Disguised as a doctor and nurse, Archer and Lana take twenty kilos of cocaine - hidden in plaster covering Pam's entire body - to a deal with an unknown buyer. A nervous and sweaty Pam absorbs cocaine through her skin and ends up addicted - to the point of eating the plaster/cocaine body cast. They then meet with the buyer, who turns out to be Ramon. Ramon is making the buy on behalf of Rudy and Charles, all three last seen in the Season 1 episode "Honeypot." As the deal turns increasingly sour and all three buyers wind up dead, it is revealed in the final scene that it was an elaborate ruse to steal the cocaine from ISIS, pretend to be dead to throw suspicion and to have paid ISIS in counterfeit bills. Meanwhile, Cheryl is beginning her goal of becoming a country music star, performing the original song "40 Miles of Mountain Road" in the background of the episode (Her vocals are provided by singer Jessy Lynn Martens). While horrible in rehearsals, it's discovered that when no one is watching her, Cheryl is actually an amazing singer, pushing Malory to become her agent.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Bus Came Back: Ramon, Rudy, and Charles return since they were all last seen in Season 1 "Honeypot."
- Complexity Addiction: Rudy and Charles both call out Ramon on how stupidly complicated his plan to fake their deaths and buy the cocaine with counterfeit money is when they could have just had a straight deal with the fake money.
- Extreme Omnivore: Pam becomes addicted to cocaine and begins to eat it by the pound. She suffers no real negative effect from this even though Rudy correctly points out she should be dead from overdosing.
- Faking the Dead: Ramon fakes the death of himself, Rudy, and Charles so that they keep the 20 kilos of cocaine and Archer leaves with 1 million dollars of counterfeit money.
- Gave Up Too Soon: Lana points out that she and Archer left the scene too quickly and didn't bother to check if everyone was really dead.
- Honor Before Reason: Ramon makes Archer and Lana put away their guns during the deal as he promised no guns. This turns out to be a bad idea when Rudy and Charles steal the cocaine at gunpoint. Of course, it was all part of his plan, however.
- Last Request: Ramon tricks Archer into kissing him before he "dies."
- Literary Allusion Title: The episode is named after A Kiss Before Dying, a novel by Ira Levin. Levin also wrote The Boys from Brazil, which has been referred to several times in the show.
- Mexican Standoff: Ramon gets into one with Rudy and Charles and it ends with them all "dead."
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Archer does not have a crush on Ramon.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Archer points out to Lana that now that the government has shut down ISIS and branded them traitors, they have no choice but to use their spy skills towards criminal activity.
- Zany Scheme: While Ramon, Rudy, and Charles got away with the cocaine and real money, Ramon was criticized about how stupid their plan was since they would have made use of the fake money Archer and the gang now possess.
