Lucas was the kind of guy who Archer loved spending time with. They would pick on flamboyantly Gay Ray together, make sexually explicit “Your Mom” jokes together and they would even enjoy Archer getting laid together (Lucas only watched). It was a time of idyllic grown men frolicking naked on the locker room floor. Alas, Archer knows that his mother drove them apart because she was jealous of their totally masculine and hetero relationship. That’s why the day he graduated spy school from Isis, Lucas went to work for the competition, Odin. Like, duh! Well, turns out Odin was also not a good fit for Lucas, because a day ago he seemingly died in a plane crash after he was framed for murdering four Odin agents and stealing hundreds of millions in bearer bonds. Mallory is glad that he burned a traitor’s death, but Archer simply knows he faked the fiery demise to flush out an Odin mole. His trust in his beloved friend is rewarded when he gets a call on his anachronistic cell (smartphones and the Internet during a time of the KGB and ‘70s style, you just go with it on this show) from Lucas. The soul mates will be reunited! Hurray! We have never seen Archer show real male camaraderie before this episode. Usually, he keeps getting the male contingency of Isis killed because he calls them while they’re undercover to vouch to his newest bar honey that he’s a for real secret agent. The living ones cannot stand him for either being an ignorant, homophobic lout or because he keeps all the office ladies working late for himself. Thus, finally seeing that Archer once had a friend, unlike his lonely days at Lacrosse School, is made all the more gut-busting when you learn just how Gay it was. There is no “sub” in these bros’ subtext. The best moment is the end of the episode where Troy lays dying and Archer tries to comfort his buddy. Lucas decides to confess all his crimes. Yeah, he murdered those Odin agents and feels bad about it. But there was also this one time when Archer passed out…Archer tries to stop the confession, because he doesn’t want to live with the knowledge. But Troy continues. “After you passed out, I snuck into your room with a big bottle of suntan oil, put on some Al Green and…” We didn’t hear the rest of Lucas Troy’s last confessio, but by the way Archer screams “NOOOOOOOO!” we can only guess he wasn’t crying for Mary.
