The gang are boarded by the Traffic Enforcers looking to collect on all the fines on the Winnie. But when a mysterious death occurs, suddenly all on board are trapped together in a battle to decipher who the killer in their midst is before it’s too late.

Vagrant Queen rarely takes itself too seriously, but you might be forgiven for expecting things to get a little more focused now that Lazaro has the Seerazad and they’re engaged in a race to stop him taking over the entire galaxy, especially after last episode’s extended detour on a long train ride. But you’d be wrong – if anything, this episode dials the silliness up several notches.

Of course the idea of intergalactic traffic wardens slapping inordinate and grossly unfair parking charges on your ship and then pursuing you furiously across the galaxy is daft enough, but then intertwining that with a giant, episode long game of Cluedo (or Clue for the Americans in the audience – hence the deeply unsubtle episode title) just ramps things up a whole other level. Having our heroes start proceedings smashed out of their minds on booze and adding in a ticking time clock factor of whether the killer or the slowly dwindling oxygen supply will be the first thing to kill everyone is just the icing on the cake.

Along the way there’s a space version of Uber Eats, various personal stories of the eclectic team of parking enforcers and even the occasional serious moment. Amida fans will note that the two seem to be getting closer and closer to admitting the feelings between them that everyone else (Isaac included) has been able to see for some time. Elida and Isaac find a kind of closure between themselves for what passed in previous episodes, and Isaac even gets a little ray of hope that lifts the despondence he’s been feeling about ever getting home and seeing his family again.

And when the killer finally is revealed, it’s every bit as over the top as you would expect from the show. Along the way there’s unsubtle references to the actual game Cluedo as well as some sterling d-grade Poirot/Sherlock/Miss Marple/select your famous detective of choice sleuthing by Isaac.

In any other show, one might despair of the lack of forward progress for the central narrative of the show. Indeed I myself criticised several episodes of The Mandalorian for just such indulgences. But the thing is, Vagrant Queen gets a pass for several reasons. First, it’s never purported to take itself vey seriously. Second, and more importantly, it’s always been more about the characters, their hopes and dreams and the relationships between them. This is a story of a bunch of misfits thrown together by chance and forged into an unbreakable unit by shared experience and mutual respect. It just so happens to also be a neon-drenched piss take of the genre in so many ways that winks just enough at its audience to get away with it, week on week, and knows just when to take itself a little seriously for dramatic effect.

Verdict: Exactly as mad as an episode of a tongue-in-cheek space adventure taking off a popular board game and bunch of detective show tropes sounds like it should be, and brilliant for it. 8/10

Greg D. Smith