"Mission: Difficult" is the season finale for Season 12 of Archer, being the eighth episode of the season and the one-hundred and twenty-sixth episode overall.
Plot[]
Synopsis[]
Archer is trapped inside IIA headquarters, and Barry is trapped inside Other Barry.
Summary[]
Fabian tells Lana, Pam, Robert, and Sandra in a video conference that if they do not give him the thumb drive, he will kill Archer, who's being kept as his prisoner at IIA. Lana plans a rescue mission with the rest of the agency (minus Malory). Colt finally remembers that he actually worked with Fabian and that he built the IIA mainframe.
Archer is being held at IIA, Other Barry is beating Archer, then Barry comes back for a second tell Archer that Fabian tried to hack in to his central processor and unleashed Other Barry and he hates Archer, and can not stop him. Fabian tells Archer that until his agency gives him the thumb drive, every hour Other Barry while continue to beat him, senselessly. Archer makes his first attempt to escape but failed, however with help from the mover, Archer escapes again. Lana and the gang arrive at IIA headquarters, Lana and Cyril goes get Archer, Pam and Cheryl go and "sow chaos" into the IIA employees, and Ray, Krieger, and Colt stay in the van to monitor the mission.
Other Barry
However, Archer already escaped and met up with the Ray, Krieger and Colt in the van but he plans to go back in the building to stop Other Barry and save the others. Fabian is angered by the fact that all his employees are going crazy and that the building is on fire, thanks to Cheryl and Pam, then he finds himself at gunpoint by Malory. Fabian calls in a dozen henchmen, who surrounds Malory, however she quickly and single handedly defeats all of them including Fabian and walks out of his office, proudly. As Lana, Cyril, Pam, and Cheryl try to escape the burning building they run into Other Barry, who gets ready to kill them, until Archer and Malory show up and after a brief fight, Barry tells them that he can do hard reboot from inside his mind, although he might die. So Archer picks up a defibrillator only for Other Barry to take it from him, then Colt manages to get a defibrillator and successfully reboots Barry.
At that moment Colt remembers now how to take down the entire IIA system, but just then Colt is fatally shot by Fabian much to Krieger's dismay, who then makes his way to the roof while Archer follows him to the roof and the others escape. Archer and Fabian finally face off with each other while Fabian mocks him for still needing his cane. As they fight Fabian breaks Archer's cane again and gets the upper hand. But just then Archer finally finds the strength within him to realize, due to his seething hatred for Fabian, he no longer needs his cane. Then Archer is finally able to beat him, until the roof collapses underneath them. Fabian escapes while Archer finds Barry and with help from the mover again, all escape the building before it collapses.
Lana returns home to find Robert cheated on her with Sandra, assuming they were now in a open marriage. Lana leaves appearing angry but is clearly upset by their betrayal. Archer arrives home to find Lana crying over what happened in his bed and without saying a word, he sits next to her on his bed and gives her a silent comforting hand, which Lana takes in her hand.
Next morning, the agency (minus Malory again) tries to decide what to do with the memory stick. Then Robert comes in and tells them that he sold the agency to an equity group, that is actually owned by Fabian who shows up suddenly and tells them that they all impressed him so much, that he had to acquire them. Fabian then tells Archer that he now owns the agency and the memory stick, but then Archer takes the stick and destroys it, angering Fabian, while Pam ask about snacks.
A day after, the agency gets cleared out with the gang there watching. But hidden in Malory's desk, Archer finds a letter from her telling them she has decided to retire on her own terms and go into hiding so that her enemies, lovesick paramours, and even them, will never find her. And then tells them that she's passing the torch on to Archer and the others and that although this decision is sudden, we don't always get to choose the perfect moment, she tells them to take care, especially to Archer and tell him she'll be watching over him, wherever she is.
Malory's final scene is her happily sitting on a beach in an undisclosed location with Ron, holding hands and looking at the sunset together, hearing nothing but the sounds of the beach, ending the episode and the season.
Cast[]
- Starring
- Guest Starring :
- Eric Andrรฉ as Colt
- Kayvan Novak as Fabian Kingsworth
- Dave Willis as Barry Dylan
- Stephen Tobolowsky as Robert
- Pamela Adlon as Sandra
Cultural References[]
- Return of the Jedi - When Barry Dylan tells Sterling Archer he has to stun him and trigger a hard reboot, Archer protests "But...you'll die" and Barry replies "Nothing can change that now", echoing scene where Darth Vader asks Luke Skywalker to remove his mask.
- Mission: Impossible - The episode title references the TV series and movie franchise.
Running Gags / Callbacks[]
- YYZ - Algernop Krieger insisting on the British (Canadian, really, given Rush's origins) pronunciation of the letter "Z" in the owner's name repeats his same corrections in "Skin Game" when Sterling Archer and Pam Poovey ask if he's managed to replicate Neil Peart's drumming in that instrumental.
Continuity[]
- Fabian Kingsworth breaks Sterling Archer's cane again, as in "Identity Crisis".
- References Barry Dylan & Archer becoming friends in the previous season.
- Lana Kane's struggling marriage throughout the season has finally reached its climax when Robert is caught cheating on Lana with Sandra.
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the final time Jessica Walter voices Malory Archer due to her death in 2021. This was also Malory's last season as she has retired from spying and goes into hiding with her husband, Ron Cadillac.
- The ending of the episode originally wasn't going to have Malory retire, but due to Jessica's death, the writers wanted to give her character a fitting send off for Malory and her husband Ron, who was voiced by Jessicaโs husband Ron Leibman, who also passed in 2019.
- The voice clips for Malory and Ron are taken from previous episodes:
- "Guess the old gal's still got it" is from the end of "Dial M for Mother".
- "If I see this glass empty again, I will be very unhappy" is from the beginning of "Archer Vice: On The Carpet".
- "How's my lady love?" and "Infinitely better now" are from "Fugue and Riffs".
- Sterling Archer no longer needs his cane.
- Fabian Kingsworth buys the Agency.
- Robert cheats on Lana Kane with Sandra, assuming that they were now in a open marriage (which Lana never agreed to).
- When Algernop Krieger is quizzing Colt, he answers the question who was you favourite Golden Girl with Chandrasekhar limit. This is actually the answer to the previous question about stars going supernova. Estelle Getty, of course was Sophia Petrelli in The Golden Girls, so the answers are transposed.
Locations[]
- ISIS Headquarters
- IIA Headquarters
First Appearances[]
Quotes[]
- Colt: "Do more science. Just really weird, f**kะตd up sh*t. Stuff where even you're like, "Man, I shouldn't have done that." Do that."
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Gallery of Images[]
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