History Recap / ArcherS11E8ColdFusion

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Archer rebuts Lana's admonishment of his stupidly risky maneuver and attempt to blame him for the team's regression to their former habits at the climax by throwing this:

* BrickJoke: In the ColdOpen, Trip lands his helicopter on the agency's roof because he thinks "everything can be a helipad". At the end when he's making his escape, he has his helicopter land on the ice next to him...which causes it to break, plunging him into the Antarctic sea.

* TheCon: The plot ends up being a real estate scam, blowing up half the Arctic shelf to raise sea levels nearly a hundred feet, all so Trip can get rich off his planned floating cities.

* GilliganCut: Archer says it will be a "long, slow, convoluted conversation" to figure out what's happening. After one shot of Trip on a snowmobile, we cut back to Archer summarizing the guy's entire plan and "that didn't take long at all.

* INeedADrink: Malory spends most of the episode on the sidelines, finding a "proper drink" while being told to wait in the sub, and Cheryl tags along with her. It actually allow them to discover hints of Trip's true intentions.

** Earlier in the argument, Lana tries to admonish Archer for his stupidly risky plan to stop Trip escaping on his Submarine (involving diving near-naked in to lethally freezing water to disable its rudder). Archer simply points out that his plan ''worked'', which means he's saved the world, which is not something that she or the rest of the team can say they pulled off while Archer was in his coma.

* UnknownRival: The Client of the Week is an environmental scientist working in the Arctic named Sandra, who apparently knew Lana back in college and resents her for taking up all the grants. Lana claims not to remember her but [[DownplayedTrope acts antagonistic towards her the entire episode]].

** Baby Lamont as Parrot Kreiger (aka Crackers) from ''WesternAnimation/ArcherDangerIsland''.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: {{Deconstruction}}. Even if Archer's presence propelled the rest of the group to fall back into their old habits to at least some degree, those old habits always existed in them, and having a scapegoat they can blame for their behavior so that they don't have to take responsibility for it certainly helps them be more at ease with that behavior. When Archer points this out, Lana is genuinely stunned by the notion.

-->'''Lana:''' Do we introduce her to Krieger, or would that...
-->'''Archer:'''...bring about the death of humanity in a cybersexual apocalypse? [[NightmareFetishist Hard yes]].

* BrickJoke: In the ColdOpen, Trip lands his helicopter on the agency's roof because he thinks "everything can be a helipad". At the end when he's making his escape, he has his helicopter land on the ice next to him...[[RealityEnsues which causes it to break, plunging him into the Antarctic sea]].

* RealEstateScam: What the plot ends up being, blowing up half the Arctic shelf to raise sea levels nearly a hundred feet, all so Trip can get rich off his planned floating cities.
* RealityEnsues: Trip believes that "everything can be as a helipad" with the right vision. While the agency's roof held [mostly] when the helicopter landed on top of it, his attempted getaway in the episode's climax in Antarctica fails because the icy floors were not thick enough to serve this purpose, resulting in his death.

** Possibly to the extent of a BrokenAesop however, as "The Orpheus Gambit" shows that the gang ''doesn't'' keep Archer around, ''Malory'' does. Even after he awakened from his coma, they were just fine leaving him to his own devices for three months and he was okay with it as well. Malory was the one who insisted that he return to work and start going on missions again even though they and Archer were openly unhappy about it.

** Possibly to the extent of a BrokenAesop however, as "The Orpheus Gambit" shows that the gang ''doesn't'' keep Archer around, ''Malory'' does. Even after he awakened from his coma, they were just fine leaving him to his own devices for three months. Malory was the one who insisted that he return to work and start going on missions again even though they were openly unhappy about it.

'''Lana:''' Oh, shit!

* BestialityIsDepraved: One of the scientists is accused of being interested in [[{{Squick}} mating with penguins]]. [[EveryoneHasStandards No one’s amused]].

* TookALevelInBadass: ''Archer'', of all people. He’s easily the most competent (to a degree) of the team: he takes the murder mystery much more seriously than the rest, takes charge to evaluate clues and interview suspects, takes down [[{{Mook}} mooks]] easily (hallucinations and disabilities and all), pulls off an insane stunt in the freezing underwater of the Antarctic

* TookALevelInBadass: ''Archer'', of all people. He’s easily the most competent (to a degree) of the team: he takes the murder mystery much more seriously than the rest, takes charge to evaluate clues and interview suspects, takes down [[{{Mook}} mooks]] easily (hallucinations and disabilities and all), pulls off an insane stunt in the freezing underwater of the Antarctic, and [[WhatTheHellHero calls out the entire team]] for blaming him for their regressing to their vices and flaws: in other words, [[YMMV his presence isn't the reason that they're acting like jerks]]. ''They're just using him as an excuse''. [[JerkassHasAPoint Lana is especially aware of this and has no rebuttal]].

* TookALevelInBadass: ''Archer'', of all people. He’s easily the most competent (to a degree) of the team: he takes the murder mystery much more seriously than the rest, takes charge to evaluate clues and interview suspects, takes down [[{{Mook}} mooks]] easily (hallucinations and disabilities and all), pulls off an insane stunt in the freezing underwater of the Antarctic, and [[WhatTheHellHero calls out the entire team]] for blaming him for their regressing to their vices and flaws: in other words, his presence is ''not'' the reason that they're acting like [[TookALevelInJerkass jerks]]. '''They're just using him as an excuse'''. [[JerkassHasAPoint Lana is especially aware of this and has no rebuttal]].

A murder mystery in the arctic requires Archer and Co. to investigate. But there's more than just murder going on.

* INeedADrink: Malory spends most of the episode on the sidelines, finding a "proper drink" while being told to wait in the sub, and Cheryl tags along with her.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Archer rebuts Lana's admonishment of his stupidly risky maneuver and attempt to blame him for the team's regression to their former habits at the climax by asking everyone if they've ever considered that they keep him around as an excuse for them to be their worst selves. Lana is genuinely stunned by the notion.

* ToxicFriendInfluence: {{Deconstruction}}. Even if Archer's presence propelled the rest of the group to fall back into their old habits to at least some degree, those old habits always existed in them, and having a scapegoat they can blame for their behavior so that they don't have to take responsibility for it certainly helps them be more at ease with that behavior.
-->'''Archer:''' Did you people ever consider that you ''need'' me around, because you want the excuse to be your worst selves?!\\
'''Lana:''' Oh, shit!

** Possibly to the extent of a BrokenAesop however, as "The Orpheus Gambit" shows that the gang ''doesn't'' keep Archer around, ''Malory'' does. Even after he awakened from his coma, they were just fine leaving him to his own devices for three months. Malory was the one who insisted that he return to work and start going on missions again even though they were openly unhappy about it. That said, while they WERE pissed off for the rest of the season, none of them suggested to Mallory on getting rid of Archer after that, even though the "Helping Hands" incident would have been an excellent excuse to do so.

* RealEstateScam: What the plot ends up being, blowing up half the Arctic shelf to raise sea levels nearly a hundred feet, all so the BigBad can get rich off his planned floating cities.