iZombie – Eat, Pray, Liv

By: Emily Cross

Major (Robert Buckley) is training with Fillmore Graves and isn’t doing too well. He also isn’t quite used to the tube brains yet.

Back at his house, he complains about the taste and texture of the tube brains to Ravi (Rahul Kohli), who is playing a video game. As much as Major hates the tube brains, it’s better to be on white noise than teenage angst while he’s searching for Natalie by tracking down her clients. Ravi knows one person who might know Natalie’s clients, although they aren’t the best of friends: Blaine (David Anders). Liv (Rose McIver) enters the room with Chinese food on a tray (still on dad brain?) and tells Ravi to shut off his murder-y game in favor of her dance game.

Meanwhile, Peyton (Aly Michalka) is enjoying Blaine’s vocal performance at a local bar. It’s a gig Blaine got after handling the funeral of the former performer. Blaine asks Peyton to accompany him to a meeting with his father’s lawyer about his will because he has a bad feeling and doesn’t want to be taken advantage of due to his memory loss.

A man named Topher (James Neate) leads a meditation class, encouraging his students to let go of their worries. When the class is over, he meditates by himself and is killed by a shadowy figure.

Clive (Malcolm Goodwin), Liv and Ravi arrive at the crime scene. While Liv and Ravi inspect the body, Clive speaks to Ladybird (Farrah Avivia), a worker who opened the studio that morning and found Topher’s body. She isn’t much help, but Clive tells her not to leave town. He walks over to Ravi and Liv, who fill him in on the gory details. Topher was beaten to death with a Buddha statue and the killer left a bloody shoe-print on the floor. A uniform calls Clive over to speak to a drunk homeless man (with a liquor bottle) who saw someone sprint out of the back door around the time of the murder. The homeless man describes him as tall with dark hair, scruffy-looking and carrying a trash bag. Clive sends him to the precinct to work with a sketch artist. Clive and Liv go to the alley. The only dumpster also happens to be next to a seafood place so it smells wonderful. Liv spots the trash bag in the dumpster and Clive climbs into the dumpster to get it. In the trash bag are bloody shoes which match the pattern from the crime scene.

Back at the morgue, Liv makes a brain latte for her and an almond milk chai latte for Ravi, almost mixing them up. Ravi muses if Topher died with any regrets and it’s obvious he’s still hung up on Peyton. Liv tells him that she won’t be the go-between and Ravi just needs to talk to Peyton. Before they can get any further, Katty Kupps (Christina Cox) arrives with a huge suitcase, much to Liv and Ravi’s surprise. She tells them that there has been a big development in the Super Max case. Two years ago a private plane crashed and the black box indicated there was nothing wrong with the plane. One of the passengers had brains in her digestive tract and had died months before. Since the plane originated in Seattle, Katty is making it ground zero for her investigation.

Ravi visits Peyton at her office as she is leaving for a meeting and convinces her to give him a minute. He apologizes for being a bad friend and confesses that although he knows Peyton didn’t do anything wrong, he still hates that she and Blaine were involved. Peyton gets a little angry and tells Ravi that his opinion in this matter is irrelevant. They leave on bad terms.

The meeting Peyton is going to is with Blaine and his father’s lawyer. He calls her and she tells him she will be there soon. He stalls until she gets there and it turns out that Angus (Robert Knepper), Blaine’s father, is there too. Peyton arrives and is shocked to see Angus. She informs Blaine of Angus’ relationship to him. Angus’ lawyer explains that since Angus is alive, Blaine owes him the $32,000,000 inheritance he received upon Angus’ supposed death. Angus tells Blaine a story from when he was eleven years old and pawned his mother’s earrings. Blaine clearly gets the idea that the two didn’t have the best relationship.

At the precinct, Clive informs Liv that their mindful victim used to be a venture capitalist who worked with a man named Mitch who got busted trying to sell suitcases full of cocaine. When Mitch went to jail, Topher took over his share of the investment and made millions. Mitch was released from jail two weeks ago, which makes him a prime suspect. Liv hopes that Mitch can match the homeless man’s sketch, but there is no sketch. The homeless man disappeared before they could get a sketch.

Major is training at Fillmore Graves again and fails again. In the locker room, he meets a guy named Justin (Tongayi Chirisa). Justin tells him that everyone around them are trained military men and mercenaries so he and Major are at a disadvantage. Justin was the DJ at the Fillmore Graves company retreat where everyone turned into zombies. He tells Major that there’s a learning curve and he’ll get there. After Justin leaves, Major has a coughing fit. A sign of times to come?

Major visits Blaine and asks him about Natalie. Blaine doesn’t remember, but looks into the phone number that Major has. While he does, Major asks him if he remembers what it was like to be dying before he took the memory-wiping cure. Blaine doesn’t, but imagines it was pretty bad. He finds the name and address that matches the phone number, but tells Major he might be on vacation because he ordered double brains that week. Major worries that he might not have that much time.

Don E (Bryce Hodgson) shows Angus a property for use as a zombie bar. Angus likes the space, but needs a way to tell humans from zombies. Don E suggests taking a nail gun to would-be customers’ palms. Angus says it needs work.

At the morgue, Ravi confirms to Major and Liv that Major only has weeks left before he has to take the cure, memory loss and all, or else he will die. Ravi’s memory loss cure is ready, but there’s no way to know if it will work on humans without testing it on one. But they do have someone who they can test it on: Blaine. Liv knows he trusts Peyton so she suggests they have Peyton ask him to hear them out.

Clive and Liv meet with Mitch (Joel Johnstone), who doesn’t match the description or shoe size of the suspect. He does; however, indicate that their third partner, a man named Devon, was also a Buddhist.

Clive and Liv go to the studio to interrogate Devon (Mark Ghanimé), whose shoe size matches. Clive takes a cheek swab. Devon tells them that he was the one to introduce Topher to mindfulness and admits that the shoes found in the dumpster were his. He tells them that he thinks his house was broken into a few days earlier. Liv is convinced he isn’t the murderer, but Clive thinks they might as well see if the homeless guy can ID him.

Ravi is working on his memory loss cure when Katty surprises him, telling him that the girl from the plane crash was at the boat party the day before she got on the plane. She thinks there could be a connection between the two massacres. Ravi lies and tells her that there were no brains in the digestive systems of the boat party victims, hoping to get her off track. But Katty invites him to dinner, saying that she wants to bounce something else off him.

While Liv and Clive are staking out the alley to find the homeless man, Liv annoys Clive with her mindfulness. He points out that she hasn’t had any visions. Another detective rolls up next to them, telling them that a woman reported a pimp yelling at a hooker in a car, meaning them. He tells them that the woman has been watching them all night. This gives Clive an idea.

They visit the woman, who apologizes for her assumption. They ask her if she saw anything the night of the murder. She tells them that the homeless man, not the man he described, was the one who ran down the alley.

Back at Fillmore Graves, Major finally completes the exercise correctly. In the locker room, Justin admits he’s never had the “real stuff,” a/k/a brains not out of a tube. Major offers him a “hookup”, and Justin accepts.

Summoned by an urgent text from Major, Liv arrives at his house to find him and Justin playing her dance game. They’re on Zumba instructor brain, which explains a lot. When Major is preparing more brain snacks, he suffers another coughing fit.

At the precinct, Clive and Liv interview Mitch again. This time, they know he is the “homeless man” and the murderer, based on a picture of him from prison (with dark hair and a beard) and DNA taken from the liquor bottle the “homeless man” had with him when Clive first met him. They also have a letter that Mitch received while he was in prison from Topher, who admitted that he was the one to turn Mitch in. Mitch refuses to confess and decides to wait for his lawyer.

Down in the morgue, Ravi gathers Major, Liv, Peyton, and Blaine to tell them about the memory loss cure. After learning of possible side-effects, including death, Blaine decides to pass on being the guinea pig. He’s afraid of remembering his old life. Ravi still tries to convince him, but it doesn’t work. Major steps up and agrees to take the cure, even with the risk of it not working, because he is going to want to remember his old life. Ravi still pushes, getting angry. Peyton asks him why he’s being such a dick, and Ravi admits that he is in love with her. In the wake of that admission, Blaine agrees to take the memory loss cure. Ravi injects him, and the tension is thick.

Meanwhile, Angus and Don E have come up with their human test: eating a ghost pepper. A zombie would be able to do it no problem so it’s perfect for determining human from zombie. Angus also brings a friend: a man named Dino (Ryan Jefferson Booth) who will acquire brains of customers’ choosing for a steep price. They name their establishment “The Scratching Post.” For the less high-end clientele, Angus bought a hospital in Bangladesh with one of the highest mortality rates in the world. Shipments will be arriving weekly.

Peyton visits Ravi at his house and asks him why he hasn’t supported her if he loves her. He admits that he’s been selfish and made this all about him. He’s done with standing in the way of their relationship and he passionately kisses Peyton. It looks like everything is going to work out, until someone breaks a glass in the other room. Peyton goes to investigate and finds Katty wearing Ravi’s shirt. She immediately leaves, leaving Ravi brokenhearted.

Peyton is comforted by Liv and Major at the bar where Blaine sings, as Don E looks in through the window, clearly saddened to be screwing over his former friend.