History TearJerker / Archer

--> '''Archer:''' ''Oof.'' Well, [[[BlatantLies I wasn't using that heart anyway]].

--> '''Archer:''' ''Oof.'' Well, I wasn't using that heart anyway.

[[caption-width-right:350: BlatantLies [["You've always been insanely jealous of my friends!"]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:BlatantLies "You've always been insanely jealous of my friends!"]]

[[caption-width-right:350: "You've always been insanely jealous of my friends!"]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archer_lacrosse_young.jpg [[caption-width-right:350:BlatantLies "You've always been insanely jealous of my friends!"]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archer_lacrosse_young.jpg [[BlatantLies "You've always been insanely jealous of my friends!"]]]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archer_lacrosse_young.jpg]]

* "Double Trouble" and Season 2's overall sheer DownerEnding. Thanks to his meaningful relationship with Katya, Archer has become a much better person, and the two are about to finally get married atop Archer's roof when Barry, now a {{cyborg}}, bursts in and grabs Archer in a choke-hold and dangles him off the roof. Malory unsuccessfully tries to stop him, and as a last-ditch effort, Katya grabs Barry and [[TakingYouWithMe dives off the roof into the street below]], saving Archer's life but [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing her own]]. The episode ends with Archer sobbing and screaming out her name over the balcony as Barry boasts from the streets. It's one of the most uncharacteristically saddening and serious moments for the show, and is all the more effective for it.

** [[spoiler: Knowing that Archer ''does'' survive and wake up from the coma that is caused by his assassination doesn't make this scene any less heartbreaking.]]

* [Ramon's death in "A Kiss While Dying", and Archer kissing him to fulfill his dying wish. Even though Ramon, Charles and Rudy faked the whole thing, we didn't know that at the time, and it was still a touching moment.

** Malory's wailing cries for her son as she collapses to her knees with Lana holding her through her sobs is the gutting clincher. Seeing the possible corpse of your child [[AdultFear is a nightmare no parent would want to live through]].

** Also just the complete heartbreak/shock in everyone's voice when they realize that he's the one in the Pool and not the cyborg. Yes he/they treated them/him all like shit, but they did genuinely care about him, and are horrified that he could very likely be dead for real. The WhamShot of the real Archer bleeding in the pool serves to twist the knife.

** Also just the complete heartbreak/shock in everyones voice when they realize that he's the one in the Pool and not the cyborg. Yes he/they treated them/him all like shit, but they did genuinely care about him, and are horrified that he could very likely be dead for real. Mallory's wailing cries for her son as she collapses to her knees and Lana holds her through her sobs is the gutting clincher.

** Abbiejean doesn't even know that Archer is her dad. She calls Lana's new husband "daddy" and happily runs into his arms...right in front of Archer. That is just brutal.

** Doubles as {{Heartwarming}}, but Pam legimately being happy that Archer's back and even slips him a flask of alcohol and saying she missed the shit out of him. The Tearjerker is that by Archer's reaction, she's the only one who outright said it.

* Meta: The "we don't do that anymore" RunningGag about certain traits the characters have given up are a reminder that even if they're back to be spies like before season 5, things will never be the same. It could also be a reference to how a lot of the show's most iconic gags and jokes might not be seen as acceptable in the late 2010s/early 2020s as they were in the early-to-mid 2010s due to PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad, SocietyMarchesOn, and ValuesDissonance.

* In general, the theme of the season appears to be Archer having to deal with missing three years while everyone else have moved on and even appears to be better off without him.
** While he claims it was "selfish" Archer has to deal with the fact Woodhouse is gone for good and from this episode here on, his mother attempts to find him a new valet.
** Lana is revealed to have entered a relationship with a wealthy older white man and Archer learns this after attempted to tell her his feelings.
** Archer legitmately upset when he overhears that the team was happier when he was in the coma and not for anything he did either; they treat his mere presence as reason enough for them to revert back to their usual bickering snarky selves. Worse is that Archer isn't acting any worse than his usual self and is arguably, marginally, on his best behavior this episode.
** Doubles as {{Heartwarming}}, Pam legimately being happy that Archer's back and even slips him a flask of alcohol and missing the shit out of him. The Tearjerker is that by Archer's reaction she's the only one who outright said it.

** Doubles as {{Heartwarming}}, Pam legimately being happy that Archer's back and even slips him a flask of alchol and missing the shit out of him. The Tearjerker is that by Archer's reaction she's the only one who outright said it.
* Meta: The "we don't do that anymore" RunningGag about certain traits the characters have given up are a reminder that even if they're back to be spies like before season 5, things will never be the same.

* In general, the theme of the season appears to be Archer having to deal with missing three years while everyone else appears to ha ve moved and even appears to be better off without him.

'''The Orpheus Gambit'''

** Archer legitmately upset when he overhears that the team was happier when he was in the coma and not for anything he did either; they treat his mere presence as reason enough for them to revert back to their usual bickering snarky selves.

* Archer hallucinating Woodhouse. As he approach the end of his coma, he hallucinates the one person who died at the start of it, and because it's at the end of the episode before the finale of the season, one can think that Archer is in a life-and-death crossroad, with the dead people visiting him before his awakening.

* "Double Trouble" and [[spoiler:Season 2's overall sheer DownerEnding. Thanks to his meaningful relationship with Katya, Archer has become a much better person, and the two are about to finally get married atop Archer's roof when Barry, now a {{cyborg}}, bursts in and grabs Archer in a choke-hold and dangles him off the roof. Malory unsuccessfully tries to stop him, and as a last-ditch effort, Katya grabs Barry and [[TakingYouWithMe dives off the roof into the street below]], saving Archer's life but [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing her own]]. The episode ends with Archer sobbing and screaming out her name over the balcony as Barry boasts from the streets]]. It's one of the most uncharacteristically saddening and serious moments for the show, and is all the more effective for it.

* In "Crossing Over", [[spoiler:Archer finally starts to bond with Nikolai Jakov, his possible father. Barry, now the head of the KGB in Jakov's place, travels to New York, manipulates Cheryl into taking him to the ISIS safehouse, and tells Jakov that he will kill him. Jakov seems content to die, as long as Archer will be able to go through with the test to see if Jakov is his real father. This isn't enough for Barry, and he sets up a fork enclosed in ice in the microwave, and creates a gas leak, so that the entire building will explode and Jakov's corpse will be too disfigured to test on. Jakov tells his remaining secrets to the debriefing camera in case it survives the explosion, but is notably upset that Archer will never find out if Jakov is really his father of not.]]
* "Skin Game" isn't much better: [[spoiler:Although Archer and Katya are reunited through Krieger's [[{{Cyborg}} secret project]], she eventually runs away with Barry due to the physical differences between her and Archer.]]

** Hell, the entire reveal that [[spoiler:Katya was using Archer to get Barry off the moon.]]

** TheReveal that Captain Murphy [[spoiler:is all alone and has gone mad]]. The moment when Lana realises is one of the downer parts of the episode, particularly since [[spoiler:Murphy dies (in a slightly comedic way, mind) before he can escape]].

** Archer's [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice to save a pregnant Lana and subsequent (temporary) death via drowning is extremely sad, especially Archer's last words as the water fills his lungs]]:
-->'''Archer''': [[spoiler:Lana! [[DyingDeclarationOfLove I... love... you...]]]]

* [[spoiler:Ramon]]'s death in "A Kiss While Dying", and [[spoiler:Archer kissing him to fulfill his dying wish. Even though Ramon, Charles and Rudy faked the whole thing, we didn't know that at the time, and it was still a touching moment.]]

** Krieger, [[spoiler:abducted by his clones,]] overhears the others commenting that they don't care that he's missing. Does Krieger get mad and call them assholes? Nope. He breaks down and weeps like a child. It really hurts him that the people he views as his friends care so little about him.
** Archer's cracking voice when they think [[spoiler:Pam is dead.]]
*** Everyone's horrified, tearful or enraged reaction when they think [[spoiler: Pam is dead]].

* In "The Holdout", the season opener, Archer finds an elderly Japanese UsefulNotes/WW2 soldier who's under the impression that the war isn't over. As funny as the running gag of Archer explaining to him what he's missed (including how Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan had this same plot) it turns to sorrow when [[spoiler:the soldier learns about the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan and thinks his wife and child were among the casualties. Happily, the episode ends on a heartwarming note when Archer uses his phone to track down and call the soldier's wife and reunite them.]]
* In "Edie's Wedding", even though nobody would be sad to see him go, it is kind of sad to see Barry [[spoiler:go completely insane after Katya leaving him for Boris]].

* "Drastic Voyage Part 1 and 2" has Ray in tears after [[spoiler: being handicapped ''again'', stuck with a bionic hand on top of his now inoperable legs, and he's been MistakenForRacist because everyone thought he was complaining about the hand being African-American]].

* In "Deadly Prep", there's the scene where Archer delivers a hauntingly detailed account of an incident [[spoiler: in which he was beaten by two larger boys in the school locker room and held upside-down in an unflushed toilet, begging them to stop before blacking out from inhaling water, urine and blood, ultimately resulting in pneumonia and an extended hospital stay]]. The scene is not played for laughs in any way and does not lead up to any jokes of even the black humour variety, just cutting back to a genuinely shaken Archer and a remorseless but taken aback Ivy.

* The apparent death of [[spoiler:''ARCHER HIMSELF'']] at the end of the season finale.

* The opening scene of "No Good Deed" is a grey, rain-swept funeral, but [[spoiler: it's not Archer's, it's Woodhouse's, who'd been missing ever since Season 6.]]

*** [[spoiler: The way Malory says "I want to be here if... ''when'' he wakes up." Followed by Malory saying she, and Archer, will be there whenever Lana decides to bring A.J. with her in a resigned, defeated tone.]]
** [[spoiler: Lana hopes that Archer being comatose means he wouldn't know about Woodhouse's death because it'd destroy him, but Malory wonders what Archer's capable of hearing and knowing despite not being conscious. True enough, he seems to know on at least some level, because in "Dreamland" we see Archer discovering someone has murdered his "partner" Woodhouse and being completely devastated.]]

** Then, [[spoiler: Trexler tells Archer that Mother killed Woodhouse.]]
* The Chinese women [[spoiler:leaving Poovey. Even sadder is that it's the closing scene of the season.]]
* Hell, the whole season finale is largely a tear jerker. [[spoiler:Archer gets nothing for his troubles (except for finding out Barry murdered Woodhouse only [[DisproportionateRetribution because the later cut him off in traffic)]], Pam accidentally shoots Lana to death, Kreiger's beloved cyborg dogs die by Zirk's hands due to turning on their master, Zirk saves Cheryl's life but his affections are cruelly rebuffed by her, and the briefcase with the money turns out to be filled with German nudism magazines.]]