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"The Holdout" is the season premiere of season 6 and the sixty-third episode overall of Archer.

Plot[]

Synopsis[]

Archer must recover a computer from a crashed plane in the Season 6 premiere.

Summary[]

S06E01-Hologram office

The hologram office.

In typical style, Archer carries out his mission in Asia while availing himself of several hookers. He's still wrapping his head around the fact that he is a father now. The rest of the crew formerly known as ISIS (minus Krieger) arrive at their newly renovated office, courtesy of Cheryl and Pam. Malory, in particular, is overjoyed at the office's new, futuristic look, only to find that it was all a holographic simulation disguising the true office, a faithfully recreated version of the old office (minus the ISIS logo, naturally). The only addition to the office seems to be a robot named Milton, a copier-shaped toaster.

S06E01-Sato-Archer

I have some bad news.

As Archer traipses through the jungles of Borneo, he's ambushed by a Japanese soldier named Sato Kentaro, who has been out of touch with the outside world since the 1940s. He believes World War II is still going on and as such treats Archer with hostility. Using his phone, Archer tries to convince Sato that the war ended, but to little avail. Archer is then forced to take Kentaro prisoner as he continues his mission.

Back at the office, everyone is baffled to find how thoroughly the ISIS office was recreated, right down to the most minute details. Apparently, Cheryl had the aforementioned recreations done as a joke on Malory.

Back in Borneo, Kentaro leads Archer into a trap, wherein he skewers his foot on bamboo. Hearing guerrillas approaching, Kentaro attempts to flee but is forced to rescue Archer at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, back at the office again, Malory is distraught to find that her office, too, was restored to its pre-FBI raid condition. The rest of the group continues touring the office, but Pam ducks into the Janitor's closet. Therein, she opens a secret passage to another new addition to the office; a Japanese-style hot tub, undoubtedly meant to be kept a secret from Malory. Krieger is already inside, and still exhibiting faulty memories, assuming he even is Krieger and not a clone.

S06E01-Sato saves Archer

You cannot shirk your duty!

Back once again in Borneo, Archer and Kentaro relax after escaping the guerrillas. As they discuss their respective situations, Archer blacks out from a mix of pain medication and sake. He wakes up the next morning just in time to see Kentaro using his phone to find out about the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Archer tries to console him, also to no avail, save a couple of broken ribs. Eventually, Kentaro decides to assist Archer on his mission in the hopes of catching a ride with him and returning to Japan. Having retrieved the objective for the mission, Archer prepares to blow the plane, but the guerrillas spot him. With Kentaro's help, the mission is completed and they make it to the extraction point relatively intact. Kentaro has second thoughts about leaving, but Archer, in an extremely unprecedented and rare act of kindness, uses his phone to track down and call Kentaro's family, allowing him to talk to his wife for the first time in decades. When the CIA agents, tell them to hurry up Archer shoots the water in front of them yelling "We need a minute!" as he watches Kentaro reconnect with his family.

Upon his return to the office, Archer is berated by Lana about his six-week-long absence. Lana proposes some ground rules regarding Archer's role as a parent and then leaves to feed Abbiejean. Before Archer follows, he reveals to Malory that he was in on the recreation of the old ISIS office and Milton, stating, "I'm not a huge fan of change."

Archer_Airplane

Archer Airplane

Cast[]

Cultural References[]

  • Hiroo Onoda - Sato Kentaro is based on this real Japanese soldier who held out from December 1944 until March 1974 on Lubang Island in the Philippines.
  • The Bad News Bears Go to Japan - Archer shows Sato this 1978 movie in which Lupus and Tanner are characters.
  • Six Million Dollar Man - Archer notices that his situation mirrors that of the episode The Last Kamikaze.
  • Little Mikey - Archer mumbling "I don't know, some cereal. Supposed to be good for you" when he awakes refers to the character in the first commercial for Life Cereal.
  • Mike and Ikes - Archer medicates himself with a concoction of candy and painkillers called "Mike and Vikes", named after the chewy candy to which he's added the drug Vicodin.
  • Milton the Toaster - Or simply "Milton", was the original mascot for Kellogg's Pop-Tarts during the 1970s. He was very popular with children during that time and had many products made after him.
  • Air America - Was a real CIA front company that posed as an airline.

Running Gags / Callbacks[]

  • Ping Pong Paddle - On the hotel room floor.
    Holdout pingpong copy

    Ping Pong Paddle

  • Glassassination - Malory fills a champagne glass only to throw it in the fireplace.
  • Voicemail Hoax - Played with and averted.
  • 934TXS - When Pam's retina is scanned for access to the Hot tub room, the RS# is the code to unlock the secret door.
  • What year is it? - The "Japanese fighting man who doesn't know World War II is over" trope that was featured in works as varied as Gilligan's Island and The Six Million Dollar Man was believable in the 1960s and 1970s, but this adult family man in the 1940s is still alive (and unaware) in 2015, 70 years after the war ended, AND his wife is still alive? This is consistent with Archer seeming to be a show set in the 1980s but with modern technology and references.
  • "Cobra whiskey and lady-boy hookers" is a reference to Archer's semester abroad (presumably in college) that Malory mentions to Lana in Season 5's episode "House Call."
  • When Malory mentions smelling toast, that is reference back to Season 4's episode "Sea Tunt: Part I" where Archer asks if she's having a stroke and if she smells toast.
  • Archer once again calls a Japanese person Kato as he did in "A Debt of Honor," referencing the sometimes-Japanese manservant/sidekick of the Green Hornet by the same name.
  • Brett's death in "White Elephant" is mentioned in this episode.
  • Ray's fan reads "売春宿," which means "brothel" in Japanese—a callback to Malory's accusation that Ray would have renovated the office in the style of a "Japanese whorehouse."
  • When Pam uses the retina scanner, her ID is "Shiro Kabocha", a reference to the name she used as a Yakuza drift racer in "Drift Problem".

Continuity[]

  • The hologram of the new ISIS office in white matches Malory's dream re-make expressed in "Coyote Lovely."
  • Krieger forgets Pam's name, referencing the ambiguity that he may be one of the clone Kriegers from season 5.

Trivia[]

  • Title Explained: To "holdout" is an act of resisting something or refusing to accept an offer. It can also refer to a person who does such an action. Here, this relates both to Kentaro's continuation of his duty despite the conclusion of World War II and to Archer's hesitancy to take on his role as a father.
  • Pam is revealed to be back to her pre-cocaine body while Cheryl has given up her Cherlene identity and is back to her old self.
  • It is revealed that Malory was the one who told Lana to use Archer's sperm in order to give birth to Abbiejean or A.J., although she denies it.
  • Tom Kane narrates the World War II-era newsreels documenting Japan's defeat. He played a similar role at the start of every episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, with the exception of the final three episodes of the series, plus the first episode of Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
  • The plane Archer blows up is a Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star, developed in 1945 and used in the Korean War. He parachutes from a Douglas DC-3, developed during the 1930's. It is painted with D-Day invasion stripes.
  • When Archer "jumps" from the Douglas DC-3 he shouts "Whoo-hoo, Halo", this is a reference to HALO military parachute technique "High Altitude, Low Opening".

Locations[]

Quotes[]

Lana: "So, why'd you run away when you were so excited about being a father when A.J. was born? Did reality set in?"
Archer: "I... wait, was that rhetorical? Because the next time you decide to use somebody's sperm to impregnate yourself, then maybe that decision should include that other somebody!"
Lana:  "Who, that other somebody who runs away at the thought of responsibility and, as we speak, is up to his eyeballs in cobra whiskey and lady-boy hookers?"
Archer: (with a bottle of cobra whiskey in hand) "Wh--that... that is... You don't know me!"
Lana: "HA!"

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Archer: "Thanks jungle. Eat a buffet of dicks."

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Lana: "And is this... is this Brett's blood?"
Cheryl: "Ugh, no, just the same type. We had to fudge it a little on the stains. Some of which actually were fudge!"
Pam: "And some of which merely resembled it."

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Pam: "Look, my therapist says everybody's got a hole that needs to be filled. Some people fill it with drugs, some fill it with work, some fill it with between-meal snacks and liquor and their therapist's cock!"

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Archer: "You're gonna need my help."
Kentaro: "Heh, because you also need my help!"
Archer: "Only because you just broke two of my ribs in addition to impaling me on a bamboo stake, on which I think we both know you smeared some poop!"
Kentaro: "I..."
Archer: "AND IF YOU DID, I DON'T WANNA KNOW!"

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Milton: [TOAST EJECTS]

Gallery of Images[]

There are 5 screenshots and images from "The Holdout" on this Wiki, visit the category page for a complete gallery.


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