Dr. Mallory Practíce

> "*The pitfall of modern science is its focus on regulations in the face of pure genius. Much like your FCC, if I'm not mistaken.*"
> ― Dr. Mallory Practíce
>
>

Dr. Mallory Practíce is a virologist and a former associate of Joey's. She's also an ex-convict and the creator of the S.H.O.T. virus.

## Personality

Dr. Practíce seems to have a very loose grip on reality. She doesn't bother with social norms, as shown when she responds to the question "what kind of research do you do," with "Recently I created a disease so powerful it could wipe out humanity overnight." Also, Practíce often underreacts to potentially devastating situations, approaching problems from a casual, academic perspective.

She holds a deep contempt for the scientific community, mainly for their rejection of her use of human testing. She is shown to think very highly of herself, referring to herself as a "genius." She claims that her dream is to cure every known and unknown disease, and constantly boasts about having won a "Fauxbel Prize," which may or may not be a real award. She is very insistent that people pronounce her name correctly (pracTEES rather than pracTISS).

## History

### Background

According to Joey, at some undetermined point in the past, he and Dr. Practíce were "buddies." While the exact nature of their relationship is unknown, it seems likely that it somehow involved Joey's line of work, as Practíce ended up incarcerated, only being released a year before the events of "60 Minutes Later." After her release, she began pursuing her career as a virologist. Whether she had any medical or scientific experience *before* her incarceration is unclear. During this period, Practíce created S.H.O.T.

### The Outbreak

Practíce wrestles with an infected Tori.

At the start of "60 Minutes Later," Joey recommends Practíce as a potential guest, as their original guest, Robert Downey Jr. Jr., could no longer make it to set. Jerry Lee presumably reaches out to Practíce, and she arrives on set with a briefcase in tow. Joey greets her, and attempts to take her briefcase. Before he can take it, she pulls it away, referring to it as her "life's work as a medical researcher." Jerry Lee tells Jameson to take the briefcase to his office, which Practíce allows.

During her interview, Practíce tells Renée and Ariel about S.H.O.T. and its symptoms. When Ariel and Tori are infected, Practíce flees with the rest of the crew. She ends up with Jerry Lee in his office, where she rambles about possibly losing her Fauxbel while Jerry Lee activates the station's lockdown procedure.

The next time we see the two, her tone has changed. Practíce calmly explains how this is an opportunity for her to extract and examine DNA from a S.H.O.T.-infected human, something she couldn't normally do, as the Ethics Committee forbid her to use human test subjects. Ignoring Jerry Lee's accusations of insanity, she tells him about the cure in her briefcase, then runs off.

Later, the crew finds Practíce holding off a zombified Tori. The doctor asks them for their help in extracting a saliva sample from the infected crewmember. The crew flees, pursued by a zombified Ariel, but Evan is caught and infected. Newly zombified, he attacks Practíce from the side.

Later on, Jameson, Chris, and Renée see Practíce, infected, carrying her briefcase. She slides it across the floor, before shambling off. Towards the end of the episode, when only Jameson and Chris remain, we see infected Practíce again as she rises up behind the two and grabs their shoulders.

### The Aftermath

After the virus wears off, Practíce is seen sitting with the rest of the crew in the War Room. She begins explaining what made the virus self-destruct, but stops after she realizes no-one wants to hear it. She receives a phone call and walks off. Once she hangs up, Joey tries to give her a pep-talk, but she interrupts to inform him, matter-of-factly, that there are people downstairs waiting to arrest her. Joey gives her some parting words of comfort, and she exits.

## Relationships

Joey gives Dr. Practíce a pep-talk.

**Joey:** Joey and Practíce go back aways, although the exact nature of their relationship is unknown. We do know, however, that she "owes him a lot of favors." Practíce acts very friendly towards Joey, smiling when he greets her and stopping to listen to his admittedly lackluster pep-talk. She's also the only character in the season to ever refer to him by his real name, Joseph. As for Joey, while he seems a little exasperated with her strange mannerisms towards the start of the episode, he's the only one who's concerned for her well-being at the end.

## Facts and Trivia

* Jessie Curneal was cast in the role of Dr. Practíce only a few days before the shoot.
* When Practíce tells Joey about her impending arrest, she says that there are people downstairs from "the FBI, the CIA, the TSA, and the ETC." The ETC is not a real government organization, and is in fact a reference to "etc" or "et cetera."
* Believe it or not, Dr. Practíce's name is also a reference: if you rearrange the letters of Mallory Practice, you get Correctly Impala, a clear reference to Tame Impala's most recent single at the time, Patience, as the best way to do something correctly is to be patient.
* Also, her name is literally Malpractice.