Archer's sex life compromises his effectiveness as an agent, but more seriously than the countless other times.
This episode provides examples of:
- The Bad Guy Wins / Downer Ending: Barry successfully kills Nikolai and ensures that there's no DNA evidence left of him, so they can't test to see if he's really Archer's father or not.
- Brick Joke: Archer jokes earlier in the series that he would have to get really drunk to have sex with someone like Pam. In this episode, it turns out he was just drunk enough to do exactly that.
- Continuity Nod: Malory mentions that she is still seeing Burt Reynolds, but their work schedule had made things difficult to be seen together onscreen.
- Et Tu, Brute?: What Nikolai says to Boris when the latter helps Barry overthrow him, to which Boris responds:Boris: Et me, buddy.
- Face Death with Dignity: Jakov accepts his fate as such, his only regret being the destruction of the paternal DNA Archer wants.
- He Knows Too Much: Barry knows that Nikolai has enough potentially classified intelligence to compromise the KGB. When hearing Nikolai is going to the USA, Barry later decides to handle (kill) him.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: Nikolai's death removes a key side character interaction for both Archers. Notably, this is one of the very few episodes that ends with very little humor.
- Oh, Crap!: Archer is horrified in learning that he had drunk sex with Pam. The worst part? He admits that she was "the best he ever had" and tries to get more of it without the others knowing.
- Sexy Shirt Switch: Pam is wearing a "Prep School Lacrosse Team" t-shirt when Archer finds her in his bathroom the morning after they sleep together. Presumably it's his shirt.
- Spanner in the Works: Archer screws up his mission to protect Nikolai by leaving him behind for another "quickie" with Pam. He avoids Barry's wrath, but with Nikolai killed, he misses out on resolution that he may be his father.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Cheryl ends up leading Barry to the safehouse where Nikolai is hiding on the pretext that her place is a mess to have sex with a cyborg.
- Xanatos Gambit: Barry takes the win here because if he can't kill Archer, he can kill Nikolai and erase any evidence that may insinuate he is the father.
