| Max Wager | |
| Season 2, Episode 6 | |
 | |
| Air date | November 10, 2015 |
| Written by | Graham Norris |
| Directed by | John T. Kretchmer & Viet Nguyen |
| Episode Guide | |
| previous Love & Basketball |
next Abra Cadaver |
Max Wager is the sixth episode of Season 2 and the nineteenth episode of the series overall. It aired on November 10, 2015 and had 1.4 millions viewers.
Plot
Liv unwittingly crosses paths with the most dangerous man in Seattle while investigating the murder of degenerate gambler Harry Cole. Detective Babineaux has a super-fan moment when he and Liv question NBA Hall of Famer Calvin Owens at Harry's funeral. Meanwhile, Blaine's father makes a huge discovery, and Ravi delivers some bad news. Major continues to struggle.[1]
Recap
Major comes down for breakfast, and Ravi and Peyton wonder why he's so happy. Liv comes in and kisses Major, and says that they're back together.
Harry Cole leaves the courthouse after his bail hearing and cheerfully boasts to Clive that he got the plea deal of the century. He's happy that he got time in minimum security and goes to his car. Two men drive up on a motorcycle and the passenger opens fire on Clive and Harry. Clive ducks for cover and the killers drive off, and Clive realizes that Harry is dead.
At the morgue, Liv is working on a corpse and humming to herself. Ravi finally has enough and asks if she and Major had sex. He's worried that Liv may have transmitted the zombie virus to Major, and she tells him that they haven't... yet. Ravi tells her that he'll run some tests on condoms to see which will work, and to not have sex in the meantime. Clive comes in, and Liv and Ravi congratulate him on surviving the murder attempt. He says that Harry was going to testify in a murder trial, and he has the alleged killer Roger Thrunk in interrogation. Liv realizes that she hasn't eaten Harry's brain yet but has no choice but to go.
In interrogation, Clive points out that Thrunk hasn't been in a courtroom for nine years even though he's supposedly a lawyer. The detective knows that Mike saw Thrunk with the body, and Harry told them that Thrunk's real job is fixing problems. Thrunk points out that it's inadmissible hearsay with Harry dead, and points out that he was in jail and couldn't have ordered the hit. Clive plays the recording, which has Thrunk telling someone to take care of Mr. Sheldon, using the usual guy. They ask who Mr. Sheldon is and Thrunk tells them to figure it out.
Back at Clive's desk, Clive tracks the motorcycle and figures that they dropped the bike into the water at the Sound. He's going to order frogmen to check it out, but reminds Liv that Harry owed someone a lot of money in gambling debts. Liv dejectedly realizes what's in store for her with Harry being a degenerate gambler, but eats his brains anyway.
That night, Clive and Dale have takeout. He explains how Mrs. Suzuki brought him the brains in her freezer, and Dale offers to have it checked at an FBI lab. Clive tells Dale how a guy was a suspect in the Meat Cute shootings and talked about brains, and Dale asks what guy, just as Major and Liv coincidentally walk towards them. Clive says in a low voice that Major's the guy, holding hands with the psychic, revealing he's told Dale about Liv's abilities. They come over and they introduce each other. As Clive prepares to toss his wrapper in the garbage, Liv bets him $10 that he'll miss. He makes the shot and Liv says that he should be paying her to make good in front of his date. Clive nervously says that it isn't a date, and Dale jokingly asks, "It's not? Why did I pay then? Wait, you're saying that I'm not getting any, or...?". Hastily changing the subject, Clive wonders why they're back together, but Major refuses to rise to the question. As they walk away, Major figures that Clive isn't going to let the Meat Cute thing go. Liv explains that Dale isn't there for Meat Cute, she's looking into the rich-man disappearances, and Major glances back nervously.
The next day, Blaine is discussing statuary at his funeral home with a customer when Don E tells him that they have customers downstairs. Blaine goes down and finds his father Angus is there. Angus says that he has bad news, has his bodyguard shoot Chief in the head, and tells Blaine that Blaine works for him now. He explains that Cronus, the Greek Titan, killed his children by eating them. Angus knows that Blaine is no longer a zombie and also knows all of Blaine's clients. He warns his son that he'll do what he says or become a zombie again, and then gives Blaine a photo of Mark Jarrett. Jarrett is his rival and needs taking care of, and Angus wants to eat the son's brain since he's in on everything. The son is vacationing on Mount Rainier, and Angus tells Blaine to get going. Once he leaves, Chief looks up and then collapses.
At the station, Liv gambles with Clive again as they go over Harry's old e-mails. Liv gets a flash of Telly telling Harry to pay up because The Barber's done waiting. Clive recognizes The Barber as one of the biggest bookies in town.
Clive and Liv go to The Barber's barbershop, and Clive points out that Harry owed The Barber $75,000. The Barber has a counsellor waiting for a haircut, and he advises The Barber to stick to hypotheticals. The bookie points out that spraying downtown with bullets wouldn't be a smart move, while Liv picks up a newspaper and spots a horse race on TV. The Barber suggests that Harry's wife might be the killer, and Clive leaves with Liv. He tells Liv that Harry's widow keeps dodging his calls. Liv claims that she forgot her sunglasses, goes back into The Barber shop, places a bet, and rattles off enough information from Harry's memories to convince The Barber's bookie that she knows what she's talking about. She finds a silver dollar in her purse and The Barber tells her to keep it because it's a Susan B. Anthony dollar and is therefore lucky.
Back at the morgue, Ravi continues checking to see if the zombie virus can be transferred by sex. Liv and then Clive comes in, and Clive says that Harry's memorial service is at Shady Plots Funeral Home: Blaine's funeral home. As Liv goes, Ravi calls to warn Blaine that Clive is coming as Clive knows from the sketch artist what Blaine looks like.
At the memorial, Clive and Liv watch as the widow talks about Harry. Liv slips away to talk to Blaine and finds him drunk on wine and melancholic. She tells him to stay out of sight because Clive has a sketch of him from Meat Cute, and Blaine agrees to stay downstairs. He admits that he was a joke as a human, and became much more when he turned zombie. Blaine figures that a part of Liv likes being a zombie because she's important, and Liv asks him if he misses the visions of people about to die.
Liv goes upstairs and finds Clive talking to the widow Mrs. Cole. She says that there was no insurance and all of Harry's money went to his gambling habit, therefore the widow theory goes out of the window as she had nothing to gain. NBA star Calvin Owens is among the mourners, and Mrs. Cole explains that he and Harry were college buddies. Once she leaves, Clive is eager to meet one of his sports heroes. He questions Calvin about Harry and can't resist bringing up Calvin's basketball career. Calvin figures that Clive wants to talk basketball and talks about Ewing. Liv asks him for college betting tips and Clive asks to see his ring. When Liv sees it, she has a flash of Harry begging Calvin for money and Calvin telling him to go home. Once she tells Clive, he figures that it leads to The Barber.
Some gambling results came in on Liv's phone, and she goes to The Barber to get her money. He asks if she wants to put the money down on another bet, and Liv readily agrees. The Barber's customer - Stacey Boss - starts discussing perfect murders, and suggests that the perfect murder would be getting the intended victim to kill himself. Boss describes "hypothetically" how someone would skype the victim accompanied by the victim's loved ones with guns to their heads, and make it clear that it would be him or them. Everyone stares and Boss smiles and says that he has to be going. The Barber points out that the family would be witnesses, and Boss says that the killer would have to get rid of them as well.
Peyton is working late when she hears a loud noise. She investigates and finds a cleaner working a buffer. When she goes back to her office, she finds Boss there looking at her crime board. He rearranges the photos on the board and says that that's better. He says that he's been there four times when a DA comes at him, and he comes by to tell them what the situation is. Three of the DAs have retired young and he claims he doesn’t remember what happened to the fourth. Peyton accuses him of trying to bribe her, and Boss admires her pluck. He says that the board is out of date and figures that she has one source who left his employment two years ago. He muses about what would happen to her case if that former employee disappeared. Peyton tells him to leave, and Boss warns her that that the DA brought her in - a 27 year old as opposed to an experienced lawyer - because he isn't interested in pursuing a successful case. Whistling, Boss walks out.
At the police station, Clive shows Liv Thrunk's pet turtle from his desk at the lawyer's office. The "flunky" in charge of feeding it ran when confronted by the officers, and Liv - recalling a movie she saw once - suggests that there might be a message on the turtle. Clive picks up the turtle but there is no message. Dale comes over and says in a movie she saw they hid the key in the treasure chest inside the tank. There's no chest, but there is a castle, and inside is bag of cocaine. Clive says another interrogation of Thrunk is in order, and asks if Liv's in, but Liv says that she has plans.
That night, Liv and Major play strip poker over Skype. Once Liv removes her blouse, Major says that it did the trick for him.
Clive gloats at Thrunk as the officers bring him in.
After playing poker, Liv and Major talk about the last time they made love in the laundry room of his apartment. They both figure that it will be a couple of more days of waiting and then Ravi will confirm that intercourse is safe for Major.
The next day, Liv goes back to the barber shop to collect her winnings. She lets it ride to win at 15 to 1, and The Barber takes the bet. Liv says that Calvin gave her the tip, and The Barber hesitates and then says that Calvin would understand betting on college basketball - Liv catches the inflection. Back at the morgue, Liv is watching an old game of Calvin's when Clive comes in. He tells her that the frogmen found the motorcycle and they traced it to two Serbian nationals who took a flight back three hours after Harry was killed. Liv explains that she's been doing research on Calvin and discovered that she thinks he was shaving points. They reflect that Harry Cole was a serious gambler in college and that the two facts are likely connected.
Clive brings Calvin in and he demands his lawyer. He insists that he didn't kill anyone, and Clive explains how Calvin's college failed to cover the spread thanks to Calvin. Once he made the pros, his problems cleared up - now that he had plenty of money. Liv figures that Harry was blackmailing Calvin over the games that they fixed, and the two Serbian shooters were the sons of Calvin's former teammate Goran, who was dropped after a violent incident. Peyton is there and suggests that Calvin confess before they extradite Goran and his sons. After his basketball career failed, Goran became a war criminal in the proceeding years, and with Serbia's international reputation on the up, they won't hesitate to extradite and once they do, the family will roll over on Calvin. Peyton's deal means that Calvin will be kept out of general population in prison, where a lot of people might wish harm on him. Calvin reluctantly takes the deal.
Blaine goes to the Puget Vista Hospice Care and listens to music with his paralyzed grandfather. He explains that Angus took over his business and now they're going to teach Angus what it feels like. Blaine calls Angus and says that he'll have the brain he wants by tomorrow. Once he hangs up, Blaine kisses his grandfather on the forehead. He then smothers him with a pillow and tells him to listen to the music.
At home, Liv and Major partway remove their clothes and talk about the success rate of condoms.
At the morgue, Ravi does tests on the virus. Once he's done, he goes home and sees the clothing on the floor, leading up the stairs. Ravi runs upstairs and bursts into the bedroom with his hands over his eyes, and they confirm that they haven't had sex yet. He tells them that the virus is too small for any condom to work. If Major has sex with Liv then he'll become a zombie, for certain. Ravi promises to find a cure one day and leaves, and they agree that they'll have to be creative. Liv asks if he wants to go and see a G-rated movie, but Major says that he has late-night training sessions and takes a rain check.
Blaine takes his grandfather's corpse to the funeral home and removes his brain. He puts it in a Tupperware container and starts to weep just as Don E runs in and says that according to the news, Angus has been kidnapped just like their other customers. Blaine is clearly devastated as he considers that he might have just killed his grandfather for nothing.
Major drives to the bridge and opens the trunk, revealing Angus, a bagged body and some spray cans as the radio plays a bulletin that graffiti at the kidnapping site points to anti-capitalist radicals. He removes the bagged body from the trunk, shoots it in the head and tosses it over the bridge. Major then drives to a storage unit and walks past a supply of mannequins, and puts Angus in a freezer with the two other zombies that he's supposedly killed, showing that he's fooled Max Rager and hasn't killed anybody.
Cast
Starring
Guest Starring
|
Co-Starring |
Zombie Traits/Skills
Liv
- Harry Cole – Gambling addiction/problem
Brain Food
- "Brains Casino" — Liv eats brain on clams, Clams Casino style
Comic Panel Titles
Title Meaning
- Max Wager – A spin on the fictional drink in the show, Max Rager, while also hinting at the person whose brain Liv eats, Harry Cole, who was a big gambler and constantly put wagers down at bookies.
Trivia
- The chapter title, "Omelette You Finish", is a reference to the inside joke about Kanye West opening up a Breakfast Bar named, "Omelette You Finish."
- This episode marks the first physical appearance of the character Stacey Boss, played by Eddie Jemison. The character was mentioned numerous times beforehand in the series, but never seen until now.
- The chapter title, "Let's Talk About Sex, Zombie", is a reference to the song by music band, Salt-N-Pepa, "Let's Talk About Sex".
- The chapter title, "Angus Beef", is a reference to the beef corporation, "Certified Angus Beef".
Soundtrack
- "Hold On" – Gary Clark Jr.
- "Follow You Down" – Lights
- "All The Pretty Girls" – Kaleo
- "I'm In The Mood For Love (Remastered)" - Julie London
- "The Blue Danube" – Johann Strauss II
- "Symphony No. 3 in F major, Op. 90: III. Poco allegretto" – Johannes Brahms
- "Seven Fantasies, Op. 116: IV. Intermezzo in E major" – Johannes Brahms
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