"Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?" is the fifth episode of the first season of Smiling Friends.
Synopsis[]
Who is famous food tycoon Simon S. Salty? Why was he brutally murdered in his own restaurant? Who done did do that there murder? Huh?
Plot[]
Pim and Charlie have just finished watching Bimblar Unleashed, with the two having opposite views of the movie. The two are hungry, and Charlie suggests they visit Salty's - a notorious fast food place - for something to eat. When they enter, they find the place decrepit. A pre-recorded intro by the manager, Simon S. Salty, greets them. He recommends the customers try his new healthy menu, which he's introducing because the FDA deemed the previous menu a health hazard responsible for multiple deaths. Charlie says he hates how fast food places try making their menus healthier - also lamenting that the century egg was removed from Salty's menu - and attempts to order two Saltyburgers from one of Salty's mascots, Mr. Ketchup. When Ketchup tells him the burger is no longer available, Charlie tries speaking to Salty himself, much to Ketchup's protests. He barges into the back room and discovers that Salty has been murdered. Pim calls the police, but they tell him that they now outsource private investigations due to police defunding. Coincidentally, Charlie receives a call from their boss on vacation, who asks him to investigate Simon's murder. Charlie locks the door to prevent Mr. Ketchup and the other mascots from leaving as he and Pim start interrogating them.
Pim interrogates Mr. Ketchup, who has the clearest motive, as he was arguing with Salty over the healthy menu and how it would impact the restaurant. Salt and Pepper tell Charlie that they spent the day filling the soda machine with Salty's homemade soda and making out. Pim talks to Crazy Cup, who spent the day scrubbing skid marks off his costume that were caused by his drug addiction. Mustard ruins her perfect alibi by confessing she and Salty were having an extramarital affair, before trying unsuccessfully to hook up with Charlie.
Pim and Charlie try interrogating the Fun Twins, but they're uncooperative, and only Pim can understand them. One of the Twins spits on Pim, which develops into a rash. He tries to find cream for it in Salty's office, and stumbles into an entrance for a secret room. There, they discover the chained-up mascot for the discontinued century egg, who reveals that all mascots for their retired food items end up in a similar position, and that he set up a surveillance network in Salty's office to keep him in check. Before he passes, he asks the two to bury him in the Changbai Pine Forest in China, and Charlie agrees, though in an insincere tone.
Rewinding through the footage, Pim and Charlie discover Ketchup stabbing Simon, who confesses he did it because he didn't want the healthy menu to ruin Salty's business. He tries to get Charlie to sympathize, but Charlie disagrees with the lengths Ketchup went to. Pim then reveals there is more footage, revealing Salt and Pepper to have killed him for telling them off for making out. He rewinds further and further, revealing that each mascot tried to murder him, starting with Mustard. However, Grease - another mascot and the only innocent one - reveals there's even more footage, showing Salty dying from eating one of his own burgers. The mascots then celebrate their innocence-by-technicality by going on a homicidal rampage.
An after-credits scene shows that Charlie did actually fulfil Century Egg's wish, taking Pim, Alan and Glep with him. Charlie then remarks that Century Egg would probably taste even better now. Pim replies that he's never tried one, and Charlie begins to exhume Century Egg so he can have a taste.
Characters[]
- Pim
- Ketchup (debut)
- Mustard (debut)
- Crazy Cup (debut)
- Pepper (debut)
- Fun Twins (debut)
- Charlie
- Salt (debut)
- Century Egg (debut)
- Simon S. Salty
- Grease
- Mr. Boss
- Cop
- Allan (post-credit)
- Glep (non-speaking and post-credit)
Title in other languages[]
| Language | Title | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| French | Qui a sauvagement assassiné Simon Salty ? | Who brutally assassinated Simon Salty? |
| German | Wer hat Simon S. Salty ermordet? | Who murdered Simon S. Salty? |
| Polish | Kto brutalnie zamordował Simona S. Salty'ego? | Who brutally murdered Simon S. Salty? |
| Portuguese (Brazil) | Quem Matou Simon S. Salty Violentamente? | Who Violently Killed Simon S. Salty? |
| Spanish (Latin America) | ¿Quién asesinó violentamente a Simon S. Salty? | Who violently murdered Simon S. Salty? |
| Spanish (Spain) | ¿Quién asesinó con violencia a Simon S. Salty? |
Transcript[]
To view this episode's transcript, click here.
Trivia[]
- This episode pays tribute to the classic mystery novel Murder on the Orient Express.
- This is the first episode that features multiple clients that Pim and Charlie assist.
- The BIMBLAR UNLEASHED film's title may be a parody of Sega's Sonic Unleashed, released in 2008.
- There was going to be another mascot character at Salty's named Nugget. All of his scenes and dialogue were cut simply for time.
- The posters outside the movie theater were designed by Zach and Michael on The Very Positive Stream.
- "Attack of the Adamvirus" features a many-limbed creature with the face of Spongebob Squarepants animation director Adam Paloian.
- The poster for "The Carrot Concept" was designed by Zach on the episode of The Very Positive Stream where Smiling Friends was announced.
- Shrimp and Shrew are also visible on another poster.
- The pale malnourished Critter leaving the cinema is later shown freaking out in prison with the Cop answering Pim's 911 call.
- Three other mascots were shown in the introductory video; a straw, a chicken medallion and a crinkle-cut fry. However, as they never appeared in the actual episode, it's implied they shared a similar fate to Century Egg.
- The second of the aforementioned cut characters was originally going to be included in the episode, with him being voiced by Lyle Rath. However, due to his scenes making the episode go overtime, and his character being too similar to Crazy Cup, he was cut.
- Changbai is a real Chinese village near Yandangshan National Forest Park in Yongjia County, Zhejiang Province, China. The forest in the post-credits scene has similar mountains and lush greenery to the real-life location.
- Bimblar's name is reminiscent of the custom name Chris O'Neill set Cloud's name to - Bimblor - in his playthrough of Final Fantasy 7.
- Christine Weston Chandler (more commonly known as Chris Chan) was originally supposed to be the voice of Grease. However, due to budgetary restraints after already having the Chills cameo in Shrimp’s Odyssey, they would've had to have her voice more characters, cheapening the joke. Additionally, Chris Chan would likely have been unable to keep the role a secret. This all happened before Chris Chan was arrested for raping her mother, so the crew would've had to re-dub Grease anyway.
- Harry Partridge would end up voicing the grease puddle with a childlike voice and heavy southern drawl, giving him a similar voice to Chris Chan.
- Though this is most likely coincidental, the grease puddle's face bears a resemblance to the art style of Stonetoss, a right-wing political cartoonist infamous for inadvertently making the "amogus" internet meme.
- In the episode Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back, Satan is shown ordering a burger and fries from Salty's, implying that the fast-food joint continued its operations after Simon S. Salty's death and reverted back to its old menu.
- The Fun Twins may actually be from Spamtopia, as they speak in a similar way to people from there, and Pim was able to understand them.
- Mustard was originally supposed to give Simon S. Salty an impossibly fast blowjob off-screen but the joke was cut for being too lewd. The joke was reused for Charlie Dies and Doesn't Come Back, where Charlie's Grandma is shown sucking on a lollipop in a similar manner.
- The structure of the episode title may be a reference to the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
- The name "Simon S. Salty" sounds like the phrase "Simon Assaultee", which may be intentional as Simon is assaulted many times throughout the episode.
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