Part 1 of the two-part season finale of Archer opened to a meeting between Mallory, Archer, Lana and their client, Ellis Krane. Krane, Veronica Dean’s ex-husband, approached the Figgis Agency with concerning news: somebody was trying to sabotage the set of Deadly Velvet. Lana, who was working as the film’s technical advisor at the time, confirmed that three suspicious accidents had occurred already. Much to Archer’s chagrin, Krane hired the agency to go undercover on the set and find out who was behind the accidents. The scene closed with another argument between Archer and Lana, both jealous and bitter over the recent break.
With their mission ahead of them, Mallory assigned tasks to each member of the agency based on their skill sets. Cyril would pose as accounting, Pam craft services and babysitting Cheryl, Ray grip, Mallory executive producer, Archer Veronica Dean’s bodyguard and Krieger would just, “sort of skulk around.” With their tasks set, the team set out.
On the set, Pam and Cheryl immediately found themselves engaged in various shenanigans, much to Mallory’s distaste. Meanwhile, Archer ran into Shapiro, who claimed to be on set to protect Veronica Dean and her interests. The two made their way to Veronica Dean, who once again pretended not to recognize Archer. Just after claiming that she did not need protection, a forklift crashed into the area, with Archer grabbing her and Shapiro just in time. Veronica Dean swooned and swiftly fainted.
In the next few moments, Krane arrived on set to see the destruction, Lana grew furious at the sight of Veronica Dean in Archer’s arms and Cheryl, being Cheryl, attempted to stop the crew from putting out the fire. Krane, not wanting to cause a scene, sent everybody back to work, but not before Archer and Lana decided to go at it again. A parallel was drawn with Archer and Lana when Krane and Veronica Dean began arguing as well. The two pairs of exes split off, with Archer following Veronica Dean back into her dressing room.
Shortly after, Cyril approached Mallory with a potential lead. Deciding to hear him out, the two went to a nearby cafe, where Cyril informed Mallory that the set was insured for triple. Therefore, potential investors would make way more off the insurance than they ever would with the actual movie. The trail of insurance led back to Sandhill Krane, a company run by the film’s very own executive producer.
Meanwhile, Shapiro confided in Pam and Cheryl, asking what they thought about Archer’s ability to make women fall in love with him. Unhappy with their answer, he begged them to help with a plan to prevent the two from getting together. During their conversation, the three run into Cyril and Mallory, who are shortly followed by Lana. Shapiro, not realizing his mistake, posed the same question to Lana. In a fury, Lana stormed to Veronica Dean’s dressing room to stop Archer.
While Cyril and Mallory planned to confront Krane with the evidence, Archer and Veronica Dean had already done what the others had suspected. Returning to the set, Veronica Dean kissed Archer goodbye. Unfortunately, Lana had caught Archer in the act and entered the room shortly after. While the two argued over the nature of their break, Lana finally snapped and attacked Archer.
In the middle of the fight, Shapiro ran into the room with Pam and Cheryl, urging Veronica Dean not to have sex with Archer with a poorly formed STD-related outburst. Realizing, however, that he had approached Archer and Lana instead, he immediately attempted to cover up his tracks. The awkward moment was interrupted by a high pitched scream, with a pin put in on the current argument. Ironically, the scream had come from Cyril, upon discovering the body of Krane in the other room.
The episode ended with a covert operation turned official investigation, with each member of the Figgis Agency a subject of interest. As officials attempted to piece together the crime, the group was ordered not to leave the city. With one episode remaining in the season, the group was faced with a classic who done it scenario, with no clear suspect.