Mr. Berserk

"Mr. Berserk" is the tenth episode of Season 1 of iZombie. It was written by Deirdre Mangan & Graham Norris and directed by Jason Bloom. It is the tenth episode of the series overall, and premiered on May 19, 2015.

Synopsis
Liv and Clive investigate the murder of a journalist working on a story linking psychotic episodes in a small number of consumers to the energy drink Max Rager. Liv goes straight to the top at Max Rager HQ and questions the man in charge, Vaughn Du Clark. Meanwhile, Ravi tries to help Major who continues to believe he's going crazy. Blaine DeBeers also stars.

Recap
Liv is at the police station about Lowell’s murder. She says she got there right after he died. The cops wants to know where she was driving so they can check traffic cameras. Ravi is stunned when Lowell’s body comes to the morgue. Ravi comes to the police station and Clive says Liv does not have a great alibi. Clive then tells Ravi he needs to go talk to Major about Julien DuPont. He says Major told him he shot Julien when he broke into their place but says there as no body.

Ravi says to watch out for Liv then he leaves. Suzuki comes in and tells the cop that Lowell had GSR on his hands and tells Liv once the ME’s office concurs, the case is closed. Suzuki tells Liv he’s sorry for her loss. Major rants to Ravi about the Candyman. He says the guy had a sledgehammer and was raving about brains. Ravi asks where he got the gun and he says he bought it on the street. He says he would have been dead if not for it. Major says the problem is not the gun, but that guy.

He says that guy took three bullets and walked off. He says none of this makes sense and he’s the only one who sees it. Major says Clive will find Julien at a hospital. Ravi says Clive is with Liv then fills him in on what happened. Liv is in bed having nightmares about Blaine murdering Lowell. Ravi is at the lab doing an autopsy when Liv shows up. He asks why she’s there then hugs her. She sees a woman on the slab then tells Ravi she needs to eat because she’s on PTSD brain.

Ravi says he’s there for her. He says Suzuki was down there pushing him to declare Lowell a suicide no matter what the evidence says. Liv tells him that Lowell stabbed Blaine and then Blaine shot him. Ravi says Blaine has the police in his pocket. Liv says she just wants to work and asks about the woman. He says her name is Rebecca and she’s a raving drunk who broke her neck when she interrupted a robbery. Liv says Rebecca is the one who wrote the expose on the police.

Liv says she hopes the brain is a drunk one and digs in. Clive finds Julien at the gym and flashes his badge. He says Major filed a breaking and entering charge against him and says he shot him three times. Julien says Major has been stalking him and was arrested for breaking into his car. He asks if he looks like someone who was shot three times and lifts a heavy weight. Major tries to call again but Ravi says he needs to talk to her.

Ravi says he thinks they should say that Lowell killed himself. He says the real killer is a zombie and anyone on Blaine’s trail will be in danger. He says if they do catch him, there’s a zombie in the prison problem. He says if they say suicide, they can destroy his body. He says he won’t sign the form without her blessing. Liv says she needs a drink and says vodka or anything. She sees Clive sniffing at her food then she gets a vision of Rebecca’s murder – a masked man knocked her down the stairs.

Clive asks if Liv was eating shrimp and says it smells delicious. Liv says the robbery was a cover up and says something was stolen off Rebecca’s phone using her finger print. He asks if she’s up to investigating – she says she is. Rebecca’s boss says she was working on a murder story about a college kid who went nuts and says she had a source. He tells Clive he found a notebook on her desk but it’s in code. They go looking for Ryan Fisher, a guy who’s mentioned in her notebook.

They tell him they’re looking into Rebecca’s murder and Ryan says she was asking him about Jason Fry and he was on the debate team with him. He says Jason was a debate prodigy who snapped. Clive asks about a Mr Jackson then a woman shows up and Liv looks at her. She gets a vision of the woman yelling at Rebecca. Ryan says he doesn’t know the other two names on their list. Outside, Liv tells Clive she’s going to walk home and he takes off.

Liv says Rebecca was a lone wolf and that’s good for her so she can just focus on the murder and not her mess of a life. Clive comes to see Major and tells him that Julien is alive and at the gym working out and benching 350. Major says he shot him. Clive shows him a photo of Julien bench pressing. Clive says that room doesn’t look like anyone was shot there. Clive says what he said happened didn’t happen and he has a problem if he thinks otherwise.

Major sits stunned. Clive says he can put him on an involuntary commitment. He says Major meets all the requirements. He tells Major to call someone and get help. Major thanks him for being straight with him and Clive takes off. Liv sits boozing from a bottle in a bag. She sees the chick leave Ryan’s place and follows her. Liv tells her that Ryan is just her bang buddy. Liv asks her about Rebecca. She says to tell her to kiss her ass then Liv says Rebecca is dead. The girl runs off.

Ravi sees Major packing and asks who he’s leaving him for and Major jokes that what they had was real. Major says he’s getting seen for psychotic disorder at a mental hospital. Ravi tells him he’s not crazy but Major says he’s seeing things. He says he saw the guy’s eyes turn red and he shot him. He says he’s obviously delusional and says a vacation can’t fix that. He says he has no choice but to check himself in.

Ravi calls Liv but she doesn’t answer. She drinks instead. At work, the chick shows up and asks for immunity before she talks about what happened. The young woman tells Clive that Jason was kicking Ryan’s butt at debate so they took him up to a cabin, got him drunk and she got made up to look dead so he woke up beside her and they told him that he killed her. She says Ryan and the guys rolled her up in a sheet and acted like they were getting rid of the body for him.

She says a couple of days ago, Jason went crazy. She says Ryan would kill someone to protect himself. Clive and Liv go to the mental hospital to tell Jason that the girl – Connie – isn’t dead. Clive says he was a victim of a horrible prank. Jason says they wouldn’t believe it but Clive says the girl is a hook up of Ryan’s and confessed. Clive asks him about Rebecca and Jason says Rebecca just told him she thought Ryan was sketchy.

He’s got a photo on his wall and there’s a guy in a Max Rager shirt. Liv thinks that Rebecca’s notes have to do with Max Rager. Liv says the company knew their energy drink could cause psychotic breaks. Clive says it’s just a theory. He says not to run off half cocked. They get into his car to leave the mental facility. Liv digs through the bottles in her purse when Ravi comes in and he says they have to talk. He says they have to tell Major about zombies and Blaine.

She says she can’t talk about this now. Ravi says they have to but she says no. He say the Candyman tried to kill Major and they have to tell him. Liv says it won’t get well and Ravi says Major is checking himself into a mental hospital and says he really thinks he’s mental and it’s their fault. Liv says he’s lost his job and is shooting people. She asks Ravi what he thinks Major will do once he finds out that it’s all true. She says at least Major will be safe at the mental hospital.

A guy comes to buy Liv a drink and she says sure but then he walks off. She continues to booze recklessly getting drunker and drunker. She builds a pyramid of shot glasses. The bartender cuts her off and asks who he can call to come get her. Major is there and asks if she’s ready to come home. He takes her to her house and tucks her in. He tells her he’s sorry but she says not to say anything. She says she’s trying hard to stay afloat but can’t hear his name.

She asks him to rub her back like he used to. He sits down and by her and pats her back. She says Ravi told him what’s going on with him. Major doesn’t want to talk about it. He says it’s not big deal and says the PR guy is saying it’s exhaustion. He says he’ll be fine and it won’t be for long. He says he’s just sorry he’s not there when she needs him. She says she wants to tell him everything but he says it’s okay. She wakes the next day and looks around. She calls for Major but he’s not there.

Ravi is working with the zombie rat when Liv comes to work. He says the rat is living it up and says he only has one vial of Utopian left. He tells her taught him a zombie trick then Ravi says he also taught him to recite Shakespeare. Clive says Jason was at a debate when Rebecca died. Clive says he found something on Max Rager. A chick in Richmond went nuts and threw boiling grease on a customer. Then in Jackson, Clive found a trucker who went nuts after drinking Max Rager.

The other is LW – Lake Washington – and Liv says she was at that party and people went crazy there too. Clive says they need to be patient and build a case. Ravi says preferably before they murder them all. He tells Liv to hang tight. Over at Max Rager, Liv marches in to confront the CEO. She tells him they know about the memo and what’s been going on with a few people. He says the memo is a phony and was created by his competitors.

The secretary Liv busted past – Adele – comes back in and says she called the police department and found out Liv only works for the ME. They kick her out. Clive then comes to confront Liv about her actions. He says she’s drunk and he can smell it on her. He says this is not helping. She denies being drunk and Clive kicks her off the case. She says she’s the murder victim whisperer. He tells her to go home and she tells him he’s not the boss of her. Ravi says he is and tells her to go home.

Instead, she goes to the bar to drink. Sebastian comes over to Liv at the bar and says he was Rebecca’s source and if she doesn’t help him, they’re going to kill him. He tells Liv he knew they killed her and says the editor pointed him to her. He says he used to be on the Max Rager payroll and says he stopped being Vaughn’s bitch but he couldn’t take it. He says the life is good – he says he liked Eliza Marquette – then she disappeared. She says Eliza had the memo.

Sebastian says there’s another inside source but he doesn’t know who it is. Liv asks Ravi why she can’t figure this out and he says maybe the drinking is a problem. She says Rebecca kept scrupulous notes then wonders why she has a Pilates schedule and it didn’t seem like she’s the Pilates type. Liv says she has to get up and go then says blarg. She staggers to a class the next morning and spots the receptionist Adele. Liv says they’ll find her soon. She says she can protect her.

Liv says Rebecca found three separate cases of Max Rager violence. She tells the girl she’ll be safe once the story is out. She agrees to hand over the memo. She says she needs to go change. Liv waits in the locker room. And waits and waits. She goes looking for her and finds an open window. Adele snuck out! Liv goes looking for her and Sebastian is waiting for her in the parking deck. He punches her out cold. Liv wakes on a boat. They’re out in the middle of the lake.

He thanks her for smoking out the snoop. He pulls the flash drive off of Adele’s unconscious body then throws her overboard. He ties her to a concrete block and tosses her over. Liv sees he has the same fate planned for her. He waits until Liv wakes then licks some blood off a finger he touches to her forehead. He says Adele screwed her – he says she was blackmailing the company and was never going to give up the flash drive. Liv goes zombie and kicks his ass then throws him overboard.

She takes the wheel as he tries to swim to the boat. She gets it cranked and drives over him. There’s blood everywhere. Liv explains the incident to Ravi then tells him to sign off on Lowell’s suicide form. He goes. She says she didn’t tell him the whole story. She tells him that she was going to shoot Blaine with a sniper rifle but she choked then Blaine killed Lowell when he stepped up.

Liv says it’s her fault he’s dead. Ravi feels for her. She wanders off looking sad. Major is at the mental hospital and talks about the guy he shot and how crazy it was. He says it wasn’t real and that’s why he’s there. They end the group session after that. One guy, Scott E, chats to Major and says he knows what he’s dealing with. He says he almost didn’t make it out alive and says he had nightmares about glowing red eyes. He tells Major they’re zombies. He says the city has a zombie problem.

He walks off. Ravi finds Liv crying over Lowell’s body. He goes to her and puts his arm around her. She grabs him and he holds her while she cries. She tells Ravi that she’ll find Blaine and next time she’ll be able to kill him. Sebastian’s wounded body lies on the shore of the lake. He looks dead but he rolls over and foces himself to stand. His eyes are red. Did she scratch him when she threw him over?

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

 * Steven Weber as Vaughn Du Clark
 * Hiro Kanagawa as Lieutenant Suzuki
 * Aleks Paunovic as Julien Dupont
 * Matthew MacCaull as Sebastian Meyer
 * Fulvio Cecere as Detective Flynn
 * Max Lloyd-Jones as Ryan Fisher
 * Andrea Brooks as Connie Roy

Co-Starring

 * Stephanie Van Dyck as Adele
 * Ryan Hesp as Bartender
 * Vaughn Jones as Jason
 * David Bloom as Editor
 * Sunita Prasad as Rebecca Hinton
 * Jason Coleman as Bar Flirt
 * Bryce Hodgson as Scott E
 * Lee Shorten as Therapist
 * Guido Furlani as F1 Guy

Soundtrack

 * Still I Long for Your Kiss by Lucinda Williams
 * Royal Blue by Milo Greene

Episode Connections

 * Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) - "The Candy Man Can"
 * The View (1997) (TV Series) - Mentioned in dialogue
 * The Horse Whisperer (1998) - "Murderer Whisperer"
 * American Psycho (2000) - Mentioned in dialogue
 * The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (2014) (TV Series) - Mentioned in dialogue