"The Kanes" is the eighth episode of season 6 and the seventieth episode overall of Archer.
Plot
Synopsis
After Archer finally meets Lemuel Kane and Claudette Kane (Lana's parents), something unexpected happens and he ends up introducing them to the reality of high-speed chases.
Summary
Lana travels with Archer and AJ to her parents' house in Berkeley, California so that they can meet their granddaughter. She coaches Archer on how to properly behave and Archer drinks to calm his nerves. They're both a little on edge since Archer's first introduction to the Kane family went poorly. They arrive and Claudette and Lemuel Kane are overjoyed to meet Abbiejean, though less so to meet Archer.
They all catch up and Lana's parents ask her about her work in college, believing that she's working on her Ph.D. in environmental science. Archer goes along with this lie, and despite some minor tenseness, everything seems to be going well until Archer tries out the hot tub. Lemuel and Claudette join him naked and wish to let him in on a secret that Lana can't know about, both events being to Archer's surprise. Believing this to be an invitation to a threesome, Archer lays down some ground rules. However, it wasn't, leaving Claudette and Lemuel shocked and Lana furious.
An argument between Lana, Lemuel and Archer is interrupted when Claudette finds Lemuel's study ransacked and his years of algae research stolen. Archer spots the thieves escaping and manages to shoot the getaway driver, but the other thieves drive away. Lemuel reluctantly allows Archer to drive his Mustang on the ensuing high-speed chase and shootout while questioning why Archer has a gun in the first place. He also explains that his research involves turning algae into biofuel, which could reproduce infinitely and potentially make fossil fuels, Big Oil, and OPEC obsolete.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Cyril, Pam, Cheryl, Dr. Krieger and Mitsuko Miyazumi find themselves stranded in Brownsville when Krieger's Van breaks down on the way to the gang's monthly bowling league night. Pam is charged with pulling the van up a hill while the rest "help". Krieger forgets to remove the parking brake and the rest drink beers while they're supposed to be pushing.
When Archer runs out of ammo and has to borrow Lana's TEC-9, she eventually has to explain to her Dad that she and Archer work as spies/contractors for the CIA and that she gave up her science career a long time ago. Furious that Lana gave up her "God-given talent" at science, Lana also confesses that she only pursued science because she couldn't face disappointing her parents. After making up, Lana's dad mentions that the secret was actually in an invitation to the Kane family reunion. Archer stops the thieves using a PIT maneuver and he and Lana engage in a shootout.
In New York, in order to lighten the load, Cheryl tosses out the bowling balls. The balls unfortunately end up hitting someone's car. Before an incident can occur, Pam realizes that the car belongs to Darryl, a friend she knows from her fight club. She reconciles with the promise of free beers at a titty bar and a repair and nitrous tank courtesy of Krieger, and leaves the others behind.
As the shootout commences and Lana calls out Archer's name when requesting cover fire, one of the thieves recognizes it and pulls off his mask - it's Slater who is behind the whole thing. He tells Dr. Kane that his research could jeopardize the national security of the US if the Middle East's oil were suddenly rendered worthless. To make up for it, Dr. Kane will receive a large, undisclosed amount direct deposited to his bank account monthly for life.
Lana is shocked that her father would toss his research so quickly, but he quips that now "we're gonna be able to burn money". On the plane back to New York, Lana commends Archer for his help and apologizes for the animosity in the beginning of the episode. Archer apologizes for almost "spit-roasting" her mother.
Cast
- Starring :
- H. Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer
- Judy Greer as Cheryl Tunt
- Amber Nash as Pam Poovey
- Chris Parnell as Cyril Figgis
- Aisha Tyler as Lana Kane
- Lucky Yates as Dr. Krieger
- Jessica Walter as Malory Archer (doesn't appear)
- Adam Reed as Ray Gillette (doesn't appear)
- Guest Starring:
Cultural References
- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967): Lana states that "nobody's guessing who's coming to dinner." This is a reference to this classic movie, the plot of which revolves around a white girl bringing her black fiancee home to meet her parents for the first time. The racial roles are obviously reversed in this episode, with the added (ironic) twist that Lana does not want any implication that she and Archer are romantically involved, despite having a child.
- Kenny Bilko: When Archer is emptying his pockets during airport security, a character model of Bilko can be seen entering from the right, though it is unlikely intended to be Kenny himself.
- Golden Gate Bridge / San Francisco International Airport: Both are depicted.
- Mantan Moreland - "That Ain't My Finger." (1965): "If this gon' be that kinda party, I'm gon' stick my dick in the mashed potatoes" is a punchline from Mantan Moreland's 1965 comedy album, "That's Not My Finger." Lem thoughtfully heated the potatoes to body temperature.
- Columbia University: Lana was studying at this university.
- Battle of Kosovo (1389): Was fought between defending Serbians under Prince Lazar and invading Ottomans under Murad I. Though both sides were virtually annihilated during the battle, and Ottoman expansion into Eastern Europe was delayed, the Ottomans eventually conquered Serbia. The battle is important to Serbian tradition and national identity even today.
- All In The Family (1971-79): Archer and Lemuel collide trying to get through a door, grimacing and shoving each other, in a scene very likely meant as an homage to father-in-law and son-in-law pair Archie Bunker and Michael Stivic often colliding the same way in this classic TV series.
- Bullitt (1968): The chase scene through the streets of San Francisco is an homage to the famous chase scene in this classic movie starring Steve McQueen, including both cars: Lemuel's green 1968 Mustang GT Fastback and the burglars' black 1968 Dodge Charger R/T.
- Susan B. Anthony (1820 –1906): It is revealed that Lana's middle name is Anthony, after the American social reformer and women's rights activist who played a pivotal role in the women's suffrage movement.
- Beastie Boys Making with the Freak Freak (1994): When Archer first meets Lana's parents, he drunkenly mumbles something about "that sort or party" and "mashed potato". In San Fransisco, Lem references this when Archer enters their home. The sample used by the Beastie Boys was from a comedy album by Mantan Moreland or on YouTube.
Running Gags / Callbacks
- Danger Zone - Archer tells Lana that they are in zona peligrosa, Spanish for danger zone.
- Krieger's van - Makes a return in this episode having received another new design based on an album cover of the band "Rush."
- Phrasing - When Archer and Lana's parents are in the hot tub, Lana's mother insists Archer removes his underwear, otherwise it is pointless. Once removed, Lana's father says "There, now that's not so hard, is it?" to which Archer replies "So do you guys do phrasing, or...?"
- Pam Graffiti - One of Pam's graffiti tags can be seen when Krieger's van breaks down in Brownsville.
- The license plate on Krieger's van says VIT K. This is a callback to Dr. Krieger's Formula K in "Honeypot".
- When Pam is dragging the car by herself, she tells the others that she hopes they're also helping out by pushing the van from the rear. Cheryl answers with "swearsy realsies" - an expression used between the two when they're 100% mutually honest.
- Ring Tone - The men that crash into the bowling balls when Cheryl dumps them out are listening to a hardcore-rap version of "Mulatto Butt."
Trivia
- Popular actor and voice actor Keith David voices Lana's father in this episode.
- C.C.H. Pounder, who voices Lana's mother Claudette, was also named Claudette (Wyms) on FX show The Shield.
- Although this is the first appearance of Lana's parents in the series, this is the second time Archer has met them; the first time Archer met them, he was drunk.
- During the flashback to when Archer met Lana's family at dinner, standing behind Lana at another table is a waiter named 'Randy' that looks a lot like Archer. Perhaps this Randy was an inspiration for Archer's use of the alias, Randy?
- Archer and Lana's taxi is shown taking the Golden Gate Bridge on the way from the San Francisco International Airport to Lana's parents' house. However, if Lana's parents live in the Berkeley area, the taxi would have taken the Bay Bridge instead. Likewise, when Archer chases after the burglars, they are shown crossing the Golden Gate Bridge but again, this should have been the Bay Bridge. In fact, for the travel depicted in this episode, at no time would there have been a need to cross the Golden Gate Bridge.
- Despite the revelation Archer was listed on the No Fly List (as well as the fictional No Train List) as a result of his drunken antics, he is able to board the airliner with Lana and Abbiejean both to and from in this episode.
- It's revealed that Lana was studying at Columbia University, though she only feigned interest in academia to please her parents. Her parents are also revealed to be unaware of her life as a spy up until now.
- Archer and Lana both drink Red Beer.
- Malory and Ray are absent in this episode. This is the first episode ever to not feature Malory.
- ISIS Headquarters is also not seen in this episode.
- While in the hot tub, Lana's mother Claudette mentions they are all skyclad.
- Both of Lana's parents appear to be black, though she is often said to be a "quadroon" (1/4th black) making A.J. an "octaroon" (assuming Sterling with his unknown parentage is white). Either both her parents are "quadroons," or possibly it's not exactly true and they've been making the reference (using such arcane racial references) just to annoy her about how light-skinned she is.
- When Cheryl dumps the bowling balls out of Krieger's van to lighten it, one of the balls appears to be holographic, no doubt belonging to Krieger's virtual girlfriend.
- Both Sterling and Lana have opposite gender middle names, with Sterling's being Malory and Lana's being Anthony. That said, Malory was traditionally a male name, although it is nowadays more often given to women than men.
Locations
- San Francisco
- New York City
Quotes
- Lana: "Daddy, tell us about you research."
- Lemuel: "Well, algae is always challenging!"
- Archer: "Yeah, just ask a flip-flop."
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- Archer: "Can I call you 'Lem'?
- Lemuel: "Of course you may, absolutely. But it's actually pronounced Doctor Kane."
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- Archer: "Because who gets in a hot tub naked, with an almost complete stranger?"
- Lana: "Because everybody! Because Berkeley!"
- Archer: "That's-- how does an entire city get a pass on acceptable behavior?"
- Lemuel: "Acceptable behavior?! This, from the man who just tried to have a threesome with me and my wife?!"
- Archer: "I was being polite!"
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- Archer: "Yeah, so listen, if you wanna catch those guys and get your mildew back--"
- Lemuel: "It's algae!"
- Archer: "Yeah, take THAT tone."
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- Sterling Archer: "Sorry I tried to spit-roast your mom."
Gallery of Images
There are 10 screenshots and images from "The Kanes" on this Wiki, visit the category page for a complete gallery.