A tense, wild-eyed Malory sits in her apartment living room, stiffly taking sips of alcohol in the dark while it thunders outside. Fearful, she immediately pulls a gun on Archer and Lana when they burst in. Both are irritated at Malory's lack of explanation when she called Archer a little while before, but quickly see why she is so upset. The Prime Minister of Italy, Savio Mascalzone, sits dead in a chair before them, shot five times in the chest. To top it off, not only is Mascalzone bound to the chair, but the chair also itself has no seat, and the man's yellow zentai suit apparently opens up in the rear so someone could insert a "marital aid" into his ass. Archer and Lana are shocked and disgusted, so Malory explains the situation.
She and Savio met after an Italian intelligence operation and felt a mutual attraction. After getting married and going into politics, Mascalzone would slip away from his duties to spend a romantic weekend with her. Over the years, Savio's tastes grew more "exotic" and Malory started to indulge him, eventually leading to the zentai suit, bondage, and "rubber eggplant" situation in the present. After Malory restrained him to the chair that night, she says, three men ran into the apartment and shot the Prime Minister.
Malory fired after them three times and missed, as shown by matching bullet holes in the wall by the door. One of the men turned back and shot Malory (which might aid a jury's favor in court). Since plausible deniability is just not realistic, they must find a way to sneak Savio's corpse out of her apartment while dealing with surprise house guests and later the NYPD.
This episode provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Archer provides a hilarious one when taking a closer look at the dead Prime Minister, despite Malory desperately trying to stop him:Archer: I have a question, mother: Why does this chair have no seat? (looks under seat) And what... (looks under seat again) ...is in his ass?!
- Best Served Cold: Malory had her fun with Savio for 3 decades. The second Savio started getting too kinky for Malory's tastes, she effortlessly does away with him.
- Bilingual Bonus: Lots of untranslated Italian is spoken, though it's easy to infer what is being said in context.
- Blatant Lies: Malory insists throughout the episode that she didn't kill Savio, but Lana and Archer figure out by the end that she did exactly that.
- Bottle Episode: Aside from a short ending scene, most of the episode is set in Malory's apartment.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: For all his usual craziness (or maybe because of it), Krieger is really good at disposing of bodies.
- Casual Kink: Savio has a few of them.
- Cleanup Crew: Krieger, who really enjoys his work. In the end, he does it so well that the NYPD detective is none the wiser.
- Connect the Deaths: Krieger gives the entire ISIS staff each a package containing part of the murder victim. He tells them to put the packages in specific dumpsters, to form a smiley face. Averted, however, as they just dump them wherever they feel like.
- Continuity Nod: Cyril complains that they have to get rid of body every single time they go Malory's house. Malory retorts thats it's only been twice.
- Disposing of a Body: And it's not the first time this has happened in Malory's apartment.Cyril: Every time! Every single time we come over here, we have to help you get rid of a dead body!Mallory: Well, you've only been here twice.
- Don't Ask: When the others arrive and ask about the situation, Archer and Lana say this a few times to drop the subject:Ray: Speaking of, why the hell is the Italian Prime Minister here?
Archer & Lana: Don't ask.
[...]
Malory: Oh God, that reminds me— Krieger!
Krieger: Yeah, I found it.
Cyril: Found what?
Archer & Lana: Don't ask!
Krieger: Can I keep it?
Cheryl: Keep what?
Archer & Lana: DON'T ASK! - Europeans Are Kinky: The Prime Minister was into some… exotic tastes. He was found dead in a full body zentai, with a dildo up his ass. Malory even states that she finally decided to exact her revenge because shit was getting too weird for her.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: Archer and Lana team up for a lengthy one at the end of the episode.Archer: So, wait a minute... Mother shot herself? Oh my god! Which would mean that she’s been banging him once a year for the last 35 years and the whole time, she’s been holding a grudge. [Beat] Holy shit, she killed him.
- French Maid Outfit: Lana wears one as a disguise from Malory's collection. She attempts to ask why the latter has it, but then stops.
- Hypocrite: Malory justifies her hatred of the Irish based on the fact that Ireland was neutral during World War II. While she's standing over the body of the Italian closet fascist politician that she has been having an ongoing affair with for three decades. Also, Archer's possible-father was Italian as well and Malory even speaks fluent Italian. Italy was an actual Axis power.
- It's Personal: The reason why Malory killed the Prime Minister: he had an activist (and one of Malory's many lovers, who may have been Archer's father) killed.
- Karma Houdini: Malory, according to Lana's deduction the end of the episode, though it's subverted when she makes her Motive Rant to the Italian Prime Minister (who had evaded karma for killing Malory's lover and Archer's possible father for so long until then).
- Leaning on the Fourth WallMalory: What year do you think this is?
Archer: I, uh— yeah, exactly. Good question. - Meaningful Name: "Mascalzone" means "crook" in Italian.
- Motive Rant: At the end, the audience is treated to a flashback in which Malory, after ensuring the Prime Minister cannot escape, reveals that she's been holding a grudge for decades because he killed one of Archer's potential fathers.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: A dark one for Krieger. Not only does he manage to effortlessly dispose of Mascalzone's body and return Malory's apartment to its pristine state, he does it almost instantly while a cop is snooping around the place.
- Oh Me Accents Slipping: In order to fool the cop who comes to investigate, Archer, Pam, Cheryl, and Ray all pretend to be snobbish English guests Malory was having over for a dinner party (Cyril puts in no effort to hide the fact that he's American). Archer's fake accent slips a lot faster than anyone else's.
- Rewatch Bonus: A lot, once you know the final twist: notably, how Archer and Lana were totally right from the start, how Malory bend their minds, Krieger's level of implication based on his casualness about the whole thing, and the moment when Malory almost gives the gun to Lana, which can be seen as a backup plan if the cop didn't buy the masquerade.
- Sexy Coat Flashing: The end of the episode reveals this as the reason why Malory wouldn’t take her trench coat off for Lana to treat the gunshot wound on her arm... she wasn’t wearing anything under it.Malory: [opening her coat in front of a mirror] Mmmmm, honey you’ve still got it! Bow chicka bow wow, a-huh-huh!
- Shout-Out: "Savio Mascalzone" has a certain assonance with Silvio Berlusconi, a real-life politician who served as Italy's prime minister.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: Both Archer and Cheryl think that Italy "uses a king".
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Cheryl's posh accent completely defies description.
- You Do NOT Want To Know: Krieger says this about how he kept the body hidden in the bathroom. He also says that Malory needs to wash her lips when he touched them.
