Archer goes to Wisconsin with Pam to attend her sister Edie's wedding, only to get ambushed by Barry Dylan. Back at the office, Lana is left to find a replacement babysitter to take AJ for the weekend.
This episode provides examples of:
- Berserk Button: Edie spends the entire episode insulting Pam, but when Barry points out that she's no prize, either, she goes nuts and viciously attacks him.
- Breaking the Bonds: Pam snaps the ropes Barry had her tied up.
- Bring My Brown Pants: Krieger is trying to build a weapon that projects the brown note.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Played with. Edie is just as freaked out as Archer when they see Pam tied up in the grain silo, but Edie doesn't help Pam down. And after Edie goes off on Pam, Barry, as he's fighting Archer, tells Edie she's no prize.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Archer slaps Pam to get her to stop crying so she can talk.
- The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry: Edie and Pam to extremes, including Edie and her friend giving a blowjob to Pam's crush, dumping blood on her at her prom, and the two fist fighting upon seeing each other again.
- Hate Sink: Edie, who spends all of her screen time being a complete and utter bitch to everybody around her, especially Pam. And as Pam reveals, Edie spent most of their adolescence treating Pam like garbage, including an incident where Edie and her friend Midge gave oral sex to a boy Pam liked for the sake of making her miserable. That Edie is almost killed and learns her wedding got ruined because her fiancé got a blow job (from Midge) at the rehearsal dinner, gives Pam immense satisfaction.
- Inelegant Blubbering: The episode opens with Pam having an extended cry session in the break room. Archer has to slap her to get her to stop.
- Jerkass: Edie would rather let Pam die at Barry's hands than miss out on all-you-can-eat prime rib at her rehearsal dinner.
- Karmic Butt-Monkey: Turns out Katya dumped Barry. For Boris, who is (as Barry describes him) "literally the dumbest guy in Russia."
- Laughing Mad: Barry, in the last moments of the episode, finally completely, utterly snaps.
- Laser-Guided Karma: After making fun of Pam because she and her friend Midge gave the guy she liked a blowjob (years ago), Edie is furious to find out that her fiancé got drunk and got a blowjob from Midge at the rehearsal dinner.
- Mistaken for Gay: Archer's insistence on wearing a white jacket for the rehearsal dinner leads to Pam warning that the rural Wisconsin crowd is likely to assume this. Sure enough, Pam's sister Edie immediately starts lobbing anti-gay slurs at him as soon as she sees him. Granted, she also refuses to believe that Pam could get a date through any means other than hiring a gay escort. She also assumes that Barry is Archer's ex-boyfriend when he calls to tell them he's kidnapped Pam.
- Not Quite Dead: It looks like Barry is finally down for the count, after being shot repeatedly with explosive shotgun slugs, dropped down a grain elevator, set on fire in the burning grain elevator, and hit by a car, complete with an Eye Lights Out. Then one of his eyes lights back up and he starts cackling.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: "If anyone's gonna choke my sister's bitch neck, it's gonna be me!"
- Outside Ride: Barry apparently rode in the wheel well of the plane to Green Bay.
- Overly Long Gag: Archer trying to make his coffee around a sobbing Pam in the Cold Opening.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: When Edie refuses to go help Pam, Archer knocks her out and drags her along, mentioning that he was "almost halfway-hoping it wouldn't come to this."
- Pet the Dog: Archer immediately volunteers to go to the wedding as Pam's date.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: A tied-up Pam begs Edie to "cut me down". She gives her this instead, going for the cruel figurative sense of the request (instead of literally freeing her sister).
- Sanity Slippage: Barry's already-fragile sanity has completely shattered thanks to Katya dumping him for Boris.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: Archer is pleasantly surprised by how beautiful Pam looks in her dress for the rehearsal dinner.
- Shout-Out:
- Barry does his to The Warriors againArcher: [Barry's] a freaking cyborg-
Barry: Archer! Come out and plaaay!
Archer: [sighs] And also a gaping prolapsed anus. - From the time Barry starts taking damage, he's a walking Shout-Out to TheTerminator.
- An additional shoutout to the series pops up when Archer conceals the shotgun he grabbed in a box of roses. And Pam's One-Handed Shotgun Pump.
- Barry's walk out of the fire at the end is done as a send-up to Chuck Yeager's near the end of The Right Stuff
- The closing of the episode plays the main theme of Fargo.
- Barry does his to The Warriors again
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Spiritual Sequel: To "El Secuestro." Both episodes involve Pam getting kidnapped and treated like crap, but whereas Archer could've cared less when Pam was abducted in "El Secuestro," here he not only goes to rescue her but drags along her bitch sister Edie by force. Both episodes also highlight Pam's past and her badass capabilities, when she effortlessly took beatings from the kidnappers and later snapped one of their necks to blowing Barry apart with explosive ammo and doing far more damage to him than anyone else had done in the past. Also, that Pam later on gets to enjoy avenging herself on those who made her miserable, like preparing to beat the shit out of Malory for offering a pathetic five grand to save her and savoring that Edie's wedding has been ruined. - Torso with a View: Barry, after Pam shoots him the first time.Barry: Huh. I mean, I'm not a doctor, or a roboticist, but, uh... that can't be good.
- Ungrateful Bitch: Not once does Edie ever thank Pam for saving her from Barry. Even when Pam tries to invoke a thanks out of her, Edie thinks that Pam is thanking her for “dropping truth bombs” on her.
- Worth It: As Edie screams about how Pam "ruined" her wedding and her life, Edie asks if Pam is happy. Pam serenely replies that's all she ever wanted.
