iZombie 3.07: "Dirt Nap Time"

“This is me, Ravi. This is me controlling my anger.”
-Liv

Considering Liv being a zombie is a central premise to “iZombie” as a show, it’s probably not a shocker that by the end of the episode, even though we now know that Ravi’s cure doesn’t cause permanent amnesia, Liv is still a zombie. She’s really not happy about it, but she’s going to have to make do, at least for now. And at least she still has her work with Babineaux to give her zombie existence meaning. There was also apparently more than meets the eye going on with that dominatrix case from a couple weeks ago, although I’m a little dubious about adding another overarching story to juggle along with the big events already happening in the lives of Liv and her friends plus the case of the week. Maybe it all will weave together somehow at the end of the season.

This episode picks up right where the last left off. Major tells Liv, Ravi, and Peyton that he gave his dose of the cure to Natalie, the hooker zombie he’s been trying to save. Liv’s not angry at Major for that, though. She’s angry at whoever stole all of Ravi’s other doses, and her prime suspect is Blaine. Peyton, pissed off that Blaine has been lying to her, encourages Liv to confront him after his usual piano lounge gig. Ravi tries to be the voice of reason, and he’s there when Liv punches Blaine and knocks him down outside the club. He keeps the attack from going farther, really. Blaine swears that he doesn’t have the other doses of the cure, and also that he’s estranged from Don-E. Liv eventually lets him go.

Meanwhile, our case of the week centers around a preschool teacher, Jamie Brennan, who keeps his kids happy with songs and puppet shows. At the end of the day, however, the school pick up circle turns straight up Big Little Lies, when it is revealed that Mr. Brennan has been sleeping with three of the moms at the same time. Only one of those moms is actually single. Not long after, Jamie turns up dead, and Babineaux, Ravi, and Liv are on the case. The looks between Babineaux and Liv when Babineaux realizes she’s still a zombie speaks volumes. Anyway, somebody, probably related to the massive love polygon he found himself in, shot Jamie in the head with a nail gun repeatedly. The construction crew working on a house across the street is missing a nail gun. Babineaux notices “STD 36” written in letter magnets on the refrigerator, which will be important later on.

Liv and Babineaux visit the preschool, where they learn from the principal that Jamie had been sleeping with three of the mothers of children in his class, Piper, Macy, and Eleanor. Piper, the single mom, is the first up to be interviewed. She thought Jamie was her boyfriend and that she had finally found a nice guy, and she’s devastated that he’s been sleeping around. She also doesn’t have a good alibi, because she was at home taking care of her sick kid. Liv is now acting like an exaggerated version of a preschool teacher, by the way, which is kind of annoying. She tries to put Piper in time out at one point during the interview, which Babineaux puts a stop to right away.

Blaine’s super depressed over the end of his relationship with Peyton (I’m not really sympathetic…Blaine’s a terrible person), so he’s being moody on the job. One of his employees, Candy, reminds him that it’s time to make up the brain orders for the week. After they finish the work, Candy asks if she can take the day off, and Blaine says he doesn’t really care what she does. Meanwhile, at the DA’s office, Peyton is meeting with the attorney representing Weckler, the guy who has been charged with killing the dominatrix. The defense attorney tries to point out how flimsy the evidence is, but Peyton’s got a signed confession, so she’s not inclined to go too easy on him.

Major and Justin are hanging out in Baracus’ kitchen, and Justin is super exited to try out the mayoral candidate’s collection of hot sauces. Baracus wants an update on the anti-zombie guys, but Major and Justin don’t have much new to report. After Baracus leaves, Justin tries to get Major to eat some brains with Tibetan hot sauce on toast, and when he declines, Justin asks Major if he’s been cured. Major explains the whole situation (he’s been cured, but there are no other available cures at the moment), but says he still wants to work for Filmore Graves, even if he’s not a zombie anymore. Justin says he’ll keep the secret, but he also wants to know what this situation means for Liv.

Next up to be interviewed is Macy, who is married and catches shade from the other moms for how she dresses. Her husband ends up being her alibi. Babineaux and Liv expect that he’s going to be upset when he finds out his wife was having an affair, but he says that they have an open marriage and sometimes he would watch Macy and Jamie from the closet. Babineaux puts an end to the conversation after learning that tidbit. Finally, they talk to Eleanor, who says her husband is away on a fishing boat for long stretches of time, but he’s in town now, so he is her alibi. Babineaux says they’re going to have to tell him about the affair, which upsets Eleanor. When they actually talk to her husband, who is a burly fisherman, of course, he starts crying, which is kind of hilarious and sad at the same time.

The situation with Weckler and the dominatrix case keeps getting weirder. Weckler’s lawyer is trying to convince Weckler to take the plea deal Peyton is offering. Peyton wants the memory card Weckler took in exchange for a lighter sentence, but Weckler says the memory card is all that is keeping him alive. Another lawyer, Harry Thorne, bursts into the room and whispers something in Weckler’s ear. Wexler says Thorne is his lawyer now, and Thorne doesn’t seem too enthused about Peyton’s deal. Later, the original lawyer stops by Peyton’s office and asks if she would join him in filing a disciplinary complaint against Thorne. Peyton hesitates at first, but then the lawyer informs her that Weckler hanged himself in his cell.

Major, Justin, and some of their buddies go to Don-E’s zombie speakeasy. Outside, the guys are all given ghost peppers to eat before they will be allowed in. Major is about to have to bite into his when none other than Don-E saves him. He tells the bouncer that Major is cool, and he gets into the club without having to eat the pepper. The guys are generally having a good time, and everybody in the group goes to spend some time with hookers except for Major and Justin. That’s when Justin asks Major if he can date Liv. Later, Major, Ravi, and Liv talk about the speakeasy, and Liv wants to pay the place a visit so she can interrogate Don-E about the cure. Major thinks she should go with Justin, but Liv really wants to go by herself. Ravi and Major start singing a kids’ song about teamwork, which makes Liv have a flashback to Peyton trying to get Jamie to talk to her. When they ask her about it, Peyton says she wanted to tell Jamie they were through, but he had someone else at his house. She saw the Honda Civic, and she thinks it belongs to Eleanor.

While Liv is deciding what they have earned stickers for, Babineaux looks up Eleanor’s records and learns that she doesn’t actually drive a Civic. The Civil belongs to a PI, naturally. Later, Liv meets Justin at the speakeasy. They talk for quite a while as they wait for Don-E to show up, including Justin telling a story about the time his preschool teacher read a love note he wrote to another student to the entire class. Don-E does eventually show up, and he claims he doesn’t have the cure. If he did, he’d be rolling in money and not still working at the club. He’s got bigger business deals going, though. Blaine gets back to the funeral home to find Don-E and a few others, including Candy, waiting for him. Don-E says they’re taking over his business, and they’re buying off the last of his product. After most of them leave, Angus’ heavy says that Angus has a message for Blaine, and he shoots him. Blaine offers a large sum of money to not be killed.

Liv and Babineaux pay the PI a visit. From the pictures hanging around his office, they come to the conclusion that the PI was hired to follow Macy. So they end up talking to Macy again. It turns out that she wasn’t actually in an open marriage, and it was her husband who hired the PI and ultimately killed Jamie. On the Weckler front, Peyton pays Ravi a visit, asking if he can help with the case at all. He didn’t see any evidence of foul play in his autopsy, but he does still have Weckler’s brain. He puts it in the memory-supercharging blue stuff in the hopes that Liv will have some helpful visions from it in about ten days.

The episode ends with Major and Justin in a rural area, drinking beer and talking about Justin’s evening with Liv. Liv wrote Justin a note, which is kind of adorable, although I’m not really feeling them as a couple yet. Justin gets a call that Harley Johns is in the area, so he and Major go to confront him and another man who are driving in a car. Major does the talking while Justin hangs back. Harley and his companion run over Justin, and when Justin is able to get back up, they realize he’s a zombie. Justin goes into full-on zombie mode in front of them, and their dash cam captures everything. They’re able to get away from Justin and Major, and they’re super excited that they now have proof zombies exist.