Blaine DeBeers (né McDonough) (born April 5, 1984) is a main character of iZombie. Blaine was a zombie in Season 1, but was temporarily cured in Season 2 of the series. Blaine is portrayed by David Anders. He is the zombie who turned Liv, and he ran the underground brain-delivery service in Seattle out of the butcher shop Meat Cute. Now that he's human again, Blaine runs Shady Plots funeral home that doubles as a cover for his continued brain harvesting and selling activity. Blaine briefly reverted back to zombie form before injecting himself with Ravi's second attempt at a zombie cure, which resulted in retrograde amnesia. Horrified by his past crimes, he has become a love interest to Peyton as well as an uneasy ally to her friends. It is eventually revealed Blaine's amnesia was only temporary, and that he feigned his memory loss in an attempt at achieving both a fresh start and happiness.
Early Life
Having grown up wealthy with his conniving and callous father, Blaine was abused and neglected child whose only source of affection was his grandfather. His mother committed suicide with his father's Beretta pistol, something Blaine's father did nothing to prevent despite the warning signs. Following his mother's death he was raised by his father's housekeeper, Frieda Bader. Bader frequently abused Blaine; beating, forcing him to clean the kitchen floor with his tongue after tracking in mud, locking him in a dog crate, and having his pet dog killed.
Growing up, Blaine was a fan of musician Kurt Cobain, following his career from his band Fecal Matter to Nirvana. Blaine was thirteen years old when his idol committed suicide, in the same manner of his mother. This is when Blaine considered his childhood to have ended.
When his father had his grandfather institutionalized to seize his company, he vowed revenge, a quest he continues to pursue.
After leaving Wharton, which he was only able to attend because of his father's influence, he pursued several get-rich-quick schemes. After a weeks of hiding his hatred for his father, he asked Angus to provide startup capital for a new widget he was developing. When the product flopped, Angus cut his son off financially; inadvertently leading Blaine down the path to start selling drugs for Mr. Boss. During his employment he pushed drugs in Seattle's Chinatown, and came up with a plan to have a pair of thugs get false Blue Cobra tattoos and assault a police officer. This led to the police cracking down upon the Blue Cobras, thereby eliminating Boss' competition and allowing Blaine to ascend through his ranks.
Blaine attended the same boat party as Olivia Moore, offering a new designer drug called "Utopium". He was the one who scratched Liv during the "zombie feeding frenzy", thereby turning her into a Zombie.
Season One
In Pilot, he appears in one of Liv's visions chasing the person whose memories she is seeing.
In Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?, Blaine notices that people are looking for him when he sees a sketch of himself. So he shows up at the morgue and confronts Liv about why she was looking for him. They both exchange information and experiences on being zombies and he lets Ravi run tests on him. He convinces her to bring him brains from the morgue to him but never gets them when he's spotted with dealers. Blaine later seduces a woman and turns her into a zombie after sleeping together, he shows up the next morning with a brain and an offer for 25 thousand dollars a month in exchange for him getting her the brains she needs.
In The Exterminator, Blaine shows up at the morgue and confronts Liv about why she didn't show up at the Brain Exchange. Liv tells him that she is done working with Blaine and she can't trust him again.
In Liv and Let Clive, Blaine is in bed with Jackie. They then get spray tans together. Blaine sets up a Brains Operation at a place called Meat Cute. He turned a Chef so she can make brain meals.
In Virtual Reality Bites, At Meat Cute, Blaine gets a call from Jackie telling him her delivery never came. Blaine offers to bring her something, but she declines. Later, Clive shows up at Meat Cute asking Blaine if he saw his dead Delivery boy. Blaine says he doesn't recognize him. Clive hears a loud bang and Blaine tries to lure him to the back but is interrupted by a phone call. Blaine goes to Jackie's and tells her about the dead delivery boy. Blaine then kills Jackie with a Drill. At Meat Cute, Liv's Mom, Eva, arrives to pick up an application for Evan.
In Dead Air, Suzuki meets with Blaine to tell him that he can't be a part of Blaine's operation anymore. They then speak briefly about Liv. Blaine goes to Lowell's to give him brains.
In Patriot Brains, Blaine passes Liv in the elevator to Lowell's. Later, Blaine goes to Lowell's. Blaine and Lowell talk and Blaine gets a call. Lowell stabs Blaine in the arm and Blaine shoots Lowell in the head.
In Astroburger, Blaine talks to Suzuki when he goes to pick up his food. Then they start talking about Liv and Lowell's relationship and about Lowell's death. Later, Blaine kidnapped the Astronaut Alan York. Blaine goes to the morgue to check on how the cure is going. Liv asks Blaine about Scott E. Blaine and Julien go to Scott's place to burn his place. Blaine and Julien then go back to Meat Cute not knowing that Major is in the trunk. Blaine has his men pack up Alan York's Brains for his wealthy clients. Luta runs in and tells him that the brains are missing. Blaine stabs Luta in the neck and tells him to get up because he has work to do.
In Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat, Evan goes to Meat Cute to give his application. When Blaine realizes that Evan is Liv's brother he hires him.
In Blaine's World, Julien tells Blaine that he couldn't find anything from Major's car. Blaine goes to the freezer to try to convince Major to give up the brains but he doesn't. Blaine threatens Major with torture until he reveals Liv's contact information. Blaine calls Liv to offer her a deal, Major for the astronaut brains. Blaine and Liv exchanged at the deal but Blaine substituted someone else instead of Major. Blaine returns to Meat Cute to find most of his staff dead and then he stabs Major in the stomach. Liv arrives at Meat Cute and threatens Blaine but she can't kill him because he is the only one keeping all of Seattle's zombies fed. She decides that she will cure him.
Season Two
In Grumpy Old Liv, Blaine is working as a funeral director at Shady Plots Funeral Home. When Liv visits the funeral home, Blaine sensed that she was there. Blaine tells Liv he didn't see Major's name on the list of dead at Meat Cute and believes that Liv turned Major into a Zombie. After Liv is gone, Blaine goes downstairs to where his men is unloading a crate of utopium. Blaine goes to Don E's House to find out how he cut the utopium at the boat party. Don E tells Blaine he knows who cut the utopium.
In Zombie Bro,
In Even Cowgirls Get the Black and Blues,
In Max Wager,
In Abra Cadaver,
In Cape Town,
In Method Head,
In Fifty Shades of Grey Matter, Dale found out how Blaine's name/alias came to, it was from 'Julien Deweed' whom he met when he sold beer and pot to. His name means "Blaine's got da beers".
In Physician, Heal Thy Selfie,
In The Whopper,
In Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind, under Mr. Boss realization that Blaine is the one stealing Utopium customers, he had Blaine kidnapped and brought to an already dug grave, where he slit his throat and left Blaine to die. Later in the episode, Blaine emerges from the grave.
In He Blinded Me... With Science,
In Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be,
In Dead Beat,
In Salivation Army,
Season 3
Personality
Blaine shows a complete lack of remorse for creating zombies. With a very astute mind for business, he sees them as only new customers and the rich ones as endless vats of money.
While initially Blaine asks Ravi to cure him (Season 1, Episode 2), he enjoys being a zombie, seeing as it has improved his stance in the world.
Initially, he was shown not to have any true feelings of companionship, even when with Jackie. He also treats those he works with at Meat Cute as inferiors. However, it was revealed that he kept in touch with Scott E after the boat party massacre, visiting his friend at the mental hospital and challenging him to games of chess. It is possible Blaine felt a kinship with Scott, as they were both boat party survivors, and both had abusive upbringings.
While Blaine initially meant to manipulate Peyton Charles to pursue a case against Mr. Boss, the two grew close and Blaine appeared to have gained genuine affection for her. When she announced her plan to leave the District Attorney's office, Blaine urged her not to quit; not for the sake of his plans nor jailing Boss, but because he wasn't worth throwing away what she worked so hard to earn. When Peyton ended their fling, Blaine actually appeared to be genuinely upset, but obeyed her wishes and left her be.
Blaine is power-hungry and greedy, as shown by his past career choice as a drug dealer and current job as leader of the zombie underworld.
He is portrayed as cunning and manipulative. He manages to start a business foundation while taming the zombie outbreak. He is even shown to be charming, when he wants to be, as he seduces both Jackie and Peyton while working his way around many others; even fooling Clive Babineaux and Dale Bozzio during their respective first meetings.
Physical Description
Blaine has short, white/platinum blonde hair and pale skin. Mid-Season 1, courtesy of Jackie, he dons a spray tan.
After he is injected with Ravi's cure, Blaine hires a makeup artist to powder his skin and keep up the illusion he is a zombie while meeting with clients.
Powers and Abilities
(As a zombie)
- Pseudo-Immortality: Being trapped in a paradox between life and death, Blaine does not belong to both and thereby unfettered with the limitations of either (i.e. fatality).
- "Zombie Mode": When in danger or in the midst of a violent confrontation, Blaine's zombie characteristics fully surface, causing his eyes to turn into those of a zombie's and allowing him to perform incredible feats.
- Enhanced Strength/Agility: When in "full-on zombie mode", Blaine's physical strength and speed are enhanced.
(First time cured human)
- Zombie Sense: A side-effect of the cure that results in raised blood pressure and hair to stand on end whenever near an unfriendly zombie.
Weaknesses
(As a zombie)
- Hunger for Brains: Since he is a zombie, he must feed on brains at least once a month to keep his humanity and survive, otherwise he becomes "dumber" and more like a traditional zombie.
- Adrenaline: A zombie's abilities are triggered by adrenaline, and once in such a state, it it difficult to control or to hide him.
- Amnesia (formerly): After injecting himself with Ravi's second attempted cure, Blaine starts suffering from progressive amnesia. Initially mistaking Don E. for his late twin brother, he has no memory of leaving four voicemails on Peyton's phone only hours after he did so. However, this loss of memory was discovered to be only temporary.
Relationships
- Olivia Moore: Enemy-turned-unwilling-ally. She cured him initially.
- Jackie: Client he had relations with. He killed her when she lost control and killed a Meat Cute delivery boy.
- Lowell Tracey: Client-turned-assailant-turned-victim.
- Peyton Charles: Lawyer/One-Night Stand prior to amnesia. Girlfriend (briefly) post amnesia. Peyton fell for him while working a case against Stacey Boss, resulting in a sexual encounter prior to her learning the truth about him. The two grew closer after Blaine's amnesia, with Peyton realizing he was no longer the same man she knew following her rescue from Stacey Boss' henchmen. As of 3x04, Peyton initiated a physical relationship with Blaine and they remained a couple until 3x06, when Blaine confessed his memory loss was only temporary.
- Angus McDonough: Father and enemy
- Mr. Boss: Former Employer
- Drake Holloway: Mole in Boss' organization
- Major Lilywhite: Enemy-turned-uneasy-ally. Was the first to learn Major was the Chaos Killer, and later helped him track down Natalie. Despite their prior history, Major seemed to show understanding for Blaine's hesitance in regards to Ravi's memory serum.
- Ravi Chakrabarti: Uneasy Ally
- Julien Dupont: Henchman
- Cissie: Chef/Henchwoman
- Chief: Henchman
- Don E.: Henchman-turned-usurper-turned-business partner
- Scott E.: Past associate
- Candy Baker: Makeup artist/one-night stand
- Luta: Henchman
Appearances: 27/32
Season 1: 10/13
- Pilot
- Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?
- The Exterminator
- Liv and Let Clive
- Virtual Reality Bites
- Dead Air
- Patriot Brains
- Astroburger
- Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat
- Blaine's World
Season 2: 17/19
- Grumpy Old Liv
- Zombie Bro
- Even Cowgirls Get the Black and Blues
- Love & Basketball
- Max Wager
- Abra Cadaver
- Cape Town
- Method Head
- Fifty Shades of Grey Matter
- Physician, Heal Thy Selfie
- The Whopper
- Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind
- He Blinded Me... With Science
- Pour Some Sugar, Zombie
- Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be
- Dead Beat
- Salivation Army
Season 3: TBA/13
Trivia
- His birth name, Blaine McDonough, is a reference to the character of the same name from the film Pretty In Pink; albeit spelled differently.
- He is the one who transformed Liv into a zombie, only for Liv to be the one to eventually cure him.
- He is the first human zombie to be cured.
- He is also the first cured zombie to become a zombie again and then cured again, and turned back into a zombie again.
- He killed the fourth man to walk on the moon, Alan York, in order to sell his brain to a client.
- Suggested "raging out" as the term for what Liv calls "full-on zombie mode" in Episode 2.
- Told Liv he gets his brains by grave-robbing, which was a lie, as he really got his brains from abducting street kids and killing them. His operation was destroyed in the Season 1 finale by Major.
- Blaine has been compared to the Buffy: The Vampire slayer anti-hero Spike, as both were ruthless villains and killers when they first appeared in the show.[1][2][3][4] Coincidentally, Anders consulted Spike's portrayer, James Marsters, prior to bleaching his hair for the role.[5]
Gallery
- ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/16/izombie-review
- ↑ https://www.accesshollywood.com/articles/izombie-qa-david-anders-on-blaine-liv-eating-fake-brains-160691/
- ↑ http://www.ibtimes.com/izombie-season-1-spoilers-6-things-we-learned-about-new-cw-show-sxsw-1848946
- ↑ http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-izombie-finale-david-anders-20150604-story.html
- ↑ http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/17/david-anders-izombie