iZombie S01E03 Recap: The Exterminator

A boy searches in the dark, taking video. His friend scares him, jumping out at him. The boy is plotting out a horror movie. The boys start to throw some rocks, when something gets their attention. The friend wants to go home, but the video camera boy goes to take a closer look. He lowers his camera and takes a picture.

At the morgue, Liv is hungry as she dissects the current body. Ravi has sent his google alerts to notify him of zombies. Ravi has come across the teenager's picture, about a possible zombie not far from where she was turned. Ravi thinks that she should look into it. She will, she turns back to the body currently on her table, and her phone goes off. She's disappointed by the texts, and Ravi notices. Liv admits that she hit on her ex-fiance and it didn't go well. She broke up with him, fearing she would give him the big Z, but then she ate a sensual painter and tried to jump his bones. She can't tell him the whole story, and it looks like she was a colossal tease. So she sent him a text apology, but he hasn't replied. Ravi thinks that it deserves a face to face. Liv is too hungry to figure out of he's joking or not. Ravi looks over the current body before Liv gets to cutting.

Liv enjoys her meal. She use to be a lot of things, but now she's hunger. When she's hungry she forgets that her meal use to be a person. When she's really hungry she forgets she use to be one. She likes the brains off a knife, and Blaine spots her Zombie Playboy pose. Liv isn't happy to see him. Blaine thinks that she stood him up, and she doesn't correct him, telling him that she saw him making a deal. She missed the whole murder thing that followed. He looks over her tools, the bone saw she uses to cut open the skulls. He asks what she would use if she didn't have that. An ice pick, a hand saw. He uses a rock sometimes. He turned Liv into this, and she doesn't trust him. He may not be a murderer, but she thinks that he's still the same drug dealing scum that accosted her the night of the party. The lines are drawn and they are not on the same team.

Liv returns home, and Peyton is ready to celebrate. Her big murder case has gotten a huge lead. She's officially on her way to the big time. She asks Liv to help her prep, just like old times. Liv plays witness, and Peyton questions her. When Peyton shows her a picture of the murder victim, Liv gets a vision. She ate the brains of the real murderer.

Liv goes to Clive about the Walker trial. It looks good that the murderer was caught, since its really a high profile case. Clive reminds her that his case is the hit and run. Liv tells him that she had a vision that their hit and run victim is the actual killer. She has no real proof of her claim, and she feels like this isn't the first time he's done this, it having to do with debts. Clive laughs. He can't go to his boss with her hunch. Walker was shot from above, with him on his knees. That's not a mugging, but an execution. The homeless drifter was found with Walker's shoes on. Liv points out that most drifters that need to steal shoes don't go around carrying glocks. Plus the murder weapon had a silencer on it. Clive turns her attention back to their case. He cannot go to his boss with a hunch. Liv thinks he would rather send an innocent man to jail rather than to rock the boat. She tells him that she'll man up for the both of them. That brain she recently consumed is kind of a dick and a sociopath.

Liv comes home and Peyton immediately asks if she's okay. She is, so she hasn't seen the video of her ex and his new girlfriend. Peyton tells her that she saw it on facebook and Major had liked it. Liv tells her that December 11^th is the most common day to get dumped. That brain Liv ate really sucks with its stupid factoids. Peyton isn't sure what to make of her proclamation. Peyton finds it odd that she's not picking apart the girl's annoying laugh or why they like jenga so much. Peyton is worried and impressed. Its been 6 months since she called off her engagement to the man of her dreams, and he's moving on. She should be feeling something. Liv focuses on the Walker case, she still has her curiosity.

Liv and Ravi go to investigate the zombie picture, to see if its just a prank as Liv hopes. Ravi gets all poetic, and Liv goes all bizarro jeopardy. Her emotions seem to be nulled, turned off. It can be helpful, but Liv is a little concerned. The pair hear some odd noises, and Ravi finds the source. Its the same covered hole the boys discovered. As Ravi moves some boards covering it, he tells her that many hitmen have antisocial disorder, it makes them good hitmen, it also makes Liv long for the days when low blood sugar just made her bitchy. Ravi gets the port clear, and there is definitely something inside. Liv peers down the hole, there's someone inside, someone undead, Marcy. She's looking less living dead girl and more hungry corpse. Ravi is surprised that Liv knows her. She's been in there for months, and Ravi is impressed that she's still alive. She was the resident that invited her to the party. Ravi knows it has to be hard on Liv seeing someone she knows reduced to what she is. Liv starts throwing rocks at Marcy, because she can. Marcy doesn't care. Ravi stops her, knowing that its the hitman brains making her unsympathetic. He hopes that he can fix Marcy. He dumps some brains down into the hole, and Marcy pounces on them. He's hopeful that when they return she will be back to her sermi-normal self.

Liv isn't sure Marcy can be fixed, but she can solve the Walker case. If the hitman brains help her block out her former friend being reduced to a monster, her ex moving on, or not responding to her lame apology text, she's going to embrace it. She heads to Clive's desk. Walker had some gambling debts, and she wants him to help her lean on the lbookie. Clive reminders her that the Walker case is not theirs, the hit and run is. She thinks that the cases are connected. Clive thinks its a big leap. Liv knows the bookie was Frank Smith. Clive knows him, he's a former cop, and bookie to most of the cops in the city.

Clive and Liv head to the cop bar, and they don't exactly fit in with the older white male crowd. Liv remembers the place from her college days, they know how to throw a pretty good shindig when they want to. Clive heads to the bartender to see if Smithy is there, and he goes to check to see if Smitty wants to talk to him. It's Trivia night in the bar, and Liv has the brain for it. She names their team Piggy and the Brain, and gets to writing down her answers. Clive leaves Liv to use the John, and sees a note warning Smitty to pay up or else. Smitty tells Liv that Wally Walker owed him a lot of money, but he's not sure why its her business. Clive comes back, as they're announced the trivia winners. Clive asks about Walker, and Smitty tells him that he recently asked for an extension. He was planning to sell his company for fast cash, and would double Smitty's money if he gave him two more months. Smitty agreed. He thought the guy who killed Walker was caught. Clive tells him that he's just making sure, and following up on a few more leads. Smitty stonewalls, tells him that his captain likes to make Seahawk bets, and that he should call him and tell of Clive's efficiency. Clive takes that as his cue to leave. Liv goes to leave and tells him to stop. On the winners wall they see their hit and run vic. He was in the bar the same night Walker came into ask for an extension. He must have followed him out, and then murdered him.

Clive and Liv head to Webster's home. They tell his wife that they think that the person who hit her husband knew him. She allows them to come in and search his office for clues. Clive thinks she either didn't know her husband was a hitman, or he really was just a pest control guy. Liv gets another Flash of memory, of the car hitting Webster, and backing over him to finish the job. Liv saw an orange car, and the first few letters of the plate. Clive has found something too, the glock with a suppressor, likely the same one that killed Walker.

Liv searches for the car from her vision. Clive suggests that she sketch what she saw. Peyton gets home early, mad that Clive blew up her case. Liv tells her its because he was innocent. Peyton has a pile of evidence that says otherwise. Liv tells her that the murder file was found, and gambling debt. Peyton realizes that she read her confidential case file, and she's angry that Liv has been a slug for months and this is what gets her off her butt, not her fiance, but proving her wrong. She gets that she had to do what she thinks is right,but she also just derailed her career and Liv doesn't feel bad in the least.

Liv tells Ravi that the brains are the worst. She hurt her closest friend, and she couldn't even muster up an apology. Ravi thinks it sounds like she cares. She doesn't, but she knows she should. Ravi points out that she could eat another brain, get the hitman out of her system. Liv looks over the file of the body on the table, and she's sold. Ravi reminds her though that if she eats the old lady, then she'll have no more visions, and whoever killed Walker will get away. She hopes that Ravi is right, but she's also afraid of what she's becoming. Ravi is sure that tat fear is a good thing. It means she'll be okay, and he needs her. He plans to go check on Marcy, and try to gather samples. He feels like there will be improvement. Liv wants to know if he has a plan B, but Ravi doesn't get the chance to give her one. Major comes to ask for her help. He has a kid with him, who needs to see a cop. His roommate went out on his skateboard a few days ago and hasn't come back.

Liv takes them to see Clive. Major works with a halfway house for wayward boys. The boy tells Clive that he's been in contact with the police for the last few days, but there has been no follow-up. Clive asks if the boy could have just ran off. He left behind his ipod. If he was leaving for good, he wouldn't have left it behind, he's been doing really good lately. He was skating a lot lately, and spoke of the Candyman. Some guy handing out Utopium like it was jellybeans. Clive offers to walk it over to missing persons and make it a priority. Liv spots Jerome's shoes and goes all weird andriod spitting out factoids. Jerome doesn't know what Major saw in Liv, and asks her if she really thinks she can do better than Major. Major leaves in a hurry, pulling Jerome along.

Liv may not know cars, but she's decent at drawing them. Her picture got a hit, and Clive is able to identify the make. With the license plate its down to one car. They've traced it to the previous owner. He's a little miffed that the car was used to kill someone. The buyer paid more than the asking price, but didn't want him to know his name, but he's seen him a lot in the paper recently. He pulls out the paper, and shows them a picture from the press conference. He IDs Walkers angel investor, who offered up a reward for information that lead to capture of Walker's murderer. Clive thinks that the car has probably been dumped into a lake somewhere, but the owner tells him that the car has lo-jack.

Liv sits and waits in the interrogation. Clive comes in and gets to immediate work. He questions the investor, Watts, about the car, which they located and has Martin Webster's hair and blood on the bumper. He plays dumb, this isn't his car. The previous owner was able to ID him by his picture in the paper, and his DNA was found in the car. He suddenly remembers the car. His lawyer pipes up. His client came as a courtesy, if they want to charge him for something, that's a different matter. He wants to go, but Watts wants to hear how the story ends. Clive lays it out. Walker was a brilliant programmer, with mounting gambling debts. He was planning to see early rather than wait to go public. He gets offed, and Watts makes millions. After Webster did the dirty work, he killed him. Phone records show that he was called by a disposable phone, 45 minutes before Webster was run over and killed. He asks what the call was about. Watts doesn't know, claims it didn't happen. Watts plays devil's advocate. He knows they don't have the phone. He claims that maybe he bought the car to restore, maybe he thought he hit a deer that night, either way they'll have a hard time proving anything. For now, they'll place him under arrest for verhicular manslaughter. He points out that he's on the cover of a magazine right now. He thinks even if they can pin him for the murder, he'll be lauded as a hero, cleaning up the streets. He taunts Clive, that he'll spend zero days in jail. His lawyer promises to get him out of jail within the hour.

Liv wonders if he will really walk. Clive tells her that he could if they can't find a connection between the smarmy investor and the hitman.

They head back to Webster's, and search his car. The wife protests about the impound notice. Clive and Liv look through his GPS. They look at the place where he went before he was murdered. As Clive gets out to question some people, Liv dives back into Webster's psycho brains for a little pick me up. Clive tells her that so far no one has seen Webster. Liv spots the ice cream man, and gets a vision. There was a witness, a garbage man that saw Watts and Webster meeting. Liv leaves Clive to do the tracking.

Liv heads off with Ravi to check on Marcy, and she's nervous, cold. Ravi hopes that Marcy will be better. She sees Ravi's fear, that if she isn't better, what he'll have to eventually do. He pulls off the cover, and they see that it didn't work. Liv thinks that cold feeling that she has, is the same that Webster felt before a kill, cold clarity. Liv knows that they have to get rid of Marcy. She's not going to get better, and she's a timebomb waiting to go off. Ravi tries to plan to transport her somewhere safe, but Liv knows that they have no safe place. She also hopes that if she were reduced to that monstrous thing down there someone would put her out of her misery. Ravi took an oath to do no harm, and he wants to help her. Liv goes looking for something to kill Marcy with, while Ravi tries to get a sample from her. Marcy pulls Ravi down into the pit. Liv watches the whole thing, as Ravi tries to fight off Marcy. He calls to her for help, and she finally leaps into action and into the pit. Marcy attacks her, and Liv goes full zombie on Marcy, bashing her head in. Ravi has to talk her down from her state, and she comes back to herself, but its close. He can get his sample now.

Liv and Ravi bag their soiled clothes, unsure if the blood is a contaminant or not. Liv realizes that she almost watched him die. Ravi points out that she didn't though. She's remorseful, and Ravi tells her that he's fine, she saved him. Even with all that sociopath swimming in her veins, she pulled through. She gets a call from Clive, he needs them both.

Clive is questioning Watts again, and Watts is recording the whole thing for his own record so he has proof for when he sues him for harassment, and defamation. Clive goes over the likely story, and Webster's greed when he found out what Watts was worth. Watts claims that he still lacks the evidence to prove anything. Sure he doesn't have the phone, but Liv does have answers like location where Watts and Webster met, the color of his car, even what Watts was wearing. Clive tells him that the most helpful bit of information is what the witness overheard. He picked them both out of a line up, and over heard “you gave me a price, and I met it now shut up.” Peyton walks into the interrogation room. Watts tells his lawyer to do something. He suggests they walk out. But Clive wants to finish his story. It was garbage day, Watts turns and seeing the orange coat and reflectors jogs his memory. Watts turns back, Peyton offers him a plea deal, a one time only offer. Watts's attorney tells him to walk out. Peyton reminds him its a one time offer, if he walks out then she'll make sure he never breathes a free breath again. Clive hands him a confession and Watts signs it. Liv sees Clive get his kudos. Ravi finds it all exciting, in his orange gear. He never knew it was so flattering. Liv admits that he was totally convincing. It was thrilling, he's almost happy that the sanitation worker couldn't remember anything. Liv feels almost like herself again.

The brains are wearing off. She never felt like a monster until she ate Webster. But with him leaving her system she worries about getting her emotions back. She doesn't want to feel what she did to Marcy. One bite could make it all float away. Liv doesn't let it float away. She throws the brains down the garbage disposal. She can't forget. Marcy was a real person, and she went through something horrible in the dark. Liv goes to Marcy's mothers, leaves a note in her mailbox, and returns the necklace that Marcy always wore to her. Marcy was a person and she killed her. Marcy's mother collapses as she sees the necklace.

Liv mourns her loss of Major. She watches the video and breaks down. Peyton comes in to comfort her. Feeling pain doesn't make it stop, it makes you human.

Jerome continues to look for his friend, taking his picture around skate parks. No one recognizes him. He runs into Blaine, shows him the picture. Blaine tells him that he just saw him, that he's in a house party a few blocks over, and offers to walk him there. Blaine innocently asks if anyone is waiting on him. Jerome tells him no, and Blaine promises to reunite him with his friend. Poor kid has no clue what he's getting into.