Mark and Jack come across Norman practicing a little speech, as he is quitting from his position on the board of The Malone Foundation, a committee focusing on free clinics, after its head Elton Malone shut down a plan of Norman's to acquire medicines for the clinics that he had been working on for months. Once Norman arrives at his meeting, Elton makes an announcement of his own: he knows one of the board members has stolen $300,000 from the foundation, and he intends to go to the police with the culprit's identity if they do not fess up and return the money by end of day. Wouldn't you know it, right after Elton makes this threat... he falls down dead.
Mark and Steve's search eventually leads them to a likely suspect, but as they confront him at Elton's funeral, the main suspect falls down dead as well, poisoned with a dart of curare. Then one by one, the other board members are killed, shot the same way at the funerals of the last member killed. Mark takes the team on a journey to find the culprit before Norman is either rotting away in prison, or they have to attend his funeral.
"A Very Fatal Funeral" displays symptoms of the following tropes:
- Bluffing the Murderer:
- As Elton is accusing the other board members of embezzlement, he puts an envelope in his pocket claiming it to have the proof of who the embezzler is. When police examine it, it turns out the envelope was empty, and Elton was trying to scare the embezzler into returning the money.
- The team use Mort's funeral as a way of flushing Jennifer out, giving Norman a bulletproof vest to block the dart. She is the killer, but doesn't bring her dart gun to Mort's funeral.
- The Door Slams You: Jack accidentally saves Norman from Jennifer by hitting her in the face with the door she was standing by, as he was going to rip Norman a new one or four over working another weekend double shift.
- Embezzlement: One member of the Malone Foundation has stolen $300k from the Foundation. That member turns out to be Mort Slater.
- Finger-Licking Poison: Elton died from licking an envelope with the glue laced with a fast acting poison.
- Fiery Cover Up: The new beer Mort was brewing gives its drinkers a near immediate hangover, so he planned to burn down his brewery to collect the insurance and cover his losses. This is why he stole the $300k, as he was planning to use it to pay off an arsonist to do the dirty work.
- Hidden Depths: As Jack looks over Norman's old yearbook, he finds out amazing things about him that he never knew, such as him having gone to Yale Business School, spending 2 years in the Peace Corps and the like.
- Ironic Echo: When we first see Norman in the episode, he is practicing a speech he plans to use as he quits the Malone Foundation. When we go to the scene with them, Elton uses much of the same words before he accuses the board of theft.
- No OSHA Compliance: Mort's brewery has a fire system that's been badly damaged. Invoked, as he's planning on burning the place to the ground.
- Red Herring: The stolen thousands of dollars turns out not to be the motive for the murders, but rather avenging the culprit's dead father.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The funerals for the Malone Foundation members all use the same priest for the services. When it comes time for Mort's funeral, the priest speeds through the last rites as fast as he can, then bolts the second he finishes, just figuring Norman's a goner at this one too.
- Take This Job and Shove It: Norman was working for the last two months on getting discount medical supplies for the clinics the foundation works with, and Elton Malone cancelled it the day before it was all set to go. This was a step too far for Norman, and he planned to bail on the foundation.
- The Scrooge: Jennifer's father didn't like to spend money on himself, even when it came to his own healthcare. This in turn led him to going to the Malone foundation's free clinics for treatment.
- You Killed My Father: Jennifer was killing the board off because her father died waiting for his blood pressure medicine at one of their free clinics.
