Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?

"I spent my lifetime building a resume for a life I'd never have. I want to leave more than just impressive report cards to remember me by. There's so much beauty in the world. Inspiration. Love. The heart wants what it wants. Who are we to deny it?"

- Liv

"Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?" is the second episode of Season 1 of iZombie. It was written by Diane Ruggiero-Wright and directed by John Kretchmer. It is the second episode of the series overall, and premiered on March 24, 2015.

Synopsis
Liv, Ravi and Clive work together to solve the mysterious death of a well-known painter. Liv finds herself consumed with passion after eating his brain, and can't resist trying to seduce Major. Meanwhile, Blaine makes a surprise visit to the morgue.

Recap
Lola screaming when she sees Javier is dead on the floor with something stuck in his eye. Ravi jokes and says cause of death is drowning. Ravi says he’s a very famous artist and does some interesting nudes. Lola sobs while Clive talks to her. Then he comes over and Ravi says time of death is about 7 pm and death was likely instant and there were no signs of struggle or defensive wounds. Clive asks Liv if she has any psychic tingles.

He says he doesn’t need it since it’s the wife because it’s always the wife. Ravi says they have to take out the paintbrush. Ravi pulls out the brush and says – fresh brains, anyone. She cleans off the brush back at the lab, puts some hot sauce on it and eats it up. She says she’s just a fake psychic zombie trying to do her part. Major shows up at her place later with some leftover stuff from his place. She says he didn’t need to. He says it’s mostly hair products and lingerie.

He tries to make small talk and says he didn’t want to throw her stuff out. She thanks him then he offers her some of their engagement gifts. Peyton comes in and asks for the juicer. She asks about a coffee machine but Liv says they can’t take it and says Major shouldn’t come by and Peyton reminds her she broke the guy’s heart. Liv lies awake that night then wakes to see the zombie guy. It was a nightmare. She says a zombie having a zombie nightmare is so meta. She tells Ravi she can’t find the guy.

She tells him she’s been looking but can’t find any leads. Ravi tosses her a women’s magazine about hot sex but she says she can’t have sex with Major. She gets a flashback of Javier with another woman. She says someone is there. Ravi asks if she’s shocked at sex tip four but she says Javier was having a hot affair. She goes to tell Clive and says he called her honey goddess. She says she saw it was at the loft but didn’t see who walked in. She says the woman’s skin was like butter.

She’s all into the woman – she’s picking that up from Javier. Clive says she’s doing 50 Shades of Psychic so it’s the wife like he said. He asks her to come along and question the wife and says she may have another vision that’s less late night premium cable. Artie talks to Lola and says he’ll be back later. They see another woman with the wife Lola and Liv says that’s the sugar flower. Clive says he has some more questions.

She introduces her friend Tasha and says she’s her favorite of all of Javier’s lovers. Clive gives Liv a confuzzled look. Liv sits and checks out Tasha likes she’s a sweet treat. Lola says she and Artie hang out whenever Javier painted. She says she just wanted him to be free and respected his process. Clive asks about the other women and the wife laughs and says she can’t hold him back. Liv checks Lola out and then takes Liv’s hand which freaks her out.

Lola says they both had dalliances and never had children so it was fine. Clive says the paintings were nude paintings of his lovers. Lola says monogamy was not important to them and says what they had was beyond the physical. They leave and Clive insists it’s always the spouse. Then Clive gets a text from Riva saying the killer was 6’2” or taller. Liv mocks him. Riva introduces her to Jimmy a police sketch artist. Riva says he explained about her missed connection and he’s ready to help.

She describes her zombie but uses these crazy flowery terms – she’s channeling Javier. She takes the sketch pad and draws. He tears the page out of his book and throws it down. Riva asks her if this is a new skill. Clive has Artie in interrogation asking about their alibi. He says he’s not just Javier’s art dealer, he’s a long time friend. He says they are just business. Clive says Lola mentioned having dalliances outside of the marriage but Artie says he doesn’t see that.

He says Javier slept with every model in Seattle while Lola was devoted to him. Clive asks Artie how tall he was. Artie says to check with some of the jilted boyfriends of the women he slept with. Clive pushes and Artie says he’s 6’2”. Liv finishes her sketch of her zombie guy. She goes home and complains to Peyton about a painting in the house. She goes to get art supplies. She talks to herself about some of the weird things she’s gotten from brains including a fear of pigeons.

At work. A guy on the slab sits up. It’s Blaine and he says he heard she was looking for him – it’s her zombie buddy! He asks if her skin and hair are a style choice. She says no. He tells her that the sketch is his new profile pic. He asks why she wanted him and she says she had a vision of him chasing a DUI victim. He says he thought he was the only one and says her getting the brains on the job is super cool. She asks how he got his and he says he robs graves but says he should have gone into medicine.

Blaine says he was chasing a mugger then asks her what she calls her rage things. He says he calls it raging out and she says she calls it full on zombie mode. He asks if she wants to rage out with him. She pulls a face and he says the guy tried to mug him and he went full on and says he was ready to crack the guy’s head open and says brains are the most disgusting thing. They talk about the awful texture. She says she almost cried when she saw a kid eating a peanut butter cup.

He says he misses so many things and says death is lonely. Ravi comes in, introduces himself and asks Blaine for a urine sample. He tells them he doesn’t remember what happened on the boat but says he was really hi. He asks how Liv became a zombie. She says he clawed her at the party. He doesn’t remember and asks if she’s sure it was him. She says she is and he asks how you even apologize for something like that.

He says he would throw himself off a bridge if he didn’t think he would survive. Ravi drops a tray and it triggers a flashback. She sees a raging ex boyfriend then says she has to go but makes it clear she doesn’t want Blaine alone with Ravi. He leaves. Liv says it was Tasha’s jealous boyfriend that attacked Javier. She points him out – he was already there at the police station. In interview, they talk to Rivera and Liv is all into him and says his cheekbones are amazing.

He flirts back and Clive says he’s going to make her leave. Rivera says he doesn’t dwell on things and says Javier dumped her a few months ago and says he was banging his BF’s daughter Becca. Clive asks if that’s Artie’s daughter. Blaine is at a bar checking out a woman. He goes over and offers to buy her a drink. He sits and asks why she’s drinking alone staring at the shelf. She says life takes a surprising turn. He says he agrees and they toast. She says he’s charming but the age difference is an issue. Blaine says that’s a shame because he’s lonely as hell and doesn’t want to talk to a 25 year old he met swiping on Tinder. She takes him home and he pulls her clothes off and then his. His eyes go all zombie once she starts kissing his body.

Liv paints when there’s a knock at the door. It’s major and he has the juicer. He calls her a pod person and says no one will buy this. He says he would be less surprised to come in and see her building a rocket ship. She touches his shoulder and he reminds her she thinks hobbies are for kids. She has Chet Baker on and he says he tried to get her to listen to jazz for years. She asks why she was such a jerk. He says he accepted it because she was a super hot.#

He offers to record her some stuff from vinyl. She says he’s amazing and kisses his cheek. He’s mystified. Blaine shows up at the morgue and says he missed her at the zombie social. He asks where Ravi is and says he wasn’t going to eat him. He says he’s not the same person he was the night of the party but is trying not to be a sleaze bag. He says he stopped dealing and cut all the poisonous people out of his life which were all of them.#

She asks why he’s telling her this and he says he can’t tell anyone else. He asks her if sometimes she can help a brother out with some brains. She agrees. He says that was a long pause but she says she has to meet him elsewhere. He tells her he’ll be at Mutt Bowl Surfers writing his screenplay and live tweeting his progress. He thanks her and goes. Hutch and Dougie find Blaine in an alley and tell him the boss is looking for him.

He says he’ll come by tomorrow but they tell him now. Blaine says now isn’t good and Dougie tells him to get in the car. Blaine says their wants are conflicting and he’s feeling threatened and thought they were homies. He tells him to meet him tomorrow. Liv is nearby with brains and sees him handing something to Blaine. She thinks he’s dealing. She walks off. Dougie threatens Blaine again and he gets into the car. Dougie says the lake thing was crazy and they all that he was dead.

Blaine says they were half right. Dougie says the boss thinks Blaine cut it with something deadly. Blaine says when he’s running the city he won’t make the mistake of underestimating the little guy. Then he murders them on the spot. Blaine goes to see the woman he picked up who is now a zombie. She asks what’s happening. He says she’s a zombie now for real. He says – welcome to Team Z. He asks if zombies are over since she’s good at trend spotting.

He tells Jackie that for $25k a month he can keep her in brains but says she will also need a spray tan and some hair color. He tells her that death will be fun. He has a container of brains and says the first rule of brain club is you don’t talk about it. She calls her assistant Tina to bring her check book. Ravi asks Liv if she can bring Blaine in for more tests. Liv says it’s a bad idea and she thinks he’s a liar and is just using her for her brains. She says he’s dangerous.

Clive shows up and asks Liv to come to a thing at Javier’s loft. He says Artie left the restaurant to go to an ATM during dinner with Lola and was close to the loft. Clive says Artie is totally broke and living off credit cards. Ravi says he should come along and help with the art, open bar and models. They head out. They look at some photos of Javier and Lola. Someone there comments that the price of Javier’s art has gone through the roof. Clive says that’s motive for Artie to kill since he gets a cut.

Ravi asks how Liv works but she says she walks around and waits for things to happen. Ravi calls it a vision quest and she says to stop enjoying himself so much. She walks while he drinks. Lola greets Clive who asks her why she didn’t mention Artie going to the ATM and say she was only gone 20 minutes or so. He asks how long of a walk is it from the restaurant to the loft. A woman approaches Ravi and asks if he’s a detective. She says her ex is there and has a restraining order.

He plays cop and tells her to point the guy out. Liv goes into Javier’s studio. She hears a door close and sees Rivera there. He says Javier would have loved her and now won’t ever get to lay a hand on her. He says he was thinking about her and says he’s heard of bad cop, good cop, but bad cop horny cop is a whole new thing. She says they can go back out front and get a drink but then she has a flash of Javier with Becca at an ultrasound.

She tells Rivera she’s not the kind of girl he wants to mess with. He grabs her roughly, she goes zombie and kicks his butt then walks out. Clive approaches Artie and congratulates him on his new money success from this. Clive mentions he knows about his debts. Artie says he did not kill him for his money and Clive says he’s in love with his wife. Liv says Javier knocked up Becca and she says it was too much and he snapped.

Ravi runs over and says someone shorter could have done it from the platform. He performs a murder reenactment and Clive then goes to Lola and mentions the pregnancy. He says Artie was covering for her and Clive says she killed Javier before she came to dinner. Artie is angry then Clive says that Lola just told him that he was gone to the ATM long enough to kill her husband. Javier is livid and says she used him. Lola says her husband was leaving her to start a family with an 18 year old girl.

Clive cuffs her. Rivera comes from the back and insults Liv. Clive punches him. Liv tells Clive he’s right, it’s always the wife. Liv eats a brain taco and goes back to painting. She says there is so much beauty in the world and Javier’s brain showed her that. Liv shows up to Major’s and says she needs some more jazz. He invites her in. She asks him to come sit with her and just hand out. Major says she’s being weird. She asks again. He sits.

She says she can’t take another second of not being close to him. She kisses him and he asks since when. He says she’s been icing him for six months and she gave him nothing. He says she didn’t even look him in the eye when he came to drop her stuff off. He tells her she needs to go. She does. She thinks about the passionate mind being selfish. She and Peyton hang the painting she did. Liv says parts of her were dead before she was a zombie and wonders if other parts can come to life now she’s dead.

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

 * Aly Michalka as Peyton Charles
 * Judy Reyes as Lola Abano
 * Anita Brown as Tasha
 * Jeffrey Vincent Parise as Artie Fiss
 * Sarah Jane Redmond as Jackie

Co-Starring

 * Ryan Beil as Jimmy Hahn
 * Christopher Russell as Tito
 * Claude Knowlton as Javier Abano
 * Sean Owen Roberts as Dougie
 * Chris Burns as Hutch
 * Aubrey Arnason as Patron #1
 * Tom Pickett as Patron #2
 * Alex Duncan as Becca

Body Count

 * Javier Abano (dead) - an womanizer artist killed by his ex-lover.
 * Jackie (zombie) - turned as a zombie by Blaine to demand money from her in exchange for providing her with brains.

Soundtrack

 * Heaven Sent - Mr. Little Jeans
 * Eddie (Oliver Nelson Remix) - Mr. Little Jeans
 * I Fall In Love Too Easily - Chet Baker

Cultural References

 * The episode title makes a reference to "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime?", one of the best-known American songs of The Great Depression.

Episode Notes

 * It is discovered that Liv misses being a human and misses eating food especially Reese's Cups.

Episode Connections

 * Blaine makes a reference to the movie Fight Club saying "First rule of Brain Club, you don't talk about Brain Club" to Jackie.

Continuity

 * Blaine met Liv and Ravi for the first time at the morgue and discovers that he was the one who turned she into a zombie. Before that he thought he was the only one.
 * It shows for the first time that zombie-ism can be transferred by sex, one of the reasons Liv broke up with Major.