Patriot Brains

"I had one chance at love. Turns out my would be soul mate survives on the brains of murdered teenagers."

- Olivia Moore

"Patriot Brains" is the ninth episode of Season 1 of iZombie. It was written by Robert Forman and directed by Guy Bee. It is the ninth episode of the series overall, and premiered on May 12, 2015.

Synopsis
Liv and Clive investigate the mysterious death of a former sniper, Everett, who has been working as an instructor at a paintball facility. They begin questioning family members including Everett’s ex-wife and her new husband Sean and realize things are not what they seem. Meanwhile, Major continues to get closer and closer to the truth, and Blaine does the unthinkable.

Recap
Liv is in the elevator but ducks out when Blaine gets on. He sees her leaving but isn’t sure it’s her. She glances back and says she had one chance at love and says her new BF is surviving on dead teens. She sees Blaine’s henchman Julien arguing with a parking attendant and has a flashback from the brain and sees him locking the kid up. She walks by and sees a stack of coolers in the back seat of the car.

Ravi records himself talking about his vital signs 12 hours after being bitten by the zombie rat. Liv shows up early for work and startles him. He asks what’s wrong and she says Blaine murders teenagers and feeds their brains to zombies and says Lowell is one of his customers. She says she ate a bite of Lowell’s breakfast brain and had a flash of Blaine killing him. She calls it a zombie meals on wheels. Liv wonders how the police found the remains at the house when they didn’t die there.

Ravi says she needs to tell Lowell and she says Major was right about the Candyman and the kids and she asked him to back off. Ravi says he doesn’t think Major did back off and says he’s hardly left his room since then. We see Major watching a video on how to kill with a handgun then loading his own. He’s also researching brains. Ravi comes in with video game controllers and says it’s been too long. Then he sees a web page about brains open on the screen.

Major tries to cover by saying he’s looking at body building. He says he’s trying to figure out why Julien had a brain in his ice chest. Major agrees to play with Ravi. Lowell heads home and Liv shows up and says they need to talk. Some guys are playing paint ball out in the woods on two teams. One spots a set of legs and sneaks up to check on the player and shoots him. The guy doesn’t move. They tell him he’s supposed to clear the field. They see he’s dead and his neck looks bloody.

They run off screaming. Lowell says the brains he eats come from funeral homes but she says Blaine is a liar and says he lied to her because he didn’t tell her. She says she saw Blaine slaughter the kid who they ate this morning. She asks how he can not know that Blaine is killing. She asks how he can not know this. He says he’s only had a couple of visions and never saw Blaine killing. He says Blaine made him a zombie and made the deal to deliver the brains. She wants to know how to get in touch with him.

Liv says there is no us because she doesn’t recognize a guy who eats the brains of murdered homeless kids. He asks what she’s going to do and she asks why it matters. He says he’s in love with her. Ravi texts and says they have a body. Liv says that’s a problem then leaves. Blaine is at Meat Cute overseeing food service. Julien asks about his day and Blaine shows off a ticket to the EMP to hear Kurt Cobain’s unreleased songs. He talks about Nirvana being his sound track as a teen.

Julien says Lawrence called for a delivery and wants to have lunch at his club to discuss a business opportunity. Blaine is pleased. Liv meet Ravi out in the woods and says Lowell wouldn’t tell her anything. She asks about Major and he says he’s still convinced that the Candyman is harvesting human brains but thinks it has to do with bodybuilding and isn’t thinking zombie. Clive says the victim is Everett, a former Army ranger who works at the paint ball course.

He says the shot came from a long way away and one of the techs show them a perch. The shooter was up in a tree. Clive points out Everett’s little brother who is there. Liv and Clive go to talk to Harris. The kid seems numb and Clive asks if he knows anyone who would want to hurt him – he says Everett’s wife who is trying to take away his nephew after she dumped him while he was in Afghanistan. Clive says they’ll bring in the ex and her hubby.

Liv says she needs to stop by the morgue and have a bite to eat then she’ll meet him. Clive brings in Penny and introduces Liv to her. He asks about the custody battle and she says there were fighting over Anna and says her husband Shawn got a transfer to California. Shawn is there and says he had to turn it down because of Everett. Penny admits she left Everett while he was in Afghanistan. She says he had PTSD but refused treatment.

Shawn says it stung that he had to turn down the promotion but says he wouldn’t want anyone to take his kid. Shawn says he was in a meeting all afternoon at the time Everett died. Penny says she was with Anna at the park near the school. She says Anna is at home with her sister. They go there and Anna asks why Liv is so white. She says she works in a basement. Anna says she was with her mom today and then Liv gets a flash of Anna begging her father to stop and Penny pulling a knife on him.

Anna says she doesn’t want to do this anymore. Liv gives Clive a knowing look. Liv tells Clive that Everett had snapped and punched Shawn in front of Anna then Penny chased him off. Clive says Anna doesn’t have the most solid alibi and says he’ll look into it. Liv sleeps restlessly and gets a vision of someone being dropped off a roof. She’s having PTSD visions of Everett. She decides to go for a jog to work it out. She thinks about the battlefield. She goes to play paintball.

She smiles and says last man standing. She checks out the field then hears a shot and takes out one guy. She drops down and shoots another in the back. She creeps around a corner, drops down and takes out another. She spots a bullet casing and picks it up. She sees the sniper nest nearby. A guy goes to sneak up on her and she takes him out fast. Then she goes to see Ravi and points out where she found the shell casing and says the killer would have to be 15 feet tall.

He tells her that her paintball trophy is ill gotten gains since she ate the brain of a highly decorated shoulder. Ravi asks Liv how she knew she was a zombie and she says she immediately craved brains. She says she ID’d herself as a doctor and left the scene then came across a dead body and plucked a brain out of another victim lying nearby. Lowell calls and she doesn’t take it. Ravi asks what she would do if she didn’t have access to brains. She says not murdered homeless teens.

Ravi says Lowell didn’t know and she says he must have. Clive shows up to take Liv on a field trip. Ravi jokes about signing her permission slip. Clive wants to take Liv to look for Everett’s journal the therapist said he kept. Major heads to the gym and says he wants to get pumped and wants cutting edge treatment no matter how crazy it sounds. The trainer says he’s the guy for him then tells him that supplements are a small piece of the puzzle. Major asks about something more hard core and asks about brains.

He says it has an amino acid that helps your pituitary gland. The guy asks if Major would actually eat human brains to get bigger muscles. He seems grossed out. Clive sees a journal that says only “one is less than many” and Liv explains it’s a sniper mantra to justify the work they do. She finds his rifle and gets a flash. She sees that Harris was toying with the rifle. Clive asks what it is and Liv says it’s not good.

They bring in Harris who has turned in some disturbing sketches in his art class of dismembered soldiers. The kid lays his head down on the table as Clive asks if anyone knows where he was when his brother was shot. Clive says they’ll catch who did this and Harris says – not if he does first. Turns out Harris lost his mom and brother in the same year and has anger issues. Liv says he only took a nosedive recently. Clive takes them to Penny and Shawn’s neighbor.

Liv says Penny traded up when she married Shawn. The neighbor answers and Clive flashes his badge and asks about the noise complaint. He says ever since he filed the complaint, he has sprinklers going off at the wrong time and says he took them to small claims court over messing up his lawn and mailbox. He says her ex skidded out and Penny chased him out with a butcher knife while she screamed that she was going to kill him.

Liv is polishing boots when Lowell shows up. She says she wants him to go. He hands her a bag and says it’s for her. He says it’s Michael Kenny who was interred yesterday at Evergreen Memorial. She’s shocked he dug up a grave and says it must have been awful. He says he was an English teacher and says his daughter read a sonnet at the funeral. He says he threw up after. He says they eat people and then repeats it. Liv says she knows. Lowell says he was a coward and didn’t want to know.

He says he should have tried to know and says he ate the kids that Blaine killed and says he’s so sorry. He seems so tortured. Liv steps closer and kisses him. The trainer talks to another trainer about the new guy who wants human brains. Julien is working out and hears and asks if the trainer has his contact info. Lowell and Liv lie in bed and she asks how Blaine’s service works. He says one more year of it and his trust fund will be gone.

He shows her the menu on his phone – it’s gourmet zombie food. She says this menu is homeless teenagers that Blaine kills for profit. She says Blaine has to die and she’s going to kill him. Lowell calls Blaine and invites him to come tomorrow night to jam since Blaine has been bugging him about it. Lowell tells her he’s a weenie and a wimp and says he probably shouldn’t tell the woman he loves that. He says she deserves a man who’ll jump into the line of fire so he’ll do his best.

She says he’s not a weenie and says he jumps out of a plane. He says to remember that when she sees a puddle of urine at his feet. She asks if they’re really doing this. Blaine tells Julian about listening to the Cobain demos and says Fecal Matter was his first band. He tells them he has lunch with Lawrence Kaiser today and that’s why he’s dressed up. He gets a text, puts on his jacket and says to take care of the gym rat. He says he has to meet Lowell instead.

Blaine gets in the car with Kaiser and the guy tells him he’s tired of his brains and the visions of runaways and junkies. He says he wants better visions and sees an opportunity. He says he always wanted to be an astronaut but says his vision was too bad. He says he has a ticket on the first commercial flight to space then Blaine scratched him and ruined his life and now he can’t go. He says he wants to know what it’s like to be out among the stars and tells Blaine he wants Alan York’s brain.

Blaine says he’s still using the brain and asks how he can get to it. Lawrence says to tell him how much to write the check for and Blaine can figure out the rest. Blaine smiles greedily. Liv finds Ravi sniffing brains and asks what he’s doing. He tells her that zombieism can’t cross species and she asks what he means and he says the zombie rat bit him. Clive shows up and asks if Liv can look at some YouTube videos. He says he found something on Shawn’s company computers.

He shows them a video about an Amazon like company using drones. Clive says he thinks Everett was killed via drone and shows them a video. He tells Liv that’s why she found the shell casing where she was. She calls Shawn a yuppy sack of crap for killing Everett with his tablet while he sat in a meeting. Shawn talks about his new promotion as he drives then pulls up at the house and sees cops all over the place. He asks what’s going on. Clive says they are looking at a handgun mounted on a drone.

He says Penny gave them his passwords. Penny asks Shawn what the hell he’s done. The guy runs. Clive goes after him. Liv has him and slams him against the wall and calls him a nerd. Clive arrests him and Liv thinks about the monsters in this world that do unspeakable things. She goes to Everett’s place, breaks in and steals the sniper rifle. She thinks about her Hippocratic oath. She talks about Blaine being a virus that can’t be allowed to spread. Major goes home and finds his electricity won’t come on.

Julien is there and attacks him. They grapple. Julien asks who he told about the brains and has a hammer ready to bash Major’s fingers. Major doesn’t answer and Julien threatens him with pain. Major says he doesn’t know anything but Major stabs him with his keys and runs upstairs. He hurriedly loads his gun. Julien kicks in the door and Major shoots him twice. Julien goes down and lies still. Major creeps closer. He gags and then when his back is turned, Julien grabs his leg.

He shoots Julien again then tries to fire again but the magazine is empty. Lowell and Blaine go out onto the roof to drink and chat. They toast. Liv is in a nest ready to shoot him. Lowell looks around nervously and says he’s getting warm and moves the heater when he figures out the problem. Liv takes aim. She’s ready to shoot. She tells herself to do it. She says it again. Then she talks about killing a person and thinks that this will make her a killer too. She stops and says she doesn’t want to be him.

Blaine invites Lowell to go to the Cobain exhibit. He says he has something of Cobains to show Blaine and goes inside. He texts Liv to ask what’s up. Major calls Clive to come to the house. Clive tells Major that he didn’t do anything wrong by shooting an armed intruder but Major says he killed a man. He takes Clive upstairs but the body isn’t there and says there’s no blood. He shows him the bashed in part of the wall where he threw a sledgehammer. He says he killed the guy.

Clive picks up something off the floor and asks if he’s taking medications or stopped taking any. Blaine takes a call as Lowell comes out with the guitar. Liv texts and says she can’t do it. Julien calls Blaine and Lowell gets a vision of the kid who’s brain he ate and Blaine killing him. Blaine asks where the trip just took him. Lowell jokes and says it looked like Bonaroo. Blaine takes the call from Julien then rants and says it’s unacceptable. Lowell stares over where he knows Liv is hiding.

She sees Lowell get a determined look on his face. Lowell stabs Blaine who says he’s a terrible host and then shoots Lowell in the head. Liv screams and he hears it but doesn’t see where she is.

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 Tracey
 * Aleks Paunovic as Julien Dupont
 * Erica Luttrell as Penny Taylor
 * Percy Daggs III as Sean Taylor
 * Ben Wilknson as Lawrence Kaiser
 * Russell Porter as Neighbour

Co-Starring

 * Jake Guy as Harris
 * Darryl Quon as Luta
 * Jennifer Copping as Janet Steig
 * Patrick Roccas as Trainer Jack
 * Sasha Rojen as Anna Adams
 * Ronald Patrick Thompson as Everett
 * Raresh Dimofte as Doorman
 * Jesse Miller as Team Leader
 * Alistair Abell as CSI Tech
 * Ramon Terrell Uniformed Cop
 * Michael Patrick Denis as Gun Instructor

Soundtrack

 * Bright Lights by Gary Clark Jr.
 * The Wolves (Reprise) by Dustin Tebbutt
 * Sweat It Out by Khleo Thomas

Episode Connections

 * When Major hides his pistol in the dresser drawer, the book on top is Uncle Vanya, one of the most famous plays by Anton Chekhov.

Prop Notes

 * "Chekhov's gun" is a dramatic term referring to the need to use props that are prominently displayed. As Chekhov himself said, "If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one it should be fired. Otherwise don't put it there."