Archer S6E3 - "The Archer Sanction" Recap

Archer, Lana, and Ray are heading up to climb the Swiss Alps for a mission on which they must kill someone. Archer is annoyed that Ray didn't bring gum to help his ears pop. The target is apparently responsible for many political assassinations. Lana and Ray then become angry at Archer for not reading the mission dossier since now he and they all don't know specifically who the target is. After Archer and Lana leave the car, it's revealed that Ray does have gum.

Upon reaching the retreat, they meet Crash McCarron, the man running everything. There's other folks in attendance, including Hans from Germany, Mario from Italy, and Michiko from Japan. Archer tells Lana that he remembers that the target was from a country that was an Axis power during WWII. So it's not of any help at all. Crash advises the group to slow down on the drinking since they have quite a climb the next morning but Archer of course ignores the warning.

Lana pushes Archer to use the SAT phone to call Mallory and learn who the target is. Lana also wants to know how baby AJ is. The conversation is tense but it turns out the phone call is just an elaborate voicemail set up by Mallory as revenge on Archer for all the times he did that sort of thing. Lana calls Cheryl demanding to talk to Mallory but she doesn't know where she is, either. This further stresses out Lana since Mallory is looking after the baby.

Lana calls back the next morning and Pam answers. Everyone is hungover from partying the night before. The climb has begun, but Lana wants Pam to check in on Mallory at her apartment. Crash tells Lana he has a bad feeling from one of the other climbers but before he can say which one, they all go flying down the mountain and nearly down a ravine but Archer manages to stick a pick in the mountain before they're all killed. However, Michiko falls down and the team must try to pull her up but Crash goes rappelling down the ravine to try to get her and will give the signal of when to pull.

The rest of the crew heads over to Mallory's where Cheryl gets sick from the night before while Pam begins chowing down on a radish from Mallory's kitchen. Mallory and the baby are nowhere to be found.

Crash comes back up and says that the fall killed Michiko but they have to leave the body because of the oncoming storm. The teams have to split in groups of 3 and slip into the two small tents, naked, to survive the freezing cold storm. The following morning, they try to call the team and get an update on Mallory and baby AJ but no one is answering, as they're still hungover. When they go outside, they find that Hans and Mario are naked and dead in the snow. It would appear they died from hypothermia but then they find that they each have belts around their necks. Archer then remembers that Crash is the one they're supposed to kill. Crash admits to killing the other three, as they were from Interpol and after him. Crash pulls a knife on Lana, to which Archer responds by drawing his gun. Lana screams at them all to shut up, so she can demand Archer explain what he meant by Axis power, since Archer was triggered to remember that Crash was the target based on the fact that McCarron is an Irish name. Lana berates him for not remembering that Ireland was neutral in the war. Archer shoots Crash in the arm but to triggers an avalanche.

Finally, we see that Mallory had taken baby AJ because she was having her apartment bug-bombed. This explains why other team members were getting sick in Mallory's apartment. As for Archer, Lana, and Ray, they all survive the avalanche and live to bicker another day.

Archer airs on Thursdays on FX at 10PM.