iZombie - S1E6 - Virtual Reality Bites

Previously on iZombie, ‘Flight of the Living Dead’

I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Liv, Ravi, and Clive arrive at the crime scene to find the victim, Simon Cutler, bloated and lying dead on his basement stairs. This was the most disgusting body so far. Between seeing the man’s swollen tongue hanging out, and Ravi’s comparison of the victim’s body to a grape split open from sitting in the sun too long, I was like, “Oh, Hell no!” I had to look away from the screen. By searching the basement, Liv and Clive found out that Simon was a shut-in and had everything delivered via doggie door. The victim also had several computer monitors hooked up, confetti on the floor, food and soda lying around, and a birthday card. How are these clues connected? 

Ravi and Liv are examining the body back at the morgue. Great… More shots of that dead man’s swollen tongue. Ravi determines that Simon did not die of a heart attack. Clive stops by and gives what information he has discovered about Simon. He was an internet troll and hacker who went by the name, Sim Reaper, and one of the most hated persons on the internet. Ravi searches the internet and finds a voice recording of the Sim Reaper bashing a female customer service representative. Damn, he was mean.

As Liv is finishing her disgusting, rotten brain smoothie, she spots a doughnut and takes a bite. A vision emerges of the victim choking on a doughnut, and he couldn’t breathe. He plunged an EpiPen into his leg. He had a food allergy.

At the police station, Clive and Liv are studying over the crime scene clues. Inside the birthday card was a confetti shooter that also smelled of peanuts. Murder weapon found.

Ravi brings the victim’s laptop over for Liv to study. Thanks to obtaining the victim’s muscle memory, Liv was able to log into the Sim Reaper’s laptop. The Sim Reaper was involved in a multi-player online role-playing video game. Ravi starts geeking out. He knows all about this game. His character is a were-terrier with healing abilities. While playing the game, Liv interrogates a possible suspect. To her disappointment, the suspect is a mere 14 year old from New York. No connection.

Clive questions the owners of a donut shop who the Sim Reaper had written a bad review about on the internet. He said the couple tried to kill him because their crullers contained peanuts. The couple explained, unbeknownst to them, their cooking oil was contaminated with peanut oil at a processing plant. So, the couple changed companies.

Liv hacks into another local doughnut shop’s database to get a list of their employees. She pops open a soda and another vision comes to her. The victim opened the birthday card, and the confetti shooter exploded in his face. The card had a music chip playing, Ring Around The Rosey.

Liv shares with Clive information she discovered. She found a doughnut employee off the database with the last name of Posey. It was not the victim nor Posey’s birthday when the doughnuts were delivered. It was Posey’s sister, the customer service representative who the Sim Reaper had verbally attacked.

Clive brings in Posey for questioning. With the evidence piled up against him, Posey admitted he killed the Sim Reaper. The Sim Reaper had ruined his sister’s life by hacking into her personal accounts and demolishing her reputation to the point that she committed suicide. Crime solved.

I Want Candy

After Major’s battle with Julian at the skate park, Ravi and Liv stitch up his fine-looking mug. No scars, please. Liv asks what happened. Ravi answers, “The Candy Man.”

Major shows up to his group session late. He hears Jerome’s voice coming from another room. One of the teens from the group session is watching Jerome’s skate boarding videos on YouTube. Major asks to see more video footage from the skate park.

Major finds a picture of The Candy Man and shows it to Ravi. Ravi is in shock. Later, Ravi takes the picture to show Liv. The picture is of The Candy Man and Blaine. Liv realizes that Blaine is not getting his brains by digging up graves. He’s getting teens from the skate park, Major’s kids. 

I Just Want Your Extra Time And Your… Kiss

Liv is all nerves about her date with zombie boy, Lowell. As she tries to leave her apartment, she has a panic attack. She calls his cell phone to explain she’s got anxiety from the agoraphobic brain she ate.

Lowell shows up at Liv’s with anti anxiety meds that he acquired previously due to eating a brain with PTSD.

Liv and Lowell swap stories about how they became zombies, and how they get their brain food. Lowell shares that he was a musician. After he changed, he could no longer play live shows because his adrenaline caused him to go into full zombie mode. Now, he just plays in the studio. Liv and Lowell have a moment. He goes in for the kiss. Awww, and he’s quickly rejected. Poor guy.

Liv catches Lowell leaving the studio. To make up for their earlier, awkward moment, she offers to continue their date. Liv leans in and gives him a passionate kiss.

On The Dark Side

Jackie receives a food delivery from the Meat Cute. She is upset because her order was missing her favorite food. The delivery boy offers to go back, but Jackie can’t wait. She goes in for the kill.

Jackie calls Blaine to tell him that she didn’t receive her order. He offers to deliver it himself, but she declines.

Clive visits with Blaine and shows him a picture of the missing delivery boy. Blaine acts as if he has never seen the boy. He offers to give a tour of the butcher shop to Clive, but Blaine also has something else to offer… a butcher knife. Clive’s cell phone rings. Talk about saved by the bell. Literally. It’s Liv and she needs to meet with him.

Because of her deception, Blaine takes a drill to Jackie’s head. I’m gonna assume he killed her. Who knows… He could stick her in the freezer and save her for later.

Liv’s mom picks up some food at the Meat Cute. After seeing a help wanted sign, Liv’s mom tells Blaine she has a son looking for a job. With a creepy smile on his face, Blaine tells her to have her son stop by and fill out an application. You could not pay me enough to work for Blaine. Due to this episode, he just made the top of my Scariest Villains list.

iZombie Easter Egg:

For those of you who don’t know, iZombie’s concept was based on a comic book series by the same name created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. The series was published by DC Comic’s Vertigo imprint. I’ve read the series and really enjoyed it. So far, there are not a lot of similarities between the comic book series and the TV show. I’ve been looking for any Easter eggs that could link the show and the comic book series. In this episode, we find out that Ravi plays a mulitplayer roll-playing game as a were-terrier with healing powers. One of the supporting characters in the comic book series is a guy who is a were-terrier. I wonder how many more Easters eggs are left to be uncovered. I’m sure I’ve already missed a few. 

Weird Traits Of The Week:

With the Sim Reaper’s brain rolling around in her tummy, Liv received his love of junk food, his muscle memory, his hacking ability, and his mad skills at playing a multi-player RPG. 

Favorite Witty Quotes:

• “I’m a social worker. My insurance pays for one band-aid a year.” - Major
• “Slow your roll, silver tongued devil.” - Liv says to Lowell 

Until next week… Everyone needs to Liv Moore!