iZombie 2.18: "Dead Beat"

“Clive, I’m a zombie, too. I got scratched at the Lake Washington boat party massacre. And I turned. Like Major.”
-Liv

The penultimate episode certainly saw a number of plot threads that have been woven throughout the season finally come to a head. The Max Rager and Mr. Boss stuff is kind of on hold as we really focus on Major’s Chaos Killer exploits and the existence of zombies in general. Major is in and out of jail as his various transgressions come to light. As you can tell from the Quote of the Episode, Liv, fearing for Major, ends up confessing the existence of zombies (including her own zombie-ness) to Babineaux. This episode is basically a wild ride from start to finish. It's definitely never boring. It's clear that the creative team is taking us full steam ahead into the finale, and they're not pulling any punches!

Liv is going strong on Type A brain, about to completely reorganize Ravi and Major’s house, when there’s a knock on the door. It’s the FBI, accompanied by Babineaux. They say they have a search warrant, and Liv has to stand by and watch as they discover the various Chaos Killer paraphernalia stashed around the house. Ravi arrives home and is arrested because the sedative Major had been using on the zombies was found in his room, and it’s a controlled substance. Liv can only watch in horror. At the precinct, Ravi stands by Major and doesn’t admit to knowing anything about all the stuff the agents found. Bozzio and Babineaux try to interrogate Major, too, but before he can really say anything incriminating, Brant Stone (played by the always awesomely smarmy Ken Marino), Vaughn Du Clark’s lawyer, swoops in to tell Bozzio and Babineaux to take a hike. He tells Major that since no bodies have been found, he’s going to be okay. Later, Liv shows up at the jail to talk to Major. He assures her he didn’t kill Drake, and he tells her he is hungry.

Liv arrives at home and finds Ravi and Peyton waiting for her. Ravi explains that Major is indeed the Chaos Killer, but he was freezing his victims hoping for an eventual cure, not killing them. The group decides that the most important thing they can do right now is get Major some food. If he goes full-on zombie while in jail, the results could be catastrophic. Longer-term, if they can unthaw one of Major’s victims, that victim can reappear alive, and the case against Major could go away. Brant is also doing his job, continuing to stonewall Bozzio and Babineaux when they try interrogating Major again. Liv goes to Shady Plots to get some brains for Major, and the new and forgetful Blaine is only happy to oblige. Don-E and the other goon put a stop to it, though, with Don-E saying Liv can only have brains if she joins the $25,000 a month brain plan. Meanwhile, Ravi talks to Major in jail, and by pretending they are talking about video games, Major is able to tell Ravi where he stashed the frozen zombies. Liv and Ravi go to the storage unit, but all they find are empty coolers.

Ravi and Liv think that Max Rager goons must have taken all the frozen zombies to finish them off. At Max Rager, however, Vaughn is in the process of trying to sell the whole company to a defense contractor. The woman he is speaking to from the defense contractor says she wants to buy the whole company, but first Max Rager needs to be cleared from all association with the Chaos killer. Vaughn sends one of his goons to kill Major and other involved in the scheme. Meanwhile, Ravi goes back to the morgue to try and procure some brains for Liv and Major. He runs into some other ME’s, who quickly show him the door, but at least they give him a phone message first. That message turns out to be from Blaine, and he smuggles them some brains. Liv starts gobbling them up and has to be reminded to leave some for Major.

Babineaux and Bozzio interview some folks who have called the tip line about major. At first, they just talk to cranks, but there are two people who have promising information. The first is someone who called from prison, saying he sold the weapons Major used in the Meat Cute attack. Babineaux is all over this one, since he’s been trying to solve the Meat Cute attack all season. The second is a teenager who says she saw Major take away one of his victims from her bedroom window. Meanwhile, Major is about to be let out on bail. There’s a gang of press outside, and Liv is trying to lead Major to Ravi’s car, where Ravi is waiting with a tasty brain shake. Vaughn’s goon is following, trying to take his opportunity to kill Major. Before Major can get to the car, however, Babineaux and a bunch of other Seattle police arrive, and Babineaux arrests Major for the Meat Cute attack. So Major continues to be a very hungry zombie.

Babineaux interrogates Major again and lays out exactly how bad things are now. He’s got someone who will testify he sold Major the weapons. He’s got Major’s DNA at the Meat Cute. And he knows some of the kids Major worked with were in the freezer at Meat Cute with their brains missing. So he’s got motive. Later, Babineaux talks with Bozzio, who is a bit upset because the teenager’s story isn’t checking out. The pair take solace in the fact that Major will probably be convicted of something when this all shakes out. Babineaux pays Liv a visit to tell her just how bad the situation is and ask if she wants to reconsider being Major’s alibi for the Meat Cute attack. Liv isn’t ready to do that just yet. She goes to jail to talk to Major, where he asks her to bring him the cure. She’s not ready for him to forget everything, though. She wants to get him some brains.

Not giving up, Liv tries making brain energy bars, and she enlists Peyton’s help in getting one of them to Major. Peyton flirts with Brant and convinces him to take one of the bars to Major in exchange for a two drink minimum date. When Brant brings the energy bar to Major, however, it’s not the bar Liv made, but a replacement, since he ate the original one. Needless to say, that doesn’t help Major at all. When Liv gets word of this, she is distraught. She goes to Babineaux’s apartment and says she’s ready to come clean. She tells Babineaux that Major is the Chaos Killer and is responsible for the Meat Cute attack. She also tells him that Major is a zombie. Babineaux, understandably, doesn’t believe this right away, so Liv stabs herself and goes full-on zombie mode to provide proof that zombies exist.

Next thing we know, Liv is at the jail and Major is being released. Bozzio and Babineaux have a very painful confrontation. Bozzio wants to know why Babineaux told the judge about the issues she was having with the teen’s testimony, and how there were now also problems with the Meat Cute evidence. Babineaux doesn’t really have a good explanation, so Bozzio breaks it off with him and also says he has no future career with the FBI. Meanwhile, Liv is super happy to be back at work at the morgue. While she’s talking to Ravi on the phone (who is getting coffee and bagels before heading to the office), Vaughn’s goon arrives at the morgue and sedates Liv. Ravi arrives at the morgue just as the goon is trying to wheel Liv out. Ravi doesn’t realize what’s going on at first, but one he does, he knocks out the goon and gives Liv an epi-pen shot. The goon regains consciousness, though, and he and Ravi have a big fight. The fight ends when the goon accidentally injects himself with a lethal dose of the sedative.

When Liv comes to, she finds a very shaken Ravi who wants to turn himself in to the police. Liv convinces him that she should eat the goon’s brain, instead. So they prep the brain and Liv eats it along with her bagel. Later that night, Liv, Ravi, Peyton, and Major are hanging out, with the first three being entertained by Major on drummer brain. Major’s drumming, however, triggers a flash in Liv. She sees the goon in Max Rager’s basement, and she sees the now thawed zombies beating against the windows of their holding area. One of the zombies in the holding area is clearly Drake. When she comes to, Liv tells the rest of the gang that she thinks the rest of the zombies, including Drake, are very much still alive.