Well that was certainly a jam-packed episode. For the first time this season, the mystery-of-the-week was put on the backburner and iZombie spent a majority of the episode focusing on advancing many different subplots.

We have now reached the midpoint of the season, and while there haven’t been any bad episodes if iZombie yet this year (even a mediocre one is better than most things on the air nowadays), it was getting worrisome that so much screen time was being devoted to the aforementioned mysteries-of-the-week. “Max Wager” assuaged any worries I may have had about the season.

First up, we have the mysterious Mr. Stacey Boss (whose name will never stop being funny). His reveal in the barbershop was a little unorthodox in that it wasn’t exactly a gasp-worthy reveal, but Eddie Jemison was able to come across as plenty menacing. This was never more apparent than in his confrontation with Peyton in her office. They guy just waltzed right into her office, messed with her crime board and flat-out threatened her (er, provided her an opportunity) in the place where she works.

Mr. Boss just has two brief scenes in “Max Wager,” but he has already established himself as a force to be reckoned with. Vaughn du Clark has faded into the background this season and Blaine hasn’t exactly been present for the majority of the first five episodes. iZombie was missing a truly evil antagonist, and Mr. Boss may just fit the bill.

Speaking of Blaine, he received a surprise of his own this week when his father Angus attempted to take over his brain business. Blaine has been a strong, if somewhat bratty, villain for iZombie, but he’s been pushed aside this season to the point of even being absent from one episode. “Max Wager” not only provides a conflict for Blaine in Angus (who is hastily disposed of by Major in the episode’s closing moments), but it also gives him a nice conversation with Liv about being a zombie vs. being a human. It wasn’t a scene that was relevant to the overarching plot, but it was a nice little peek into Blaine’s brain.

What was a little surprising was Blaine murdering his own grandfather just to get back at his father. Blaine is a great villain, but we haven’t seen a lot of humanity from him over the past 18 episodes. David Anders gets a brief moment tonight where he is crying over his grandfather’s now-brainless corpse that is a nice touch for the character.

Major was all sunshine and rainbows this week, wasn’t he? He and Liv were really testing the boundaries of their relationship, and while it was a bummer when Ravi informed them that the zombie virus could penetrate any and all condoms (which, okay), it was nice to see the two actually be romantic with each other. Major still has that little problem with Detective Bozzio looking into the missing rich zombies men, but he also had a little trick up his sleeve. The reveal that A) Angus was next on his list and B) he was secretly storing the zombies he was supposed to be murdering in a freezer was the best “Go Major!” moment iZombie has had in a while.

Liv and Major’s reunion over the past two episodes has been a real treat to watch, especially after so many episodes of Major giving her the cold shoulder. Their Skype strip poker scene was adorable and it would be welcome to get more scenes like that between them. We were never able to see what they were like as a couple outside of the first scene from the pilot, and now that we can see them actually be a couple (sort of), we have a new insight into their relationship.

The mystery-of-the-week was a continuation of last week’s basketball mystery. Harry Cole, the man with the gambling problem from last week was gunned down on the courthouse steps. The perpetrator revealed to be a famous basketball player named Calvin Owens (who is actually real former basketball player Rick Fox). Peyton ended up making a deal with him, which means that we could be seeing more of him in future episodes. Cole’s gambling man’s brain made Liv (you guessed it) addicted to gambling this week. It was refreshing to see her gambling pay off though. Rather than have her lose a bunch of money, she actually won quite a bit and it put her in the path of Mr. Boss.

“Max Wager” was iZombie’s best episode of the season so far, and set up what could be a potentially fantastic second half of the season (and because it’s iZombie, I expect nothing less).

Random Notes

• Chapter Titles of the Week: Omelette You Finish; Let’s Talk About Sex, Zom-Bie; Angus Beef; Magnum, P.I.; Who’s the Boss?; Shambler Gambler; Risky Business.
• Brain Recipe of the Week: Brain-Stuffed Clams!
• Zombie Power of the Week: Gambling Addiction!
• In case you couldn’t tell, I really liked this episode, hypothetically…
• I confess, I really thought Angus was going to end up being Mr Boss. Way to prove me wrong iZombie!
• Eddie Jemison, who plays Mr. Boss, is famous for his role in the Ocean’s 11 trilogy, but I know him as stalker-ish yet sweet Ogie in the absolutely fantastic movie Waitress. It was quite surreal to see him as this type of character.
• “Body snatchers?” -Peyton, on Major’s out-of-character sunny disposition.
• We now have three bad guys on iZombie (four if you count Angus). Is it too much to hope for a villainess in the future? I know we have Gilda, but she’s more like Vaughn du Clark’s henchwoman.
• Speaking of, no Gilda this week. Boo.
• “Fabulous PPO health insurance that pays for contact lenses and teeth whitening!” -Mr. Boss, who is somehow able to make that line sound all scary and threatening.
• Uh…why weren’t we allowed to see Major in that g-string? I demand pictures Rob Thomas.
• Clive thinks Liv just sits on the computer to get a few tidbits of sports knowledge. Alright.
• I have no idea what happens next week, but it’s called “Abra Cadaver” so I can only assume Liv eats the brain of a magician.