Liv got more gusto than she bargained for when she ate the brain of a hit man in iZombie season 1, episode 3, “The Exterminator.”
Hit man hit and run
The episode opens on two teenagers discovering a zombie lakeside. At the morgue, Ravi notes that a zombie sighting has been posted online. Although reluctant to get caught up in what may define a horde, Liv agrees to go with him to investigate the location near Lake Washington.
While talking about the hit and run victim they’re investigating, Ravi probes into Liv’s whole “Major” situation. The corpse, Marvin Webster, seems to be a simple family man, and according to Ravi, “Should be a pretty safe brain to eat.”
Suddenly, Liv is surprised by the entrance of Blaine. “That’s hot. I think I saw that exact pose on the centerfold of Zombie Playboy,” Blaine remarks as he watches Liv salivate over a bloodied knife. He confronts her about standing him up for a brain exchange, but Liv holds her ground that she’s done working with him.
At their home, Peyton has a bottle of champagne waiting for Liv (!). Peyton is celebrating her appearance on the news. Liv sits through Peyton’s mock investigation of the man who discovered the dead body of a man named Wally, triggering a brain flash to the moment that Marvin killed Wally.
A blast from the past
Liv visits Clive and fills him in on the dead Wally Walker, who was murdered by the man’s brain that she ate, Marvin. Clive laughs at Liv’s lead, to which she retorts “You’d rather send an innocent man to jail rather than rock the boat?” Then comes her realization that she’s a complete sociopath.
Back at their place, Peyton shows Liv a video of Major macking it with a new woman. Liv’s personality of the week doesn’t allow her to react, which slightly disturbs her.
Once at the lake, Ravi comments that most hit men are antisocial, to which Liv replies: “Yeah. Kind of makes me long for the days low blood sugar made me a little bitchy.” Liv and Ravi look down a pit and see Marcy, Liv’s coworker that invited Liv to the boat party. Marcy is rotten, craven, and completely zombified.
What do you do with a drunken zombie?
Liv and Clive look down at Marcy with horror. “She looks like a melted candle” Liv comments. Ravi wants to fix her by handing her down some brains.
Sealing Marcy back up for now, Liv goes back to talk to Clive. Liv’s new lead brings the two to a trivia bar. Liv somehow knows all of the trivia questions read out by the I Dream of Genie emcee. In the bathroom, Clive spots a threatening message. Clive talks to a Smitty, a man whom Wally owed a lot of money. Before the two investigators leave, they see a picture of Marvin, placing him at the bar on the same night as Wally.
Liv and Clive investigate Marvin’s basement office, trigging Liv’s memory of Marvin being run over by an orange car. Clive finds the exact gun that killed Wally in Marvin’s stuff.
A Peyton scorned
Searching online for the hit and run car, Liv and Clive reconcile to have her sketch the telling tail light. Peyton comes home, upset that Liv both read Peyton’s files on the case and helped bring Peyton’s investigation to a stop.
Asking Ravi for advice, Liv considers eating a refresher brain of an elderly woman. However, eating another brain will stop Liv’s flashes of Marvin’s memory. Major walks into the morgue with a friend, and asks to see a police officer to report a missing shelter kid.
Clive takes info on the missing Eddie, and learns that Utopian (Blaine’s drug that he was pushing in the pilot) was being pushed at Eddie’s hangout. Observing Liv’s sketch, Clive finds the car that hit Marvin. The original owner sold the car a bit before the hit and run, and reveals that the new owner of the car is a Wally’s business parter.
We found the killer… now what?
Wally’s business partner is brought in to Clive’s investigation room. The partner’s hair follicles were found in the hit and run car. Clive proposes that the partner, Don, hired Marvin to kill Wally. Then, Don took extra measure by killing the hit man in the hit and run. After basically admitting to the murder of Marvin, Don works his way out of getting arrested.
Liv and Clive go to Marvin’s car and use the most current address on his GPS to find Marvin’s last location. At the location, an ice cream truck brings Liv into the memory of a meeting between Marvin and Don. Liv is excited to tell Clive that a garbage man was a witness to this meeting.
Checking in on Liv’s zombie friend, Ravi is remorse at finding a still-zombified Marcy. When Liv suggests that it’s time to kill Marcy, Ravi is horrified. Trying to sedate Marcy, Ravi falls down into the pit that she’s in. Liv watches without emotion for a bit, but soon jumps to Ravi’s rescue. After a brief scuffle, Liv goes full zombie and beats Marcy’s head in. It takes Liv a moment to turn back normal; in fact, she nearly attacks Ravi.
Clive calls Liv in for a second investigation of Don. When Liv is able to recall specific details of Marvin and Don’s meeting, Don starts to sweat. Peyton arrives and offers him a plea deal. Don signs the confession, and Peyton exchanges a look of relief with Liv. The zinger of the scene is that the “garbage man witness” was simply Ravi dressed up in a costume.
The episode wraps as Liv contemplates eating more of Marvin’s brain in order to not feel anything anymore. Instead, Liv throws away the brains, and gives Marcy’s mom back Marcy’s grandmother’s pearls. Liv cries watching Major kiss his new girl, and is soon joined in bed by Peyton…
Major’s friend meets Blaine at a skatepark, and the zombie leads the hapless teen to his inevitable zombification.
iZombie airs on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on The CW.
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