A Discovery

A Discovery
Series Information
Series	Archer
Season No.	9
Episode Information
Episode No.	8
Original Air Date	June 13, 2018
Written by	Adam Reed
Production Code	XAR09008
U.S. Viewership (Millions)	0.35
Episode Navigation
← Previous	Comparative Wickedness of Civilized and Unenlightened Peoples
Next →	Bort the Garj

"Danger Island: A Discovery" is the eighth episode and season finale of Season 9, and the one hundred and first episode overall.

Plot

Synopsis

Archer and the gang enter a deadly temple in search of an even deadlier treasure.

Summary

As Archer and the group continue thier jorney to the idol they start argueing on who get a share of the money once the idol is sold not noticing they are being followed by a Fuchs.

Upon entering the volcano, the entrance shuts behind them locking everyone inside, following a trail of lit torches leads them to a wall with petroglyphs which Noah translates stating that the idol is cursed and will kill anyone who attempts to take it. Malory opens a secret door in the wall revealing a large room with several small pillars arranged in a circle.

Archer deduces that one person must sit on a pillar to open the entrance to the idol which the group does causing the idol to be revealed a green glowing sculpture which Noah reveals that the glowing is actual radoactivity meaning the idol is somehow made entirely of uranium.

Archer prematurly celebrates as uranuim is worth more than stardard gold while Marloy asks on why the natives would lead them to a deadly object as Noah agian states the natives pure hatred for white people. Lana than states that it'll be imposible to remove the idol with being exposed to the radition as Fuchs arives in his mech and opens fire on the group with a machine gun and flamethrower.

Fuchs uses his mech to safely aquire the idol and proclams that with the uranium, germany will be able to create superweapons to take over the world. Pam attempts to stop him but is knocked aside as the volcano begans to erupt causing the floor to breeak apart resulting in both Fuchs and Archer falling off but Fuchs manages to get ahold of Pam as Archer grabs and begins to punch Fuchs.

Reynaud runs off to get help as Pam starts to loose her grip before Archer forces Fuchs to let go as his grabs onto Pam only for Fuchs to cling onto Archer, left with no choice Archer willingly lets go of Pam to prevent Fuchs from leaving with idol resulting in both Fuch and the idol to be consumed by lava as Archer slowly falls to his death.

Later, Archer finds himself in a statis pod, having been awoken by Malory.

Cast

• Starring :
  • H. Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer / Archer (Dream Persona)
  • Judy Greer as Cheryl Tunt / Charlotte Stratton (Dream Persona)
  • Amber Nash as Pam Poovey / Pam Poovey (Dream Persona)
  • Chris Parnell as Cyril Figgis / Siegbert Fuchs (Dream Persona)
  • Aisha Tyler as Lana Kane / Princess Lanaluakalani (Dream Persona)
  • Lucky Yates as Dr. Krieger / Crackers (Dream Persona)
  • Jessica Walter as Malory Archer / Malory Archer (Dream Persona)

• Co-Starring :
  • Adam Reed as Ray Gillette / Capitaine Reynaud (Dream Persona)
  • David Cross as Noah (Dream Persona)

Cultural References

• Baby Makes 3 (1949): When Lanaluakalani tells Archer that "you and me and the idol makes three" she makes a compound reference to this romantic comedy and the song
  • You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby)  by swing revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, from their 1998 studio album Americana Deluxe.
• The Hobbit (1937): The book, (according to Charlotte), published in 1937 by JRR Tolkien.
  • Smaug / a thrush / Portal of Erebor (the volcano in Danger Island references the Lonely Mountain, or Erebor in Sindarin).
• Trader Vic's A chain of Polynesian-themed restaurants that bore the founder Victor Jules Bergeron, Jr's nickname, "Trader Vic". He was one of two people who claimed to have invented the Mai Tai.
• Good Will Hunting (1997): A lot people know of the saying "how d'you like them apples?" from this film about the troubled maths genius but the origins are uncertain. It is possibly a WWI reference to hand grenades, and is a rhetorical colloquialism meaning "how do you like that?"
• Dem Bones (1920s): this well-known spiritual song was composed by author and songwriter James Weldon Johnson (1871–1938) and was first recorded by The Famous Myers Jubilee Singers in 1928.
• Alien 3 (1992) - When Archer descends into the lava death soup, this ending mirrors that of the third installment of the Alien franchise. This connection makes more sense in light of the ending in the spaceship.
  • A robot being melted by molten red metal is also a motif in Terminator 2, but it would be a stretch to say this is a direct reference: indirect at most, coincidental at least.
• The Lord of the Rings: Archer's death by falling into lava along with the treasure he sought is possibly an indirect reference to the death of Gollum in the third book in The Lord of the Rings Series, The Return of the King. The Lord of the Rings series was a sequel to JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit, which is referenced directly (see above).
  • The allusions to Alien 3 and resonance with Gollum's fate - as well as mention of The Hobbit - indicate it is likely that Archer's fall is a compound reference to both fantasy and science fiction franchises, with the revelation that the next season will be set in space on a spaceship providing the most powerful connection.
• Petroglyphs: Images created by removing part of a rock surface by incising, picking, carving, or abrading, as a form of rock art.

---

• St. Elsewhere (1982-88): In the Season 10 preview, Archer's "What? You couldn't find a snow globe?" line upon waking up in the spaceship refers to the series' finale of this show, in which it's revealed that the entire series has been the dream of an autistic child staring into a snow globe.

Continuity

• Reality (Non-Dream):
  • (Unseen) Archer remains in a coma brought upon by the events of Deadly Velvet: Part II (s7e10).

Trivia

• The wiki article's analysis of The Hobbit is as an 'episodic quest, and most chapters introduce a specific creature or type of creature of Tolkien's geography'. This framework corresponds loosely with Danger Island:
  • Ep1 introduces the characters (and foreshadows the creatures and dangers on the island)
  • Ep 2 - snakes and lizards
  • Ep 3 - the map/idol
  • Ep 4 - the Nazis
  • Ep 5 - quicksand / monkeys / cannibals (briefly)
  • Ep 6 - cannibals and more Nazis
  • Ep 7 - showdown between protagonists and antagonists / Mech
  • Ep 8 - the Idol / End Boss
• The volcanic fire god is named turako / turaco or Tarako. The spelling and pronunciation are uncertain and could refer to any or none of these. Given show creator Adam Reed's previous reference to yaoi manga in White Elephant (s5e1) it is a possible nod to the writer, illustrator and creator of Love Pistols, Tarako Kotobuki.
• The monitor unit which monitors the life signs of the cryopods in the space ship reads "M/V Seamus" (Merchant Vessel Seamus). In the original Alien movie, the ship MV Nostromo, named after Joseph Conrad's boatswain, was a working-class freighter tugging a refinery through deep space (although the subsequent cryopods scene has a closer resemblance to the sequel, Aliens). The Nostromo's AI is known as "Mother", linking Archer's snow-globe comment to the MV Seamus' AI, confirming his continued coma. 
• Fuchs mech has twin MG42 machine guns mounted on the right arm, but those didn't exist in 1938. But then, neither did a mech suit, so...

Enhanced

For dialog translations, fictional product placement, and interpretations see:

• A Discovery/Enhanced

Locations

• Mitimotu, French Polynesia (Dream Location)

Quotes

Archer: "Okay, so, just so we're all on the same page, we're walking into an active volcano."

Noah: "Well, that's where the idol is, so—"

Archer: [angrily] "I was double-checking, Noah!" [chuckles and sighs] "I don't know why you make me so furious."

Malory: "For me, it's his face."

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Malory: "Why would those cannibals let us come all this way to find the damned thing if they knew it would kill us?"

Noah: "I really can't stress how much they hate white people."

Pam: "Even after we ate Nazis together?"

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Noah: "It's not often you find a primitive people who understand the callback."

Gallery of Images

There are 1 screenshots and images from "A Discovery" on this Wiki, visit the category page for a complete gallery.

External links

• "Danger Island: A Discovery" on IMDB