Live and Let Dine

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"Live and Let Dine" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of Archer.

Plot

Sterling Archer, Lana Kane, Cyril Figgis, and Ray Gillette go undercover in celebrity chef Lance Casteau's hellish kitchen while Malory Archer, Pam Poovey and Cheryl Tunt try to get reservations.

Synopsis

The Albanian ambassador is coming to town for dinner at celebrity chef Lance Casteau's restaurant "Seize", and there has been a vague threat in response. ISIS sends Archer, Lana, Cyril and Ray to go undercover as staff; Archer and Cyril as Sous Chef and Garcon de Cuisine respectively, Lana as Head Matri Di, and Ray as a server. The group, however, are under pressure by Casteau's hair trigger temper, camera crew around filming his show "Bastard Chef" and Archer taking his undercover role too seriously much to Lana's annoyance as she's the only one focused on the mission.

Meanwhile, Cheryl is trying to call for reservations at the restaurant, but is getting nowhere (Casteau's is booked for the next 10 months). Malory orders her to continue since she wants to prove to the State Department ISIS can handle a threat. When Pam makes a snide remark about that thought, Malory takes Pam's fish away and threatens to kill it if Cheryl doesn't get a table. Determined to get it back, Pam and Cheryl go to Rodney to use a telophonic isolator unit to find the real phone number for the restaurant (as Cheryl states that all fine dining resteraunts have a secret number) with a handjob from Cheryl as recompense. He agrees, and they manage to get a table.

Later that night, both parties (the Albanian/State Department party, and the ISIS party consisting of Malory, Ron, Cheryl and Pam) are dining. When Lana see's Malory, she realizes that Malory made up the threat just so she could get a table at the exclusive restaurant. While she feels obliged to tell everyone, Malory tells her to keep her mouth shut. The group has no choice but to serve the Albanian ambassador, but suddenly he collapses and dies. Outraged, the Albainian diplomats close their embassy, and the State Department blacklists ISIS from ever helping them. Archer and Lana realize Casteau was responsible for this, but he has already escaped and tells them he killed the ambassador for $6 million. Lana wonders who would pay that much just to humiliate ISIS, for it to be revealed to be Barry and Katya who, making their escape with Casteau in their helicopter, throw him out for being annoying.

Trivia

• Title Explained: The title of this episode is both a satirical reference to celebrity chef TV programs, combined with a pun on the James Bond film, "Live and Let Die."
• This episode draws inspiration from various cooking reality shows, in particular the voice actor for Lance Casteau was the late Anthony Bourdain. In addition to his smoking, mannerisms, and language being essentially like Bourdain, his motivation to have a traveling show like Bourdain had. But having untrained staff who are constantly being berated and yelled at, with sensational and often staged cuts for bumpers, is more like the series of Gordon Ramsay, who is, like Casteau, famous for his risotto.
• Bourdain was also known for trying all kinds of unusual cuisine from various countries in his travels. In particular, he ate eyeballs and the heads of numerous animals.
• In the beginning, after sipping from the espresso, Casteau starts the sentence with "What else?" before continuing to speak. This is a reference to the iconic commercial of George Clooney after drinking nespresso "What else?"
• The name of Casteau's cooking show, "Bastard Chef" is likely a play on words with the show "Master Chef", which is hosted in part by Gordon Ramsay, who is well known for being a bit of a bastard in the kitchen.
• Casteau is a French-speaking village in Belgium that houses NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE). SHAPE was responsible for conducting NATO exercise Able Archer 83. Although here it may also be a reference to Jacques Cousteau.
• Casteau calls Lana a "giraffe lady," a callback to Malory's similar insult in "Fugue and Riffs." This is probably in reference to her height, as her size and the size of her hands and other features are frequently ridiculed by characters in the show.
• The workplace etiquette poster in the kitchen has the following instructions:
  • Respect others and their property
  • Show courtesy and use manners
  • Clean up your mess
  • Please and thank you are magic words
  • A quiet workplace is a happy one
  • Don't run with knives and scissors
  • If it's funny, it's offensive to someone
• The poster about safe use of knives has the following instructions:
  • Train employees in the safe use of knives and safe working practices
  • Use a knife suitable for the task
  • Keep knives sharp
  • Cut on a stable surface
  • Handle knives carefully
  • Carry a knife with the blade pointing downwards
• Cheryl says "I'll have what he's having" when ambassador begins choking, before realizing that he is dead. This is a reference to When Harry Met Sally.
• Ray Gillette's fake name is a reference to Gilles de Rais.
• The name of the restaurant is "Seize" which is French for 16. The restaurant logo is a 16 surrounded by two concentric circles.
• The same Marmaduke comic from the episode "Crossing Over" makes another appearance in this episode.
• As in Lo Scandalo, Archer has come up with the names and cover stories for the rest of the team. Archer is "Randy Randerson," a sous chef, and Cyril, as in Stage Two, is given one of Archer's old aliases, "Chet Manley" and designated a "garçon de cuisine," which Archer translates to "kitchen boy." Lana is called "Mitzi" (she hates it), a failed actress. As mentioned before, Ray is "Gilles de Rais," a "child-murderer." Archer delights in the others being forced to do menial tasks with demeaning cover stories while he gets to fulfil a dream of being a chef.
• Archer reveals that he has never had a regular job unless you count his bar-tending stint in Polynesia in Heart of Archness: Part I. He had attempted (at age 10) to sell Grit door to door, but his mother wouldn't let him, telling him he would get raped and murdered and that the X-Ray Specs he wanted were fake.
• Several items of Albanian cuisine are featured in the show including: dolma, rakia, and tavë kosi (the national dish of Albania). Customs such as using yogurt extensively in their food and the eating of the lamb's head and eyeballs get play. The tavë kosi in this case was made from the heads of lambs, from which Archer made Cyril scrape the meat and remove the tongues and eyeballs.
• After his experience with the lambs' heads, Cyril declares himself a vegan. It's unclear if he'll stick with this.
• Pam reveals in this episode that she has a Siamese fighting fish named Jermaine; She has racked up $14,000 in debts from betting on fish fights.
• Pam's translator, Chi, in the cutaway to Pam's underground fish fights is apparently speaking Vietnamese. "Tao ca voi may nam ngan con ca Jermaine se giet con ca cua may!" roughly translates to "I bet you five thousand Jermaine will kill your fish." Pam apparently lost even though Jermaine is alive, which could be explained by the fact Siamese fighting fish actually rarely kill each other.
• Chi appeared again as a manicurist for the Tuntmore Towers Hotel in "The Honeymooners".
• Casteau at one point calls Ray "Gayvid Niven," an obvious reference to David Niven. He also calls him "Mincent Price" (Vincent Price). This is also a callback to previous episodes where similar jokes are made.
• When Casteau threw a knife at Randy, it struck "Safe Use of Knives" flyer.
• "86" is a term usually used in restaurants to take something off the menu.
• Ron apparently has a habit of keeping jelly and saltines (and possibly a juice box) in his suit pockets. It is inferred from the packaging that the jelly and saltines were taken from restaurants. The noise he made trying to open the saltines got him and Malory kicked out of the opera.
• When Casteau is throwing food at Archer and Cyril, you can see durian on the counter behind them. Durian, renowned for its smell, is an exotic food enjoyed by Casteau's voice actor, the late Anthony Bourdain.
• The opera Malory and Ron are ejected from is Carmen. The aria in the background is Habanera. This is a callback to Midnight Ron when Malory and Ron have plans to see Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera.
• Malory's remark after not being served wine--"What is this? Spain in the '30's?"--is a reference to the Spanish Civil War, in which many wineries were destroyed. It is also consistent with her tendency to reference conflicts from the twentieth century.
• The use of 934, 934TX, and 934TXS: Rodney uses the 934TX Telephonic Isolator Unit to find out Seize'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 and Katya’s helicopter.

• When Barry tells Katya that for $6 million, they could've made a whole new bionic man, he is referencing his resurrection as a cyborg in Double Trouble, which was a play on The Six Million Dollar Man.

Quotes

Archer: Oh, then where does auberge fit in?

Lana: Oh, nulle part, imbécile, parce qu'une auberge c'est petit hôtel. (Oh, nowhere, idiot, because “auberge” means “small hotel”.)

Casteau: Oh, tu parles français? (Oh, you speak French?)

Lana: Eh oui eh oui ! (Yes, yes!)

Casteau: Then go answer the goddamn phone.