At the end of last night’s episode of “Archer” (S2E9, “Placebo Effect”), Cyril suggests that Archer’s personal revenge film Terms of Enrampagement be instead titled “Magnum P.U.” It’s not just a dig on Archer’s movie — it’s also a subtle reference 
to the “Magnum P.I.” scene that “Archer” mirrored before killing off last night’s villain, a wheelchair-bound Irish mob boss.
I apologize for this being a little too inside-baseball for anyone who doesn’t watch “Archer,” but there are some jackasses out there who thought that the ending to “Placebo Effect” was the weakest part of the episode. And while nothing reaches the comedic high of Archer blowing out gangsters’ kneecaps while pretending to be hosting “Family Feud,” suffice it to say that the clever homage to “Magnum, P.I.” was an excellent and fitting finish to the plot. As we’ve noted before, if you don’t get a joke from “Archer,” it’s probably because you’re ignorant.
[via @archerprod]
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Archer referencing the Family Feud isolation booth was great. Survey says!
Also, I feel bad for those of you who are too young to remember Magnum P.I.
ripping on a cancer patient as a member of the E-street band was phenomenal. Not to mention chain smoking blunts the size of tampons.
Here I thought the best joke in the ending was the “Casa-Blumpkin” reference
Oh SNAP! How can I forget giving the Hondourans janitors a chance to steal?!? Pure comic gold.
“I thought it was a smoke bomb lana”
All the more reason I’m excited for my Gator viewing party.
Without knowing the Magnum reference of the turn-shoot-rewind scene, it didn’t seem “bad” it was just a throwaway. That’s why I come here; to be edumacated.
And yes, the Casa-Blumpkin line killed me! And as the last line of the show… Mmmwaaaaa!(kisses fingers)
Never watched “Magnum P.I.” so the reference flew over my head. I still thought it was pretty damn funny – and wasn’t that like the third time Archer had thrown a “I beat cancer” party/movie screening with bagels & lox?
Also, that pharmacist WAS a pussy.
that was awesome.
thank you for this!
That magnum PI reference was way over my head.
Though I was fond of the Boys from Brazil reference. This show is a better literary study than any of the colleges that rejected me
Casablumpkin made me spit my drink everywhere.
Im not too young to remember Magnum (Im 29), I just didnt get the reference. Thank God for the interwebs. It just took the episode to another level after I understood it.
Hilarious before I knew it and hilariouser now that I knows.
“Inside baseball” is Archer’s raison d’etre. I like it OK but it relies too much on you getting obscure references. It’s the Dennis Miller of TV shows.
Man I’m 27 but I used to watch Magnum PI reruns all the damned time as a kid. That show was tits.
Maybe I missed something, but when is it revealed that Archer figures out he isn’t the father of the wee baby Seamus?
Genius from the link leaves out the most obvious reference, which was “The Boys from Brazil” reference, hence the dobermans.
@pepe I was going to go off and tell you to eat a dick, but I think I have a decent response for you instead. One of the great joys of Archer is hunting down the random obscure references in the show afterwards. It makes it just that much more hillarious in retrospect. Also, there is enough up front, in your face stuff that will just make you piss yourself from laughing so hard. It’s not too rough to get the E-street band reference, or follow the accuracy paid to the family fued scene. Hell, even Citizen Dickbag and Casablumpkin are pretty easy to follow with little thought. It’s a well crafted, hillarious show that occasionally busts out a Judge Crater or Bartleby the Scrivener reference. And in looking them up, you become more cultured in a minute way. Also, eat a dick, Archer Rocks.
Even without the reference point, shooting a wheelchair bound cancer patient in the jungle is considered a “letdown”? Pussies.
To Rob:
Archer puts Cyril’s blood in the paternity test, so when it comes back positive, I think he knew who the real father was…
Why was the episode not called Terms of Enrampagement? I’d forever know which one it was after I buy the season and want to rewatch it.
Despite the homage to Family Feud, the scene-stealer in that entire sequence had to be “Dick-Flavored Spit?” Magnificent way to put someone down just before you actually put them down.
My car smells like weed and rampage. Or as I like to call it, Friday night.
I’ve got to thank you for the Magnum tie-in. I actually saw that episode of Magnum and didn’t make the connection. Genius.
I loved that Magnum PI reference so much I want to take it out behind the middle school and get it pregnant. And I’d even pay child support.
For a few months.
I didn’t know it was a Magnum P.I. reference (even though I watched the show), but I knew it was an inside reference to something, so I appreciated that. I think the thing that actually made it even funnier to me, despite not knowing the point of it all, was that the seriousness of it all was broke by Archer laughing hysterically. The fact that Archer was so happy about watching and rewatching, and rewatching, and rewatching himself shooting an old wheelchair bound man in the face was hilarious. How anyone could say that was the worst part is beyond me.
Oh, and the exchange between Archer and Lana just saying “WHAT?” to each other made me laugh like a mad man.
Not to be one of those dicks, but the AV Club guy gives Archer an A- because he didn’t get the reference of the final 1 minute of the show, while Community (which I like!) got a A because he got the pretentious film reference which was being pushed the entire episode? And you know, Archer was actually funny compared to Community? (Again, I’m a Community fan, I just greatly prefer it when it’s being played for laughs, not melodrama.)
Somebody up above sounds like an elistist hipster who has gobbled miles of knob. Sit on your unicycle and spin Dewayne. You’re a nerd who enjoys researching each and every joke. Congratulations, I bet you know how to take the fun out of everything for your own smug sense of satisfaction.
My favorite Archer episode yet, I was howling so loud at the Family Feud scene that I woke my wife up across the house. I agree that the final scene was funny even before you explained the reference, and now it’s icing on the cake.
@cockmuncher Thanks for the assessment. My smug sense of satisfaction comes less from my lack of a random Vin Baker 1995 jersey, and more from enjoying the nuances of a hillarious and smart tv show. I suppose giving a brief analysis of why I enjoy a cartoon on the internet subjects me to being accused of “gobbling miles of knob,” but sadly I will not be kneeling next you for your Tuesday night dalliances at the rest stop. Have a wonderful day.
RAAAAAMMMMMPAAAAGE!!!!
I understood the Magnum reference but not the Family Feud stuff. In 30 years someone will understand a Breaking Bad reference but not get the Jersey shore joke in a cartoon.
I was way late to the party on Archer, but this show is the tits.
Dude the only episode of Magnum where he straight up murders someone.. I had to wait months of watching reruns to see this ep. if memory serves it was totally a 2 part episode.
Useless fact,
I spent an entire summer at my friends house watching magnum 3-4 times every weekday until I had seen the entire run.
Did anyone else notice that the shop where the Irish mob were located was basically an Irish version of the Sopranos butchery. Plus the guy in the E Street band with the bandana is actually Steve Van Zandt who was also in The Sopranos.
late to the party. the guy who plays Ivan in Magnum P.I. is Bo Svenson. Bo Svenson played a pilot in Delta Force with Chuck Norris. If my math is correct, Archer is therefore greater than Chuck Norris. Archer is definitely my most anticipated show every week at least until Mad Men and Breaking Bad come back on