iZombie aired the weakest of its first three episodes tonight, but that by no means makes it a bad episode of television. It just didn’t live up to the bar the first two episodes have already set. Let’s dive right in and dissect it.
Much like the first two episodes before it, the mystery of the week was the weakest part of the episode. One of the (many) strengths of Veronica Mars, Rob Thomas’ other show, was that the case of the week was almost equally as compelling as the season-long arc. Unfortunately, that has not been the case with iZombie. I’m very invested in Liv and all of the people around her. The mythology is fascinating. But each case of the week has been kind of bland.
One bright spot of these cases is that we get scenes with Liv and Babinaux together. Their banter makes these cases somewhat more tolerable. If it sounds like I’m bitching, I’m really not. The cases aren’t terrible. They’re just the one weak spot of a mostly fantastic show. The case this week was about a man trying to sell his company to pay off some debts, only to be double-crossed by his partner. It’s about as interesting and original as it sounds.
One other bright spot from the cases is that we always get a new personality for Liv once she eats another brain. While the new abilities this week weren’t as amusing as her flirtatious scenes last week, they were definitely interesting. Liv eats the brains of a man with antisocial personality disorder, so while she gets the unique knowledge of tons of useless trivia, she has no empathy whatsoever. It’s a more dramatic turn for the show but it also gives us the best moments, with Liv actually feeling like a dead person (or how she believes a dead person should feel).
The other major development t his week was the discovery of Marcy (Liv’s potential nemesis), now reduced to a “Romero Zombie” in a hole. Ravi feeds her a brain in an attempt to see if it can bring back some of her intelligence. This doesn’t work, and he later falls in the hole with her. We again get to see live go into “full on zombie mode” and bash Marcy’s skull in. I gotta say, I was kind of hoping Liv would get to have Marcy as a fellow zombie friend. I’m a little bummed that’s not the case but I can understand why they did it. Liv’s “murder” of Marcy was pretty brutal, though.
Peyton also confronted Liv about her lack of emotion when she showed her a video of Major and his new girlfriend on Facebook. Of course, Liv feels nothing due to eating a sociopath’s brain, but she finally gets her moment (and shares it with Peyton) when she eats a new brain at the end of the episode. This allows her to feel all of the hurt and loss that she was unable to feel. It’s a great moment for Rose McIver, and for Liv as a character. I also liked the moment of Liv debating to eat more of the sociopath’s brain so she could continue on living without feelings. Needless to say, I’m glad she decided to throw it in the garbage disposal.
Major has also been a problem with the series in the sense that he has little to no presence (at least compared to everything that is going on around him). This doesn’t really change this week, other than the fact that he introduces us to the kid (Jerome) who Blaine supposedly kills in the end of the episode.
Speaking of Blaine, he still seems to be building his zombie army, with the final scene of the episode showing him lead Jerome to his doom. His story was mostly put on the backburner, so I assume we’ll see more of him next week. Also, Liv pretty much admits to him that she still believes he’s a murderer, so I doubt he’ll be enlisting her help any time soon.
What did you all think of tonight’s iZombie? Did you like it more than I did or do you agree that it’s the weakest of the first three episodes? Let me know in the comments!
Random Notes
- I noticed in the credits that Aly Michalka is a “Guest Star.” Seems odd that she’s not a series regular. Do you think they’ll kill her off?
- “I’m hungry. Are you hungry?” – Liv to Ravi, as she is performing an autopsy.
- “Two’s company. Three’s a horde.” – Liv to Ravi, about investigating the third zombie (Marcy) in the hole.
- “Son of a bitch I ate the brain of a sociopath!” – Liv, on eating the brain of a sociopath.
- “She looks like a melted candle.” – Liv, on Marcy’s appearance.
- In case you couldn’t tell, Liv had the best lines of the episode.
- Liv and Babinaux’s trivia team name is “Piggy and the Brain.”
- She loses the previous brain’s abilities once she eats a new brain! Glad this little bit of mythology was cleared up.
- Not a lot of creative chapter titles this week, but out of “Mistrial and Error,” “Friends in Low Places” and “Crunch Time” I’d probably have to go to “Mistrial and Error.”