iZombie – Filleted to Rest

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

Ravi (Rahul Kohli) and Liv (Rose McIver) jump right into the swing of things and discuss a gourmet remoulade while examining New Seattle’s next high-profile murder – an esteemed chef. The chef’s body, already a mystery, was found with her head wrapped in saran wrap, though she displayed no visible signs of a struggle. To thicken the plot even further, restaurant owner Saul Manera interrupts Clive’s (Malcolm Goodwin) assessment of the crime scene to ask about the establishment’s missing brains. Despite his attempts to stay on track, Saul momentarily derails Clive’s investigation to air out his grievances with the late chef, deeming her a perfectionist and a nightmare of a human being. They dismiss Saul and Clive takes a moment to savor ordinary, pre-chef brain Liv. The moment doesn’t last as Liv is already working a mile a minute and questions her partner on Mr. Boss’ former utopium cook Beanpole Bob. Beanpole Bob’s location may help Ravi find an alternative to the Freylich’s zombie cure.

Later, Ravi fights with the CDC over his coverup of the Freylich’s zombie cure that just hit the headlines. Ravi argues for the safety of the children, but the CDC is unable to find reasons for Ravi’s concerns. Luckily, Ravi has an ally in Dr. Collier (Quinta Brunson). Dr. Collier is on Ravi’s side, but she has some family matters that are also occupying her brain space. Ravi offers to help and gets himself sucked in a little too far. Dr. Collier swiftly sends her twin sister Laila (Quinta Brunson) to Ravi’s lab where he finds her making out with a Kurt Cobain wannabe. Laila lacks her sister’s tact and evades all of Ravi’s suggestions at a family reunion. Laila would rather see a dead body than meet back up with her sister. Laila gets what she wants and views a corpse, under the condition that she Skype her sister. The call is brief and the sisters argue over who lost their mother’s family heirloom. Their problems go deeper than that though. Their mother’s time on earth is limited and Charlie hopes they can reconnect before it’s too late.

Fillmore Graves continues to watch their ranks dwindle, vulnerable to a plethora of attacks from extremist groups on either side. In the dead of night they’re infiltrated by foot soldiers armed with snipers, glocks and gas grenades. Major (Robert Buckley), negotiating with his contacts, is briefed on the break-in but finds himself unable to save a large number of his own men. When Major arrives on the scene, he discovers that in addition to the eight soldiers stolen from the deep-freeze, Peters is missing and declares him the assailant’s inside man. Justin (Tongayi Chirisa) is soon found deeply injured. The team recovers Justin and gets him fixed up in time for him to walk Major through the events that transpired. Justin suggests that it was Dead Enders who attacked the site, but Major doesn’t think that Dead Enders would have any interest in pulling soldiers out of the Deep Freeze. Speaking of the deep freeze, the New Boss (Bill Wise) in town works on thawing Enzo out with a blow dryer.

Clive is the perfect man and the perfect husband. Whilst covering for Dale while she’s out on leave, he finds himself in a bit of a pickle when it comes to assigning Michelle a case. As Michelle (Christie Laing) may or may not be pregnant with his child, Clive has her safety at heart – and assigns her to a gentler case. Before they have the opportunity to further discuss their situation, Liv demonstrates the capabilities of her hellacious new brain’s side effects and disrupts the office in the midst of a harsh coffee critique. There’s a new suspect to interview, Jerry (Charlie Kerr), a dishwasher at the restaurant. Jerry declines his involvement in the murder and points Clive and Liv in the direction of Herbert. Herbert (Jason Gray-Stanford) is brought in and cooperates, though there are some holes in his story. Herbert, of course, points his finger at the Brain Chef, Jake (Matty Finochio). In the midst of their interrogation Liv realizes that the murder weapon was a loaf of frozen pork loin. This discovery brings them to the restaurant, but Clive received a call that Michelle was injured on the job.

Clive arrives at the hospital to visit Michelle with flowers in hand. Michelle reports that the baby is okay, but their relationship may not be. The deputy had put Clive down as her emergency contact and the father of her baby, but Michelle tells him that he is not the father of her child, as much as she’d like him to be. Michelle wrote Clive’s name down because he is the man women want to father their children – he is a protector, a supporter, a rock…and another woman’s husband. Michelle sets him free with this information and affirms what everyone already knows – Clive is the perfect man. In the absence of Clive, Liv tends to her own family bombshell – a happenstance encounter with her mother Eva (Molly Hagan) at the hospital. Liv’s mother harbors intense resentment for the way Liv walked away from her brother. Liv has her own qualms with her mother and questions her own paternity. In the heat of the moment, Liv’s mom reveals to her that her real father was a junkie. A brilliant, broken junkie whose whereabouts are currently unknown. His name was Martin Roberts.

In the aftermath of the conversation had with her mother, Liv struggles for control in Renegade HQ. The chef’s brain is eating away at her and she needs off. Her comrades in smuggling try to talk her down and it works enough for Liv to go back to work, slightly calmer than before. This time Liv and Clive are able to speak to the brain chef who proudly declares that the restaurant’s brains are frozen and imported – supporting the theory that the frozen pork loin was the weapon. As the brain chef made a scene Liv had a vision of an employee named Darren (Isaac Caverzan) stealing brains by shrink-wrapping them around his torso. They track Darren down and discover that he’s an avid burglar, one who is currently out of commission at the hospital. They question him about his whereabouts and he admits to burgling – anything is better than a murder conviction.

Liv takes a break from the investigation to have a nice meal and get herself on a more zen brain. While at the restaurant they present her with an old list of brains from which to choose. In the middle of the selection run down Liv gets up and declares that she’s solved the murder. Wasting no time, she brings her discovery to Clive. They bring Jerry back in for questioning and test his vitals. Jerry is an in-the-closet zombie. Jerry denies any guilt, but they trick him into revealing that the week before he was on statistician brain, a brain that was on the restaurant’s list. Jerry cracks under the pressure. He killed the chef out of fear of being outed. She had caught him stealing the brains and threatened to tell his family about his case of the undeads. Clive books him.

Major comes home with a pizza in hand to meet up with an unwanted visitor, Peters, who had previously been declared the snake in the garden. Peters appeals to Major’s sensibilities and insists that it isn’t he who is the traitor – it’s Justin. Peters was present at the massacre and was responsible for the soldiers not being at their posts, as though he orchestrated the entire bloodbath. Together Major and Peters stage a sting operation to catch Justin red-handed. Major wheels Peters in and pretends that the soldier is wounded. He tasks Justin with taking watch over Peters and secretly watches them from a security camera. Justin wastes no time in attempting to murder Peters, the only survivor of the atrocities he committed against his own men. Just as Justin gears up to smother Peters with a pillow, Major intervenes and places the barrel of his gun to Justin’s head. Major has been betrayed again by his own team. As they prepare to take Justin into custody, he taunts Major for being too soft and attempts to escape. Major has no choice but to put a bullet between his friend’s eyes. Major goes home to his family. Renegade and their brood of zombie children.

Liv has been thinking a lot about family since her interaction with her mother and later with the children under Renegade’s care. In fact, she hasn’t been able to get it off her mind. Ever since her mother gave her the name of her father she’s been working up to the decision to meet him. The episode closes the moment the audience’s mouths fall open – Liv standing on the doorstep of her biological father…who just so happens to be the New Boss in town.