Awesome / Archer

Danger Zone.

While the characters may be crazy at times and the humor may occasionally border on sociopathic, there's no doubt that there are many badass moments in the series.

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General

• Basically whenever Archer has to do actual asskicking, he's badass incarnate. Like in Swiss Miss, where he kills all of the terrorists chasing him on snowmobiles without much effort, only acquiring a gun halfway through the chase, or his maneuver at the beginning of Job Offer, or almost everything he does in Skorpio.
  • This is brought to its logical conclusion in the Season 5 finale, when Lana reveals that she'd used Archer's frozen sperm to have her daughter, citing the fact that, physically-speaking, he's damn-near perfect.

Season 1

• In "Honeypot", when Archer and Ramon simultaneously hang up on their My Beloved Smother.
  Ramon: Viva la revolution de los hijos!^note "Long live the revolution of the sons!"
• In "Skytanic", when the agents can't disarm the bomb in time, what do Lana and Cyril do? Push the bomb as hard and as fast as they can off the blimp.
• "The Rock":
  • Cyril leading the employees against Malory and her unfair treatment among them.
  • Krieger and Bilbo managing to build a makeshift tracking computer to pick up Lana and Archer's location.
  • Krieger playing hardball and only going through with Lana and Archer's rescue until after Malory agrees to the strikers' demands.
• Mixed with Heartwarming in "Job Offer", Len Trexler calling out Malory for her crappy treatment of Archer.
  Malory: I don't care if [Archer's] happy!
  Len: Well, that's obvious.
  Malory: Meaning what exactly?
  Len: (angrily) Meaning who leaves a nine-year-old boy crying at a police station on Christmas?!

Season 2

• In a flashback, a (radical) environmentalist Lana prepares to pelt Malory with paint outside of a clothing store for wearing a fur coat, and Malory makes it known to Lana and the other protestors that she's not to be trifled with.
  Lana: (Readying to toss paint on Malory) How does it feel to be a murderer?
  Malory: [Whipping out her .44 Magnum, laser pointed for Lana's forehead] Shall we find out?
  • On Lana's end, her refusal to back down and making it known she's not afraid of Malory (laser still locked on her forehead) impresses the latter enough to offer Lana a job at ISIS.
• In "A Going Concern", Doctor Krieger performing successful brain surgery while high on acid. With a drill.
• "The Double Deuce": Woodhouse's Roaring Rampage of Revenge in WWI must be seen to be believed. Let there be no doubt of its awesome though. It's awesome enough that even Archer acknowledges it.
  Archer: That's a lot of scalps!
  • Right before that, when the acting-commander ordered that there be no rescue attempt. Woodhouse's response was to surge up, punch him in his smug face through his drinking glass, and beat the crap out of him before running out to rescue Reggie. Made even better in that his description was "A response I found... unsatisfactory."
  • And lastly, calling Archer a "Great flapping twit" and his friend pistol-whipping him into unconsciousness after he kicks Scripes off the roof.
• "Tragical History": Cyril, of all people, successfully bluffs an enemy with an empty gun, despite the fact that he is outnumbered three to one and Archer is rendered helpless.
• "Stage 2": After Archer tells everyone that he has breast cancer and gives out ribbons, Brett makes fun of him for being a man with breast cancer. Archer proceeds to beat the shit out of him and makes him wear a breast cancer support ribbon for the rest of the day. Male breast cancer is something that happens in the real world and men with it often do get ridiculed, so it's awesome of Archer, Jerkass as he may seem, to stand up for people with life-threatening illnesses.
• "Placebo Effect": Archer taking on the Irish mob for giving out fake cancer medication. Especially notable is his Family Feud-style torture scenario, where the bad answers are awarded with a shotgun blast to the kneecap, and Archer quoting a question Ruth asked him before her death and then shooting Franny Delany in the face.
• "El Secuestro":
  • Pam is able to take the kidnappers working her over pretty well all things considered.
    [kidnapper punches Pam in the face]
    Pam: Who taught you how to punch? [spits out blood] Your husband?
    [kidnapper punches again]
    Pam: (laughing) You better just (bleep)ing kill me!
    • The reason for the above is no slouch in the awesome department for ISIS's Head of HR either even if it did go into Black Comedy territory at the end.
    Kidnapper: How are you still conscious!?
    Pam: [while laughing] How do you think I paid for college?
    [flashback]
    Pam: [counting her earnings] 260, 280, and Jackson makes 3. And uh sorry about your Homie, [gestures to the dead guy covered by a blanket] Homies.
  • After she's finally free, she airs her grievences to the whole of ISIS. Even Lana has no desire to tussle with her. At the very end of the episode, she takes her shirt off ready to beat up Malory.
    Pam: Five thousand measly dollars?!
    Malory: Y'know, maybe I low-balled him at first... But I had some wiggle room.
    Pam: Yeah? Well let's see how much you wiggle when I'm whupping five thousand buck's worth of your ass.
  • To say nothing of her awesome back-tat of Lord Byron's "The Destruction of Sennacherib," and above that is the number of people she's killed in a fight. It's at thirteen. Though, it could also mean "12 jurors, 1 judge," which would indicate time done in prison.
    For the Angel of Death
    spread his wings
    on the blast,
    And breathed in the face of
    the foe as he passed;
    And the eyes of the sleepers
    waxed deadly and chill,
    And their hearts but
    once heaved
    and forever grew still!
• "White Nights": Archer, when he was in Moscow, was able to consistently outwit and outfight the numerous soldiers dispatched to recapture him despite never having a functional firearm and "three pounds of glass" in his feet. When he was finally cornered in an elevator, he blindfolded himself and fully intended his last words to be "Fuck you, you douchebags".
  Archer: Did I just blow your mind?
• "Double Trouble": Barry gets one in the Season 2 finale. After being abandoned in Moscow by Archer and left for dead, he's turned into a cyborg by the KGB. He then delivers his own Roaring Rampage of Revenge on Archer, and crashes Archer's own wedding. It requires a Heroic Sacrifice on the part of Katya Kasanova, Archer's bride and defecting KGB agent, just to save Archer's life. And Barry isn't even remotely hurt, taking a shot by Malory on the back with a shrug.
  Barry: Whoo! One for three off the roof, bitch!

Season 3

• "Heart of Archness":
  • "Part 1": When Archer and Rip's plane crashes in the ocean, Rip is unconscious, and Archer effortlessly saves him by pushing him to the surface, along with supplies, and shoots a shark in the face.
    Archer: Woo! Two personal records! For breath-holding, and number of sharks shot in the fricking face!
  • "Part 3": Noah finally getting fed up with Archer and Lana's endless bickering, during the Pirate Island arc.
    Noah: Oh. My. God! Just screw already!
    Buckey: Seriously...
• "The Man From Jupiter": Everything Burt Reynolds does in-universe, especially the car chase at the end of the episode.
• "El Contador": Cyril showing that he's not completely incompetent as a field agent in "El Contador."
• "Drift Problem": Pam showcasing her badass driving skills when she and the other escape the Yakuza.
• "Lo Scandalo":
  • Krieger being able to dispose of a dead body with minimal traces and being able to smell that there is too much salt in a tomato sauce from several meters and doors away.
    • Krieger's sheer eagerness to partake in such a task is best demonstrated right before he begins, when he dons a gas mask and immediately gives a modulated growl of "Thank you".
  • Mallory scamming the entire crew, and literally getting away with murder.
    • Which is only made more awesome when we find out that her motives were far less selfish than her usual scheming would lead one to believe. In short, the Italian Prime Minister she killed was a former fascist agent who murdered an activist (who may well have been Archer's father, with Malory's tender, loving description of him and how similar he looked to Archer) for speaking out against the regime that employed him.
• "Crossing Over": Pam being revealed to be, for a lack of a better term, a goddamned sexual beast.
• "Space Race":
  • "Part 1": Archer saving everyone from the fake Space Mutineers, and the final line, spoken by guest star Byran Cranston: "Welcome to the... danger zone."
  • "Part 2": Archer decides to save the ISIS team rather than fight Barry on the space station, Cyril thanks Archer in a similarly badass way, by melting Barry's shuttle with his rocket thrusters so he's trapped there.

Season 4

• "Fugue and Riffs": In the Season 4 premiere, Archer killing the crap out of a KGB hitsquad using only the items lying around in the kitchen of the burger joint, all the while still thinking he's Bob. Later, four more KGB agents corner Archer and Lana in a wine bar, and Archer regains his memory when Lana conked him, then takes out the KGB with some Molotov cocktails.
  • A small one, but Lana responds to Bob!Archer bragging about his hand-to-hand combat skills by punting him into a wall so hard the drywall cracks through to the other side. Doubles as Funny since we never see what she does and only get a loud thud and the wall cracking in the next room which Mallory, Ray, and Cyril are stationed in.
• "Viscous Coupling": Katya becoming the new head of the KGB, all whilst screwing over both Archer and Barry in the process.
• "Once Bitten": Cheryl absolutely tearing into Lana with an impromptu "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Pam and Lana are actually stunned. And to top it off, she didn't even know she was talking out loud (or, possibly, at all).
  Cheryl: Please, if you really cared, you'd resign, but there's no way you ever will, because you're just counting the days until, her face bloated and yellow from liver failure, she calls you to her death bed and, in a croaky whisper, explains that Mr. Archer is totally incompetent and that you, the long-suffering Lana Kane, are the only one qualified to run ISIS and you weep shameful tears because you know this terrible place is the only true love YOU WILL EVER KNOW.
  (Beat)
  Lana: Excuse me. (walks off, completely shaken)
  Pam: Daaaaaamn!
  Cheryl: What? ...Oh my god, was I talking?
• "Coyote Lovely": Even though it doesn't end well for him, it's immensely satisfying to see Cyril punch Archer in the face.
  • While not as awesome, Archer accidentally elbows Lana so hard, he knocks her out, possibly giving her a concussion.
  • Archer then shooting Cyril several times after making sure he had a bulletproof vest.
• "The Honeymooners":
  • Archer rescuing Lana when she slips off a building during an outside suction-cup Wall Crawl.
  • And doing it again when she's kicked in the chest by one of the North Korean agents by slamming the empty ice-bucket over his head, delivering a couple well-placed jabs to his kidneys, and then kicking the aforementioned bucket so hard he not only dented it, but left the other agents still trying (and failing!) to get it off the guy's head several minutes later.
  • A minor one, but Archer being able to scale the wall fast enough to catch up with Lana in seconds - even if it was just to find out what her bonus was.
• "Un Chien Tangerine": Pam acing the field agent written test and demonstrating her ability in hand to hand combat by beating up Krieger, Cyril and Ray in an unarmed fight. Also notable the black eye she has when trying to convince Mallory did not come from her fight with the grown man but having lost an underground bare knuckle fight previously.
• "The Papal Chase":
  • Lana being able to open Malory's newly installed electro-magnetic door. With one hand.
  • Archer surfing on top of the tiny car with the Pope inside, holding a lit road flare as they're being chased by the fake Swiss Guard, that he then uses to blow up the bad guys' car. His yelling "WHOOO!" is completely justified.

Season 5

• The trailer: Archer meets Top Gun. Finally all those "Danger Zone" jokes taken to their logical conclusion.
• "White Elephant": The Season 5 premiere is full of awesome moments.
  • In the opening sequence, when ISIS is raided by the FBI and the FBI rock the entire building with flash grenades, Malory doesn't drop, or even spill, her cocktail.
    • This line from Lana during the fight:
      "Son of a — Bitches! I am pregnant!"
  • In a way, the entire ISIS staff surrendering unquestioningly when they see that their attackers are FBI. They may be a bunch of completely despicable utter fuckups, but even they're not going to engage in an armed conflict with law enforcement.
  • Archer and Lana faking a fight so their FBI interrogator, trying to break it up, would give them the opportunity to knock out both guards.
  • Archer visualizing many of the events of the fifth season in an awesome montage (it's basically a take off of Miami Vice, James Bond, The A-Team, Sons of Anarchy, and the already Serial Escalation toned up with every character getting Awesome Moments and kicking tons of ass) and the two words that changed the very premise of the show:
    Archer: Archer Vice!
• "A Kiss While Dying": The reveal that Cheryl can actually sing and play guitar/banjo beautifully.
• "A Debt of Honour": Archer constantly firing his gun inside the Yakuza head's car. It naturally hurts his ears like hell. But Archer?
  Archer: To me, it sounds like bubble-wrap.
  • Heck, Archer using the Yakuza's own honor code against them so they don't hurt the others was rather brilliant.
• "House Call":
  • Malory unflinchingly takes a sleeping dart to the neck and just calls the person who shoots her a idiot and sips her drink. She isn't phased for a second.
  • Pam's ingenious method of getting at the cocaine locked in the pantry. It involves plugging the drain, spraying the cocaine with a garden hose and placing several empty pudding cups placed to collect the runoff.
  • When Pam threatens to go to the police if they send her to rehab, Woodhouse sneaks up behind her and clocks her over the head with the cast-iron skillet he was using to make Archer's breakfast. Pam goes down like a ton of bricks.
    Lana: (visibly surprised) Goddamn, Woodhouse.
    Woodhouse: (calm and unfazed) Only thing for a grass, mum. And, sir, I'm afraid your breakfast will be four minutes late.
  • Pam, empowered by all the cocaine she's eaten, quite literally Hulking Out, complete with dramatic lightning, Super-Strength, clothes-ripping (with purple pants), and a kidnapped damsel.
• "Southbound Down" has Lana, Malory, Cherlene, and Cyril being chased by murderous bikers. A pregnant Lana decides to take control of the tour van and kills half of the gang.
• "Baby Shower":
  • Ray calling everyone else out for being inconsiderate assholes towards Lana, and not even thinking to at least throw her a baby shower.
  • Archer slapping the shit out of Cyril for one too many insults directed at Lana's donor baby:
    Cyril: Baby shower?! You mean "Bastard show-OW!"
    (Archer slaps him, HARD)
    Archer: Cyril, shut your pout-hole, accept the fact that Lana was so far out of your league that impregnating her would've basically been interspecies breeding, and get on with your life!
    (Cyril immediately looks sad and shuts up.)
  • Pam holding her own and at times even overpowering against Kenny Loggins' hulking bodyguard.
  • Cherlene doing a mellifluous duet with Kenny Loggins singing "Danger Zone" as a surprisingly good country song.
• "Smuggler's Blues":
  • Archer's voicemail pranks reach an epic level of elaborate, with Archer faking him and Ray getting into a car accident.
  • Archer drops their plane into a nosedive and threatens to crash if Ray doesn't apologize, so Cyril beats Archer unconscious with a fire extinguisher and helps pilot the plane successfully.
• "Rules of Extraction":
  • Ray calling out Archer, before revealing he was faking his paralysis as he hops off of Archer's back. And now that he's gotten that admission, he's remarkably calm as he flies the plane. Cyril is still pretty stressed out, Archer is completely unbothered and even impressed at the prank, and Ray has an oddly chill attitude: "Jesus Christ, woman, calm down! We've got five hours of fuel, we'll worry about that when we have to".
    Ray: How long will it take you, Archer, to admit that you dick around every time we're in danger just to screw with everybody, because of your complete— no, your utter contempt, for your own mortality?!
    Archer (briefly pauses): I mean, yeah, duh.
    Ray: All I wanted. (hops off Archer's back)
  • Archer shows some real courage in this episode too. While using a raft to take Cyril, Ray, and two wounded officers down a river, he is well aware that crocodiles and caimans are lurking in the water (crocodilians being his worst fear) and is prepared for an attack using gasoline and a rifle in case they come. What makes it courageous is how, only after a few seconds looking scared as shit, how calm and nonchalant Archer is when two crocs do attack while Cyril and Ray are panicking. When their raft is too damaged from the attack, Archer opts swimming to safety, and douses himself, Cyril and Ray with gasoline as crocodile repellent.
• "Palace of Intrigue: Part 2":
  • Pam taking a bullet for Archer.
  • Cherlene's rage when her best friend is seemingly dead, beating Gustavo Calderon with her guitar over the head so hard that it begins to split, and her fight with Juliana Calderon, complete with dodging and batting away bullets with the aforementioned instrument, while holding a completely confident smile.
  • Cyril driving into the presidential palace in a tank, inadvertently leading to a successful coup because the military thought he was with the rebel forces, calling out Malory for criticizing his choice of escape vehicle (something she richly deserves), and when Archer tries to take control of the coup, Cyril just turns the turret on him.
    Cyril: Say. That. Again.
• "Filibuster": Krieger fighting against his clones when they tried to bomb the city via nerve gas.
• "Arrival/Departure":
  • Lana, about to give birth and with her hands tied, disarms and knocks out two armed men, and is able to take control from the CIA. Pregnant Badass indeed.
  • Krieger and Ray can't figure out how to disarm the bomb so they remove the nerve gas canister.
  • Malory regaining ISIS. To elaborate: she first tries to bribe the CIA operative with a painting worth $40 million and a canister of nerve gas, both "confiscated" from the island, noting that taking these to his handlers would probably earn him a promotion. When that doesn't work, she simply threatens to throw the operative out of the plane and take the offer to his partner.
  • The reveal that Krieger never implanted a microchip in Cheryl's brain to help her overcome her stage fright.
    Cheryl: Whoa. So my whole life, all I ever had to do was believe in myself? ...And inject a sticker into my brain?

Season 6

• "The Holdout":
  • The fact that Cheryl and Pam were able to completely recreate the office, right down to the smallest details, like Brett's blood or the taste of the ice in Malory's cocktails, is pretty impressive.
  • Archer reuniting Ken with his wife and family after all these years, and shooting at the extraction boat when the tell him to hurry up, yelling, "We need a minute, Captain Shit-Nuts!"
• "Three to Tango":
  • When Malory and the others find out that Krieger "borrowed" AJ (to get her measurements for market research; he was trying to make an improved robot teddy-bear) Malory- in a rare moment of good parenting- threatens to end him if he ever goes near AJ again. Doubles as a heartwarming moment.
    Malory: And, Krieger? I swear to God, if I catch you near this child again...
    Krieger: But-! (Immediately shuts up as the laser sight of Malory's gun drifting downward to his crotch.)
    Malory: And the implied threat here is that I will shoot you in the genitals and then sit here sipping Amontillado Sherry while you bleed to death.
  • The Fight Scene between Archer and Conway is REALLY well-done. How does it end? Lana calmly walks over to the kitchen area, makes some tea, and uses the teapot to hit Conway's head.
  • Archer takes out over half a dozen special forces operatives while alone and unarmed.
  • After Stern reveals he was planning to double cross Archer and Lana, he shoots the former in the back and is almost about to leave. However, after making a comment on Lana's baby weight? He lost his arm...again. His real arm. And dropped the disk with it on Lana and Archer's side.
• "The Archer Sanction": Malory pulling her own elaborate voicemail prank on Archer, leaving him speechless.
• "Edie's Wedding":
  • Pam is kidnapped by Barry. When he asks her name, her response? "Your worst frickin' nightmare". Barry is terrifying in every way, and up until this point has never even gotten a scratch from a human ever since he was cyborged. Pam knows this. Pam doesn't care.
  • When Barry almost kills Edie, Pam rips apart the ropes that were restraining her and retrieves Archer's shotgun. Barry, still gripping Edie's throat, reminds them that he's a cyborg. Archer, from the ground, reveals that he brought explosive shells just for Barry. Pam shoots him exactly twice and blasts his formerly unbeatable ass to pieces, completely revealing his robotic endoskeleton. Oh, and Pam does all this while looking absolutely fabulous.
  • After several seasons of being, in Ray's words, "Beaten like the red-headed stepchild of a rented mule" by Barry "The Bionic Douchebag" Dylon; Archer turns the tables with a shotgun and some explosive shells. True, Pam is the one who actually shoots Barry, but it is still a pretty great moment for Archer, who has a history of forgetting that Barry is an invincible Cyborg.
    Archer (after being nearly choked out): Barry...just for you...I bought explosive ammo.
  • Barry gets one too - After getting shot twice, buried at the bottom of a barn, which was then set on fire, and then getting hit by a car, Barry STILL survives, albeit more damaged than he has ever been before.
  • Also after Edie berated Pam, Barry stops punching Archer just ask Edie if she knows that she's no prize herself. Burn!
  • When Edie refuses to help rescue Pam for the petty reason of all you can eat prime rib, Archer decks her and drags her along anyway. The best part? He prefaces it with "I was almost hoping it wouldn't come to this." Meaning he was half-hoping it would. Despite Archer's extreme dickishness, he's not down with how Edie bullies Pam, and took no small amount of joy in being able to deck her for it.
• "Sitting":
  • Arguably Archer's most badass moment to date, delivering a completely serious pre-beatdown threat to the Pakistani double agent who's spent the entire episode holding AJ at gunpoint:
    Whatever badass shit that you heard I did, you really need some context because pretty much my whole life, pretty much right up until this very minute, my default setting has been "half-ass." [cracks knuckles against jaw] But that was before I had a child. A child you threatened to harm. [...] So imagine, as I literally beat you to death, that a giant invisible hand has turned my dial from "half-ass" to "quadruple-ass".
  • In that same episode, once Pam sees AJ is in danger, she pretty much hulks out and grabs her away from the double agent while he's distracted. Then she bursts out of the room like a crazed gorilla, roaring and leaping from desk to desk as she carries AJ to relative safety. For those of us who saw Pam as The Scrappy throughout season five, this moment rescued her.
• "Nellis":
  • Much like the Three to Tango version, Archer (and the animators,) prove that they're up to snuff when he takes down a squad of Air Force men. (That he had inadvertently pissed off and were seconds away from filling him with lead.) in an exceptionally animated sequence.
    • Archer comments on how poorly they performed in physical combat. This could be an example of Interservice Rivalry, when one remembers the flashback in season three that revealed Archer washed out of the US Army in basic training.
  • Another is Ray's solution of landing their crashing jet. By landing it on the Air Force base that shot them down. Nellis AFB. AKA, Area 51.
  • Krieger and Pam sneaking away from the group and finding real, honest to God aliens. They proceed to telepathically communicate with them, already knowing their names, and reveal to them the secret to understand the entire universe, and though we don't hear, must be pretty good to reduce these two grown adults to weeping, awestruck tears.
  • And the gang's escape from said base. After Archer knocked out that squad, he stole their clothes, made everyone and himself don the uniforms, and proclaimed they were gonna steal an aircraft. From the Air Force. Which they do. And comment on how easy it was.
• "Drastic Voyage":
  • Ray gets himself crippled so Cyril has to take over Ray's piloting duties. Which he accomplishes even better than Ray does despite having only one experience with flying.
  • Krieger 'defending himself' after the other scientists 'bully' him.
    Krieger: ...I have HAD it! Oh, by the way, If I was a clone of Adolf Goddamn Hitler, wouldn't I LOOK like ADOLF GODDAMN HITLER?!
  • T.V.'s Micheal Gray slapping Archer across the face and not getting beaten half to death should certainly qualify as Awesome.
    • Archer admitting that he deserved the slap just made it even more awesome.
  • YMMV but Archer motivating the gang after being blacklisted doubles as Awesome and Heartwarming.

Season 7

• Two words: Archer P.I - a beautiful homage to the Magnum, P.I. opening. Especially for the animators, who captured Magnum's intro perfectly.
• "The Figgis Agency":
  • Ray showing off his bionic legs' super-speed by getting him and Lana back to van...while he was carrying her.
• "The Handoff":
  • Lana plans to blow off work and still get paid, and Cyril takes her down in front of everyone by pointing out that she works for him, not Malory, and he isn't going to put up with her bullshit.
  • Archer, in what is, without a doubt, one of the best moments in the show, taking down nine armed bikers all by himself, while both injured from a stab wound and lacking any equipment and being completely naked. What makes this even better is we only hear the sounds of, judging by the aftermath of the fight, an extremely badass brawl, through the phone.
  • After putting up with Archer's usual jerkass nature, Lana gives him a well-deserved Groin Attack after he makes a comment about her thighs.
  • The gang immediately coming to Archer and Lana's rescue.
  • Of all people, it's Cheryl who states, "Well? What are we waiting for?" after they realize it.
  • Ray, donning his own biker uniform, keeps the rest of the motorcycle gang at bay with his guns. And his words to them?
    Ray: Say I won't.
  • This bit of dialogue from Malory to Cyril.
    Malory: “Cyril, you have been given the opportunity of a lifetime! A new job, a new city, where no one knows you, which means you can reinvent yourself. You can be anyone you want. So why would you keep being you?”
  • Malory gets another one for being able to remind Cyril that, while he may be the boss it's, "Only when I'm not here."
• "Deadly Prep"
  • Archer laying a seriously deserved beatdown on one of his past bullies.
  • It's not just that he beats him up, but how he does it. Not only does he spell out exactly what it was like for him to be bullied by someone bigger and stronger than him, while demonstrating that this man is no longer the stronger of the two, but he actually refuses to kill him and insists on taking him to prison. Then when the man decides to drive off the road and take Archer with him, Archer lets him plummet to his death while jumping out at the last moment. The moment so perfectly underscored the fact that a teenage bully may have grown into an adult bully, but his victim had grown into Sterling Goddamn Archer.
• "Motherless Child"
  • Mallory gets kidnapped by Barry, tied up and blindfolded, and placed in an underground bunker with only about 12 hours of oxygen. After calming down, Mallory quickly deduces where she is, and escapes with only her wits, experience, and the clothes on her back, all while the rest of the cast is struggling to find Barry's birth mother.
    • At the end of the episode, she hitchhikes back. When the truck driver makes unwanted advances to her, she quickly elbows him in the neck, pushes him out and drives away.
• "Double Indecency"
  • Archer manages to brawl despite being poisoned with germicide.
    • And the reason for the brawl in the first place? Don Zissner referred to Pam as "Baby Huey" ^note a cartoon character who was considered fat, ugly, and dumb, with everyone going Papa Wolf and Mama Bear in an instant. Ray then approaches Don with a, "BITCH, YOU BETTER APOLOGIZE!".
    • The brawl itself is a moment of awesome: Archer chucks a glass at the face of one of Don's guard before he and Pam charge in and start swinging (Pam starting with an Action Dress Rip). Lana is halted by Barbie, and the two engage in their own fight. When Pam is blindsided while fighting Don by one of his bodyguards, Cyril jumps in with the assist and put the guard in a headlock before being thrown into Lana and Barbie. Malory, on the sidelines drinking a bottle of champagne, then immediately shatters said bottle the second the guard set eyes on her, threatens to gut him, and proceeds to fight. Pam, knocked down by Don, flings the sand from a knocked over ashtray into his eyes before dropping him. When the hotel staff intervene and apprehend Malory, Lana soars in with a flying side kick to help Malory and drop one of the staff while Pam and Archer clean them up.
  • Cyril sees through the cuckold porn plot despite everyone else being confused.
• "Liquid Lunch"
  • Malory managing to clock Archer, the biggest One-Man Army in the show, by using a wine bottle.
  • Archer's mini, but poignant tirade on some of the many messed up shit the CIA has done to America's citizens.
  • The hypnotizing spray that Krieger created has the power to take down a gorilla. But when he uses it on Malory? She is completely unfazed (probably through years of building up immunity) and proceeds to slap and punch Krieger while giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech mixed with a Badass Boast, ending with putting the heel of one of her stilettos straight into his shoulder.
  Malory: You son of a- Are you out of your mind?! What is WRONG with you?! Walk in here with you idiots smoking reefers like a bunch of yardbirds, and you spritz me? You SPRITZ me?! Well, let me tell you something, Herr Doktor: I've killed seven Krauts with a shovel, so one more beardy son-of-a-bitch like you won't make a damn bit of DIFFERENCE! (stabs him)
• "Deadly Velvet: Part 1"
  • Once again, Cyril manages to put his deduction skills to use, discovering the shell companies that would benefit from the movie's cancellation. He even manages to impress Malory with his assertiveness and intelligence.

Season 8

• "No Good Deed"
  • Archer crippling Dutch Dylan (His dream world version of Barry) with a truck. After several seasons of him being a Nigh-Invulnerable cyborg, it's quite cathartic.
  • Archer and Poovey rescuing the Chinese women. They're sex slaves on route to a brothel.
• "Jane Doe"
  • It takes five grown men to take down Poovey. And even then, it's fairly obvious they only won by an amazingly slim margin.
  • When Dirty Cop Cyril finds out that Poovey has disappointed him, he fires a shot right near Poovey's head intended to scare Poovey's lights out. Instead, once Poovey's ears stop ringing from the shot, they respond to Cyril's (unheard) threatening demands with, "That better have been a long-ass apology."
• "Ladyfingers"
  • Krieger's Origin Story. He's actually a Jewish scientist named Dr. Aaron Leibowitz. After being forced out of his teaching position by the Nazis, he faked his death, invented a new identity as "Dr. Krieger" and became head of the robotics program. He convinced Hitler to fund a massively expensive cyborg super-soldier program and killed every one of their cyborg subjects with a carbolic acid injection, wasting millions of reichsmarks that could have used for their war effort. A nice turn from him being possibly a Hitler clone in the real world.
    • After Krieger is confronted by a Nazi general about this as the Russians approach Berlin, he kills the general's entire staff with a pack of cyborg dogs.
    • His nurse, who moments before had professed her love for him, calls him a filthy Jew he responds calmly with confusion and disappointment. And then sets the dogs on her! Cold, yes, but still definitely a crowning moment of awesome.
    • The scene is one for Lucky Yates, Krieger's voice actor, as all these scenes are performed entirely in German.
• "Waxing Gibbous"
  • After spending most of the season on the sidelines, Lana's reveal as an undercover IRS agent is awesome.
  • Absolutely, pants-shittingly terrifying though it may be, Dutch massacring Len Trexler's bodyguards and the positioning them (alongside a nude and bound Trexler) in a grotesque, perverse diorama of The Last Supper is a pretty ballsy intimidation play that leaves the entire cast utterly speechless.
• "Grammercy, Halberd!"
  • Dutch chasing down the protagonists on a motorcycle, with a halberd, dressed like Marlon Brando in "The Wild One" is one of the most badass things ever animated.
  • Archer, having had enough, knocks Dutch off his motorcycle, then runs him over, THEN reverses over him, and RUNS HIM OVER AGAIN!
  • Three Words: Mother killed Woodhouse.
• "Auflösung"
  • Possibly the most suspenseful season finales of the whole series, the whole last scene could qualify, it starts with Archer taking everyone Bound and Gagged into Dreamland putting a gun to mothers head and ordering her to sit down for questioning after which he's confronted by first Zirk then Dutch who who effortlessly knocks out Zirk, tells Archer he killed Woodhouse For the Evulz, takes a hit in the face with a shovel from Archer, then goes to Kreiger for the injection needed to keep him alive promising to kill everyone in the room afterwards. Kreiger refuses and reveals he still has the robot dogs the dogs rip Dutch to pieces then Charlotte throws a chair at them, they go towards her but Zirk (who's in love with her) kills them all with his bare hands.

Season 9

• When the attacking Nazi's shatter the only alcohol she has on hand in "Comparative Wickedness", Malory grabs Archer's gun and mows the entire squad down like a Sunday errand.
  • Hell, the entire battle in that episode is a crowning moment of awesome for the gang and the cannibal tribe as they defeated the technically advanced Nazi's with their own tricks.

Season 10

• The Gladiator fights, and later escape was particularly awesome!
• Archer wakes up, after a montage of Archer's action sequences since season one.

Season 11

• In the first episode, it looks like Archer had no place in the new agency. Then Archer actually solves the mission because for once he had actually listened and remembered something Krieger had told him. Archer definitely still has a place at the agency. He just needs some time to figure out where that place is.
• Pam kicking ass on Karate island, even fighting Conway Stern (Who mind you, has two metallic Krieger-made hands)! Sure, she was losing, but she was taking it like a champ when suddenly...
  • ...Archer (Who mind you, was still not at tip-top shape) uses his cane to shatter the window rooftop, stopping the fight from harming Pam and (this time) cutting off another one of Conway Stern's limbs (This time a foot)!
• The fight between Archer and Alister in "Best Friends". At first, it looks like Archer would lose because he's still adjusting to his new life with the Tactil-Cane and with his physical limitations. But even then, he pulls through it and bests Alister by doing something nobody thought he would: Doing his Rehabilitation Exercises.
• Cyril absolutely LOSING it in "The Double Date", letting out 11 seasons worth of anger and hatred while bashing a pitching machine and screaming. You can FEEL the sheer unfiltered RAGE in his words.
  Cyril: I..... HATE HIM! I HATE HIS STUPID FACE! AND HIS STUPID CAR! AND HIS STUPID COMA CANE! AND HIS STUPID —- DOESN'T GIVE ME THE RESPECT I DESERVE! HOW HARD IS IT FOR YOU TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE GOOD SHAPE I'VE GOTTEN IN! HOW MUCH I'VE IMPROVED AS A FIELD AGENT! I LEARNED MANDARIN FOR CHRIST'S SAKE!!! I HATE YOU STERLING ARCHER! I HATE YOU! EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO MAKE ME FEEL THIS — Ahh!!
  • Even him getting nailed in the crotch by a ball from the broken machine doesn't diminish from the scene!
• "Caught Napping" AKA, "The Roaring Rampage of Rescue episode".
  • When Archer wakes up after blacking out he thinks he's been kidnapped and smashes a wine bottle to get a weapon quick. When the steward walks in Archer takes him hostage and gives a chillingly graphic description of what's going to happen to the man if he doesn't cooperate. Coma damaged or no Archer is still The World's Most Dangerous Spy.
  • When Archer finds out AJ's been kidnapped, he goes into a rage...then he snaps out of it, declares "no time for rampage" and spends the rest of the episode calmly and competently ensuring the success of the mission.
  • Robert revealing that he drugged most of the other agents to bring them along for their help and that he literally got "one of everything" from an arms dealer for them to use. Robert's not the action oriented spy Archer is but dang if the man isn't a Papa Wolf in his own right.
  • Archer calling Robert out for not telling Lana about AJ getting kidnapped. Robert fully accepts that at best Lana's going beat the hell out of him for that one.
  • Pam is so furious over the kidnapping that Ray has to shoot her with a tranquilizer dart. Said dart is supposed to be able to knock out a rhino but it just dials down Pam's rage.
    • When Cyril tries to calm her down, she slams him hard enough to send him flying the width of the plane, heavily cracking the wall on impact. This also counts as funny.
  • Archer telling the kidnappers on the phone that he is going to break every vertebrae in their spine one by one if they don't return AJ.
  • While going over audio to get a lead on where AJ is Lana shows up by punching her way through the door and knocks out the guards. Archer reveals that he called her because this is kind of the situation you tell the mother about. Lana then declares that she's going to kill everyone between her and the kidnappers, then the actual kidnappers and then Robert for not telling her. The agents are dead right that Lana was likely to murder Robert for that stunt.
  • Cheryl of all people gets one when she identifies that the hoofbeats in the background are from White Turf while everyone else is baffled.
  • Pam goes back into rage mode and gets darted again. When that doesn't work they need to shoot her with four more to knock her out. Pam took enough tranquilizers to knock out five rhinos before she went down.
  • Lana in rampage mode is a sight to behold. When she makes her way to the local fixer she goes in guns blazing and fists flying. And Archer's only concern during this is that Lana needs to leave their jaws unbroken so they can talk.
  • Archer and Lana's interrogation. Archer comments on the fixer reaching for a gun like a sports commenter before Lana stomps on his hand. He then notes that something bad will happen to the fixer if they don't get answers, which isn't Lana breaking his nose with her gun. The fixer spits back they haven't asked him anything only for Lana to point her automatic at his groin and ask if they question him.
  • Robert is able to smooth talk his way out of having to apologize to Lana and somewhat defuse her anger at him. Archer is astounded, quipping that Lana usually just shoots him in the foot when he tries stuff like that. Robert then reveals that he's wearing bulletproof shoes just in case Lana couldn't be talked down. Even Archer gives him credit for that idea.
  • The epic sleigh chase when Peregrine takes off with AJ after getting her money.
  • All of Peregrine's henchmen getting taken out with the tranquilizer gun.
  • Lana jumps into Peregrine's sleigh to save AJ but gets held at gunpoint. AJ frees herself by stomping on Peregrine's foot and gets the gun over to Lana in one move. She is Sterling Archer's daughter, after all.
  • Ray gets even with an old rival of his from the Olympics who cheated to beat him that was working with Peregrine. The two are on skis and when Ray can't catch up he just shoots out one the guys straps which send him crashing into a tree.
  • Peregrine's sleigh, still holding her, Lana and AJ is about to crash into a boulder. In comes a snowmobile driven by Mallory and ridden by Pam. Mallory crashes into the sleigh while Pam is able to grab Lana and AJ, literally acting as a human airbag to protect them.
  • Archer and Lana confront Peregrine after she crashes, with the latter daring them to send her back to jail and noting she'll just keep coming back for little games like this for the rest of their lives. It honestly sounds like something you would hear out of the Joker. And Lana's response? Unload two clips of ammo from her automatic TEC-9's and everything in Archer's pistol into her. Archer calls it literal overkill while Lana thinks she's just killed enough unless they can get a drum of battery acid.
• In 'Cold Fusion', a devastated Archer gives the group a solid '"The Reason You Suck" Speech' by asking everyone if they've ever considered the fact that they use him as a scapegoat for their own toxic behavior. It's particularly satisfying after he saved the world and they still continued to be jerks to him.
  Archer: Hey, everyone! Why are you bitching?
  Lana: Hey, you're the one who made all our lives worse by not being in a coma.
  Archer: (visibly hurt) Hmm, true. Cyril’s a wuss, Pam’s gone full horn-monster, Gilette’s probably binging again, and Lana, you’ve been a bitch to Sandra for, like, no reason. But let me just call up 7.5 billion of my closest friends to get their opinions. Oh, hey, guess what?! They’re totally fine with it because they’re alive! And how many times did you guys save the world while I was in a coma?
  Everyone: (dead silence)
  Archer: I’LL TAKE YOUR SILENCE TO MEAN ZERO TIMES!
  Lana: Honestly at this point, I would wipe out the entire Earth if you went with it.
  Archer: Did you people ever consider that you need me around because you want the excuse to be your worst selves?!
  Lana: Oh... shit.

Season 12

Lowjacked

• When Archer convinces the eco-terrorists that Cyril is a masochist with a kink of abuse, Cyril is then subjected to a long period of abuse from the hijackers. Once an opening to stop the hostage situation appears, Cyril wastes no time in slugging the female hijacker who dealt out the most abuse on him.

London Time

• The Spies with Soul (ISIS) finally pull one over the IIA. They not only fulfill their mission, but they also pin all the collateral damaged they caused on the rival agency.

Photo Op

• Sandra, despite being a simple UN liaison, bluffs a poacher by stating she is uploading his confession to the world. This keeps him distracted long enough for Lana to beat him senseless.

"Shots

• Cyril jumps up and kicks a thrown nerve gas grenade right back at the attackers.

Mission: Difficult

• Archer is able to escape the IIA, albeit with some difficulty. Unfortunately, the rest of the gang infiltrated the IIA to rescue him at the same time, meaning he has to go back for them.
• Malory is absent throughout the beginning of the episode, with the other characters commenting on her absence. It's later revealed that she was running a one woman mission to infiltrate the IIA and has Fabian at gunpoint while the rest of the gang is causing chaos in the building.
• After Fabian gets his guards to come in and take Malory down, Malory proves she's still got it by using a smoke bomb to disorient everyone else in the room long enough for her to take them all down.
• Archer and Fabian have a rematch. It at first seems that the latter has the upper hand once again when he destroys the Tactile Cane. However, Archer uses the hatred he feels for Fabian to find the strength to come out on top.

Season 13

The Big Con

• Archer and Lana prove why, dysfunctional personal lives aside, they are competent agents, beating other skilled agents in personal duels: being able to grab a briefcase while hurtling through the air fighting other agents, and fighting on a train against extremely acrobatic agents and a woman with a jetpack and machine gun.
• On a non-violent way, Lana, who is concerned about a custody battle she will likely lose due to her status as a secret agent putting AJ in danger, is told by Archer exactly how to approach AJ in a warm way that isn't overbearing.
• With only non-lethal spy gadgets at their disposal, Pam, Cyril, and Cheryl are able to fight off Fabian's pretend kidnappers with tasers, sonic guns, and a laser weapon called a Knife-Light.

Operation: Fang

• The warlord's base is a two-thirds replica of the Taj Mahal. Archer finds it impressive once the Agency finds it.

Saturday

• AJ shows that she's her parents' daughter.
  • She judo-flips Cyril when she thinks he's getting too close to her. This could be also be considered oddly cathartic when you remember back in Season 5's "Baby Shower", AJ is the very same baby Cyril kept calling a bastard child during Lana's pregnancy.
  • She knows how to pick locks because she keeps a bobby pin in her hair just like Lana.
  • She quickly tames Babou after meeting him.
  • She is a crack shot, shooting multiple headshots at a shooting range.
  • She is able to distract the man holding her hostage, giving her the opportunity to stomp on her foot before doing an Irish jig to get away.
• The Broker demonstrates his skills by deescalating a Mexican standoff between the Russian Mob and the Mafia before running away as everyone's distracted.
• Archer pole vaults off of a horse to land on the guy who has the Broker.

The Laws of Attraction

• Cyril starts out with an incredible cerebral plan to commandeer the oil rig... that Archer ruined because he drank too much.
• Pam proves herself a phenomenal mission leader who adapts quickly to rapidly changing circumstances, and acquits herself masterfully in a fight with a tall Swiss secret agent.
• Cyril, once liberated from thinking too much, expertly knocks out multiple attackers, even killing one of them with a carburetor.
• Krieger developed a doomsday device that actually worked.

Out of Network

• A personal one for Archer: its revealed that right after Malory left, he decided to seek professional help for his myriad of issues including PTSD. Turns out his increasing bad behavior is more a "it gets worse before it gets better" route as he unpacks the various issues he has. As anyone who has ever been to therapy will tell you, how hard it is and the strength it takes to admit you need need this is a major step forward for Archer.

Bank Run on Mr. Bank's Bank

• Cheryl demonstrates that she is much more competent now and truly is a demolitions expert by covertly setting up and detonating several homemade but sophisticated bombs after arriving at the bank, which come in handy when a SWAT team arrives to take down the Agency. Then she casually blows a hole in the wall and creates an exit so that the Agency can escape the bank.
  Archer: Who the hell are you?
  Cheryl: I've been taking night classes. Junior colleges are surprisingly comprehensive.

Distraction Action

• Pam and Cheryl orchestrate a well coordinated distraction including fireworks and a motorcycle chase.
• Cyril not only mentioned to out-do some FBI agents while on roller skates, but later water-skis while dodging enemy fire.
• Pam non-lethally subdues a gunship of agents with one sniper shot while on a fast-moving boat and avoiding killing anyone.
• AJ gets one where she chews out Robert for putting both her and Lana through the custody battle as a test, seeing through her stepfather's antics and calling him a "goddamn weirdo", much to her mother's chagrin.

Dough, Ray, and Me

• Cheryl, Pam and Cyril taking out the chef mooks while rescuing the President of Manatina. Cheryl surprisingly dodges a few punches from a mook before blocking the next hit with a cheese grater before pouncing onto her assailant and beating him to a pulp. Pam wards off another mook with an Aerosol Flamethrower, and Cyril knocks out a guy with a meat tenderizer, earning praise from Pam.
• When Fabian starts in on one of his monologues, Archer cuts him off by shooting him in the arm. Even Lana says that's fair.
• The President of Manatina socking Fabian in the face for blackmailing her and causing the civil uprising in her country.
• The Agency really shows their stuff in the latter half, not only rescuing a deposed leader and securing Fabian to turn him over to Interpol and clear their names, but also screwing over Slater and the CIA in the process.
  Slater: Congratulations! I'm gonna spend the rest of my life ruining yours. And you can kiss your little shitbox agency goodbye!
  Archer: I can't count how many times you've threatened to take the agency from me, Slater. (is handed a detonator by Cheryl) So, let me say this... fuck your muffins.
  [Archer presses a button, Slater's bakery explodes]

Season 14

The Anglerfish Stratagem

• Once Archer and Zara finally start working together, they prove to be an effective team.

30 for 30

• Archer escapes from the water jail by drowning the guard and stealing his keys.
• Zara kills the leader of the Vanguard with a shoe gun.
  Zara: Archer has a shoe phone, I have a shoe gun. Seems more useful.
• Zara reveals that she manipulated Archer into contributing to the mission by starting a competition with him on who can knock out the most Vanguard members.

Plaque Removal

• Ibadan Peters and his assistant are able to handle themselves well against Archer, Lana, and Zara, even if it's mostly because Archer and Zara refuse to fight the kid.

Chill Barry

• Cyril's habit of blindly firing while shouting "Suppressing fire!" actually comes in handy when Archer's team is Pinned Down. His wild shots get their enemies to let up a bit on their own shots enough for Archer and Pam to rush them.
• Archer finally puts a (presumed) end to Other Barry once and for all, kicking him into a vat of nuclear waste. With help good Barry, who is currently stuck as a mini-fridge yet nevertheless manages to impede and disrupt the invincible cyborg enough for Archer to finish the job.

Keys Open Doors

• While it's both humorous and shocking that Lana did cocaine, the stuff she did after the fact is the equivalent of her being able to not only disarm one guard and take his gun. But she manages to shoot two down before using another to jump out a two story window. Perfectly landing on top of a man on his scooter and comandeering it. It even gets better when she basically pulls a Neo with a few bullets the drug lord fires at her. She even disarms him within seconds of inhaling the stuff.
• Pam gets one for actually rejecting cocaine at the end of the episode. Many cocaine users would find it hard to quit cold turkey a bit, but Pam manages to throw it in the ocean so Lana doesn't have to go through the same road she did in season 5.

Face Off

• Gary fearlessly stops the men who have taken Lana, Cheryl, and Ray hostage by revealing the bomb vest he's wearing.

Breaking Fabian

• Archer and Fabian use their handcuffs to decapitate one of their pursuers.
• Although it ends up being interrupted by drones, Cyril gives a Badass Boast to the UN representatives.
  Cyril: We're the Agency. We're used to ambushes and bad odds and terrible situations. That's where we thrive. Because we're not just the front lines, we're a step beyond that. If we do our job right, there never is a front line. So you can look at the screens, see our failures sure. But the world you're living in, the world you're living in right now, that is our success.

Into the Cold

• Archer gets the Chinese and Russian gangsters to start killing each other by simply cocking his gun and firing a single shot.
• Through off-screen, the fight between Pam vs. Boris.
• Katya flipping the gang's car with a single punch to the hood, all the while unflinching as the car crashes behind her.
• Archer uses a jetpack he found in the Brazilian warehouse to tackle Slater.
• Cheryl destroys a helicopter by ramming a motorcycle into it.
• When Archer has Slater dead to rights on a cliff, the latter begs for his life in turn of revealing the identity of Archer's father. Archer takes a glance at Lana and the others, and decides he can live without knowing the truth before sending Slater falling to his death.

Others

• On the Season 3 DVD extras, there's a featurette entitled How to Archer, in which Archer and celebrity chef/epicure Alton Brown attempt to make the only dish Archer knows the recipe to, "Eggs Woodhouse".^note This is a direct reference to the tie-in book How to Archer, which Archer not-so-humbly plugs. After arguing over his cholesterol intake and engaging in some childish ingredient-tossing, Sterling loses his cool, tackling Alton as the screen cuts to a "Technical Difficulties" card for 35 seconds. When the feed comes back, Brown has already prepared the dish all by himself - and, although he himself is clearly injured and the kitchen is in shambles, it's shown that he managed to beat the hell out of Sterling and smash his head through the oven door. Archer even thanks Brown for his time afterward.
  • Of course it's non-canon, but that doesn't make it less awesome.
• The animation in the Wall Crawl scene in "The Honeymooners" is especially good, and the shot of Lana falling is probably the best shot in the entire series.
• The Top Gun/Danger Zone video made as a teaser for Season 5, with Archer as Maverick, Cyril as Goose, Ray as Stinger, Lana as Charlotte, Barry as Iceman, and Dr Krieger as Kenny Logins.
• The tie-in country album released by Cherlene. A quite amazing soundtrack, particularly her duet with Loggins himself for "Danger Zone".
• The 2015 Comic-Con intro video had a couple, mainly with Pam and Krieger's Fury Road cos-play (with props to Krieger, who turned his van into a miniature Doof Wagon) and Krieger's working flamethrower-dual electric guitar with a friggin' lightsaber from the new Star Wars movie. And knowing him, it probably works.
• The new space setting for Season 10 really takes the animation to a new level. The ship designs may be a pastiche of classic sci-fi elements, but they come together beautifully. There are a couple of Big Space Battles that look fantastic.

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