The Rock

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"The Rock" is the eighth episode of the first season of Archer.

Plot summary

The episode begins with Archer and Lana breaking into a large palace in San Marino on a mission from Malory (who called them as Archer had his cell phone on) to be security consultants by stealing a very large diamond from them in which they succeed in doing. To steal the diamond, Archer and Lana make use of several types of sophisticated equipment, including a code cloner and night vision goggles.

The scene shifts to a bar where Pam and Cyril happen to be drinking, where Cyril shows a ring with a small brown diamond on it and announces that he's going to ask Lana to marry him.

At ISIS Headquarters Sterling, Lana, and Malory are sitting in the Office awaiting a call from the client. In the break room Pam recovers from a hangover and almost blurts out loud Cyril's plan to marry Lana until he stops her. Just the Cheryl walks in and Cyril lies about Pam eating his muffin to which Cheryl tells him to punch her in the gut which causes Pam to vomit (spitting out a key in the process). At the office the client a Captain-Regent, announces that he's hiring ODIN instead and ODIN's director Len Trexler interupts and flirts with Malory.

Malory then tells Archer and Lana to break back into the palace to steal back the diamond. After that, Pam and Cyril decide to unionize ISIS, so that they can get better benefits, and a raise. Lana and Archer are seen in the ISIS armory looking for equipment but can't seem to find any due to the fact that the drones have gone on strike.

The ISIS employees then drive Malory into the elevator, where she is trapped. Somehow Archer and Lana make it out of the building. While at the palace, Archer starts talking about Burt Reynolds, and Deliverance. Lana breaks their cover by screaming out, "I know, he did his own stunts!" ODIN then attacks Archer and Lana. Archer is temporarily blinded when attempting to use night vision goggles that had not been calibrated properly, since the ISIS support staff that would normally calibrate equipment has gone on strike. Lana attempts to use a sound sensor, but finds that it too is not calibrated.

Krieger and Bilbo build a Sat-Com Link that can track Archer and Lana's location, and send in a helicopter, therefore destroying the brown diamond that Cyril bought for Lana. After negotiating with the ISIS employees Malory says that if it's alright with Archer and Lana, the employees can have their cost of living adjustment if Archer and Lana give up their bonuses.

Main Cast

Guest Star

Jeffrey Tambor as Len Trexler

Trivia

When Cyril hits Pam in the stomach, she vomits up a key. He then mentions that getting hit in the stomach was how Harry Houdini died. Houdini's trademark way of escaping was to swallow the key beforehand and control his gag reflex later to retrieve the key. When Pam say, "Houdini died of AIDS", I think it has to do with Paul Michael Glaser, who played Houdini in a TV movie. His wife and child died of AIDS, after a contaminated blood transfusion while giving birth to their first child. A lot of people thought "Starsky" had infected them and the dimmer people assumed he also died of it. Pam would fit in with that group.
The humming in the background of Cyril's speeches to Pam and later the ISIS employees is to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", but in the context is more likely to be the song "Solidarity Forever ", a socialist, pro-union anthem with the same tune, popularised by Pete Seeger.
Archer refers to Lana as Eugene Debs while she is carrying him away from the blown robbery attempt. Debs was a prominent socialist and union organizer in the early part of the twentieth century.
"Bread and Roses" was a possibly apocryphal slogan associated with the Lawrence strike of 1912, in which immigrant female workers struck for better wages and working conditions, which they mostly got. The strike is most famous for its invention of the moving picket line, used to this day, to prevent the strikers' arrest for loitering.
The opening scene is a calque of the theft of the Pink Pather diamond in the opening scene of The Return of the Pink Panther (1975), starring Peter Sellers. In the film, the thief uses a crossbow to shoot a cable across the room and then uses the cable to slide across the floor to get to the diamond. The gem Archer and Lana are stealing resembles the Pink Panther diamond, although larger, and emits a similar pinkish hue.
The use of 934,934TX, and 934TXS (harken back and/or flash forward)

- Skytanic, Season 1, Episode 7: The bomb's model number is 934TXS which is confusing when Archer, who does not know the NATO phonetic alphabet, says to Ray it’s “like INXS.”

- The Rock, Season 1, Episode 8: The “code cloner” displays 934TXS when unlocked.

- Blood Test, Season 2, Episode 3: The lockbox, which stores a glass bottle of Archer’s blood, has the code of 934TXS when Archer decodes it inside the bank vault.

- Live and Let Dine, Season 4, Episode 7: Rodney uses the 934TX Telephonic Isolator Unit to find out 16's exclusive phone number for reservations. Again, at the very end of the episode for a brief moment, 934-TXS is call number on Barry & Katya’s helicopter.

- The Papal Chase, Season 4, Episode 11: The imposter “Swiss Guard's” vehicle plate number is 934TXS.

- The Holdout, Season 6, Episode 1: When Pam does the retinal scan, the secret door unlocks and the code reads 934TXS.

- Three to Tango, Season 6, Episode 2: The license plate on the limo Archer is chauffeuring for Lana and Conway reads 934TXS; it can be seen when he screeches to a halt in the parking garage. Additionally, when Slater drives Lana and Archer to the airport the front license plate read 934TXS, but the back plate is different.

- Edie’s Wedding, Season 6, Episode 4: Pam and Archer board flight number 934.

Gallery of Images

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