The three-part finale of Archer.
Faced with all spy agencies being banned by the United Nations, the Agency does one last job to ensure that doesn't happen...if they can pull it off.
Episode Tropes:
- 0% Approval Rating: Pretty much everyone hates Slater here. Even Katya who, despite working with him at the time, still sees him as useful. That is, before she learns that they are about to flood a random village along with the Chinese and Russian delegates.
- And the Adventure Continues: Knowing that Lana has been hired to capture him, Archer decides to play along with it and gets Pam on board for a new journey with him.
- As You Know: Barry and Katya give summaries of the series-long plot arcs both of them have gone through.
- Back for the Finale: Katya, Boris, Slater, Rip Riley, and AJ return.
- Badass Boast: Boris of all people gets one when he challenges Pam to a fight.
- Batman Gambit: Attempted and failed. In danger of falling to his death into the broken dam, Slater allegedly reveals to Archer that he found out who Archer's biological father is but only will tell him if Archer saves Slater. Archer decides to turn down the deal and let Slater fall.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Katya, Slater, and to a lesser extent Boris, joined together to form "Silver Wolf"; a group of renegade spies who wish to plunge the world into another Cold War just so there's work for them to do rather than a peaceful world without the need for espionage.
- Bittersweet Ending: The Agency foils Slater's plan for a new Cold War but fails to convince the United Nations to change their minds about banning independent spy agencies across the globe. However, thanks to Cyril's accounting, he helps a village cash out on their acquired Cryptocurrency and give everyone enough money to set them on the path for a good future (or at least leave them financially better off than they used to be) now that the Agency itself is no more. 3 months later, Lana receives a promising spy job from a joint CIA-MI6 merger that involves hunting down a sneaky Archer "doing rogue espionage," who turns out to be not hiding much but will happily play the role just to bring in more spy work. Moreover, AJ finally accepts Archer as her father and goes with him to the zoo (and makes a mess of a gibbon cage). Unfortunately, while Archer has taken a lesson in maturity from the whole ordeal, his status as a "rogue spy" means he will likely forever be on the run from the government and Lana, who still carries a torch for him despite their opposing positions, is forced to put aside any lingering feelings she has for him to do her new job.
- Call-Back: After Archer is captured, he's held in the exact same way he was in the training scenario from the beginning of the first episode. Boris even says something similar upon Archer waking up.Boris: Sterling Archer. Codename "Duchess". Known from Berlin to Bangkok as the man who used to be the world's most dangerous spy.
- Came Back Wrong: Krieger gives Barry hope to return to a brand-new powerful body, only Krieger's random boredom about doing it only results in Barry getting back to a much smaller, weaker version of his cyborg body.
- Character Name Alias: Krieger had signed away all the guns in the Agency's armory using the alias Tom Sawyer (in reference to the Rush song, not the book)
- Chekhov's Gun: Archer tells his team that he found something awesome in the warehouse but refuses to share what it is. After the team realizes that Slater, who just took the bomb they retrieved, isn't with the CIA anymore, he reveals that what he found was a jetpack and uses it to catch up to Slater's helicopter.
- Pam's breath-checking mirrors get used to blind Slater's helicopter pilot.
- The Con: when Archer asks Slater about his Evil Plan, he hopes it's not "just a set up for an anti-climactic real estate scam"
- Continuity Nod: Krieger's virtual girlfriend, Mitsuko Miyazumi, does not return for the finale, but Barry is seen in her outfit while he is a hologram.
- Destructive Savior: The Agency, naturally, takes down Slater's helicopter and the head of the Jesus statue Rio simultaneously.
- Dude Where Is My Respect:
- Barry is annoyed that nobody respects him enough to build him a new body despite helping them defeat Other Barry.
- Lana is greatly annoyed that, despite her skills and planning over the years together, Archer still chooses to downplay her abilities. Although, one scene later shows Archer telling Zara to get to Lana and follow her commands, proving that he does respect her leadership but chooses to annoy her as a way to get under her skin.
- Enemy Civil War: Archer plays the Brazillians and Chinese spooks against eachother by projecting the noise of his gun across the warehouse, leading the two sides wiping each other out.
- Everyone Has Standards: Katya is fine with restarting the cold war but is horrified to discover that blowing up the dam means wiping an entire town of innocent people off the map.
- Evil Is Petty: Slater can't help but turn his helicopter around to gloat at Archer that he was actually double crossing the Agency.
- Evil Plan: Rogue CIA Agent Slater steals a Chinese Bunker Buster to blow up a dam in Sotchi, Russia to wipe out a number of US, Russian and Chinese high ranking military to spark a new Cold War, during which he would be able to pull the strings using his vast network of moles in the intelligence agencies of all sides.
- Face–Heel Turn: While Slater has never been a nice person, he never before had any intention to betray his country for selfish reasons. Here? He throws away any morals he had after being disavowed by the C.I.A. and decides to plunge the world into another Cold War.
- Full-Frontal Assault: Archer tackles Slater while naked because his speedo fell off as a result of how fast his jetpack flew him.
- The Gambler: Lana forgets that Zara has a problem with being a compulsive gambler, though things work out incredibly well for Zara when she's able to gain access to the room for higher bidders... until she blows all her money anyway.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: Archer lands naked on the beach next to a crashed helicopter and the head of Cristo Renditor, and is unaware multiple people start filming him as he starts bragging to Slater.
- It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: naturally a mission in Rio de Janeiro happens during Carnival, although it is given the justification that the trade was arranged so because local police would be too busy dealing with the celebrations.
- I Work Alone: Archer spends the entire finale claiming that he does not need anyone's help and claims he does his best work alone. But, in the time skip, he asks Pam to join him on a new adventure.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Krieger has been wiping his memory while working on the Barry Matrix.
- Monumental Damage: Slater's helicopter spinning out of control knocks off the head of Cristo Rendetor, and the head rolls down all the way to the beach where the helicopter and Archer land.
- Noodle Incident: After the time skip, Archer and AJ go to the zoo and did something that results in Archer telling Lana that she needs to get the zoo a new gibbon cage.
- No Place for a Warrior: Katya tries to tempt Archer into joining the Silver Wolf group as she knows a world where there is no conflict has no place for Archer. Although Archer does consider this offer, he rejects it in favor of his friends.
- Not Helping Your Case: The United Nations use footage of a nude Archer happily exclaiming how he feels alive after accidentally wrecking the head of Jesus at Rio de Janeiro to support their claim to ban spy agencies.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: Unlike Katya, who founded Silver Wolf to ensure that there is always a place for private espionage agents during the re-started Cold War, Slater reveals that he intends to use Silver Wolf and the new Cold War to monopolize his control of private spy agencies, with little to no regard for his compatriots.
- One Last Job: The mission to claim the bunker buster in Brazil is played around as this, in case the United Nations go through with the vote to outlaw all global spy agencies. Pam really, really hopes that it won't happen, either because they would witness the Agency save the world again, or some other twist of fate. As the finale continues, everyone else feels that it's truly the end. Indeed, once the bomb scheme is dealt with, the gang tunes in to the news in time to learn that the ban vote is official.
- Poor Communication Kills: The Agency has been cut off from the CIA, so they didn't know Slater had turned rogue when they accepted the mission to steal the bunker buster.
- Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense: Cheryl has no idea what rent is.Krieger: Do you not know what rent is?
Cheryl: I want to say... a kind of poor people food, like, kibble. - Series Finale: The definite final episodes of the franchise.
- Sharing a Body: Both Katya and Barry fuse together into Katya's cyborg body and become "Katbar." This is meant to be taken as a strong fusion, but it's pretty messy, since it leads to a strange threesome sex with Archer. Then again, Archer doesn't seem to mind.
- Tattooed Crook: Boris sports a large collection of tattoos from the Gulag he was the sole survivor of.
- Take This Job and Shove It: The drones of the Agency aren't happy about Lana's letter referencing their firing/"hiatus". As they leave, one of them leave a bag of shit on his desk. Lana finds out it is an actual bag of it.
- Took a Level in Dumbass: Cheryl has now been reduced to a complete air head who is more of a hinderance to the Agency than an asset. Even Pam lampshades this at one point, wondering if Cheryl took too many sniffs of glue.
- Time Skip: The final scene takes place three months after the events of the episode.
- The Unreveal: The whole "Who is Archer's Father" sub plot comes back as Slater's last gambit. Rather than save Slater and find out who his father is, Archer decides he has grown past it, and decides to let Slater die.
- What Happened to the Mouse?:
- After escaping the Silver Wolf's base with Pam's group, Boris disappears from the plot.
- While we do see Archer, Lana, and Pam in the three months' time skip, the same cannot be said for everyone else. As such, it's unknown what happened to Cyril, Ray, or Zara. We do at least get an implication that Krieger and Cheryl are planning a collab that might lead to a moonbase staffed by werewolves.
- Worthy Opponent: Boris and Pam, who decide to call their fight a draw and walk their separate ways after beating each other bloody.
