Who Violently Murdered Simon S. Salty?

"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 just finished watching Bimblar Unleased, with the two having opposite views of the movie, when Charlie suggests they visit Salty's - a notorious fast food place - for something to eat. When they enter, they find the place decrepit and are greeting by a pre-recorded intro by the manager, Simon S. Salty, who recommends the customers try his new healthy menu which he likely instated due to his previous menu being deemed a hazard by the FDA and leading to several deaths. Charlie says he hates how fast food places try making their menus healthier - ever since the century egg was removed from Salty's menu - and attempts to order two Saltyburgers from one of Salty's mascots; Mr Ketchup. However, when the burger is revealed to have been removed from the menu, Charlie tries speaking to Salty himself, much to Ketchup's protests, only to discover that he was murdered. Pim calls the police, but the police department reveal 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 Simon and him were arguing over the healthy menu and how it would impact the resturant. Charlie interrogates Salt and Pepper, who spent the day filling the soda machine with Salty's homemade soda and making out, Pim then interrogates Crazy Cup, who spent the day scrubbing skidmarks off his costume that were caused by his drug addiction. Mustard is next interrogated by Charlie, who ruins her perfect alibi by confessing she and Salty were having an extramarital affair, before trying to unsuccessfully hook up with Charlie.

Pim and Charlie then try interrogating the fun twins but due to the langauge barrier have barely any idea what they're saying. One of the twins then spits on Pim, which develops into a rash and he tries to find cream for it, before stumbling 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 his hometown of Shangbai Pine Forest which Charlie seemingly sarcastically agrees to do.

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 sympathise, 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, before then rewinding more and revealing each mascot played a part in murdering him. Mustard is believed to have been the first killer, 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 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, to which Pim states he never tried one. Charlie then begins to dig Century Egg out of his grave for Pim to eat.

Cast

 * Zach Hadel as Charlie, Salt, Century Egg
 * Michael Cusack as Pim, Alan, Ketchup, Pepper
 * Marc M. as The Boss

Additional Voices

 * Erica Lindbeck as Mustard
 * Harry Partridge as Grease
 * Joshua Tomar as Cop
 * Mick Lauer as Crazy Cup
 * Perry Caravello as Simon S. Salty

Gallery
To be added

Trivia

 * 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.
 * Whilst Shangbai was likely intended to be a joke name, an actual village called Shangbai exists in Guangdong, China. However, there doesn't seem to be a pine forest in the area.
 * Bimblar's name is reminsincent of the custom name Chris O'Neill set Cloud's name to - Bimblor - in his playthough of Final Fantasy 7.
 * Chris Chan (Christine Weston Chandler) was originally supposed to be the voice of the Grease puddle. However, due to budget restraints after already having the Chills cameo in “Shrimp’s Odyssey”, they would have to have the cameo voice more characters, causing the idea to be dropped, along with the fact the crew knew Chandler wouldn’t have been able to keep it a secret until the episode was released unless they somehow did it at the very last minute. This all happened before it came out that Chris Chan had sexually assaulted her mother and was arrested, which would’ve left the crew to remove her voice appearance anyways.
 * Henry Partridge would end up voicing the grease puddle and gave 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 inadvertedly making amogus