History Recap / TheSimpsonsS35E9MurderSheBoat

** And the four cruise directors as ComicBook/TheFantasticFour.

* KickTheDog: Comic Book Guy ripped Bart's homemade comic book to shreds first figuratively and then literally (in the paper shredder).

** Lisa is a big fan of Creator/TaikaWaititi, citing his ''[[Film/ThorRagnarok Thor]]'' [[Film/ThorLoveAndThunder movies]], ''Series/WhatWeDoInTheShadows'', and saying his performance of the imaginary Adolf Hitler in ''Film/JojoRabbit'' as her favorite depiction of the dictator.

* CelebrityParadox: The Vindicators can be seen in the interrogation room, but the [[Film/ThorRagnarok Thor]] [[Film/ThorLoveAndThunder films]] directed by Creator/TaikaWaititi are mentioned as he's introduced.

* EveryoneIsASuspect: Every single person on the cruise ship had some kind of a problem with Comic Book Guy, forcing Lisa and Taika Waititi to interview ''all'' of them.

* KilledMidsentence: Parodied with Ranier Wolfcastle, who witnessed the "murder" but gets knocked unconscious by a Captain America shield just as he's telling Lisa who did it.
* LightsOffSomebodyDies: How the action figure is "killed" in a room full of people with no witnesses (save Ranier Wolfcastle, who was wearing glow-in-the-dark goggles).

* EveryoneIsASuspect: Every single person on the cruise ship had some kind of a problem with Comic Book Guy, forcing Lisa and Taika Waitit to interview ''all'' of them.

* JerkassRealization: Comic Book Guy has one when he secretly records Lisa and Taika Waititi's interviews with the suspects to make fun of them later, only to find out that every person on the ship ''hated'' him…the one exception being his beloved wife, who was tearfully distraught because he paid more attention to his action figure than her.

-->'''Lisa:''' My dad was selfishly shovelling pre-shucked shellfish down his shrimp shaft... (One take, huh-huh!)

* EveryoneIsASuspect: Every single person on the cruise ship hated Comic Book Guy.

** Jerri Mackleberry as ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}.

* TakeThat: Comic Book Guy thought of himself as a beloved character like [[Series/{{Seinfeld}} Kramer]], but finds out he's as hated as [[Creator/MichaelRichards "the guy who played Kramer"]].

It's dinnertime, and the Simpsons family is now in cosplay just like almost everyone else, as the Addams Family. Taika Waititi is also there, dressed as his character from Murder He Swords, noshing on seafood with vegemite. Later in the night, the Radioactive Wolverine figure is on display, with Comic Book Guy charging for a closer look. Bart objects to his practice, hoping out loud that something Comic Book Guy treasures is destroyed. The lights turn off, and when they're back on, the figure is headless. Comic Book Guy is so destressed that he passes out onto a Hedonism-Bot cosplayer. Sideshow Mel blames Bart for this, due to having the motivation, means, and reputation, and Luanne Van Houten points out three small scratches on Bart's cheek that could be from the claws. Bart is taken to the brig.

They begin interrogating everyone aboard, and everyone has a motive. The doll originally belonged to Milhouse until Comic Book Guy bought it from Kirk for eleven dollars, downplaying it's worth. Sideshow Mel was being cancelled by an online mob led by Comic Book Guy for starring as Dick Dastardly in a Mad Max-like Wacky Races movie that Taika Waititi might or might not have directed. Even Kumiko has a motive, because her husband likes that figure more than her. There's too many suspects to narrow down. But Lisa's attention is drawn to a pile of Bart's laundry in their cabin, and in the pile was the doll's head. This is definitive proof that Bart did it, and betrayed Lisa's trust that he tried to hard to earn back. Things are looking hopeless, but Rainier Wolfcastle knocks on the door. He was wearing night vision goggles when the lights were out, meaning he saw who did it. But as he milks the moment for all it's worth, he's hit by Captain America's shield and passes out before revealing the culprit. Lisa chases the assailant, but loses them, only finding Taika eating unattended room service with vegemite, and a distraught Kumiko who reports that Comic Book Guy is missing.

The next morning, Taika figures out who did the crime. All he needs is an audience. In front of a crowd, he reveals that Comic Book Guy did the crime himself, because he had the doll ensured for £935,000[[labelnote:*]]1.187 million US Dollars as of the episode's airing[[/labelnote]], so he destroyed hit himself as an insurence scam, planted the head in Bart's cabin, knocked out Rainier Wolfcastle, and disappeared. Everyone cheers, but Lisa saw a detail on the side of the box and realizes who really did the crime. Nobody wants to hear her out until Taika encourages them to listen to her. There's two of those figures in the whole world, so what if the owner of the other doll broke theirs and came onto the cruise to make a swap? And after some web sleuthing, she discovers the owner of the other misprint was sold in New Zealand, where the word "colour" is spelled with a "u", drawing attention to a blurb on the box that says "Now in six incredible gamma ray colo'''u'''rs". Taika Waititi is the only New Zealander on board, and the Captain America shield that knocked out Rainier Wolfcastle has a brown goo on it. Lisa gets Homer to lick the goo, and he detects a salty, yeasty, malty flavor. It's vegemite, Taika's favo'''u'''rite. Taika brings up the scratch mark on Bart's face, but Lisa says it's from a seafood fork that Homer accidentally scratched Bart with when the lights came out. But Taika isn't accepting defeat until there's one more piece of evidence.

Waititi's cabin is being searched for that last piece of evidence. Lenny finds Comic Book Guy's figure, unbroken. He broke his doll in a fit of rage after hearing that the second season of Murder, He Sword was made into a tax write-off. Taika Waititi is being taken away, swearing to use all of his powerful New Zealand contacts. One mystery remains though, as Comic Book Guy is still missing. But Lisa realizes he can only be in one place, the place nobody would expect to find him in. He is found in the gym, hiding under a weightlifting bench. He hid because he placed an R2D2 model in the interrogation room to record the footage so he may mock Lisa and Taika's interrogating, but upon looking at the footage, he realized just how much people hated his guts.

** Lenny, Carl and Barney are [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS34E11TopGoon once again]] dressed as a [[Series/SquidGame Squid Game guard]], [[ComicBook/SpiderMan purple Spider-Man]] and [[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros blue-and-pink]] VideoGame/{{Wario}}.

* SongParody: There's a parody of Series/TheLoveBoat's theme song about how this cruise is for nerds.

The next morning, Taika figures out who did the crime. All he needs is an audience. In front of a crowd, he reveals that Comic Book Guy did the crime himself, because he had the doll ensured for £935,000[[labelnote:*]]1.187 million US Dollars as of the episode's airing[[/labelnote]], so he destroyed hit himself as an insurence scam, planted the head in Bart's cabin, knocked out Rainier Wolfcastle, and disappeared. Everyone cheers, but Lisa saw a detail on the side of the box and realizes who really did the crime. Nobody wants to hear her out until Taika encourages them to listen to her. There's two of those figures in the whole world, so what if the owner of the other doll broke theirs and came onto the cruise to make a swap? And after some web sleuthing, she discovers the owner of the other misprint was sold in New Zealand, where the word "colour" is spelled with a "u", drawing attention to a blurb on the box that says "Now in sex incredible gamma ray colo'''u'''rs". Taika Waititi is the only New Zealander on board, and the Captain America shield that knocked out Rainier Wolfcastle has a brown goo on it. Lisa gets Homer to lick the goo, and he detects a salty, yeasty, malty flavor. It's vegemite, Taika's favo'''u'''rite. Taika brings up the scratch mark on Bart's face, but Lisa says it's from a seafood fork that Homer accidentally scratched Bart with when the lights came out. But Taika isn't accepting defeat until there's one more piece of evidence.

* SimilarlyNamedWorks: There's a volleyball game based on this trope, with a couple of [[Film/{{Avatar}} Na'vi]] cosplayers VS cosplayers of [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender Aang and Toph]].