Congratulations to those of you who predicted that Max Rager would be making a comeback five weeks ago. You were right! As we move into iZombie’s home stretch, the focus now on the season’s central arc. This episode expertly blended the procedural and serial elements of the series, since the murder-of-the-week was directly related to the 100% evil corporation responsible for Liv’s ex-sorority sister’s death back in episode five. Add to that Liv grieving over a definitely dead Lowell and you have the makings for a stellar episode of iZombie!
First off, we can take some time to mourn Lowell. I know I mentioned that there might be hope that he wasn’t actually dead last week, but alas, he is dead. It’s a crushing blow to Liv, especially once the cops accuse her of murdering him. The positive aspect of Suzuki saving Liv from incarceration is that it puts her and Ravi on his tail. Unfortunately, that is something that will have to wait another week because this episode is all about Liv’s grieving process.
What better way to grieve than to eat the brain of an alcoholic? That alcoholic also happens to be Rebecca Hinton, the journalist Major was working with back in episode seven to raise awareness about the missing skater kids. The fact that I’ve already had to reference three previous episodes of iZombie is a good thing in that it means the show is focusing on its serial elements more than ever before. Anyway, Rebecca’s death was directly linked to Max Rager, who had her killed for working on a story about how their energy drink drove people into homicidal rages.
It turns out that this accusation was very much true, and she had a source who revealed himself to be a tall skinny guy named Sebastian Meyer. The eventual reveal that Sebastian was actually a hitman for Max Rager was a clever one, as was the reveal that the actual source was the Max Rager CEO’s assistant. What truly made the episode was that climax on the boat, though. After Sebastian licked Liv’s blood, it was clear he was going to be a zombie, but that didn’t make Liv beating the shit out of him and driving over him with the boat any less effective.
While that final cliffhanger was predictable, it sets up what could be a pretty incredible final three episodes. Not only does Liv have to deal with Blaine and his zombie army, but now she has to deal with Max Rager and zombie Sebastian. In fact, Blaine could just as easily be working with Max Rager. Who knows? What we do know is that Liv is finally ready to kill Blaine, and seeing her finally be able to cry over Lowell’s body was incredibly difficult to watch, but the fact that iZombie can wring that kind of emotion out of you ten episodes in is a testament to its strength as a series.
Poor Major, though. After Clive found Julien in the gym unscathed, he insinuated that Major may be mentally ill. And Major believed him! Not to sound like a broken record, but I love Major. He is easily one of the best parts of the series and gives it a lot of its heart. It’s a pretty awful move on Liv’s part to not just tell him the truth, but I’ll blame that avoidance this week on Rebecca’s brain.
Seeing Major commit himself to a mental institution was not easy, but thank God he’s finally been clued in to the zombie outbreak by Scott E. (not Scotty). My bet is Major will find out about Liv on his own as a opposed to Liv just telling him, which won’t be good. Liv keeping him in the dark is my main issue with iZombie at this point, but here’s hoping the next episode remedies that and the show doesn’t wait until the finale to reveal the truth to him
iZombie delivered one of its best (and most depressing) episodes yet with “Mr. Berserk.” Everything is finally starting to come together as more and more characters are starting to connect the dots of Blaine’s plan. Here’s hoping the final three episodes can match this one!
Random Notes
- This Week’s Chapter Titles: Blood On Your Hands; The Candy Man Can; Start Spreadin’ the News; Playing Dead; Three Sheets To The Wind; Third Degree At The Fourth Estate; Max Rampager. I’m thinking “The Candy Man Can” is the winner here.
- Zombie Power of the Week: Alcoholism!
- Liv thinks Major is safe while he’s in the mental institution. I think I screamed at my TV at this point. TELL HIM LIV.
- “How’s zombie rat?” -Just a tidbit of your everyday iZombie dialogue.
- Stephen Weber is the head of Max Rager.
- “Live to the max Ms. Moore! Just do it somewhere else.” Yay puns!
- “You’re drunk!” “You’re drunk.” -Drunk Liv may be my favorite Liv.
- That boat scene looked much better than Ringer’s infamously terrible green-screened boat scene. Glad to see the CW budgets have gone up since then.
- Really hoping the contents of that flash drive are more interesting than the contents of the one on Bates Motel.
- “This city has a zombie problem.” -You ain’t just whistlin’ dixie Scott E.