Killing Utne

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"Killing Utne" is the fourth episode of the first season of Archer.

Plot summary

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.

Main Cast

Guest Stars

Trivia and Cultural References

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 (played by Jean Reno), and a young girl, Mathilda (Natalie Portman, then 12 years old). The cartoon characters on this Archer episode bear striking similarities to both Jean Reno and Natalie Portman in physicality.
Gravlax is a Nordic dish of raw salmon and seasonings. The word means precisely that.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing" is a classic bit of understatement uttered by Darth Vader in the original Star Wars. The scene is re-enacted practically verbatim in this episode.
"What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" was a minor hit for the band REM in 1994.
Janssons frestelse is a Swedish casserole, it essentially means Jansson's Temptation.
The dossier for Torvald Utne lists Honey Pot 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 humour.
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 neighbour Trudy Beekman is a reference to Arrested Development character Lucille Bluth (also played by Walter) and her adversarial relationship with her neighbour Lucille Austero.
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.
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.
Elke's last name of 'Hubsch' is German for "hot" or "beautiful"
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 desert is called Kladdkaka and is basically a Swedish brownie. The litteral meaning of the word is gooey cake.
It is possible that Utne is loosely based on former second secretary-general of the UN, Dag Hammarskjöld.

Quotes

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!'"

Mallory:"I said no such thing."

Archer:"Well, your mouth did."

Mallory:"Well, your mouth better get over there and make Torvald happy."

Archer:"Uh, phrasing."

Mallory:"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?"

Mallory:"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?"

Mallory:"Yes--the WHAT?!"

Krieger:"I call him 'Fister Roboto'."

Pam:"But it doesn't just fist. Tell him."

Mallory:"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."

Mallory:"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?"

Mallory:"Sterling!

Archer:"Like people?"

Mallory:"Sterling!"

Archer:"What? Look, he thinks he's people!"

Mallory:"It's okay, they're just blanks!"

Lana:"Well, see, you say that..."

Mallory:"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

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