Reviews
[TV Review] “iZombie” Episode 2.12: ‘Physician, Heal Thy Selfie’
If you thought it was going to be tough to top last week’s fantastic episode, you would be incorrect. I know I was. I’m still relatively new to the TV reviewing game, so I admit that I’m still learning. I gave last week’s episode a perfect score, and dammit this week’s episode was better. If I could give “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” six skulls, I would. Unfortunately I can’t, so I’m just giving it another perfect 5-skull rating. Consider my lesson learned! I won’t be so quick to hand out such high marks any more. Anyway, on to this superb episode of iZombie.
The obvious saving grace for this episode (and other episodes like it) is that the case of the week was directly linked to every single subplot in the episode. This removes the episodic element and helps iZombie to embrace its procedural roots. The episodic structure has been criticized in the past, and unfortunately that is just the type of show that iZombie is. That just means when an episode eschew that structure for most of its runtime, it makes that episode stand out more, and it’s all the better for it.
This week the case centered on three hitmen whose decapitated bodies were found washed up on the shore. Of course, this ended up being tied into a much bigger case involving Mr. Boss. Eddie Jemison made an imposing first impression a few weeks ago, but he has been mostly absent since then. It was great to see him come back and show off his range: vulnerability when learning of his nephew’s death and a mencacing vibe when cornering Blaine in his basement (how fun was that scene?). With the debt that Blaine now owes Mr. Boss (for walking out on the utopium dealing operation after the boat crash in the pilot), it looks like we’ll be seeing many more scenes with the two of them together.
Turns out the three dead bodies were actually Mr. Boss’ hitmen, and they were sent to kidnap District Attorney Baracus, who is actually a zombie under Blaine’s control. Baracus went into full-on zombie mode after being held hostage for a little too long without brains, and he ended up storing the heads of his captors in his refrigerator while throwing their bodies in the lake. Still with me?
Baracus’ kidnapping also brought about trouble for Major, who came under Vaughn du Clark’s suspicion when the hitmen turned up dead. If a D.A. was kidnapped by three professional killers, then that D.A. would be dead unless he had the superhuman strength of a zombie. The fact that he had a lot of hot sauce purchases on his credit card didn’t help matters.
I try not to recap too much in my reviews, but it felt necessary for this one since there was so much going on in the episode. “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” pretty much brought everyone out of the woodworks. Gilda even showed up to torment Major a little bit! Props to you if you even remembered who Baracus was. I had to Google him.
Liv was able to interact with pretty much all of these characters as well (except du Clark), but she was mostly concerned with herself after eating the brain of a ditzy social media butterfly that Ravi had on reserve for her. Said brain ended up helping her confront Drake about his past (more on that in a bit) and figure out that Baracus was hiding out in a nook in his cabin.
du Clark also reinforced his role as a psychotically evil super-villain. He pretty much did what all bloggers wish they could do: murder trolls. It may not be the most original idea, but it’s treated with the utmost seriousness and actually does make du Clark a more threatening villain. Credit should be given to Steven Weber, who has been doing a bang-up job in the role.
For a show with three main villains, iZombie certainly does an excellent job with fleshing them all out and making them feel like real people. Blaine and Mr. Boss (who has had the least amount of screen time between the three) still manage to feel like actual threats, as opposed to stereotypical “comic book villains.”
This was an episode that paid off tremendously to fans who have stuck with the show since the beginning. It can be easy to forget that creators Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero pepper little clues and Easter eggs throughout the most episodic of episodes that will pay off remembering in a later episode. It will probably make a re-watch of the series much more rewarding.
Less prominent but still important this week were the romantic subplots with Liv and Peyton. After doing some internet research with her brain powers of the week, Liv learned that Drake spent 22 months in prison for aggravated assault. The overall explanation was a little anticlimactic, but it was a serviceable hurdle for the two to overcome.
More interesting was Peyton, who had to deal with the aftermath of learning about Blaine’s true identity. After a stellar scene in which she and Liv cornered Blaine in her office, Peyton spent the majority of the episode getting drunk with Ravi. After spending a good chunk of the season Peyton-less, it was nice to see her emotional fallout and spend so much time with her this week. Aly Michalka is a talented actress and she deserves more to do on iZombie.
Hopefully next week’s episode isn’t better than “Physician, Heal Thyself,” otherwise I’ll look like quite the fool. Nevertheless, this was yet another first-rate episode of iZombie and we can only hope that the remaining seven episodes of the season can maintain this kind of quality.
Random Notes
- Chapter Titles of the Week: Brain Trust; Head Case; Chaos Theory; Lillywhite Lie; Deaux, A Deer in the Headlights; Cabin Cleaver; Takeout For Dinner. I’m a sucker for musicals so the Sound of Music reference in “Deaux, A Deer in the Headlights” killed me. That “Cabin Cleaver” title is timely though, considering the release of the Cabin Fever remake on Friday.
- Brain Recipe of the Week: Brain Sushi, and it looked awesome.
- Liv discovers that Blaine is the Mystery Man/Mr. U. Have I mentioned how nice it is that iZombie is zipping through these plot lines now?
- Love how Clive Red Dragon‘d du Clark by tricking the reporter into believing Baracus’ kidnapping was the work of the Chaos Killer so that he could try to bait him out of hiding.
- “Looks like a no-brainer to me, Liv.” -Ravi, on the headless corpses.
- “For the record: all you are to me is a giant mistake.” -Nice to see Peyton get a lot of great lines this week.
- I’ve never heard of the #BootyHadMeLikeWhat, but I’m going to start using it all the time on Twitter.
- “What does it mean if a guy you’re dating isn’t on Facebook?” -I think it’s weird when someone isn’t on Facebook too. Sorry!
- “You look just like this doll my little sister used to have.” -This is an apt description of Liv.
- “Tell me more about this Mystery Man.” “It’s like you don’t know wha the word mystery views.” -That informant was pretty funny though, wasn’t he?
- “153 people watched you unpack a box. How? Why?“
- “Why obsess over the trolls?” -When I first started writing for BD I obsessed over the meanest comments. I’d like to think I’ve gotten better at handling them.
- “If you post that you have to tag me in it.” “I don’t know what that means, honey.”
- “You work up the nerve to resign and your boss gets abducted!”
- The stakes rise again next week as Major comes face-to-face with Blaine again!
Movies
‘Recluse’ Review – Harrowing Haunted House Horror With Lots Of Skeletons In Its Closet [Tribeca 2026]
A haunted house story is tense, terrifying storytelling when it’s properly executed. There’s been a growing tendency in horror to blend together harrowing haunted house stories with traumatic homecomings. A family member’s illness or death triggers a return to something dark that was intentionally left behind. Recluse hits all the tropes that one expects to find in this type of horror film, yet it manages to push this story in a daring, disturbing new direction that uses sound as a superpower.
It’s a unique lens to experience a familiar story about family secrets, generational trauma, unresolved grief, and the importance of not just legacy, but preservation. It’s a hell of a directorial debut from Henry Chaisson that’s guaranteed to get under the audience’s skin as they’re dragged through this painful, toxic tale.
Recluse is a gothic haunted house story where an isolated audio engineer, Joan (Sasha Frolova), returns to her family’s estate to check in on her father after he suffers a terrible accident. Joan suddenly discovers something much more sinister that paints her family’s tragedies in a very different light. Chaisson’s debut functions as a fascinating companion piece to this year’s undertone, which does a lot of the same things.
These two films make for a fascinating case of parallel thinking that tackles comparable subject matter through a similar lens, albeit in a bigger, less claustrophobic story in Recluse’s case. In fact, it’s the perfect horror film for anyone who was let down by undertone and didn’t feel like it brought enough to the table. It’s a considerably more conventional horror film, but this isn’t meant to denigrate its high quality. Recluse may hit some familiar notes, but it’s a scary, well-crafted haunted house horror story that goes for the jugular.
A gripping mystery that involves the tragic, unresolved circumstances that surround Joan’s mother teases a chilling connection to the recent horrors that have afflicted her father. Joan desperately tries to put these pieces together and give her family some sense of grander peace before she’s pulled under and becomes another victim of this festering curse that’s systematically worked its way through the Wyatt family. By doing so, Recluse digs into some deeper commentary on collective trauma, a very literal look at the “sins of the father” adage, and how one selfish decision can ripple through generations and fracture off into different dilemmas. By the end, Recluse has brilliantly flipped the powerful concept of legacy on its head by illustrating the horrors and sense of entitlement that can be born out of this idea.
A legacy is just another name for a curse under the right context.
”Listen” is a simple but powerful command from Joan’s father that she briefly obsesses over. In a way, it becomes Recluse’s grander mission statement, whether it’s in response to Joan listening to the people in her life, the signals that her body and mind are telling her, or the world’s greater whims. It’s important to reconnect with these grounding pillars, especially when it feels like control is slipping away.
Recluse excels with how audio and soundscapes can create entire universes that are full of rich details that transport individuals to these environments. There’s also a level of objectivity when it comes to audio recordings and the evergreen permanence that they’re able to provide. Joan’s career as an audio engineer makes sense for someone who wants to cling to hard evidence and proof of existence. It provides great insight into Joan without ever getting lost in contrived exposition.
Joan’s entire life is built around audio engineering, and so it makes sense that Recluse features excellent sound design that really goes above and beyond with its production elements. All of the sound design is expertly handled and turns the film into something special. These auditory elements intuitively keep the audience on edge so that they’re more susceptible to the actual scares that eventually strike. The smallest sound effect gets turned into a crushing, cacophonous assault. It’s a really effective way to build terror. Writer/Director Chaisson also handles the film’s music, which achieves a sublime, unnerving dissonance that further heightens the free-floating anxiety.
The story at the center of Recluse is slightly generic in some respects, but the film’s visual language and tone make it feel distinctly memorable. It also doesn’t hurt that the home that Joan returns to is basically an eerie art studio that’s full of contorted paintings. Recluse never struggles to generate mounting dread and terror that pump through every scene. Powerful, thoughtful cinematography consistently reinforces the film’s themes. Joan is constantly reflected in different surfaces or viewed through mirrors. She’s also often confined to tight, constricting framing that all speaks to her refracted identity during this moment of loss and her attempts to regain agency and control by making sense of something that’s seemingly unexplainable.
Recluse is full of truly disturbing visuals that make it seem like Joan is lost in a dream that turns out to be an extended nightmare. It’s a surreal journey reminiscent of invasive psychological horror like Silent Hill, with a touch of Sinister and Hereditary thrown in for good measure. There are so many individual frames that could endlessly fuel urban legends and creepypastas.
It does a great job with how it presents Joan’s fragile state of mind, where chilling flashes of the past sneak up on her and unresolved trauma manifests into unsettling imagery. There are endless shots that are obscured in darkness, or shadow is creeping in from the corners of frames like a suffocating force of nature. It’s very rare that a scene is fully lit. It leads to a very lonely, isolating atmosphere that’s easy to get lost in.
Chaisson’s debut stands out from the many other high-minded haunted house horror films without succumbing to the same pretensions that often drag down these stories. It’s a grief-stricken character study that’s full of upsetting visuals that scratch at something visceral and raw. The horror elements connect, and the answers to its grander mystery provide an appropriate and believable sense of closure. Those who are looking for an atmospheric horror film that isn’t afraid to be different while still channeling something real will appreciate Recluse.
Recluse made its world premiere at Tribeca; release info TBD.
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