The Archer Sanction

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

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 climbing party, consisting of attractive leader Crash McCaren, Mario Sevino of Italy, Michiko Ishikawa of Japan, and Hans Hessler of Germany. It's at that point that Archer tells Lana that he recalls the target being from a country that was an Axis superpower 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 (translation: The Peak of Death.)

Lana and Archer call Malory to ask about who they are suppose 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 a 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.

Trivia

• The episode's main plot line, as suggested by the title, shares similarities with the Clint Eastwood film The Eiger Sanction.
• 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, however, it is revised from the original recipe, that being scratch-made cocoa and peppermint schnapps.
• Archer once again forgets to read the mission dossier, although he does skim it for the assassin's identity.
• The running gag of Archer's tinnitus returns in this episode, although indirectly.
• 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 it is mentioned 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.
• 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 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 Children of Dune. 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.
• The eye stalk 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. The dianoga is implied to be and most likely another of Kreiger's creations that was accidentally released into the tub.
• The hot tub is revealed to have a large amount of space under it, much like the trash compactor in Star Wars, as evidenced by the presence of the dianoga and Kreiger being able to go under 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 the exact rank while Archer called Malory.
• The Mullato Butts ringtone gag returns in this episode, although it has been rewritten into "Teutonic Butts".
• In this episode Archer mistakes Ireland for an axis power for the second time. The first time occurs in the episode "Lo Scandalo" in season 3, 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.

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."

Lana: "And since you obviously didn't read the mission dossier..."

Archer: "FOR YOUR INFORMATION, LANA....... I skimmed it."

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."

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!"

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)

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."

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…"

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."