This week, iZombie ignored the big revelation at the end of last week’s episode in favor of a mostly procedural episode. Again though, a by-the-numbers episode of iZombie is still better than most of what’s on television nowadays. Let’s dive right in.
The mystery of the week went a little bit darker than the mysteries from previous weeks. A pregnant woman named Emily Sparrow was murdered and by the episode’s end it is revealed that a cult started by two animal control employees. Cults are nothing new, but what was unique about them was that they began the cult and were the only members. They had been kidnapping girls and sacrificing them to their god(?) for years. It was pretty creepy stuff, and one of the stronger mysteries that iZombie has produced.
It’s easy to forget that iZombie is a horror comedy series, since there is so much more comedy involved than actual horror. It is doubtful we’ve seen how dark the series can get, but watching Lieutenant Suzuki murder both of the culprits as opposed to simply arresting them was a bold move. Suzuki went “full on zombie mode” for a little while after getting shot (and he healed himself!). It’s only a matter of time before he slips up and reveals himself to Liv and Babinaux.
Something we got this week that iZombie has been sorely lacking is more interaction between Liv and her family. After eating Emily’s brain, Liv began to display maternal instincts. While it wasn’t as entertaining as some of her previous brain traits, it did allow her to bond more with her mother. This has been one of my only issues with the show. We’ve spent so much time with Liv, Ravi, Clive and even Major (who I’ll get to in a minute), but barely any time with her family. Allowing Liv to relate to her mother allows us to as well. Ideally, iZombie will integrate her family more into the the main storyline (something I thought would happen after last week’s ending), but we’ll jsut have to wait and see.
The other major happening this week was with…Major (sorry). He’s in all sorts of trouble this week, isn’t he? First, he teams up with Rebecca Hinton, a journalist and performs a three-way calling attack on Babinaux. This puts him on the outs with the police force. So when he actually tries to catch Julian (Blaine’s henchman) by breaking into his car for evidence, he ends up arrested. To top things off, the cops have him beat up in prison. I admit, I didn’t think I would be caring so much about Major in this show (remember how absent he was from the pilot?), but I’ve really started to like him. I guess you could say I’ve grown accustomed to his face.
Liv’s scenes with Lowell continues to be three for three this week as they try their hand at dating again. Unfortunately, he has eaten a gay brain and she is acting all motherly, so it turns into more of a hang-out session. This proves to be immensely entertaining. It’s a bit of a conundrum Liv and Lowell (Livell? Lowve?) are in: they can never truly be themselves around each other, cursed with always having a different personality each day. It can’t be easy, and it’s bound to cause some problems down the road, but I’m enjoying the levity of the situation as it stands. Plus, Rose McIver and Bradley James have great chemistry.
My review of “Maternity Liv” may come across as more positive than what my score suggests, but that’s only because it seemed to be a wheel-spinning episode, and that can be very annoying for a show with just 13 episodes in a season. There were plenty of great moments, both comedic and dramatic, but none of it (except for Liv’s relationship development with her mother and Major’s arc) seemed connected to the main plot of the season. Hopefully next week’s episode pick up where last week’s left off.
Random Notes
- Chapter Titles This Week: Babe In The Woods, The Mother Lobe, Anyone Can Be A Father, It’s A Living, Missed Signals, Car Trouble, Two Birds One Stone
- Zombie Power of the Week: Maternal Instincts!
- “I’ve created a monster.” “Yeah, someone beat you to the punch on that.” -I’m ready for Babinaux to find out about Liv. What about you guys?
- The British banter between Ravi and Lowell was incredibly entertaining.
- “I can’t give you the girlfriend experience.” “I don’t think that means what you think it means.” -Clueless Ravi is hilarious!
- Eva gives Evan an application for the Meat Cute. Guess that’ll happen next week.
- Couldn’t the cops just take the brain in Julian’s lunchbox and test it to see if it was human? That seems like something they could do…
- “Look Beetlejuice: I don’t remember saying your name three times.” -This one made me snort a little bit.
- So….one of Ravi’s rats became a zombie, ate all the other rats and escaped. That can’t be good, right?
- Liv becomes a sexpert next week!