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The Archer Sanction" is the third episode of season 6 and the sixty-fifth episode overall of Archer.

Plot[]

Synopsis[]

An assassin targets Archer, Lana and Ray.

Summary[]

Lana, Archer, and Ray arrive at a mountain climbing resort in the Alps. Their mission is to kill an assassin, but Archer, being Archer, forgets the mission dossier, leaving them with no clue as to who their target is. Archer vainly tries to redirect Lana's anger towards Ray for forgetting to bring gum (Though Ray did bring some, he just didn't feel like sharing.)

As they reach the cabin, they meet their guide Crash McCaren. They meet the other guests: Mario Sevino (of Italy), Michiko Ishikawa (of Japan), and Hans Hessler (of Germany). Though Archer has forgotten the identity of the mission target, he reassures Lana he knows the person is from a country that was an Axis power in WWII.

After Lana and Ray flirt with an unsuspecting Crash, they and the rest are introduced to the mountain they'll be climbing - Die Totenspitz (The peak of death.)

Lana and Archer call Malory to ask about who they are supposed to assassinate, and also concerned about A.J. but only get a ridiculous voice mail. Meanwhile, Pam, Cheryl, Cyril, and Krieger are hanging out in the spa room of the new headquarters and get Lana's call to look in Malory's apartment to find A.J., only to realize that it's being fumigated. The mountain climbing crew is on the move when the Japanese woman suddenly falls into a ridge and McCaren climbs down to save her, but is unable to. They stop for the night, with Lana, Ray, and Archer sleeping naked in one tent and the rest in another tent. When they wake up they find the frozen bodies of the Italian and German, strangled by belts. When they confront McCaren, he claims they suffered hypothermia and went insane. Archer then gets him to admit that he is the assassin and that he is Irish, and he killed all the other climbers, them being Interpol agents. Archer shoots him, against warnings that an avalanche will start, which does. Later, they are sitting in an ambulance, mirroring Pam, Cyril, Cheryl, and Kreiger being rescued from the fumigation in Malory's apartment. Archer shows a surprising amount of knowledge on World War II as he tells Lana why he thought Ireland was an Axis power; mistaking it with Romania under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the USSR invasion of Bessarabia.

Cast[]

Cultural References[]

  • The Eiger Sanction - The episode's main plot line, as suggested by the title, shares similarities with the Clint Eastwood film.
  • Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - By P.M. Dawn is mentioned by Ray.
  • Charles Fredric Andrus - A horticulturist at the USDA Vegetable Breeding Laboratory in Charleston, South Carolina, set out to produce a disease-resistant and wilt-resistant watermelon. The result, in 1954, was "that gray melon from Charleston." Its oblong shape and hard rind made it easy to stack and ship. Its adaptability meant it could be grown over a wide geographical area. It produced high yields and was resistant to the most serious watermelon diseases: anthracnose and fusarium wilt.
  • Ghostbusters - The storm on Die Totenspitz reminds Archer of the one seen in this movie.
  • Children of Dune - The shot of Archer's fist-punch through the snow to the surface, after the blizzard, is an homage to Leto II's own fist-punch through the sand after a sandstorm in Part III of the 2003 miniseries. In both cases, the hero was buried by a wave of weather. That the tent is also buried, is a reference to Paul Atreides and his mother being buried in their own tent by a sandstorm, which occurs in both the original Dune novel and 2000 miniseries.
  • Joe Frazier - Number 3 on Archer's bucket list is to have sex with this heavyweight boxer who died in 2011.
  • Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact - Archer displays a remarkable knowledge of this WW2 peace agreement.

Running Gags / Callbacks[]

  • Ping Pong Paddle: In the back of the car as part of Archer's packed equipment.
  • Sploosh!: By Lana and Ray for Crash.
  • You're Not My Supervisor!: Cheryl's line used by Archer.
  • Teutonic Ringtone

Trivia[]

  • Archer's latest cocktail, the Peppermint Patty, is actually one of the cocktail recipes mentioned in his book, How to Archer: The Ultimate Guide to Espionage and Style and Women and Also Cocktails Ever Written. In this episode, it is revised from the original recipe, that being scratch-made cocoa and peppermint schnapps.
  • The vehicle that the trio drive up to the cabin is a Range Rover Classic.
  • The running gag of Archer's tinnitus returns in this episode, although indirectly.
  • A shot of the mountain shows it being the one represented on the Toblerone packaging. In real life it is the Matterhorn.
  • Archer borrows Cheryl's line, "You're not my supervisor!" in this episode.
  • Ron's open marriage with Malory, which was first brought up in Season 5, is mentioned in this episode, although in the past tense, implying it may have fallen apart. Malory later reveals their marriage has been repaired and "stronger than ever," although the validity of this is still in question.
  • Cheryl celebrates her birthday in this episode.
  • Malory uses an elaborate voicemail hoax to trick Archer when he calls her via the satphone, ironically turning Archer's own habits back on him.
  • The eyestalk of a creature appears out of the water in the hot tub. This is a reference to the Dianoga, commonly known as the garbage squid from the trash compactor scene in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It can be inferred that the dianoga is another of Krieger's creations and was accidentally released into the tub.
  • The hot tub is revealed to be very deep, much like the trash compactor in Star Wars, as evidenced by the presence of the dianoga and Krieger being able to submerge with full SCUBA gear in order to look for said creature.
  • Archer claiming that Malory will make Lana agent-in-command is a reference to "The Honeymooners," where Lana was given that role while Archer called Malory.
  • The Mulato Butts ringtone gag returns in this episode, although it has been rewritten into "Teutonic Butts" as Krieger's ringtone. "Teutonic" means of displaying characteristics popularly attributed to Germans.
  • Archer mistakes Ireland for an Axis power for the second time. The first time occurs in the episode "Lo Scandalo" while discussing Malory's resentment towards the Irish.
  • The sequence of events shortly after the avalanche involving the escape from the tents, as well as the discussion of hypothermia as the cause of death for the Italian and the German, is an allusion to the Dyaltov Pass incident.

Locations[]

Quotes[]

Lana: "I'm talking about the fact that we're about to climb a Swiss goddamn friggin' alp to assassinate somebody!"
Archer: "The target's an assassin, Lana, not a king or a pope or a.... vice-pope. So it's not an assassination, it's just an extrajudicial killing."
Lana: "And that makes it better?"
Archer: "Yes, Lana, that's why they made up a whole different word for it."

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Lana: "And since you obviously didn't read the mission dossier..."
Archer: "FOR YOUR INFORMATION, LANA....... I skimmed it."

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Lana: "So, how'd you get the name 'Crash'?"
Crash: "Oh, it's a long story.... about me saving the lives of eight other climbers right after an avalanche."
Lana & Ray: "Sploooosh!"
Crash: "Sorry?"
Lana: "Is... I bet.... the sound an avalanche makes."
Crash: "No, it's more like a freight train full of tornadoes, which are, in turn, full of smaller freight trains."
Archer: "Which are, in turn, full of shit."
Crash: "Sorry?"
Archer: "She just had a baby."
Lana: "Y'know..."
Ray: "I didn't."

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Crash: "We head out at dawn."
Archer: "And that's A.M.?"
Crash: "As opposed to…?"
Archer: "P.M. dawn?"
Ray: "'Set Adrift on Memory Bliss!' Come on, buddy!"

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Lana: "So, instead of antagonizing the person responsible for our safety..."
Archer: "What, shamelessly flirt with him?"
Ray: "Was it obvious?"

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Cheryl: "What the stupid shit are you doing?"
Cyril: "You said you wanted watermelon."
Cheryl: "Watermelon's red?"
Cyril: "Wh--? Yes! How do you not know that?"
Cheryl: "Who am I, Charles Fredric Andrus ?"

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Cheryl: "I just want to say, breaking into Ms. Archer’s apartment to hopefully find a crying baby clinging to her dead and shriveled body is the best birthday present I’ve ever gotten… (belch)… except for that formula one team. Dibs on snacks." (passes out)

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Lana: "I am not ridin' bitch in this tent!"
Archer: "You have to. It’s the only way to keep Ray's genitals away from mine."
Ray: "Oh, as if!"
Lana: "Uh uh. No. Nooo. Ray is the DMZ."
Archer: "Ugh. Goddamnit!"
Ray: "Oh, please. I oughta be worried about your dirty old junk touching mine!"
Archer: "Ray, if I ever have sex with a man, It'll be a man who REMEMBERS THE GUM! And, not that it matters… also black."

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Archer: "Eat a dick, blizzard."

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Cyril: "Seriously I swear to god, somebody please come in here and kill me…"
Pam: "I would if I had the strength, dick!"
Cyril: "What’d I do?"
Cheryl: "You poisoned us! With that stupid ceviche nobody asked you to bring!"
Cyril: "You asked me to bring it!"
Cheryl: *Crying* "I didn’t know what ceviche was!" 
Krieger: "Uh, hey guys? (notices the bug bomb.) I don’t think it was the ceviche…"

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Crash: "Yeah, that's true. Although I prefer the term 'Cleaner' to 'Assassin'."
Ray: "Well, that's just smart branding."
Crash: "And, I'm actually Canadian, not Irish."
Ray: "As is that."

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Lana: "How...could you possibly be...that excited...to be in a frickin' avalanche?!"
Archer: "I have kind of a weird bucket list."
Ray: "Number three: bang Joe Frazier."
Archer: "Really regret sharing that with you."

Gallery of Images[]

There are 3 screenshots and images from "The Archer Sanction" on this Wiki, visit the category page for a complete gallery.


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