Lana attempts to enroll AJ into a prestigious pre-school. This leads to a prep school reunion and an interesting business opportunity for Archer: apparently dying from cancer, the bully who tormented Archer in school wants him to Mercy Kill him for $100,000 dollars (and using his position on the school board to get AJ in). Hiding the amount of money from Cyril, Archer heads there only to discover it's an attempt to get him to kill another bully from school (and the original bully's business partner).
Tropes
- A-Team Firing: Cyril's "suppressing fire," as usual. He's firing with his eyes closed! Also, Ivy's sniping: he barely wings Archer and appears to blow the house up more by accident than intentionally.
- Asshole Victim: Both Ivy and Whitney are basically bullies who never outgrew their nasty attitudes. Whitney is killed when Ivy snipes him, and Ivy drives himself off a cliff in an attempt to take Archer down with him. Needless to say, no one mourns the wicked.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: For the first time in the history of the series, Lana says, "Phrasing".
- Broken Aesop: Bullying is bad. Archer isn't willing to stop bullying Cyril despite all the nasty crap he went through with his bullies, though.
- The Bully: Both Ivy and Whitney were particularly nasty ones to Archer, who may have become one to Cyril. Though Cyril points it out, Archer can't see it.
- Bully and Wimp Pairing: Ivy and Whitney have the same dynamic with Archer that he has with Cyril. Cyril lampshades this.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: Ivy and Whitney all but drowned Archer in a piss-filled toilet. Just to prove they are still Jerkasses, they both mock him years later for being weak.
- Cold Sniper: Ivy. He almost made the Olympics in the biathlon, and despite the aforementioned A-Team Firing manages to plant two shots through the headrest of the seat of the car Archer's driving (one on either side of his head) with a handgun from a fair distance off.Archer: Wow. Think of how good you'd have to be to make the Olympics!
- Cruel Mercy: Subverted. Archer has Ivy's own gun pointed to his head but says he's not going to kill him when he can cause more problems for Ivy by putting him in jail. Ivy responds by driving the car they're both in off a cliff.
- Did Not Think This Through: Ivy doesn't bother to check that Archer is now the world's most dangerous (former) Overt Agent. Meanwhile, Lana fails to accept Ray's warning, or consider that she is probably not the only domineering mother to harass the school headmaster at his home. That she is also a woman of color carrying an unlicensed firearm doesn't help when the police show up and arrest her for stalking.
- The Dog Bites Back: Archer's view of the business with Whitney and Ivy. He gets to kill Ivy, while Ivy kills Whitney.
- Hate Sink: Ivy and Whitney have no noticeable redeeming qualities.
- Ignored Epiphany: Archer basically disregards any idea he should treat Cyril better despite being similarly bullied.
- Imagine Spot: The episode briefly cuts away to Cyril imagining getting revenge on Archer, in a parody of The Silence of the Lambs.
- Jerk Jock: Whitney and Ivy were this in school.
- Jerkass: As mentioned, Ivy and Whitney. In addition to their continued abuse of Archer, Ivy tries to get Archer to kill Whitney by convincing Archer Ivy is fatally ill and wants a Mercy Kill, then directing Archer to Whitney’s house.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Whitney double-crosses Archer and Cyril by pulling out a hidden gun on them, but then gets sniped with a headshot by Ivy.Whitney: I shoulda drowned you in piss when I had the chance, you little fa--
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Archer lays one down on Ivy despite having been shot twice. Mixed with Punctuated Pounding.Archer: [punch] How do you like that, Ivy? Fighting somebody bigger [punch] and stronger than you! [punch] Crazy, right? [punch] Imagine what it was like for a lonely, [punch] skinny, [punch] thirteen-year-old kid [punch] who's been to five different boarding schools since he was five! [punch] Hint! It wasn't great! [punch]
- Out-of-Character Alert: When forced to meet with one of the bullies that traumatized and hospitalized him in prep school, Archer loses all of his self-confidence and becomes a stammering mess. Sadly, Lana completely fails to notice this until after she herself bullies Archer into going along with his tormentor's business proposal, leading him to snap at her angrily and walk away without making a single quip.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Ivy is really-really racist to Lana and barely makes any effort to hide it.
- Shout-Out:
- Cyril's Imagine Spot is a direct reference to Buffalo Bill in The Silence of the Lambs.
- Archer quotes It's a Wonderful Life when he makes fun of Whitney attempting to lie about not having money in the house: "It's in Tom's house... and Bill's house".
- Archer sings Duane Eddy's "The Ballad of Paladin".
- Swirlie: Ivy and Whitney used to subject Archer to these in used toilets and gave him the nickname "Swirling" for it. Very much not played for laughs, Archer got pneumonia from one incident and is still traumatized by it.
- The Unreveal: Cyril finds some material connected to Longwater in Whitney’s vault, but the house is blown up before he can retrieve it.
- Xanatos Gambit: Ivy's plan to kill Whitney by sending Archer to murder him under the pretense of Mercy Killing Ivy. He then plans to snipe Archer to make it look like a home invasion.
- You Are What You Hate: Cyril points out how Archer was bullied as a kid and that he has become a bully himself as an adult. Unfortunately for him, Archer ignores his lecture and continues to mistreat Cyril even after Ivy is killed.
