a date, remembering a previous incident where one of Archer's dates drops dead right in the middle of dinner. As it happened, the woman had overdosed on Malory's supply of oxycontin, the bottle of which Malory purposefully re-labeled as Xanax in an attempt to confuse her servants (who can't read English.) A subsequently confused Archer leaves the office as Malory phones her "caterers", who happen to be freelance German assassins, Mannfred and Uta.

Mannfred confirms that her instructions for them were clear, and just as he hangs up, he receives another call. This time, it is Nikolai Jakov, the head of the KGB, who has instructions of his own for them. After assuring him, Mannfred hangs up and calls for his partner Uta, clad in a fake pregnant belly prosthetic. A frustrated Mannfred informs her that they have two jobs; The first, to fake an attempt to kill Torvald Utne; The second, to kill Torvald Utne.

Mannfred and Uta later arrive at Malory's apartment in preparation for the dinner party. Malory again inquires if their instructions are clear. Mannfred recites the details of the plan, in which at the second ring of the dinner bell, he is to rush out of the kitchen and fire at Utne with his gun that is supposed to be full of blanks (but isn't), and as Malory pretends to shield Utne, her ISIS agents are to return fire with guns that are also to be full of blanks (but won't be.)

Malory then leaves the kitchen to check on her guests. Pam and Cheryl are enjoying themselves, but Malory informs them that they were invited to help entice Utne, who is an "incorrigible poon hound." Utne, however, has his sights set on Lana and her "enormous" twin pistols (conveniently holstered next to her breasts) which he wishes to cup. Despite her and Cyril's protests, Malory allows Utne free reign to cup whatever he wants. Lana becomes irritated after a few seconds of him playing with her "guns" and almost breaks his arm. Malory tries to calm an injured and infuriated Utne down when Archer finally arrives.

Archer explains to Malory that he was late because Woodhouse wasn't around to help him get dressed. As it turns out, Woodhouse was already at the dinner party with his date, Carina (Cheryl's nommé du jour.) Malory insists that Archer entertain Utne with tales of his previous missions, but apparently, Utne is occupied talking to Pam and Krieger. Upset that he's the only guest without a date, Archer makes one up and promptly leaves the apartment. Utne, meanwhile, is fed up with Pam and Krieger's talk of sex robots and decides to leave. Malory intercepts him and forces him to take some "calcium supplements" for his arm.

Outside the building, Archer is calling Popeye to set him up with a prostitute to masquerade as his date. Dissatisfied with his options, Archer finds himself fortunate enough to be approached by a stunning blonde woman by the name of Elke Hubsch. Archer inquires if she's "working", which she vaguely confirms is true. She is working, but her job is also to assassinate Torvald Utne.

Utne is just about to leave the party when Archer and Elke return. Smitten by Archer's date, Utne wastes no time introducing himself to her. As Utne is her target, Elke is very receptive of his advances, much to Archer's chagrin. Malory warns Archer to keep Elke away from her medicine cabinet, worried about any retaliation from her annoying neighbor, Trudy Beekman. Krieger and Cyril both show interest in Elke, with Lana punishing Cyril by pinching his collarbone until Mallory orders her to cease.

Elke also catches the eye of Mannfred, who recognizes her as "The Needle", and deduces that Jakov sent her to kill Utne as well. Following Uta's suggestion, Mannfred decides to eliminate both Elka and Utne. Archer then barges into the kitchen, wondering what's taking the hors d' oeuvres so long. After Archer leaves, Mannfred is surprised to find the notorious secret agent "Duchess" to be among the party guests. Fearing betrayal from Malory, Mannfred is forced to make a change of plans. Excusing herself to use the bathroom, Elke uses a transmitter hidden in her compact to contact Jakov and inform him that she has successfully made contact with her target, and is prepared to move in for the kill. Jakov is pleased at the prospect of ODIN losing the lucrative U.N. contract, and of an opportunity to work with Malory. Archer then barges in before Elke can end her transmission. Fortunately for her, Archer is more preoccupied with keeping her out of the medicine cabinet. As Elke leaves Archer hears Jakov's voice from the compact and sees his image in the small mirror. Archer chalks it up to his mother switching out baby aspirin with LSD (before taking a handful for himself.)

Dinner is finally ready, and after making sure Archer and Lana are in position, Malory rings for the first bell. Everyone is about to eat when Cyril notices an odd smell coming from the food. Utne assures everyone that the smell is normal as he offers an Elke a bite of his. Unfortunately, Mannfred had poisoned Utne's dish (Which Uta had given him by mistake. Probably.) After Elke succumbs to the poison, Utne is outraged, accusing Malory of perfidy (and not being that far off from the truth.) Mannfred then shoots and kills Utne, startling everyone else. Learning that Mannfred wasn't firing blanks, Malory leads a charge towards the kitchen, but find that Mannfred and Uta had already made their escape.

It doesn't take long for Malory to improvise a way out of her current predicament. At her order, the ISIS crew carry the bodies of Utne and Elke to the bathroom in Trudy Beekman's apartment. Malory has each of her subordinates shot Elke's corpse to ensure their silence by forcing their involvement, and leaves the gun with Utne, making the scene look like a hooker murder/suicide. With Krieger's assistance, the bodies are set ablaze and all evidence destroyed, leaving quite a mess that Beekman will have to explain to the co-op board (and making Pam hungry in the process.)

Their grisly task complete, they return to Malory's apartment to enjoy a nice Kladdkaka. Archer and the others (save Malory) all have a good laugh at the name of their desert. Cheryl was embarrassed to admit she was laughing at the dead people they set on fire.

But at least Lana found it funny.

Cast[]

Cultural References[]

  • The title of the episode is possibly a play on the non-fiction book "Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw" by Mark Bowden, which chronicles the efforts of Colombian law enforcement, American intelligence and special forces, and vengeful vigilantes in dismantling the operations of the Medellin Cartel, culminating in the death of the cartel's leader, the eponymous Pablo Escobar.
  • The characters of Mannfred and Uta are a possible reference to the 1994 film Leon: The Professional , where there is a curious relationship between an older hitman, Leon (Jean Reno), and a young girl, Mathilda (Natalie Portman, then 12 years old).
  • It is possible that Utne is loosely based on former second secretary-general of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld.
  • After Lana comments that a dateless "Sterling Archer stands alone", Cheryl adds "just like the cheese". This is a reference to the singing game "The Farmer In The Dell".
  • Krieger's sex robot, Fister Roboto, was named after the song Mr. Roboto by the rock band Styx
  • Lana's line, "I find your lack of faith disturbing", is a classic bit of understatement uttered by Darth Vader in the original 1977 film, Star Wars. The scene is re-enacted practically verbatim in this episode.
  • Archer mocking Lana's size by doing robot body movements and saying Truckasaurus is a reference to a Simpsons parody of the Robosaurus, a giant transforming dinosaur robot.
  • When journalist Dan Rather was assaulted in 1986 the assailant asked him "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" . REM later recorded a song by the title "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?", which was a minor hit for the band in 1994.
  • Archer's remark, "Wow, you don't get along with your neighbors anywhere!" to Malory (voiced by Jessica Walter) after she complains about her relationship with her unseen neighbor Trudy Beekman is a reference to Arrested Development character Lucille Bluth (also played by Walter) and her adversarial relationship with her neighbor Lucille Austero.
  • Utne's greeting to Elke Hubsch, "Good evening, you beautiful girl," is a reference to similar greetings by Dracula. He even uses a voice similar to Bela Lugosi's from the film.
  • The scene where Archer tricks 5 people into killing themselves in a game of Russian roulette is a reference to the film The Deer Hunter. Malory has a similar scene in "Job Offer" also referencing this film.
  • The funny sounding dessert is called Kladdkaka and is basically a Swedish brownie. The literal meaning of the word is gooey cake.
  • Gravlax is a Nordic dish of raw salmon and seasonings. The word means precisely that.
  • Janssons frestelse is a Swedish casserole, it essentially means Jansson's Temptation.
  • When Archer claims that his fictitious date is out parking the car, Lana asks him if she drives a Snuffleupagus. This is a reference to a character on Sesame Street who, for his first several seasons on the show, was only seen by Big Bird, leading the other characters to believe that Snuffy was merely a figment of Big Bird's imagination.

Running Gags / Callbacks[]

S01E04-Lana grabs Utne

You're breaking my arm!

  • Lana's Hands: After Lana grabs Utne he says she has "hands like the Truckasaurus".
  • Phrasing: Archer is the first to use phrasing in response to Malory telling him that his mouth better get over there and make Torvald happy.
  • Identity Crisis: Cheryl again has changed her name, this time to Carina because she feels Carina better captures her sensual womanhood.
  • Trudy, mah, mah, mah: First mention of Malory's neighbor and rival Trudy Beekman. Malory tries to ruin Trudy's standing with their buildings Co-Op Board by dumping Elke's dead body in her apartment.
  • I Shall Fetch a Rug: When discussing what to do with Elke's dead body, Woodhouse offers to fetch a rug, which is a callback to the episode "Training Day" in which he fetched a rug to move a supposedly dead Trinette.
  • Negress: Torvald Utne refers to Lana as a "negress".

Continuity[]

Trivia[]

  • The dossier for Torvald Utne lists Honeypot as a recommended tactic, foreshadowing the fifth episode of the first season, "Honeypot", and the effectiveness of Elke Hubsch's plan.
  • This episode was possibly meant to be third in the first season (with "Diversity Hire" being the fourth), as Cheryl's name in this episode is "Carina", and Cyril mistakenly calls her this in "Diversity Hire" before noticing that her name is now "Cristal". Either that or it was an instance of subtle call-back humor.
    • The two episodes' production codes more or less confirm this, as this episode's production code is AR01003, and Diversity Hire's is AR01004.
  • Elke's last name of Hubsch is German for pretty or handsome.
  • This episode marks the first time Dr. Krieger speaks.
  • ODIN, a rival spy agency, is mentioned for the first time.
  • Woodhouse mentions service with the King’s African Rifles, formed in 1902 of native troops led by British officers and NCOs. At some point prior to April 1917 he transferred from the KAR to the Royal Flying Corps.

Locations[]

First Appearances[]

Quotes[]

Malory: "Torvald Utne..."
Archer: "The Olympic shot-putter?"
Malory: "The chairman of the U.N. Intelligence Committee! Do you not even skim the briefings in your inbox?"
Archer: "I have an inbox?"

─────────────────────────

Malory: "No one is bringing a date, so don't you bring a date."
Archer: "Okay, but I don't want to get there and be the only one without a date."
Malory: "And I don't want another one of your sullen whores using my medicine cabinet like a.... a Pez dispenser!"

─────────────────────────

Uta: "What is the job?"
Mannfred: "Two jobs. The first, we make a big phony attempt to kill Torvald Utne."
Uta: "Okay. And the second?"
Mannfred: "We kill Torvald Utne."

─────────────────────────

Archer: "You said 'no dates!'"
Malory: "I said no such thing."
Archer: "Well, your mouth did."
Malory: "Well, your mouth better get over there and make Torvald happy."
Archer: "Uh, phrasing."
Malory: "Regale him with tales of ISIS exploits. Take his mind off of Lana's huge, Johnny Benchian fingers."
Lana: "Can we get off my fingers?"
Cyril: "Yeah, they are pretty big."
Lana: "First time I've heard you complain."
Cyril: "Hi-ho! Ha, ha....Seriously, who wants gravlax?"

─────────────────────────

Malory: "What about the groundbreaking work Dr. Krieger is doing for ISIS in our Applied Research Division?"
Pam: "Yeah, tell 'im about the sex-robot!"
Torvald: "The what?"
Malory: "Yes--the WHAT?!"
Krieger: "I call him 'Fister Roboto'."
Pam: "But it doesn't just fist. Tell him."
Malory: "Pam!"
Krieger: "He's a fully-integrated multi-fetish artificial being."
Torvald: "That is the most disgusting--"
Krieger: "Shut up! Shut...Shut...And the best part is that he's learning."

─────────────────────────

Woodhouse: "When I served in the King's African Rifles, the local Zambezi tribesman called human flesh 'long pig.' Never much cared for it."

─────────────────────────

Lana: "I find your lack of faith disturbing."
Cyril: "I find your mannish hands disturbing."

─────────────────────────

Malory: "Give me that! Some idiot dropped a fish ball on my Azerbaijani rug!"(leaves the room)
Uta: "(giggles) I am that idiot"
Mannfred: "Ach! Why are you so immature?"
Uta: "...I'm nineteen."

─────────────────────────

Archer: "Woodhouse, what are you doing?"
Woodhouse: "Uh, sitting down, sir."
Archer: "What, at the table?"
Malory: "Sterling!
Archer: "Like people?"
Malory: "Sterling!"
Archer: "What? Look, he thinks he's people!"

─────────────────────────

Malory: "It's okay, they're just blanks!"
Lana: "Well, see, you say that..."
Malory: "But they were blanks. Weren't they?"
Archer: "Uhh, only if the back of his skull picked that exact moment to explode outwards."

Gallery of Images[]

There are 24 screenshots and images from "Killing Utne" on this Wiki, visit the category page for a complete gallery.

Transcript[]

Killing Utne/Transcript

External links[]

Reference List[]

  1. Archer Season 1 Ratings on tvbythenumbers.com

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