"The Big Con" is the premiere episode of the thirteenth season of Archer, being the one-hundred and twenty-seventh episode overall.
Plot
Synopsis
Free drinks, party rooms and swag bags are just a few of the things the gang is not enjoying at the world's foremost spy convention, Clandesti-con.
Summary
Archer runs through a mirror maze rife with arrogant laughter as he sets his sites on his target and shoots them, revealing a blue paintball round as Archer is cheered for winning his first round in a spy competition at ClandestiCon. Lana, along with everyone else in The Agency, holds down an IIA booth handing out flyers. Fabian arrives at the booth with Archer and announces his plan for IIA to launch The Agency as a seemingly independent spy agency that is in reality just another part of IIA. Fabian encourages Archer to win the Agent Skills Competition in order to "launch The Agency properly" and leaves the fate of the agency in Archer's hands, which is met with disapproval from everyone.
Archer proceeds to get drunk on Glengoolie at the bar as Fabian encourages everyone at the booth to try to take the mantle of leadership, which annoys Lana who thinks she should be in the agent skills competition with Archer. Lana enters the contest and wins her duel in the mirror maze as Archer continues to stress drink at the bar. Robert shows up and ambushes Lana (who reveals they're in Dubai) with a discussion about their divorce, which turns into a discussion about who gets custody of A.J. after the divorce. Lana instinctively finds Archer at the bar and joins him for stress drinks while Krieger, Pam, and Ray scramble around their booth trying to network and make an impression to get the role of leadership. Fabian scolds everyone at the booth for their lack of success, especially Cyril who was doing nothing but trying to seems bossy. Krieger plants a bug on Fabian in an attempt to get dirt on him to blackmail him into approval of future projects.
Pam leaves ClandestiCon in an attempt to find "the party room" in the hotel but stumbles upon a room of assassins that she temporarily traps in the room. Pam comes back tell everyone what she saw as Krieger overhears Fabian getting kidnapped through the speaker the bug is connected to. Archer and Lana win the semi finals of their agent competition as the gang get a plan together for saving Fabian that works around not being able to have guns due to security at the Con. Archer and Lana enter the final stage of the competition - "the train" as the gang hatch their rescue mission. Archer derails the train for the exercise and clinches victory for the Agency. The derailed train ends up next to the climax of the Fabian hostage situation. Archer hops off the train and takes out Fabian's captor, saving him. Archer is disqualified from the competition for jumping off the train and Lana becomes the victor. Fabian reveals the whole kidnapping situation was a test and reveals it to be a demonstration for the Con. Fabian declares Ray the leader of the Agency because of the "data" he's gathered on everyone over the years in a binder.
Cast
- Starring
- Guest Starring :
- Stephen Tobolowsky as Robert
- Kayvan Novak as Fabian Kingsworth
- Shohreh Aghdashloo as ClandestiCon Host
Cultural References
- Kermit the Frog - Fabian likens the autonomy he will allow The Agency to have to the amount of autonomy Kermit the Frog, a muppet, has.
- The Breakfast Club - Pam tells Krieger that this isn't the Breakfast Club.
- Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Archer asks Lana if she has tried the "signal fires of Gondor" to contact A.J.
Running Gags / Callbacks
- Phrasing/Sploosh! - Cyril says a phrasing worthy statement and follows it up with "Kaboom!" stating it's a new thing he does only for Archer to see through it and shoot it down.
- Krieger's Deviance - Krieger reveals he's been working on a device called "The Wheel" that has sexual purposes
Continuity
- Like in Seasons 11 & 12 the agency Archer, Lana, and everyone else works for still has no official name and continues to be simply referred to as "The Agency"
- When Pam bursts into the room of assassins she shouts "Who's ready to Pampage?" a callback to Season 12 where she made Pampage t-shirts and went out on a "Pampage" with her coworkers
Trivia
Locations
- Dubai
First Appearances
Quotes
- Lana: "So pretend we're independent to make IIA more successful and allow you to ruthlessly exploit us?"
- Fabian: "Welcome to the concept of a job."
─────────────────────────
- Krieger: "I am working on something called "The Wheel" but it's a sex thing! That I can't build at work... You call that justice?"
─────────────────────────
Gallery of Images
"The Big Con" Screenshot Gallery