Recap / The Simpsons S 35 E 9 Murder She Boat

A pop culture cruise turns into a closed door mystery when Comic Book Guy's extremely rare Radioactive Man figure is destroyed.

Full Recap

Marge feels something weird while getting the mail; a pair of envelopes stuck to the ceiling of the mailbox. Inside those envelopes are the family's COVID stimulus checks. Lisa gets an idea for something to spend the money on, an experience. Marge is interested despite the vague description, but Bart not so much, and Lisa knows Homer won't be interested, so when the time comes, Homer doesn't get all of the information. All he knows is that it's a surprise cruise paid by surprise money, and a normal cruise that has nothing he hates. But as soon as the family sees the cruise ship, the true nature is revealed. It's a pop culture cruise aboard the Pacific Princess Leia, for fans of sci-fi, fantasy, comics, anime, and video games. In other words, nerds. And Homer, out of the outdated belief that nerds belong on the fringes of society, is outraged, until he is incapacitated by a Vulcan nerve pinch. With Homer knocked out, the rest of the family takes in the sights, with Lisa meeting Taika Waititi. She's a huge fan, and he hypes up his new show coming soon to a streaming service, a high-budget medieval detective show called "Murder, He Swords".

There is an announcement, the king and queen of this cruise have arrived. Comic Book Guy and Kumiko, and he has brought his rarest item. A Radioactive Man action figure that was accidentally given Wolverine's claws, only two of which exist in the whole world. Everyone is impressed, except for Bart, who is disgusted that Comic Book Guy is on the boat, because he threw a comic he wrote into a shredder, without so much as looking beyond the cover. Bart swears revenge.

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 Hedonismbot 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.

Bart swears he's innocent, but after the cruise is over, he'll be taken to an adult prison. Bart tries to get Lisa's trust, but he's destroyed her dolls and has told her so many lies. Bart proves he's telling the truth by owning up to every single lie he told Lisa. Lisa cuts him off after enough time has passed, she believes him, but nobody else on the boat will entertain the idea that Bart is innocent, except for Taika Waititi, who will help out with Lisa's investigation.

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^*1.187 million US Dollars as of the episode's airing, so he destroyed it himself as an insurance 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 colours". 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 favourite. 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.

Bart is freed, glad that Lisa never lost faith in him. With Marge's silent encouragement, Lisa lies and says that was completely true.

Reflecting on footage of Kumiko's interrogation, Comic Book Guy throws his precious doll into the lake, proving to Kumiko that he loves her.

Tropes:

• Actor Allusion: The Hedonismbot cosplayer is played by Maurice LaMarche, who plays the real Hedonismbot on Futurama.
• Adam Westing: Taika Waititi plays himself as an Attention Whore and inveterate multitasker (claiming it's a psychological condition).
• Added Alliterative Appeal: When Lisa was explaining how Bart got the three scratch marks, she did so by stringing a series of S-words, and was quite proud of it.
  Lisa: My dad was selfishly shovelling pre-shucked shellfish down his shrimp shaft... (One take, huh-huh!)
• As Himself: Taika Waititi plays himself.
• Asshole Victim: Comic Book Guy. However, when he watches Lisa's interrogations, he realizes just how much people hate him.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: When Kumiko sees Comic Book Guy throw the Radioactive Man figure into the lake, she says "Best. Husband. Ever!"
• Call-Back:
  • Lenny, Carl and Barney are once again dressed as an orange-coated Squid Game guard, purple Spider-Man and blue-and-pink Wario, respectively.
  • Milo and Strawberry are dressed as Stretch Dude and Clobber Girl.
  • The interrogation room has standees for Vindicators, and the Squeaky-Voiced Teen is dressed as Airshot from the same in-universe franchise.
  • The interrogation room also has a poster for The Sands of Space.
• Chekhov's Gun: When the Radioactive Man action figure is introduced, it's said to be one of only two of its kind in the world. The culprit turns out to be the owner of the second action figure, who didn't actually break Comic Book Guy's but swapped it with his own after accidentally breaking his.
• Company Cross References: While the cruise is a general pop culture one, it's slightly more weighted in favor of references to Disney-owned franchises like Marvel Comics, Star Wars, and Avatar.
• Cosplay: By the truckload. Often with entire families sharing a theme.
  • Database and his family as Na'vi.
  • Ned, Rod and Todd Flanders as "Flando" Calrissian, Han Solo and Yoda.
  • Professor Frink as Mr. Freeze.
  • Julius and Bernice Hibbert as Blade and Storm.
  • Timothy and Helen Lovejoy as Charlie Brown and Lucy Van Pelt.
  • Jerri Mackleberry as Catwoman. Sherri and Terri are going as ersatz versions of the Wonder Twins, carrying around a monkey plushie that resembles Gleek.
  • Otto Mann as Loki.
  • Janey Powell and her father as Uhura and Worf.
  • Gareth, Gloria and Martin Prince as Mad-Eye Moody, Professor McGonagall, and Harry Potter.
  • Cletus and Brandine Spuckler as Link and Zelda.
  • Kirk, Luanne and Milhouse Van Houten as Chief Jim Hopper, Joyce Byers and Eleven.
  • Clancy, Sarah and Ralph Wiggum as Shrek, Fiona and Donkey.
  • And the four cruise directors as The Fantastic Four.
  • Even The Simpsons briefly dons cosplay during dinner, going as The Addams Family, though Homer objects to being Gomez because he feels he's a better fit for Fester.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The ship's crew sentences Bart to the brig for "killing" the Radioactive Man figure. The ship's captain then mentions that Bart will be transferred to adult prison for the crime upon reaching land.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Ned Flanders has a motive for beheading Comic Book Guy's Radioactive Man figure. Comic Book Guy mocked God, and smells like sunburned beans.
• Everyone Is a Suspect: 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. Despite his insistence that he wasn't at fault, even Bart had his own motive when CBG shreds his comic and turns him into a laughing stock.
• Expy Coexistence: The Vindicators can be seen in the interrogation room, but the Thor films directed by Taika Waititi are mentioned as he's introduced.
• Fan Convention: The cruise is essentially a convention on a boat.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Lisa's list of possible suspects and motives, including Otto Mann (Comic Book Guy took his C.B.D.), Ned Flanders (CBG made fun of G.O.D.), Superintendent Chalmers (CBG ate his din-NER), and Disco Stu (hates CBG too).
• Greed: Taika Waititi's motivation for this whole thing, to get more money on top of the fortune he already has.
• His Name Really Is "Barkeep": This episode treats the moniker of "Comic Book Guy" as if it were actually his name, with the announcement of his and Kumiko's arrival referring to the couple as "Comic and Kumiko Book Guy".
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Taika Waititi would have gotten away with it had he not encouraged the crowd to hear Lisa out.
• Jerkass Realization: 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 had been paying more attention to his action figure than her.
• Kick the Dog: Comic Book Guy ripped Bart's homemade comic book to shreds first figuratively and then literally (in the paper shredder), then has everyone laugh at him to further rub salt into the wound.
• Killed Midsentence: 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, after taking an inordinate amount of time setting it up.
• Lights Off, Somebody Dies: 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).
• Negative Continuity: Bart was a lot more successful last time he gave Comic Book Guy a handmade comic to display in his store, but that prior occasion is never referenced.
• Shout-Out:
  • The episode's title and the title of Taika's upcoming medieval detective show are both puns based on Murder, She Wrote.
  • Comic Book Guy makes his enterence with "Out of my way, league of non-legends!"
  • Lisa is a big fan of Taika Waititi, citing his Thor movies, What We Do in the Shadows, and saying his performance of the imaginary Adolf Hitler in Jojo Rabbit as her favorite depiction of the dictator.
  • When Taika is being arrested he warns that he knows some powerful people in New Zealand, such as hobbits and orcs, Lorde, Melanie Lynskey and the "How Bizarre" guy.
  • He also mentions the guys from Flight of the Conchords (whom he calls "Frank" and "Jimothy").
  • During the credits, Comic Book Guy drops the Radioactive Man action figure into the sea (technically the lake), just like how Rose dropped the Heart of the Ocean at the end of Titanic.
• Similarly Named Works: There's an in-universe volleyball game based on this trope, with a couple of Na'vi cosplayers VS cosplayers of Aang and Toph.
  Bart: Hey, check out that Avatar volleyball tournament! It's Na'vi VS Last Airbenders!
• Song Parody:
  • There's a parody of The Love Boat's theme song about how this cruise is for nerds.
  • After Bart is taken to the brig, Homer does an a cappella version of The Addams Family theme song's opening, but with the snaps replaced by a "D'OH D'OH!"
• Take That!:
  • Comic Book Guy thought of himself as a beloved character like Kramer, but finds out he's as hated as "the guy who played Kramer".
  • The Nerd Boat song says everyone agrees that the new trilogy of Star Wars sucks.
• Trademark Favourite Food: Taika Waititi loves vegemite. Everything he eats has vegemite on it, and a glob of vegemite on Captain America's shield proves his guilt.
• The Unreveal: Before Ranier is knocked out, he unnecessarily keeps the ambiguity of the real culprit's gender by saying "he or she."
• Wrong-Name Outburst: Kumiko admits that when she and Comic Book Guy are making love, he calls out the serial number of the Radioactive Man figure.