Line #5 Recap/ArcherS5E1WhiteElephant


1	On Malory's birthday, an explosion rocks ISIS headquarters, and Brett Bunsen is {{killed\|OffForReal}} in an attack led by some heavily-armored intruders, who turn out to be the FBI. Agent Holly, the leader of the division, arrests the employees for, among various other charges, treason, as ISIS had been conducting espionage without the permission of the US government. The ISIS crew are taken into custody, where Malory urges them not to give up ISIS' secrets, and that she will get them free of all charges. They do anyway, in order to receive immunity, which none of them are granted in the end.
2
3	Malory does end up removing the charges, but only by giving up legal ownership of ISIS headquarters in the process. Just like that, all ISIS employees find themselves unemployed and are forced to find a purpose in life. Until, that is, Sterling opens a large vault in Malory's office, to reveal a literal (not figurative) ''ton of cocaine''. When the idea arises that the employees could form a cartel, Archer [[DreamingOfThingsToCome imagines what their lives would be like if they went through with the career change]], before saying the words that would change not just the title, but also the very premise of the show itself.
4
5	->'''Archer''': ...Archer ''Vice.''
6
7	----
8	!! This episode provides examples of:
9
10	* AnimationBump: The opening scene of Archer walking through ISIS headquarters and the subsequent raid by the FBI use much smoother animation than usual, with softer lighting and effects work.
11	* BoomHeadshot: Brett Bunsen gets shot [[RunningGag again]], only this time it's a [[KilledOffForReal fatal]] case of PrettyLittleHeadshots.
12	* ContinuityNod[=/=]NoodleIncident: The crimes the ISIS staff confess to are either one or the other.
13	* DreamingOfThingsToCome: At the end of the episode, Archer imagines what the gang's new life will be like running a drug cartel, and we see various scenes from future episodes (and some that aren't).
14	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Cyril mentions that he trained to be a lawyer. He ends up acting as one for the drug cartel the ISIS crew form.
15	* ILied: Malory doesn't show much remorse when it was revealed she was running ISIS without government permission.
16	-->'''Lana:''' Like, '''fifty times''' I've asked you about that!\
17	'''Malory:''' And like fifty times, I lied. Sue me.
18	* KilledOffForReal: Brett suffers a fatal headshot due to getting distracted talking with Archer.
19	* MassOhCrap: Archer and the gang immediately drop everything when they realize the ones shooting at them are FBI agents.
20	* MoodWhiplash: For some reason, the start of the episode involves the ISIS workforce dancing happily and Archer handing out roses to everyone before meeting up with his mother. Just as soon as she's about to grab a rose...the whole place blows up by the FBI raiding it.
21	* NoodleIncident: How did ISIS end up with with a ton of cocaine in the first place? The reason behind this would be revealed in the episode "[[Recap/ArcherS5E13ArrivalDeparture Arrival Departure]]"
22	* NotHelpingYourCase: Malory tells the staff to trust her in avoiding the charges of treason. Instead, everyone (save for her, Lana, and Archer), attempt to sell each other out in hopes of immunity in a possible trial (among other things). The problem is that no one in the FBI ever discussed their offer before they started running their mouths, so they pretty much screwed themselves in an unwitting confession of everything ISIS has ever done up to this point.
23	* PoorCommunicationKills: As Agent Holly points out, the entire shootout could have been avoided if his men had announced they were FBI before entering ISIS (or if the initials were on the front of the uniforms).
24	* PrettyLittleHeadshots: Brett's deadly bullet wound has an entry point shown, but no exit wound.
25	* RunningGagged: Brett repeatedly getting shot meets its end when he's fatally shot in the head during the FBI raid.
26	-->'''Archer:''' Well, at least Brett died doing what he loved: getting shot.
27	* SkewedPriorities: Archer was more focused on remembering the name of [[Series/TheMuppetShow the muppet Beaker's boss]] than acknowledging Brett's death. [[note]] Dr. Bunsen Honeydew [[/note]]
28	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: Want to operate your own private espionage agency without permission or oversight from the government? Don't be surprised when you're arrested by the FBI for treason.
29	** The FBI agents perform a no-knock raid on the headquarters of said espionage agency? Well then, don't be surprised when the secret agents inside think the men dressed all in black without any marks to identify them carrying assault weapons are terrorists and start shooting at them.
30	** Telling the FBI everything they wanted to know in exchange for immunity or some other deal to minimize how much jail time you do? Sure. However, make sure you only do so '''after''' you get it offered to you in writing, otherwise you just told them everything they wanted to hear for free.
31	* TonightSomeoneDies: It was hyped up before the season started that someone would be KilledOffForReal. It turned out to be Brett, and this was likely used to hype the new season, as saying basically ''anything else'' would completely spoil the episode.
32	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil[=/=]SpoilerOpening: At the end of the episode, Archer has an ImagineSpot showing clips from later episodes. While many of the clips do not appear at all later on, some of the ones that do happen to be major spoilers for later episodes. These include: [[spoiler:Charles and Rudy making away with the cocaine and the money, the money taken from Charles and Rudy being counterfeit, Ron getting shot by the Yakuza, La Madrina turning on Archer]].
33	** NeverTrustATrailer: That said, several scenes never appear in the season, namely Archer sitting at a desk with a tiger sitting on top, Lana's water breaking in Morocco in the same conditions as Archer (even dressed as Malory was at the time), Archer driving a speedboat outside Miami, Archer and Lana in a room with several Hell's Angels holding clubs and chains, Archer, Malory, Lana, Cyril and Pam in a life raft with a tiger, Archer being held at gunpoint inside a dam by FBI Special Agent Holly a lá ''Film/TheFugitive'', Cherlene being kidnapped, Cherlene's tour bus exploding as Ray reports her kidnapping from a payphone, a helicopter being shot down, Archer accidentally invading Laos with insurgents, his manicurist and a tiger, Archer skydiving, Archer and Lana fleeing police on a motorcycle then ramping off a flatbed and Pam driving a limo while Cheryl fires an RPG at a police car.
34	* WhamEpisode: A big enough episode to literally change the show's very premise. ISIS is ended by Malory to save everyone's skins after it's been revealed they've been working without government sanction, and shifts, in order to make money now the employees are all jobless, to becoming a drug cartel using the Tunt mansion.
35	* WhamLine: "What are we going to do with literally, not figuratively, ''a ton of cocaine''?"
36	** "...Archer Vice!"
37	* WhamShot:
38	** Archer shoots one of the masked intruders, and the man falls backwards to reveal the FBI logo on the back of his shirt.
39	** The shot of the literal ton of cocaine in Malory's office.

Context Recap / ArcherS5E1WhiteElephant