There was so much forward momentum on iZombie this week! Liv and Peyton made up, Major admitted he needed help and Clive had something to do besides just work on a case and look dumb for not knowing Liv is a zombie. It was quite a refreshing turn after last week’s somewhat disappointing episode.
First, let’s talk about Major. iZombie has been a victim of that oft-featured TV trope where characters keep secrets from each other and it becomes a test of the audience’s patience (see the aforementioned Clive comment) to see when they finally come out. Having Major admit his drug problem to Liv after only 3 episodes seems like the show’s way of saying “thank you for watching.” Granted, we didn’t actually hear Major confess to Liv, but hearing him admit to her that he needed help was touching and featured a nice acting moment from Rose McIver and Robert Buckley. Their kiss at the end of the scene was a nice touch, as well.
Major also had to contend with Ravi this week, who finally put him in his place. Major’s behavior has clearly been a little off, and while it’s somewhat understandable that Ravi and Liv would assume it was because he was steal dealing with the fallout from the Season 1 finale, it’s less believable that not one of his friends would comment on his increasingly erratic behavior. The moment when Ravi confronted Major was long overdue. All it took was Major losing the dog (whom Ravi rather hilariously named “Minor”) for Ravi to snap.
Peyton’s return last week wasn’t all for naught. Rather than spend the entire episode making up with Liv, she was directly involved in the utopium case (and even ended up meeting Blaine!). Not that seeing her make up with Liv wasn’t great. It was, but Peyton was often relegated to the “best friend” role last season (much like how we all thought Major would just be “the boyfriend,” boy how wrong we all were with that one), so it’s refreshing to see her playing a part in the major season arc.
Speaking of Blaine, he had his own little B-story this week as he hunted down the man who sold the utopium at the boat party from the pilot. It was pretty brutal, and it’s a little surprising that the guy didn’t just tell them what he cut the utopium with after being turned into a zombie, but that will probably change next week when his brain cravings really start to take over.
What was the most surprising about Blaine this week is that he crossed paths with Peyton. Since he’s intent on becoming the new drug lord of Seattle, it serves his best interest to have Stacey Boss (I still can’t get over the fact that his name is Mr. Boss) incarcerated. Knowing that, he goest straight to Peyton to give her all the information he knows on him in exchange for immunity for his crimes. Not much came from that character interaction this week, but it is clearly going to lead to some problems in the future. How funny was it when Peyton told Liv she met a guy she thought she would like? Not all zombies (or zombie-looking people, in Blaine’s case) like each other, Peyton! Also, why would Peyton even consider trying to hook Liv up with someone she knows has been involved in a drug ring?
The case of the week wasn’t particularly memorable. A waitress at a country western bar was strangled and it turned out that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, being murdered by a criminal who was tied into a bigger case being investigated by the police department. Overall, the amount of screen time devoted to the case seemed a little unnecessary, but the bait and switch reveal of the murderer was a decent moment of surprise.
While the cowgirl aspects of “Even Cowgirls Get the Black and Blues” were downplayed in this episode (with the exception of that admittedly fantastic musical number), it proved to be one of the stronger episodes of the season, with plenty of emotional payoffs and a great setup for future episodes.
Random Notes
- Sorry for being so late with this one. I was attending the finale party for the From Dusk Till Dawn series when this episode aired. I’ll be on time next week!
- Chapter Titles of the Week: Weapons of Glass Destruction; Murder She Watched; Pawn of the Dead; A Hands-On Approach; Seattle PDA; Ground Control to Major; Chekhov’s Gun;
- Brain Recipe of the Week: Southern-Fried Brains with Sriracha!
- When Minor escaped from the house, he went back to the same park where Major murdered his owner. I think I almost cried at that revelation.
- “Well, to be fair you did just see me stab someone in the head.” -At least Liv understands.
- Remember when Liv had a mom and a brother? I know they told her they never wanted to see her again but we haven’t seen or heard from them since the premiere. You would think Liv would at least mention them.
- “I hate that phrase ‘made love.’ It’s like ‘sex’ went and hired a PR firm.” -I 100% agree with this statement. I’ve never found the phrase “made love” to be appealing.
- Ravi dressed as a cowboy was incredibly cute and hilarious.
- Seriously, is there anything Rose McIver can’t do? Country singing? That song was actually pretty good!
- Blaine’s henchmen discussing whether or not Jesus was a zombie was one of the funnier bits of dialogue iZombie has ever put on screen.
- Next week, Liv eats the brain of a high school basketball coach. I can’t say I’m looking forward to this one, as sports culture doesn’t really appeal to me, but I’ll withhold judgment until I watch the episode.