Sorry for the delay, everyone! Let’s catch up on what’s up with Team Z.
In this episode, we first check in with Major. He’s not having the best time at mercenary training and these brains in a tube seem funky. We cut to Major hanging out with Ravi, describing said brains-in-a-tube. He, Ravi, and Liv have Chinese food.
Meanwhile, Peyton has gone to the bar where Blaine is the new lounger singer after the previous one died. They seem to be having a pleasant evening and Blaine asks for Peyton’s law advice concerning his father’s will. They seem to be becoming chummy.
A meditation class is going on elsewhere in town. After class is dismissed, the teacher treats himself to a solo session of inner peace… until someone bashes his head in with a Buddha statue. Clive comes to investigate and begins with interviewing Ladybird (yes, seriously), who found the body. Topher, the victim, was a mindfulness teacher and appeared to have no enemies. Size 12 footprints are found by Liv and Ravi. Another officer brings in a homeless man who sleeps in the alley behind the studio, and the homeless man says that he say a guy leaving the studio in a hurry with a trash bag.
Clive and Liv go to check out the dumpster in the alley in search of the bag. Unfortunately, it’s behind a seafood restaurant. Clive digs into the garbage even though he could pawn the job off on a uniformed officer. He is rewarded by finding bloody shoes in a size 12. Clive goes to shower, Liv heads back to make herself (and accidentally Ravi) brain-fueled Chai.
Ravi waxes poetic about whether a corpse had any regrets and Liv instantly sees that he is, again, talking about Peyton. She urges Ravi to talk to Peyton instead of complaining. Dr. Kupps, Ravi’s former boss at the CDC, appears out of nowhere with a suitcase in tow. She assures Ravi this won’t be awkward. She then asks him for a diet soda and goes to assess the corpse Ravi was just wondering over. Topher’s brain decides to kick in and Liv begins to meditate.
To distract Dr. Kupps (“Katty”) from Liv’s personality swing, Ravi asks what she is doing there. Katty produces a pile of photos and a story of how after a plane crash in North Dakota two years prior killed six. The problem? Nothing seems to have caused the crash and the local coroner found human brains in the digestive tract of one of the victims. She also seemed to have died long before she was on the plane. She had been flying from Seattle. Katty is now using Ravi’s lab as her own during the investigation.
Ravi goes to Peyton’s office to speak with her, as Liv suggested. Peyton is not welcoming but is willing to listen. Ravi admits that Peyton has done nothing wrong and that this problem is his own, because he cannot get the thought of Peyton and Blaine being together out of his head. Peyton explains that she didn’t really know who Blaine was until it was too late and that she is underwhelmed by Ravi’s “apology”. After putting Ravi in his place, Peyton leaves her office to assist Blaine with his legal matter.
Until Peyton arrives, Blaine entertains the lawyer and his client, not knowing that the client is his own father. Blaine’s father taunts Blaine about his memory until Peyton arrives and reveals the truth. Blaine takes the news well, but sees the problem with the will. He immediately signs over the money back to his father and struggles to remember what the two used to do to bond. His father instead tells Blaine the story of how Blaine stole his mother’s earrings and made a teenage druggie sell them in a pawn shop, and that he hates Blaine.
Clive hopes that Liv’s Topher-latte has given her insight into the murder. Liv assures Clive that Topher was a real Zen guy and is surprised when Clive reveals Topher was a venture capitalist whose friend, Mitch, was busted with a suitcase full of cocaine. While his partner was in jail,he doubled his money by taking Mitch’s share. Fun fact? Mitch got out of jail two weeks before Topher’s death. Liv suggests they question the homeless man and Clive says nobody can find him- he ditched the sketch artist back at the jail.
Major is still having issues getting this mercenary thing down and fails another simulation. The group has to run five miles for Major’s mess-up. However, Major makes a friend in fellow mercenary-wannabe Justin (the DJ from the Filmore-Graves company party where everyone turned). Major’s cough also seems to be getting worse, as Ravi predicted. Major goes to see Blaine. He asks Blaine about Natalie. Blaine might be able to help locate Natalie. Major wonders if Blaine remembers what it feels like when he was dying, but Blaine says he does not.
Blaine’s father, Angus, is reviewing a new location for a zombie nightclub with Don E. and is not immediately impressed. Angus shoots down all of Don E.’s ideas. They agree that there needs to be a way to sort the humans from the zombie clientele.
Ravi gives Major a check-up in the Lab. Liv worries when Ravi says Major is probably weeks away from either taking the cure or dying. Ravi assures Major that the memory-loss-reversal serum is nearly ready. Liv thinks that Peyton can convince Blaine to try the serum and see if it works before they give it to Major.
Clive interrupts and says that the formerly cocaine-toting business partner of Topher’s is upstairs in the interrogation room. The guy won’t get off his phone until Clive slams chairs around. During the course of the interview, Clive discovers that Mr. Davis’ feet are too small and the man is neither dark-haired or tall. He also assures Clive that he is over the whole Topher-taking-all-the-profits thing. He does wonder, though, what Topher and Devon were doing as Buddhists. Clive isn’t sure who Devon is, and we cut to see that it is a man who was standing in the background of previous scenes at the meditation studio. He also has size 12 feet, is tall, and has dark hair.
Devon was another previous business partner who also gained off of Mr. Davis’ stint in jail. However, he found that money did not make him happy. He spent all of his wealth and discovered mindfulness, which he shared with Topher. He also identifies the bloody shoes as his own. He says that someone broke into his home and probably stole his shoes. Clive decides they need to find the homeless guy again for an ID.
Back at the Lab, Ravi is struggling with the cure. Katty scares him while he is getting coffee and reveals that the girl who died on the plane was at the Max Rager party the day before she died. She asks Ravi about this, since she believes he was the coroner for that party (the one where Liv and Blaine became zombies). Ravi attempts to deny this, but also admits he investigated some of the bodies. However, they didn’t seem to have brains in the digestive tract. Katty gives up on her theory… maybe a little too easily. She then invites Ravi to dinner.
Clive and Liv go on a stakeout to find the homeless man. Another officer shows up to arrest the the pimp yelling at a hooker in a car. A neighbor had noticed that they were parked outside all night and assumed. Clive decides to find the neighbor in case she has insight into the murder. She says there is no homeless man who sleeps in the alley. She says the only person she saw running was the homeless man, and he was carrying trash. Clive realizes the homeless man is the actual killer.
Major finally completes a successful run of training and becomes part of the mercenary group. Afterwards, Major offers Justin the chance to try actual brain rather than mush. Liv shows up at the house not long after to see Major and Justin playing a dance video game after eating Zumba instructor brain. While preparing more snacks, Major suffers a severe coughing attack. He watches Liv dance with Justin in time with the game and the look on his face clearly shows how he would feel if he had to forget Liv.
Clive and Liv interrogate Mitch, who explain that jail monitors your mail. They find out that Mitch isn’t actually over Topher’s betrayal, and that he is, in fact, the homeless man they saw previously. He refuses to confess and opts to wait for his lawyer.
Down in the Lab, Ravi, Major, and Blaine discuss Blaine’s career as a lounge singer. Peyton and Liv show up and Ravi explains to Blaine he needs to test the new serum. Blaine is hesitant to be a guinea pig and decides against trying the serum. He explains he’s not afraid to die- he’s afraid to remember what a jerk he was. Ravi loses his cool and says that Blaine needs to atone, because Major wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for Blaine. Peyton interjects and says Ravi just wants to test on Blaine to spare Major in case something goes wrong. Major agrees.
Ravi continues his tirade and takes Liv’s advice to pretend to be in Blaine’s shoes. He gives a laundry list of all of the things that Blaine has done wrong and Peyton tries to shut him down. Ravi admits, in front of everyone, that he is doing this because he loves Peyton. As soon as Ravi says this, Blaine offers to take the serum. Ravi thanks him and shoots him up with memory serum.
Don E. and Angus are working on their nightclub and Don E. has figured out that to sort out who is human and who isn’t, they will have every person who knocks eat a ghost pepper. A regular person would not be able to stomach this, but a zombie has no problem. The club is decorated and has been dubbed “The Scratching Post”. Angus deems it worthy and tells Don E. that he (Don E.) will go to clubs and scratch rich people to turn them into zombies so that they will have high-end customers.
Peyton goes to see Ravi, who readily admits again that he loves her. She tears into him and he continues to apologize, standing in the hall in his bathrobe, drunk. Peyton admits that the only thing keeping them apart is Ravi’s behavior and he agrees to stop being a moron. He kisses Peyton.
A glass shatters in the kitchen and Peyton goes to see that Katty, Ravi’s former boss, is standing in the kitchen half-naked and wearing only Ravi’s shirt. Peyton storms out, leaving Ravi heartbroken.
Peyton goes to the bar where Blaine is singing and hugs Liv, who agrees to meet up. Don E. looks inside from the street.
This was a pretty solid episode, but the murder was a little predictable. We did get to see some great character development and an alternate side to Ravi. Though Ravi is usually a sweet guy, even sweet guys can be jerks when they fall in love, and we’re left to wonder if he’s going to be able to fix himself up. Kudos to Peyton for standing up for herself and not taking any nonsense from anyone.