Virtual Reality Bites

"Virtual Reality Bites" is the sixth episode of Season 1 of iZombie. It was written by Gloria Calderon Kellett and directed by Dermott Downs. It is the sixth episode of the series overall, and premiered on April 21, 2015.

Synopsis
Liv, Clive and Ravi work together to investigate the murder of a computer-hacker. Liv inherits intense agoraphobia after consuming his brains along with mad skills at computer gaming. This delights Ravi, who urges her to play and offers to help her from inside the game, as they continue to search for the killer. Meanwhile, Blaine becomes acquainted with someone close to Liv. Major Lilywhite also stars.

Recap
Major is on the slab and he looks dead. He’s not but Ravi is sewing him up. Liv comes in and panics and she tells Ravi that he’s going to give him a Frankenstein look. Liv offers to take over and asks what happened. He says he went looking for Jerome and found the Candy Man. Major says the guy was wearing Jerome’s high tops. Liv asks if the fight solved anything. He says the guy knows something. Liv says he’s a social worker, not a cop. Major insists he’s dangerous.

She say the Candy Man is dangerouser. Major tells Ravi that Liv met a new guy, a music type, and asks her to tell him about it. Ravi says they’ve got a new customer – a 300 pound guy. The brains delivery guy shows up and the main dish is missing. The guy says it must be missing but she says she can’t wait that long and jams him onto a coat hook killing him and goes zombie on him to dine on a fresh meal. Clive meets Ravi and Liv at the crime scene.

They are grossed out and Ravi offers Clive some camphor to cover the stench. He says it’s Simon Cutler and says it’s ripe. Ravi says it’s like his skin split like a grape left in the sun. He says the guy was a shut in who got delivers through the dog hatch in his door. Ravi says he’s been dead a week or two. Liv says he has a very sophisticated computer set up and says the carpet is sticky. They notice a spilled soda and lots of food cartons. Clive guesses heart attack and Ravi says they’ll see.

He spots some confetti and sees an envelope that indicates it was a birthday card. The neighbors are out in force asking questions about him. They want to know how long he was in there. One neighbor shoots some pics of the body bags. Jackie calls Blaine to complain that her delivery never came and says she doesn’t want to be charged for something she didn’t get. She says she’ll stop by later and pick something up. She ends the call.

Liv picks confetti out of dead Simon’s eyeball and Ravi thinks it’s sad that the guy threw himself a little party. He says his internal organs are liquefied. He says it wasn’t a heart attack. He encourages her to have a nibble of the guy’s noggin. Clive shows up to ask what killed Simon and Ravi says they don’t know yet. He says Simon was one of the most hated people on the internet and it was likely murder. Liv curses knowing that means she’ll have to eat the brain.

Clive says the guy was known as the SIM Reaper and is an internet troll and hacker. Ravi says it’s like he’s an internet troll with superpowers. They pull up a website devoted to celebrating his death. They play a customer service call he recorded and is him ranting at a woman and saying he’s the keeper of the web and says he’s invisible and the bringer of cyber darkness. He threatens to delete her like digital noise. Clive asks Liv if she gets any psychic stirrings.

The brain is pretty liquid and gooey and Liv looks at it with distaste. Liv is unhappily slupring a brain smoothie and Ravi says he can’t believe she ate it. She says that’s the worst brain she’s had and says she has her first zombie date tonight. She sees some donuts and grabs one. She says she ate Homer Simpson’s brains and we see Simon running up the stairs and wheezing after eating a donut. He grabbed an epi pen. Liv says Simon was choking on a donut and says it may be a food allergy.

She says he may have been trying to get to an epi pen. Major comes to the shelter he works at and the kids are upset that he looks beat up. Coral, the counselor, sends a text to Major that says he can’t come here looking like that and says it sends the wrong message. One kid asks if he went looking for Eddie and Jerome and says Major has a Messiah complex. The kid says they’re likely dead. Liv tells Clive about the anaphylactic shock but they’re not sure what triggered it.

Liv looks around at the police station and starts to freak out – the guy was a shut in. Clive gets a thought and says Clive’s birthday is not for months and the card isn’t stamped and is hand delivered. Liv says the card is a confetti flinger. Clive sniffs it and asks her what it smells like. Liv says it smells like peanuts. Liv says he found the murder weapon. Liv gets ready for her date with Lowell and wonders how this will go. She thinks about how she thought Major was it for her.

She heads out but then has an anxiety attack and can’t leave her apartment. She calls Lowell and says she has to cancel the date. She says she’s sick and then says since he’s a zombie she can tell him the truth and says she ate some bad brains. Clive comes to see Ravi at the morgue to talk about a near decapitation. Ravi says it looks like a claw hammer was responsible for the neck wounds. Clive says the kid is in foster care.

Ravi says the guy had expensive food in his stomach and it’s inconsistent with a foster kid. He says the kid had $500 worth of food in his tummy. Ravi says Liv is at home sick and Clive says they can’t find anything on Simon’s laptop. Ravi says he can take the laptop to Liv. She looks at it and says she can’t eat the hard drive. She types in the password and says she has his muscle memory. She sees it’s a game Warlock Forest. Ravi says it’s an MMORPG.

She thinks it’s a nerfest but Ravi is into the game. Ravi says you can get paid to level up characters for people. Liv starts the game and then others log in that were waiting for him. Another character says Full Auto says he killed Sim Reaper and says he has to take back Tree Palace. Ravi says she has to answer them and says she has to play to find Full Auto and he may be the killer. Ravi says he’ll go home and log in and says his name is Arf Vader and he’s a were terrier.

Major hears Jerome and finds the other kid watching videos. He says it’s old skate videos from YouTube. Major asks if there’s a lot of footage from the skate park. Major looks at the crowd and asks the kid to go through the videos. Liv is eating Cheetos and channeling Simon to play the game. Her mom comes in and freaks when she sees what her daughter is doing.

She says Peyton told her she was sick. Liv says they’re storming the Tree Palace and she needs to focus. Her mom says she’s happy she sounds so engaged even though it’s not with real people. Her mom says she loves her and wants her to be happy. Liv ignores her and her mom says to sit up straight. Liv thanks her for the soup and Liv says it’s police business. Full Auto comes for her and says he killed Simon. Liv tells him she’s a cop and has questions to ask him. The guy comes on video chat and he looks about 12. He asks Liv if he needs a lawyer.

Liv talks to the kid and he says he’s 14 then says he didn’t know Sim Reaper was in Seattle. He says a bunch of them wanted to know where Sim Reaper was but they couldn’t find out. He says he lives in New York and shows her out his widow. Liv tells Ravi on video chat about the kid and is stunned that the guy had that much level power when he’s that young. Lowell shows up with anti-anxiety meds. He says he had a brain with PTSD last week. She invites him in for a drink.

She tells Ravi she’ll call him back and ends the vid chat. Lowell asks about the cheetos dust all over her. She tells him she was supposed to marry a guy then had to break off the engagement and says she can’t be with that guy. Lowell has a drink with her and he’s totally sympathetic and she asks why he’s in Seattle from London. He says he left to get away from the depressing weather then admits it was a girl then asks about her ex.

Major shows Ravi some skate park video and points out the guy who beat him up. He says the guy is always in the skate park but he can’t find a clear photo of him. Ravi says he popped a stitch and Major says he’ll go get Liv to fix it but Ravi says he needs to not go over there since she’s not alone. They swap zombification stories. He says he got a scratch on his leg at a bachelor party of a friend. She tells him she woke up in a body bag. She asks how he eats and he says he knows a guy at a funeral home.

Liv says she’d like to see him play but he says he doesn’t play in public any more since the pre-gig adrenaline rush can set off his zombie urges. He says he only plays in the studio now and she says that’s unfair and awful. He says he’s ben wishing someone would say something like that. He goes to kiss her and she flinches and he says he’s sorry. It’s really awkward then and she sees a video on the screen and says it’s about the case. Lowell leaves.

Clive shows up to Meat Cute and Blaine is there. He asks about the kid that died with the hammer marks and says he had a very particular meat and truffle combination that’s sold there. They hear a noise and Blaine says it’s the ice machine and offers to let Clive look around but says it’s a butcher shop and may gross him out. There are body parts lying around but Clive can’t see it yet. Clive gets a call from Liv who says she has something and he needs to come over.

Clive leaves the guy’s photo with Blaine and takes off for Liv’s. Next day, the bring in a couple and asks if they know Sim Reaper is dead. They tell Clive they opened an expensive bottle of wine to celebrate it. Liv is watching on the video screen and reads a review that Sim Reaper wrote about them that shut down their business. He wrote that their cruller has no nuts and the couple says they put their life savings into it and it killed their business.

Clive says those reviews gave them the idea that he had an allergy that can kill him. The guy says they never knew the name Simon was also Sim Reaper. Liv tells Clive she doesn’t think that they did it. She says the Yelp review was the only clue about where he lives. Clive says the review said he’s taking his business elsewhere. Liv says they need to find other donut shops that deliver. Clive is already out the door. Jackie’s doorbell buzzes and she sees it’s Blaine.

She’s nervous but lets him in. He says he came by to check on her broken doorbell and has a drill in his hand. He asks what she’s working on and she says she’s doing a trend analysis report. He tells her that a cop came looking for the dead delivery boy. He puts on goggles and grabs her. She screams as he turns the drill on her. Clive is outside Donuts Etc and says they found some boxes from that place outside Simon’s place. He says they won’t give him the customer list.

Liz channels Simon’s power and hacks it easily. She also looks at employee records and starts eating Cheetos to power her work. She eliminates the employees one by one. She’s scarfing sodas and when she pops one she gets a flashback to Simon opening the confetti card. She hears ring around the rosie. Liv makes it to the police station and Clive is surprised and says she’s back from the dead. She says she’s heavily medicated and he says he hopes she took the bus.

Liv says she had a vision about the moment when he opened the card. She says the card had a music chip in it. Clive says it’s a message from the killer. Liv says she got her hand on the employee list. She says there’s a Ratzinger on the list, but he’s not their guy. Clive asks who the killer is and she hands over a photo. He says he’s seen that guy from the crime scene asking if he suffered. She says his name is Sean Posey. She says his sister’s birthday matches the murder date.

Shanie the customer service girl that Simon humiliated is Sean’s sister. They bring Sean in and play the recording. He says Simon was a ridiculous man. Clive says they know what the Sim Reaper did to Shanie by hacking her social media accounts. Sean says he got her fired, put her on sex offender and no fly lists and ruined her life. Clive says they know she jumped off the Aurora Bridge. Liv says they know he got a job at the donut shop and Sean says he got a job at three donut shops waiting to find him.

Clive says he’s going to spend the rest of his life in jail and Sean says it was worth it. Liv walks home from work thinking about how Sean let a tragedy ruin his life and that means two lives were ruined. She says her mom was talking to her about not letting life pass her by. She goes looking for Lowell and whistles at him. She asks if they can reboot the date from where it left off. He says he gets she’s still not over Major and she says she’s closer. He says he’s in no rush but she kisses him.

Ravi is playing online and Major says he found a clean shot of Candy Man. Ravi looks at it and his eyes widen in shock. Ravi comes to see Liv at work and shows her that Major found the Candy Man. She sees Blaine is with the Candy Man and says he’s killing Major’s kids. Liv’s mom is at Meat Cute and sees they’re hiring and says her son needs a job. She asks Blaine if 16 is too young and he gives her an application and says they’ll see what happens.

Starring

 * Rose McIver as Olivia Moore
 * Malcolm Goodwin as Clive Babineaux
 * Rahul Kohli as Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti
 * Robert Buckley as Major Lilywhite
 * David Anders as Blaine DeBeers

Guest Starring

 * Bradley James as Lowell Casey
 * Molly Hagan as Eva Moore
 * Sarah Jane Redmond as Jackie
 * Chris Gauthier as Simon Cutler
 * Jesse Moss as Sean Posie

Co-Starring

 * Tanja Dixon-Warren as Cissie
 * Nneka Croal as Coral
 * Cyrus Lord Byrant as Joey
 * Gabrielle Nebrida-Pepin as Angela
 * Dakota Daulby as Tom
 * Brad Dryborugh as Fred
 * Alison Wandzura as Sophie
 * Connor Paton as Mikey
 * Annabel Kershaw as Older Woman
 * Gabrielle Giraud as Young Housewife
 * Ryan Grantham as Full Auto
 * Gerardo Barcala as Pleated Shorts Dad
 * Christopher Meyer as Jerome

Soundtrack

 * Like Real People Do by Hozier
 * Hide by Little May
 * Stop Playing With My Heart by Avid Dancer

Episode Connections

 * Frankenstein (1931) was mentioned in dialogue
 * The Wizard of Oz (1939) - "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" seen on website
 * Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) - Willy Wonka/Oompa Loompa mentioned
 * Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) - Darf Vader mentioned
 * Back to the Future (1985) - "Hack to the Future"
 * The Simpsons (1989) (TV Series) - Homer Simpson mentioned
 * Reality Bites (1994) - Title reference
 * About a Boy (2002) - segment title reference