Line #138 Headscratchers/Archer


1	* Where does the name Archer come from? Mallory tells Sterling that his father was named "John Fitzgerald Archer" and presumably that the name comes from him... however, no such man exists. Did Mallory adopt a complete false name or simply bank on Sterling never wondering about his mother's maiden name?
2	** Pretty sure Pam and/or Cheryl have addressed Malory as "Ms. Archer," meaning the latter. Given the level of parental neglect it's completely conceivable that Sterling never cared enough to find out about his maternal grandparents. Or, given what Mallory is like, they may be complete jerkasses and he avoids them.
3	*** "Ms" is a catchall honorific, and while most widows choose to remain "Mrs. [married name]" Malory's decision to use it is very obviously about indicating her sexual availability--so being "Ms. Archer" doesn't really indicate whether Archer is supposed to be her maiden or married name.
4	*** Archer mentions he knows about his grandmother at least, but it's possible he either didn't know her last name or never realised she was his maternal grandmother.
5	*** Malory hints that her mother is just as much of a bitch as she is.
6	** Mallory may have told Sterling that John Fitzgerald Archer took her last name instead of her taking his. Forcing her fictional husband to do so would be more than consistent with Mallory's personality.
7	*** That is, if he ever bothered to ask.
8	** A lot of children adopt the surname of their stepfather
9	*** Except Mallory married Ron in between seasons three and four, and Ron's last name is Cadillac (which he changed from Kaczynski), not Archer.
10	** Consider: Mallory Archer and John Fitzgerald Archer just happens to have the same last name. It would not be the most ridiculous thing on this show.
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12	* In the pilot, why didn't Mallory know about the mole? They touched on it but just let it go.
13	** ...because he's a mole? If Mallory knew about him, he wouldn't be a mole anymore. He'd just be some dead guy who used to be an enemy agent.
14	*** The point was that she said "I would have known..." presumably because of her relationship with Nikolai. See the next point for an explanation, though.
15	** I think it was sort of used to develop the relationship btwn Mallory and Nikolai. Later, in "Skorpio," we found out that while she tells him all things ISIS, he doesn't share all KGB details with her because he finds it "unprofessional."
16	*** Indeed, part of the joke is that Mallory ''is'' a mole.
17	** Also, security at ISIS ironically sucks. For example, they apparently do not do thorough background checks on prospective employees, because the secretary working for the ''head of the agency'' was using a false identity for years!
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19	* "Benoit balls". Is this a pun or a reference or something? Could someone please explain the joke? Or is the running gag simply that Archer is obsessively committed to a joke that isn't funny to anyone else including the audience?
20	** There's a type of sex toy called "ben-wa balls."
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22	* When exactly is the show set? Or is it just stylistically everywhere? 60's fashions, 80's tech, 10's pop culture.
23	** In Season 2 Episode 5 Woodhouse says that the tontine he started in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI is worth about 1 000 000$ that started at 1200 pounds. Without converting pounds to dollars I used the equation n=ln(CV/PV)/ln(1+r) where CV is the current value, PV is the past value, r is the rate of interest which Woodhouse says is 10%, and n is the number of years. n=ln(1000000/1200)/ln(1.1)=~71. Since the tontine was started during the war it can be assumed that Archer season 2 takes place between 1985 and 1989.
24	** [[LampshadeHanging "That is a good question."]] Though to be honest, none of the poltics, technology or ages match up at all, so it really doesnt have a year. If you wanted to be pedantic, calculating the Compound Interests in "Double Deuces" gives you early 1980s or so, but again,a meaningless statement.
25	** Modern day, with some retro stylings.
26	** It's pretty much everywhere. Its set during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, with 60's fashions, 80's tech aesthetics, 40's and 90's weapons, 10's tech capabilities, and 10's pop culture.
27	** Doesn't Archer explicitly refer to the years 2008 and 2009 when he's listing recent alligator attacks?
28	*** No. He just refers to the attacks as happening 'last year' and 'two years ago' and 'three years ago'.
29	*** For what it's worth, the attack he mentions as happening "two years ago" actually occurred in 1989.
30	** I'm thinking that it's impossible to tell, simply because of internal contradictions. For example, Burt Reynolds' appearance with silver hair would imply that the show is set in the present day. However, the episode "Double Deuce" implies that Archer was born around 1938 or 1939, although he appears to be in his early 30s and is stated to be 35 in the pilot. Furthermore, if that episode were in the present day, Woodhouse and his squadron-mates would be at least 110 years old. Not impossible, but not very likely, either. Perhaps they didn't care about the AnachronismStew. Besides, it is an AlternateHistory.
31	** It basically should be around 1975, given that Wodehouse is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarI vet, Malory is a UsefulNotes/WorldWarII vet, Archer age and approximate date of birth, and the Cold War is still going. But none of the tech or anything else fits with that so roll with it.
32	** BellisariosMaxim. They wanted to have a ''Series/MadMen'' feel to the show, but didn't want characters to search for a phone booth whenever they needed to call someone.
33	** I think the "impossible to tell" answer was spot on, except that it is possible to tell. It's exactly that, a mashup of the 70's and 10's, and one perspective to understand that is as an alternate history. I think one can also easily see it as simply a mashup that freely takes whatever it sees as the best from both.
34	** WordOfGod says the cell phones are there so the characters don't need to find a phone booth whenever they need to talk, and everything else is Adam Reed's personal preference.
35	** In the episode in which he's being sold fake chemo drugs, it's observed that his IV bag is full of Zima. Zima was sold in the U.S. from 1993 to 2008. As part-James Bond parody, I take Archer's mix of time periods as a comment on the relative constancy of James Bond's age throughout the movies as time and technology progresses around him.
36	** Modern day with specific details that would only work in a very specific time frame (i.e. Cold War stuff needing to be between 1945 and 1991) brought into modern time by RuleOfFunny.
37	** Matt Thompson addressed this in a Q&A at Uproxx. Basically, they make it up as they go along:
38	-->Q: "I was also wondering why all the weapons used by the ISIS crew are modern day. Yet, judging by the automobiles, it seems the show is set in much earlier decade. Why is that?"
39	-->A: "We pick whatever thing looks the best. Mix and match to make up our own time period."
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41	* In "Jeu Monegasque", Mallory says "Thankfully Gambling is one of the vices Archer doesn't have." And Archer's reaction to winning a hand confirms this. But...it was shown in the first episode that Archer was blowing money from his Operations Expense account on gambling. It feels kind of weird in a series high on {{Continuity Nod}}.
42	** In both cases(the pilot and the episode where Archer is stuck in Montreal) the implication is that he's throwing money around to impress a hooker and getting sloppily drunk, not gambling to excess.
43	** Archer being shown gambling doesn't mean he has an actual gambling problem.
44	** His reaction to winning, though, heavily implies that he is unfamiliar with the very concept of gambling.
45	*** Or just Baccarat. And Archer not being familiar with more obscure upper-class games of chance fits in with the constant subversion of Martini-flavored SpyFiction tropes.
46	*** Heart of Archness confirms that Malory doesn't know the extent of the fraud with Sterling's Operations Account.
47	*** What fraud? It was Ray, not Archer, who was defrauding ISIS. Without his expense account, Archer was broke and just getting by tending bar in French Polnesia.
48	*** That's because Sterling's expense account abuses were already known as early as "Mole Hunt", where it was shown that he was using his expense account to lead a playboy lifestyle - which included casino roulette at the very least. By "Job Offer", Mallory was sufficiently conscious of his habits (which she shares) that when Archer made to leave to go work for [=ODIN=], Mallory specifically had them freeze every known bank account Sterling had. Also, in "Midnight Ron" he is stuck in Montreal because he apparently lost all his money and burned his passport while drunk in a casino.
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50	* Did they accidentally name the wrong cat in the script? Archer notices Cheryl's pet Ocelot...and says look at those tufted ears. Is he thinking of a Caracal or a Lynx?
51	** Could just be Archer being an idiot.
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53	* If Calzado keeps exotic animals for the thrill of hunting them, why does he have two sloths?
54	** To test his ability to spot a camouflaged, unmoving target?
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56	* Were they really planning to populate Mars with only one woman? The inbreeding would have caused problems, eventually.
57	** It's pretty clear they aren't all there in the head.
58	** They were also planning to use Pam, Cheryl and (possibly) Malory for the same purpose
59	** There's also Trish, who is physically unappealing. There's also a chance there ''are'' other women; they chose to single Trish out for her unattractiveness.
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61	* It's been demonstrated that Pam is a veritable sex goddess. She gave Archer the best sex he's ever had, and he's had sex with, among other things, two princesses at the same time. So how come Lana's never had any similar revelation, or at least once referred to their season 1 finale sex-capades?
62	** Well, there are two options here: either Pam isn't as great at homosex as she is at heterosex, or Lana just doesn't blab like certain others.
63	** I'm pretty sure the joke there is that she grew up on a farm, where she most likely MILKED COWS.
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65	* In the episode where they ride on the blimp, it turns out that Malory faked the bomb threat in order to get a free ride on the maiden voyage, but then there really was a bomb, placed there by the captain. So if the captain planted the bomb, why would he have called in ISIS in the first place? It would have been smarter to not respond to the bomb threat at all, since he wanted the blimp to blow up anyway, and Malory couldn't have butted in because technically she wouldn't even have known about the bomb threat if she didn't make it herself and if the captain didn't say anything.
66	** Perhaps he decided to make the phoney bomb-threat a real once it was called in; ISIS isn't known as being the best agency, so it would have been a convenient cover.
67	** The opposite is also possible; he was planning on bombing the blimp all along. Suddenly he gets a bomb threat from Mallory and realizes that by calling it in he can deflect any suspicion that would be leveled at him after the ship blew up. After all, there ''was'' a threat, he did the responsible thing and reported it, why would anyone suspect him?
68	** Ahem ''[[InsistentTerminology Rigid Airship]]''.
69	** It's unclear why the German exits the cargo bay telling Archer not to go in. One can't imagine he didn't see the bomb, implying that he is hiding the existence of it, but there's no indication that he's working with the captain and it's implied that he's a good guy later in the episode who is willing to defuse the bomb. Are we supposed to just assume that he was working with the captain but relented when Lana asked him to?
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71	* I don't get why Mallory doesn't just make Gillette do the honey pot. I mean, yes, nepotism, but you'd think that would entail giving Archer a mission he actually wants. Does she really think he's not as trustworthy or competent as Archer? At the very least, you'd think she'd correctly think Gillette would be more willing and able, if for entirely bigoted reasons.
72	** She probably didn't trust him with something this sensitive. Blood is the best security in the spy business, so she'd prefer that her son was the only person who knew about the mission.
73	** They kind of say it outright at that precise scene in "Honeypot": she ''doesn't'' trust Gillette with something this personally sensitive, and she doesn't like Gillette. For Mallory Archer, that is ''more'' than enough reason.
74	** The last 2 are correct, that she doesn't trust him. But to go further, I think it's obvious why she trusts Archer over Gillete in this specific scenario, not just that it's a crazy irrational general mistrust. Of those 2, who's more likely to publicize a sex tape? Her son who pukes at the thought of his food preparer, Woodhouse, having once seen his mother's vagina? Or might there be a greater risk of publication from basically anyone else. Keeping in mind she had exactly 3 options, and 1's gender didn't fit the profile.
75	*** I can understand her not liking/trusting Gilette, it's just weird that she trusts him less than ''Archer'', who not one hour into his mission spills the beans to two random dudes he's known for a few minutes at most.
76	*** Again, this is ''Mallory Archer''. She's irrational and insane, and hides it under a thin veneer of vodka, extreme personal competence, and sociopathy.
77	** I think it's more the question of "Who is more likely to blackmail me if he got this." Gillette (along with the rest of the employees at ISIS), puts up with near-constant abuse and terrible pay from Mallory and would relish the chance to milk something out of her by getting her fired. But Archer is close enough to her that the fall-out could hurt him too and he lives in pretty extreme comfort. Plus he's too disgusted by his mother's sex life to ever mention it to anyone. His first instinct on hearing what the tape contained was to dry-heave.
78	** Isn't Ray an analyst? You know, not an actual field agent? I'm not sure if honeypotting counts as field work, but it seems like it is, so maybe that's why he doesn't get chosen.
79	*** He seems to be both. And a pilot. And their DemolitionsExpert. Ray has more jobs at Isis than his coworkers combined.
80	** Remember, in the show, it's been implied that Malory is homophobic, to some degree, so that's one reason. Even if she did make Gillet a honeypot, he probably wouldn't do it because they already don't like each other.
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82	* Why does Malory hate the Irish for being neutral in WWII, since she clearly doesn't have an issue with Germans or Italians?
83	** She probably just uses that as a way to excuse her bigotry.
84	** You're asking why ''Mallory Archer'' irrationally hates someone? This is a woman who changes the labels on her medication with the justification that the servants will steal it but also ''can't read the labels''. Mallory Archer needs no reason to hate someone.
85	** Mallory is also a stereotypical New York [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant WASP]]. Especially prior to the late-20th Century, the Irish were commonly viewed by such people as being no better than Latino immigrants are today. That this is written deliberately is emphasized by all the [[{{Oireland}} Irish stereotypes]] that tend to be used in depicting Irish characters such as the superintendent of Mallory's apartment building.
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87	* Am I the only one who thinks that Archer's deplorable treatment of Woodhouse just makes no logical sense? He was RAISED by him exclusively for the first 5 years of his life (and by all appearances, Woodhouse was at least a competant parent if not a steller one), and yet he doesn't seem to feel any sort of affection for him until "Double Deuce" (and even that is quickly forgotten). Even Mallory treats Woodhouse with some measure of respect and dignity, so it's hard to believe that Archer learned this particular behavior from her.
88	** Perhaps, Archer does like Woodhouse, but what we see as deplorable treatment is just Archer's dysfunctional views on human relationships. Even those who like and are personally close to their domestic servant have to keep a certain distance and occasionally maintain discipline. Archer simply has a misguided sense of those two things. Whereas someone might chastise their servants for talking out of line, Archer feels it's appropriate to make him eat cobwebs.
89	** That's the whole point. In case you didn't notice, Archer is a ''tremendous'' asshole. He's an asshole to the point that his assholishness defies logic.
90	** In "Double Deuce", he seems to have had a shattering HeelRealization at how horribly he's treated Woodhouse (though he might have a case of ''literal'' AesopAmnesia, since that revelation was followed closely by a concussion). He also has a major character development after Katya dies, so hopefully we'll see him treating Woodhouse better.
91	** Archer's been neglected or outright abused by his mother, and Woodhouse seems to be a big pushover. With Archer's uncaring, spoiled behavior and neglect from his mom, coupled with Woodhouse not standing up for himself, Archer never had a reason ''not'' to be mean. That, and the fact that Woodhouse [[ExtremeDoormat still hasn't stood up for himself.]] Well, at least so far as Archer's aware.
92	*** Woodhouse stood up for himself three times IIRC. He bought his own date in the dinner "Killing Utne" and neglected to prepare Archer's clothes or tell him; He refused to open the door in "Dial M for Mother" and in the "Midnight Ron" episode, he refused to lend him money.
93	*** Or on the other hand, see the YMMV page for an Alternate Character Interpretation that thanks to his mother, being emotionally abusive is the only way Archer knows how to communicate familial attachment to someone.
94	** I think Archer treats Woodhouse like shit since it's just another symbol of Mallory's neglect. Rather than spend time with him herself, she handed him off to the help, so Archer resents Woodhouse for having a bigger part in his childhood than either of his biological parents. Every time they're together it's just a reminder of how Mallory treated him so he lashes out. Plus it's funny.
95	** To be fair, Woodhouse is a ''heroin addict'' and in a flashback sequence we see a young Archer alone (again) while Woodhouse is in the bathroom high on heroin. Who's to say Woodhouse was even remotely competent as a caregiver?
96	*** Well, we don't know if Woodhouse was always an addict but, considering the universe of ''Archer'', he might've been the most competent ''in comparison'' to anyone else that Malory could have left him with. Also, worth pointing out that a lot of your addicts tend to appear functional (we have a [[FunctionalAddict trope]] for this), so, he was probably functional for the most part, that flashback sequence being one of those times where he so happens to be high.
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98	* Is George Spelvin (pseudonym) Cyril's father?
99	** Definitely not - aside from being roughly the same age, Spelvin looks nothing like Cyril's father in the flashback, and only knows that Cyril's got daddy issues, but needs to be told about the source of them after guessing.
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101	* Why in the world is there a fork frozen in a huge block of ice in the ISIS safe house freezer? Even assuming that more time passed than what was really seen on screen... that was a LOT of ice, and would've taken a long time to freeze... which would imply that someone had placed it in there before Archer left the safe house.
102	** Maybe Barry prepared it earlier, and brought it with him.
103	*** I'm pretty sure he did. He brought a cooler into the safe house.
104	*** I think it even shows him fiddling with the freezer before he turns the gas on.
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106	* Were ''Swiss Miss'' and ''A Going Concern'' aired out of order? In the first season finale, ''Dial M For Mother'', Manfred and Uta put a malfunctioning chip in Archer's head. It's shown to be pretty disruptive, and causes subjects to go into homicidal rages when hear cell phones, and otherwise just barely function. In ''Swiss Miss'', he's unaffected by the chip and can basically be a OneManArmy against El Frente Rojo and protect Anka, but in the ColdOpen of ''A Going Concern'' he says Kreiger found it in a CAT scan after his unexplained weird behavior, and removed it ([[ThisIsADrill with a drill]]), and Archer is back to normal.
107	** Yes and no. "Swiss Miss" and "A Going Concern' were 2nd and 6th, respectively, in production order, but "A Going Concern" was never meant to be the season premiere or air before "Swiss Miss". It's never specified when Krieger took the chip out, so he could have removed it pre-"Swiss Miss". And the psychotic effects had mostly dissipated by the end of "Dial M For Mother".
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109	* What is not difficult and real about running a sorta-secret marijuana farm?
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111	* Why would Lana and Cyril get back together? Don't get me wrong, I think it creates a lot of creative plots and opportunities now. But for in-universe justification, why? Especially since Cyril has been more incompetent or weird in later seasons.
112	** Probably because she hasn't gotten laid in 14 months. In a [[SadistShow show like this]] it's as good a reason as any.
113	** She has serious trouble getting dates, much less relationships, outside of ISIS.
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115	* If Gandolf is destroying power plants to preserve the environment, why would he destroy the pipline if that would also completely destroy thousands of acres of swampland? And for that matter, why would he destroy a hydroelectric dam if hydroelectricity creates zero emissions?
116	** Hydroelectricity is not universally popular with environmentalists-it's zero emissions but interferes with the local wildlife, especially salmon.
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118	* Aren't alligators an invasive species?
119	** In Louisiana, alligators are non-invasive and are useful for containing the even more invasive nutria.
120	*** Depends on the species of alligator.
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122	* Archer was banned from entering Canada at the end of "The Limited", so how could he be in Montreal at the beginning of "Midnight Ron"?
123	** He probably snuck over and was somehow lucky to have not been identified as a criminal. The authorities he ran into after breaking the phone would probably do a background check after they apprehended him for smashing the payphone.
124	*** And even then, that's assuming he wouldn't just give them one of his fake names, like Chet Manly or Cyril Figgis.
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126	* How the hell does Archer know that Dickie (Woodhouse brother) dead? last i check he was in mexico with no way to contact them
127	** They would have tried to contact the next of kin or emergency contact when Dickie died.
128	** That's assuming 'gone to Mexico' wasn't a cover story Archer cooked up to avoid telling Woodhouse that Dickie'd died after their Vegas trip.
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130	* How was Ray supposed to lift a jeep even if he had used his bionic legs, the rest of his body shouldn't be able to support that kind of weight.
131	** He wasn't. It was Archer being an idiot, and Ray picking up his IdiotBall. Plus, he only technically has bionic legs in that the signal to his legs is fixed using a power source - he specifically told Krieger he didn't want vanadium alloy legs.
132	*** This is Krieger we're talking about, you really think he wouldn't have installed the vanadium legs just for the hell of it?
133	*** Good point, considering Krieger was able to control Ray's arms and legs with a remote control, which wouldn't be possible if he had only fixed the signal to Ray's legs.
134	*** In the ''Sealab'' episodes, Archer mentions that Ray has 'bionic' legs, which would be an odd descriptor if it was just a spinal chip. Also, we see Ray run like Barry at the beginning of Season 7, at speeds that defy flesh-and-bone legs.
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136	* From "The Papal Chase", how is ISIS legendarily incompetent (which is the cardinal's whole reason for hiring them)? They're not the best spy agency in the world, but it's not like they were certain to fail at protecting the Pope.
137	** ...have you seen the show? They really do screw up nearly everything.
138	** Not to mention that Season Five's first episode basically has ''every single failure'' and ''every single illegal operation'' ISIS has carried out summarized in about five minutes of FBI interviews.
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140	* If ISIS has [[http://i50.tinypic.com/2e4gj7o.jpg a coal furnace]] (since it has a fuel door, which a natural gas or oil furnace doesn't have or need), how do they set it to 90 over the weekend? And how does it need replacement if the janitor would have been stoking all weekend? And how ''would'' that wreck it in the first place?
141	** That's not necessarily a coal furnace. The house I grew up in had a gas furnace from the 1920s with a similar (albeit smaller) door. It was used to access the pilot light.
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143	* Okay, at the end of "Dial M For Mother," Archer actually says that his mother was always there for him and sincerely thanks her for it. Doesn't this basically go against every other single thing we've heard about his childhood?
144	** Archer was abused so horribly, and for so long, that ANY praise from his mother is a rarity. When you're treated like crap all your life, being treated halfway decently is like Christmas come early.
145	** Also, in a perverse sort of way, she ''is'' - in the background, controlling his life. In fact, her involvement in (i.e. efforts to control) Archer's life have only ''increased'' over the years, to the extent that she puts out a ''burn notice'' on him when he tried to take a job at ODIN and she sent a bounty hunter to bring him back when he ran away after Katya was killed by Barry at their wedding.
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147	* Archer has to sleep with a fan on because he has mild tinnitus? What?
148	** For the white noise. It makes the ringing less obtrusive.
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150	* So... If Cheryl Tunt is secretly rich, why does she care about the Tontine in the Double Deuce?
151	** Because at that point her parents were still alive so she was only worth $50,000, most of which was likely in bonds and funds, and she has a sick sense of humour.
152	** Because she's insane.
153	** Its gold fever. It doesn't matter how rich you are, the prospect of treasure is a huge motivator.
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155	* If Cecil Tunt was really in control of Cheryl's half of the estate, as she claimed in "El Secuestro", then why did he need to prove her insanity to gain control of the money in "Sea Tunt"? Cheryl also claims that he has to approve her spending, but at various times she makes casual use of the family railroad and hotel chain apparently at her own whim, and employees respond to her in a manner that suggests that she does this quite often. Given that Cecil spent his own half of the fortune on charities within a couple of years of their parents' deaths, was his position as executor ever real, or just one of Cheryl's random excuses?
156	** I'm thinking she lied about needing Cecil's approval, since Malory gets pretty grubby (to the point where people acknowledge that she's been tyring to get her hands on Cheryl's money for years) and Cheryl wouldn't want to give any money to her horrible boss. We've seen Malory try to guilt her into paying to solve all of ISIS's problems, with Cheryl making excuses as to why she can't. ("I have to take it up with my board of admissions!", then turning around and laughing that she doesn't need them.)
157	** More likely he has power of state, which means that he can control what she does with the money, but can't actually spend the money himself. Similarly, Cheryl has access to all of the less liquid assets, since those don't require his approval.
158	*** To add more legal context to this, if Cecil can prove Cheryl is too mentally incompetent to care for herself, then he gets total control over whatever's related to her, as he'd be declared her guardian, conservator, payee, or what have you. However, I don't think Cecil considered that mental hospitals cost money and that whatever monetary assets she's got would likely go to paying for her care at the mental hospital but the point is to get her out of the way long enough.
159	*** Except she's worth half a billion dollars. Even a top of the line facility(as in, one that's basically a resort with bars) isn't going to cost more than a few hundred thousand a year. He could easily afford to keep her shacked up in the wacko basket for the rest of her natural life.
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161	* Whatever happened to Wee Baby Seamus? Yeah, Archer doesn't care much about him and the mother admitted that he isn't really the father. But when Archer had breast cancer it was implied that that he was growing fond of the child, and it seems a little OOC that he wouldn't occasionally show up in a cameo to have some kind of adventure like when Seamus and Archer got tattoos with each other's name. Last time we heard from them too, Archer still had mandatory child support payments.
162	** After the stunt he pulled in "Stage Two", she probably doesn't let him anywhere near Seamus. Considering Archer fed him alcohol, let him play with a straight razor and gave him a tattoo (and that's just what we've seen), Archer is lucky Trinette hasn't sued him and had him charged with child abuse.
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164	* Cyril constantly gets shit from both the show and the fandom for cheating on Lana, but why doesn't anybody remember (in both the show ''and'' in the fandom) that Lana also cheated on Cyril in the episodes ''Skorpio'' and ''Job Offer''?
165	** Lana didn't cheat on him in "Job Offer" (that was a flashback to her 'history' with Barry), but it's likely the amount of cheating Cyril did, and the frequency at which he did it. As for Skorpio, that was both to maintain cover and was likely ''not'' enjoyed.
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167	* In her condition, should Lana really be in a job where she could easily inhale cocaine by accident?
168	** No, no she shouldn't. Next question!
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170	* What happened with Ray's eye? In 'Heart of Archness", he gets stabbed in the eye, but later in the season, he has both eyes intact. Does he have a glass eye, or did he have corneal transplant surgery to replace it?
171	** Its probable whatever damage his eye sustained was repairable with surgery. He needed to wear the eye patch for a bit but it healed eventually.
172	** Rip was stabbed in the eye, Ray was shot in the spine.
173	*** They were both stabbed in the eye. Ray was accidentally stabbed by the manicurist when the boat hit a rough patch, and as revealed in "Bloody Ferlin", Ray was shot in the abdomen, not the spine; everyone just assumed he was paralysed because the hospital made him leave in a wheelchair.
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175	* Where in the hell did Mallory get a literal metric tonne of cocaine?
176	** She didn't, apparently. She just assumed Sterling bought it, while Sterling assumed Malory bought it. Which raises more questions than it answers...
177	** Finally revealed in the season finale: Malory lied. She obtained the cocaine in a drugs-for-arms deal with the CIA, and Archer was in on it from day one.
178	*** Wasn't it stated that Archer had no idea where the cocaine came from, and wasn't in on it before it was rolled into the room?
179	*** It is left ambiguous, leaning towards Archer being innocent of the knowledge where it came from, with Mallory asking Lana when she was ever honest with Archer about anything. It is a classic Mallory statement really, the tone of voice is insincere and the answer is worded in a way that it lets Lana choose which option to believe herself without admitting anything specific.
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181	* Why did Lana (who has always been shown as the most moral law abiding member of ISIS) so easily accept a career as part of a drug cartel? Yes she isn't all that happy with her new job but she still does the work for all her complaints.
182	** TrueCompanions?
183	** Most likely because, like the rest of ISIS, all her assets were seized by the government, leaving her for all intents and purposes destitute with a baby on the way.
184	** Also at the end of the day, Lana's actually as amoral and sociopathic as the rest of them are, if not more than some. Her moral high horse is one of her ways of declaring herself superior to the others, but at the end of the day she's never claimed a principle, moral, or ethic that she hasn't broken the moment it became inconvenient.
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186	* How does Cyril, who seems rather competent at being a lawyer throughout season 5, not make absolutely sure that there's an immunity on the table if he rats out [=ISIS=]. I can understand how Pam, Cheryl and Ray could screw that one up, but with the reveal that Cyril is a former defense attorney, how does he mess that up?
187	** Likely a combination of stress and RuleOfFunny - Cyril ''can'' be a very adept liar and think on his feet, but it would also involve a crapload of preparation (as shown in his interaction with Calzado). Plus, criminal law isn't quite the same as tax law.
188	*** He reveals that he was a public defense attorney before switching to accounting.
189	----
190	* In Season 1, the "''M'', as in ''M''ancy" line is funny, but how the hell did Lana ''not'' intervene on that one? She didn't have any static to interfere with her hearing. Similarly, why did Lana not aim the camera at the bomb code in the first place?
191	** She tried to intervene. You can hear her saying "Archer . . ." like she wants to tell him something right after he says "God, you of all people," to Ray, but Archer and Ray don't seem to hear her over their argument. She then tries to get Ray's attention, but he just plows ahead with the defusal. She probably assumed that Ray heard him and didn't pursue it; there was a time limit after all.
192	----
193	* What happened to the rest of the ISIS staff after "White Elephant"? It has been established throughout the series that there are several background characters that work for ISIS. Even in the beginning of the episode where Archer is handing out roses to the staff, we see a brunette woman in a red dress and glasses, a man with glasses and a mustache, and Rodney. When the core cast are pardoned by the FBI, agent Hawley only mentions the death of Brett so it's assumed he was the only casualty from the raid. So what happened to Rodney and the others? Were they pardoned too or did they go to jail?
194	** The FBI selected the core group of 8 for interrogation because they likely had the most dirt on Mallory. The others weren't taken into custody because they might not have known any info and because ISIS dissolved, there was really no need for anything else.
195	----
196	* So, how could an Argentinian soldier not see that they were being presented with a fake president of Brazil if A) As and Argentinian and a soldier it would be ridiculous for him not to be able to identify the president and B) The fake president was a tall black guy in a top hat?
197	** Why is it ridiculous for an Argentinian soldier not to know by memory what the president of Brazil looks like? Argentine, maybe, but why Brazil? And who can say the president of Brazil doesn't resemble Conway Stern?
198	*** Because the average South American knows who the president of Brazil is. It’s like if a group of French soldiers were incapable of recognizing Angela Merkel, and confused her with a tall black dude..
199	** To answer part B: [[LatinoIsBrown contrary to popular opinion]], Brazilians are a veritable melting pot of native Amerindians, Portuguese colonizers, Africans brought over in the slave trade, and waves and waves of immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and even ex-Confederates from the United States. In fact, more than half of Africans brought over to the New World as part of the slave trade ended up in Brazil.
200	*** And exactly zero of those Africans have become presidents.
201	*** In our universe. It's never explained what the current president of Brazil looks like in Archer's universe, though considering the plan failed, most likely he doesn't look like Conway.
202	----
203	* In Season Six, Episode 5 "Vision Quest", what the heck was going on with the phone in the elevator? Why did it ring when they tried to call Mallory?
204	** One of Archer's many elaborate telephone pranks.
205	%%** Not OP, but I check this Headscratcher once a week in the hopes somebody answers it.
206	----
207	* What does Archer mean in "Training Day" when he calls karate [[TakeThat "the Dane Cook of martial arts"]]? Does he mean that karate lacks substance, tries too hard, or something else?
208	** I always thought that Archer was essentially calling karate "average" or commonplace: i.e., both get the job done (Dane can make you laugh, practicing karate can help you defend yourself) but there are other options out there that achieve the goal better/faster/more efficiently/whatever. Some martial artists (in my experience) are very derisive of styles they don't practice. Archer seems like that kind of guy.
209	** As above, many martial artists are dismissive of other styles, especially when theirs is less commonplace. To Archer, Karate and Dane Cook are accessible, pervasive, and widely known, but pale in comparison to better and more obscure martial arts/comics.
210	----
211	* Am I the only one who thinks Archer's distaste for racism is rather {{out of character}}? He mother is a massive racist, and bigots have been known to pass on the beliefs to fellow generations. Granted, she wasn't in his life much, but she clearly taught him more than Woodhouse or any of the boarding schools he attended did. And I doubt either of them would or could teach him anything about racism. The man has basically no other morals, so the point still stands; why does he hate racism?
212	** Because his mother embraces it. Sometimes bigots pass on their beliefs; but often the children end up rejecting them and doing a full 180. Archer's hatred of racism is a very reasonable reaction to his mother's attitudes.
213	** I always felt that Archer, for all his flaws and shortcomings, does have a few redeeming features. He is apparently someone who, once a concept comes into his head, goes full force into it. This is shown by his extensive research into his fears, his extreme rampages in the name of cancer and car theft, and becoming a midwife when Lana becomes pregnant. He also has moments of sincere kindness, most noticeably with Ruth (again from cancer), letting Katya be with Barry (at first anyways, despite everything), and of course, with Lana. At one point, he probably had one of the following moments: 1) he receives kindness from a minority against stereotypes, and begins researching extensively into it, 2) he realized he had disdain for everyone equally, despite skin color, 3) He didn't get a chance to develop his mother's racism due to 13 or 15 years at a boarding school, and his overall friendless existence meant he was treated poorly by all ethnicities, leading to point 2), or 4) he wanted/needed to have a trait that made him better than his mother.
214	----
215	* Is it me, or is it that Lana seems to care far less for people than she lets on? Archer has a lot more PetTheDog moments and does seem like a great guy deep down, but Lana comes across as a far meaner person deep down, especially with her rather abusive treatment of of Archer, her boyfriend and father of their child. Its coming across like she could be a Mallory in training.
216	** That's sort of the point, I think, just to be a foil to Archer. Several characters have pointed out her similarities to Mallory, as well, most famously Cheryl's breaking speech about her knowing she'll follow in her footsteps and is too bitter to work anywhere else.
217	----
218	* When the kidnappers tried to take Cheryl hostage, how did they take Pam by mistake? They apparently knew enough about her to know what path she walks to work in the morning but they didn't have any idea what she looked like.
219	** It's possible only the leader knew what she looked like, and for some reason never saw it pertinent to tell the others; all they needed to know was her name and where to find her, and it would be obvious who their target was. (Granted, they could have kidnapped some random woman at any point, especially if Cheryl didn't actually show up.) Naturally, their stupidity and lack of communication were their downfall.
220	** And while they were grabbing Pam, wasn't Cheryl trying to save her own ass by insisting Pam ''was'' Cheryl Tunt? I just rewatched that scene, and Cheryl clearly says "You fight em off, CHERYL! ...Yes, that is YOU, CHERYL!", in an attempt to save her own skin.
221	** Let's not forget the pepper spray flying all around. Its possible they DID know what Cheryl looked like but after getting maced a few times couldn't tell the women apart.
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223	* Assuming Ray wasn't lying about being color blind, why is he (or at least was) ISIS' DemolitionsExpert? Wouldn't being unable to distinguish between certain colors cause a problem with disarming a bomb?
224	** He still knows more than anyone else, which is an indicator that either color isn't particularly important in bomb defusal, or everyone else is just ''that'' stupid.
225	----
226	* In "Drastic Voyage, Part I", it is stated that the ISIS crew failed every assignment given to them, but in reality, they were flawless (relatively speaking) until "Pocket Listing", completing two assignments ("The Holdout" and "Three To Tango"), and one with a very high likelihood of success ("The Archer Sanction"). Failing on "Pocket Listing" was mostly because of Slater's overly-complicated plan. Isn't that meaningful? Even the failure in the "Drastic Voyage" wasn't entirely their fault, as they performed the best given the circumstances.
227	** Also, notably, Slater was with them in the ''Nereus'', and by default the agent in command since he was actual CIA and not a contractor. He was also involved in the boondoggles in "Pocket Listing" and "The Kanes", the latter of which would have cost the CIA a ''lot'' less money if he had done the research and determined that these were Lana's parents, and that Archer and Lana were visiting.
228	*** It also wouldn't have cost them an agent, since actually researching things before would not have caused a situation where Archer started shooting at masked burglars.
229	** That said, Krieger is the one that botched the whole operation with his childish tantrum over perceived snubbing by the scientists with ''actual degrees'' in their respective fields. Between interfering with the injection of the ''Nereus'' into the patient, necessitating a time-wasting trip upstream so to speak, and then smashing the computer that contained the data on the miniaturization technology, Krieger basically bungled the assignment on the whole team's behalf! Although one does have to wonder why a top secret CIA facility seemingly had no guards to restrain him.
230	----
231	* Why does Sterling want AJ to be cared for by Mallory in the event that he and Lana are killed? It has been consistently shown that she alternated between being a neglectful to outright malicious parent who was gone much of the time, openly loved her dog Duchess more than she did Sterling, sent him to boarding school for almost his entire childhood and left him in the care of a heroin addict the rest of the time! Does he ''really'' think that Mallory would treat AJ any better than she treated him?
232	** His mommy issues are probably so deeply rooted that he wants it even though deep down, he knows better. Which is hard to believe, considering how much better Lana's parents obviously are.
233	** Heck, if for some reason the Kane's were unavailable to take custody of AJ, then Cheryl's plan to give her to ''[[ComicBook/RasAlGhul Ra's al-Ghul]]'' to raise would be better than letting Mallory have her!
234	----
235	* In 'Movie Star' Ray, Cheryl/Carol, and Pam were shot at by the cops without any real avenue of escape. So did the cops just miss or...?
236	----
237	* When Cyril takes over as dictator of San Marcos, some of his actions are a bit weird. He proves to be an adept troop commander and does well against the rebellion. But why does he keep Malory around? It's stated that he likes her almost almost as little as Sterling, and I can't think of her having any useful function. Also, why would he marry Juliana? Aside from Cheryl/Carol/Cherlene, Lana and Pam, surely there are other women in San Marcos.
238	** Mallory's probably scary enough Cyril never worked up the nerve to kick her to the curb or throw her in the dungeon, and may have been worried about about Mallory and Archer working together to escape and foil things for him. Plus, it's implied she's giving him useful tips on how to successfully run his new government. As for Juliana. . . did you ''see'' her? Who wouldn't want to tap that!?
239	** Friends close, enemies closer. Cyril may dislike Malory, but a) he's better off keeping her where he can keep an eye on her, b) the rebels hold the airport, so there's no place for her to go if he throws her out, which leads to c) if he does throw her out, she'll go straight to the rebels and come and overthrow ''him'', and d) she doesn't really seem to care what he does as long as he keeps her glass full.
240	----
241	* Where are Cheryl's servants? She lives in that gigantic mansion, which in Season 6 was revealed to be even larger than previously shown. But we never see a single servant. Woodhouse was answering the door when everyone was living there! Yet, the house, while outdated in some sections, is by no means dirty or decrepit. That implies that even if Cheryl does not keep personal servants on staff to attend to her (which is surprising), there has to be ''somebody'' coming around to do things like clean, perform maintenance, change the light bulbs, etc...
242	** She could hire a cleaning company, and not have any servants living with her. Or, to quote Barry, her house could be so large that she "won't see [her] live-in servants unless [she] really wants to."
243	** So, basically like Karen on ''Series/WillAndGrace'', whose servants (except for VitriolicBestBuds, Rosario) literally ''fled'' whenever Karen entered a room, especially if she announced that she could see or hear them? Given how crazy Cheryl (and all of the Tunt ancestors she has described) is, that is actually believable.
244	----
245	* Given Archer's narcissism and self-centeredness, it seems that if he had knowingly donated sperm, and Lana said she used a donor to become pregnant, he would immediately assume the baby was his. Did he forget that he had?
246	** It's possible he had, since it was during his cancer episode, and he may not have been all there when he had his sperm frozen. Which also, to me, suggests that he didn't so much donate it as have it kept in the hospital in case the worst happened. When the worst didn't happen, he just sort of forgot about it, and when Lana said it was a donor probably figured she went to a clinic or something.
247	** It may be his narcissism that kept him from figuring it out! Since he thinks he is made of awesome, it would seem strange to him that Lana would not be ''boasting'' that she was carrying his child if he was the father!
248	** Or that Archer just found it inconceivable that Lana would want his sperm, but not via "[[UnusualEuphemism direct deposit.]]"
249	** Archer didn't donate his sperm, nor did Lana actually receive a donation. Archer had a sample frozen at his mother's request when he had cancer, and Lana located the sperm and stole it when she was considering pregnancy.
250	----
251	* In "Sea Tunt", wasn't it a bad idea for Cecil to take voice ''and'' video recordings of the ISIS crew when questioning them about Cheryl's (in)sanity? Both Sterling and Mallory were drinking insane amounts of alcohol, Pam was gorging herself on food she freely admitted to being allergic to and everyone else was either bitchy (Lana) or just goofy (Cyril and Ray). Wouldn't the "testimony" (which it was later pointed out that he could have gotten at a law office) have been demonstrably questionable given the fact that Cheryl's coworkers were not exactly behaving all that sanely themselves? If Cecil had the tapes significantly edited to conceal all this bizarre behavior, that would have just made the testimony look falsified. For that matter, wouldn't Cecil's own finances have ended up under scrutiny, thus revealing his true motive?
252	** Cecil's proven throughout the episode that he's not as savvy as he thinks he is.
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254	* Lana ignores Archer's warnings about boarding school and chooses to enroll AJ in one (or at least a day school that comes from the same environment.) Even though a) it's been made very clear how horrible it was for him growing up, b) Archer must have some rights as a father, and would be enrolling AJ behind his back, and c) AJ's biracial, which would likely make her a pretty good target for bullying in an extremely elitist and cruel environment. I get Lana wanting AJ to have a good future, but there was a whole episode on why this was bad for her daughter.
255	** Lana doesn't seem to really consider Archer AJ's father, even though they're dating and Archer supplied the sperm to make AJ. It's still very much all her choices when it comes to how to raise her daughter. Archer raises some very good points about the difficulties AJ might face in that environment, but Lana isn't really the kind to back down in that kind of situation. Plus, Lana may well look at it as admitting defeat, accepting that her daughter "isn't good enough" for these kinds of institutions. Which Lana ''definitely'' wouldn't stand for.
256	*** While it's her choice on how to raise her daughter, the scene makes it clear that she knows she did wrong by going behind Archer's back. And she shouldn't see the situation as her daughter not being "good enough," because Archer explained that it's solely about how he doesn't want their child to be mistreated and abused by her peers.
257	** I feel it's a combination of her being {{Soapbox Sadie}}, {{Not So Above It All}}, {{Master of the Mixed Message}}, and a {{Manipulative Bitch}} with trust issues. She feel that yes Archer is the father, but she don't trust him enough to know what's best for A.J.'s future. Also , Lana probably thought that just happen to "typical Archer" and it won't happen to A.J.
258	** Lana conceived A.J. as part of a plan to use TheBabyTrap on Archer. To some degree, A.J. is more of a means of resolving Lana's own insecurities than the most important person in her life.
259	** It's a pre-pre-school. Just how much bullying do you expect 2 year olds who are barely able to walk and talk to be capable of?
260	*** It's actually pre-pre through eighth grade. So A.J. will be dealing with it until high school.
261	----
262	* I always wonder to myself, If Lana wanted A.J. to go to that boarding school so bad and she knew that she have enough money for her daughter tuition/donation, why didn't she ask her parents for help with A.J. education? I mean in "The Kanes" Mr. and Mrs. Kane seem very well off. Plus, Lemuel is getting paid a lot of money by the C.I.A. I know they could at least chip in as well for A.J. education.
263	** Because the Kane's, both professors at StrawmanU Berkeley, would probably disapprove of Lana enrolling their grandchild in a snooty (and more than a little racist) school that probably leans to the political right. It's the same as with Lana's own choice to pursue a career as a spy, and later a detective, rather than completing her degrees or the fact that she continues to pursue a relationship with Archer. She is asserting her independence by making choices her parents would not approve of.
264	----
265	* Sterling and Mallory both drink large quantities of rubbing alcohol at least once each. No one comments on this, and there is no explanation why they didn't go blind (or suffer any other ill effects.)
266	** A running gag is that they both have partial AcquiredPoisonImmunity from years of drinking. At one point Malory even takes a tranquilizer dart to the neck without suffering the slightest effect, or even having to put down her drink!
267	----
268	* Cherlene is a country music star in Season 5, appearing on Travis County Limits and having her debut album go platinum (even if most if not all of the records went to San Marcos). But during the Season 6 episode "Nellis" she has no memory of her exploits as Cherlene, even after Archer identified her as the No. 1 country music star in America. It makes sense that Carol/Cheryl can block out the entire experience, given that Carol/Cheryl is Carol/Cheryl. But wouldn't her disappearance be national news for weeks if not months? How can she drop back into her pre-Cherlene life without leaving a trace?
269	** Her career didn't really last very long (only a few months). In the entertainment business people come and go all the time. Especially in Cherlene's case, where the ''only'' live public performance we saw her give was on Travis County Limits. It's not like she had hordes of fans who saw her on tour. Plus, although this is [=WMG=], it is also possible that the media checked her out and discovered that this "country" singer was a super-rich New York heiress -- and by extension a phony. That could have turned a lot of country fans away from her.
270	** TL;DR: She's a OneHitWonder. There are ''plenty'' of those in the music industry. Or even if she had multiple hits, people might only really care about her for one album and then move on in short order, unless she kept their interest up somehow, so they wouldn't notice or care when no sophomore album came along.
271	----
272	* Why, exactly, were the ISIS crew blacklisted for the failure in Drastic Voyage? They did what they were sent to do - bust the clot, make their way out through the tear duct. If anything, it looked like the doctor was draining tears from the wrong eye, as the display shows them on the right eye and the doctor is draining the left eye. Sure, Kreiger's smashing the mainframe probably didn't earn them much goodwill, but the ISIS crew (barring Archer purging the airlock) didn't screw up at all.
273	** Well according to Lana at the end of the episode, she thinks that the CIA set them up to be blacklisted from the start. From that and the fact that they had the data (until Kreiger's smashing of the computer), which would make needing to keep Kovak alive pointless, one could figure that the CIA decided to take out Kovak and get the ISIS crew blacklisted at the same time. Especially considering how usually Archer causes things to go wrong (in this case purging the airlock, keeping the sub from moving).
274	** Plus, they did screw up a lot of the missions we saw in Season 6, and Hawley did say that the CIA was getting fed up with their incompetence.
275	** The overall mission was to save Kovak's life. Their success would have been moot if he died anyway (which he did). They were contractors on thin ice to begin with as Hawley made sure to point out any failure would be on them and the blacklist threat was part of their contract. It would have been pretty easy for the CIA to pin the mission going south on them and Krieger just happened to destroy any chance of the CIA being nice and only kicking ISIS to the street.
276	----
277	* Season 7's finale ends in a weird way to say the least. How is it that Fake!Archer got mixed up with Real!Archer when confronting Veronica?
278	** Who says that they got mixed up? Real!Archer was still attracted to Veronica and he has a tendency to assume that he is so handsome and charming that he can wrap women around his little finger. Fake!Archer was mostly there to record her confession. The problem being that the cyborg was apparently programmed to be just as self-centered as the real thing. Hence, rather than doing something along the lines of getting Real!Archer out of the pool and calling for an ambulance, Fake!Archer just continued to act as if it were the real one until it shorted out while trying to propose to Lana.
279	----
280	* This is something I still haven't totally gotten, and I've watched the season at least three times. What was Veronica's motive through the whole season?
281	** Money from insurance fraud including from the (failed) production of the film they were working on (hence all the accidents). The producer was her partner in crime and when he tried to kill her with one of the accidents to get more of a share of the money she repaid him in kind. Presumably there were more people involved including Archer's bully (having a file named the same) and the Dean's lawyer.
282	----
283	* Where did those Krieger clones even come from, like how did they end up in Calderone's employ? It was obvious that the CIA didn't know about them. Is that ever addressed?
284	----
285	* Season 11 Cyril is supposed to be one of the best spies on Earth and a badass now whose training in hand to hand and muscular. So why and how does he keep getting bullied by Archer. Now isn't like before when he couldn't defend himself from him. So why does he allow it?
286	** Because no matter how much he works out, Cyril is still a writhing mess of insecurity in his personality. He can ''only'' exceed Archer when Archer isn't there. He ''feels'' inferior to Archer, no matter the actuality of the situation.
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Context Headscratchers / Archer