“Abra Cadaver” did something that iZombie hasn’t done since last season: make the mystery-of-the-week fun and interesting. There wasn’t much in the way of advancing the season arc this week (though some progress was made and a new mystery woman was introduced), but it wasn’t as noticeable since the aftermath of Sid Wicked’s murder led to such fun.
This week’s mystery centered around Goth magician Sid Wicked, who was murdered with a sharp-edged playing card in the middle of a magician’s convention (named Presto Fest, of all things). While the eventual reveal was a bit silly (was it not obvious that Meers was a woman?) the journey getting there was a lot of fun. Until Meers was introduced, it was a constant guessing game of whodunit. All of the magicians and their tricks made the investigation supremely entertaining to watch, and Meers’ identity as Irina the maid was a clever, if slightly goofy, payoff.
Maid in hotel screams. A Goth guy has a card in his throat. A magician walks away. Sid Wicked is victim. Presto Fest. There was a rotten fish with a note under the welcome basket. He was yelling at the angels and his assistant was named Angel. He was mad she was at the bar with another magician. Houdina calls Liv to be her assistant and throws bladed cards. She was engaged to Sid. Magnificent Magnus was having sex in a room without cameras. Smoak and Meers. The mid did it and she’s in the hotel. Meers is the maid. Irina is the killer!
The highlight of the episode had to be Liv and Blaine playing Scooby-Doo with their investigation into the zombie killings. It’s only a matter of time before they find out Major (and thus Vaughn du Clark) is behind them, but watching them reluctantly work together was a real treat to watch. Blaine coming across a picture of Minor the dog was a great gasp-worthy moment. It’s one of those near-misses that iZombie has become so good at doing.
One big surprise was the mystery woman (who is actually credited as “Mystery Woman” on IMDB) leaving the envelope marked “Occupant” on Bozzio’s doorstep. She is also credited as Regina Sumner, though that doesn’t tell us much. While nothing was learned from her appearance, it provided a nice tease for what will hopefully be addressed next week.
Given less screen time this week was Major and Liv’s budding (or crumbling?) relationship? After beginning the episode with some optimism and a little bit of mutual masturbation (at least I think that’s what they had just done), Major slowly started to become bothered by Liv’s personality traits on Sid’s brain. His choice to go upstairs rather than approach Liv in the episode’s closing moments was puzzling, as it’s unclear why he s just not realizing he might not be able to handle her shifting personalities. This isn’t a new development, but maybe Sid’s brain was just a little too intense. Still, Major’s aggravation at Liv’s behavior came out of nowhere.
Ravi and Peyton had some relationship issues of their own as well, with Ravi breaking things off with Steph and Peyton flirting with Blaine. Steph seems like a pretty pointless character that was brought in an abandoned attempt by the writers to cause friction between Ravi and Peyton. This may prove to be a good thing for iZombie, since that could have gotten old real quick. It is a much wiser move to bring Blaine into the mix since he is already an established character for the series (and a lot more fun to watch than plain Jane Steph).
Television seasons can sometimes sag a little bit in the middle, but iZombie doesn’t seem to be following that trend. It was more slowly paced than the previous two episodes to be sure, but it was by no means a slog to get through. “Abra Cadaver” provided a highly entertaining mystery-of-the-week and nudged many plots forward to their eventual endgame.
Random Notes
- Chapter Titles of the Week: Heavy Petting; Trompe Card; Presto Mortem; Strange Deadfellows; The Lady Materializes; A Rose By Another Name; An Ace Up the Sleeve. Call me immature, but I liked Heavy Petting.
- Brain Recipe of the Week: Honestly, I couldn’t tell. First it looked like stir fry, and then it looked like meatballs. Any ideas?
- Seriously, where have Gilda and Vaughn du Clark been? I’m guessing iZombie is saving them for the third act of the season, but their absence has been glaring.
- “This is the best brain ever! I almost want to start killing magicians so it never ends.” -Ravi really is the best, isn’t he?
- “She’s rolling hard on ‘death-obsessed magician.’ It’ll pass.” -I like that he calls it “rolling,” as if the effects are similar to that of MDMA.
- “There was that time her eyes turned red and she killed someone. Thinkin’ that was probably a one-off.” -I love how Peyton nonchalantly delivered this line.
- “Did you eat Edgar Allan Poe?” -Blaine, saying what we’re al thinking.
- Ravi has
twentythirty Twitter followers, which is admirable. - “Got a big night of British stuff ahead of us! Throwing darts, apologizing!” -Is apologizing a British stereotype? I’ve never heard that before.
- “I performed the autopsy! He is dead!” -Liv having to constantly reiterate this to Houdina was golden.
- “You’re bumming me out man.” -Blaine, after one of Liv’s goth monologues.
- “You killed the fourth man to walk on the moon?” “Please nobody cares about the fourth person to do something!”
- “…so is that a ‘yes’ you want a quesadilla? Or a no?”
- iZombie takes a break next week for Thanksgiving. See you all in two weeks! But first, a little preview of coming events:
