After the characters played catch-up with the audience last week, iZombie took a bit of a breather from the revelations this week (though there was one revelation that has been a long time coming) in order to set the stage for the final three episodes of the season. That being said, “Pour Some Sugar, Zombie” was so much fun! There was some forward momentum to the season arc, Peyton came back(!) and Liv actually had brain symptoms (and a case) that were a pure joy to watch.
Let’s get to the big one: Ravi found out that Major is the Chaos Killer! It was inevitable that Minor would cause problems for Major ever since he dognapped him from his owner,* but who would have thought that Ravi would be the one to put the pieces together? Then Bozzio had to go an show him a picture of Major and Blaine together and the rest is history. We so rarely get to see a serious side of Ravi and Rahul Kohli knocked it out of the park during his confrontation with Robert Buckley.
iZombie really snuck one up on us this week with Major’s zombification. We knew it was coming ever since Blaine reverted back to zombie form, but we just weren’t sure when. The first major clue of the episode was Major thinking the milk that Ravi had just bought had gone bad. The second one was in the final shot, of course. Major went into full-on zombie mode before Ravi sedated him with his own injector gun. Major’s reluctance to trust his friends with his predicament has been a permanent frustration since the beginning of the season, so it will be nice to have this sub-plot be finished and have a post-Vaughn du Clark/Chaos Killer zombie Major to look forward to next season.
Speaking of Vaughn du Clark, he was absent this week but we got a brief moment with a newly zombified Rita before she was kidnapped by her father’s henchman. Hopefully we get more of that next week watching Leanne Lapp and Steven Weber play off of each other is always a treat to watch. It’s understandable that the show is wanting to save it for the next couple of episodes though. Her sudden departure ended up being the perfect cue for Peyton to move back in. It would behoove the CW to bump Aly Michalka up to a series regular, as her sisterly bond with Liv is a facet of the series that is vital to its success. It is off that in a show that centers on a strong female character, there aren’t actually that many supporting characters who are female (just Peyton and Rita compared to Ravi, Major, Clive and Blaine). Their friendship has gone mostly unexplored this season and it would be nice for it to get some more screen time.
As I’ve mentioned before, the case of the week is usually the weakest part of the show. A good way to make it seem useful is for it to be A) Fun (or at least provide Liv with a fun brain), B) Relevant to the Season Arc and C) Feel like there are actual stakes involved or have some modicum of suspense. Tonight’s case had all three of those things, and even had a bit of a surprise twist with the killer’s reveal (I totally thought it was Lorelei, even after that hilarious sobbing scene).
When Cassidy, a stripper that Peyton had reached out to in the past, is murdered with a tire iron, she asks Liv to eat her brain (as any best friend would) in order to find out information she may have had in the case against Mr. Boss. Liv works double-duty tonight, using Cassidy’s brain to help Peyton and Clive. Cassidy’s brain helped Liv pinpoint the location of one of Mr. Boss’ stash houses, which Peyton successfully busted. This probably won’t bode well for Peyton’s future, but it was still an exciting development for the character. The case itself provided plenty of laughs (mostly from the effects Cassidy’s brain had on Liv), but it also contained an engrossing aspect that is all too often absent from iZombie’s weekly mysteries.
“Pour Some Sugar, Zombie” showed iZombie at the most fun it’s been for a while. It also provided a few gasp-worthy moments, which is never a bad thing to say about a television episode. This season may have been spinning its wheels a bit in its middle portion, but we’re in the final stretch now, and the show has rarely been better.
*Minor (or whatever his previous name was) is safe with his owner’s brother. That makes me so happy because I got teary-eyed out when Major left him on that bus five episodes ago.
Random Notes
- Chapter Titles of the Week: Shake N Wake; Mailboxed, Etc.; Pest Friends; Frost, He the Dough Man; It’s Not Delivery, It’s Babineaux!; Snared Weather Friend; Scare Naked Ladies
- Brain Recipe of the Week: A BLT! Brain, Lettuce and Tomato!
- Even if it was sort of a thankless appearance, it’s always nice to see Veronica Mars alum Daran Norris show up as Seattle’s sleaziest weatherman Johnny Frost.
- The “cure” caused some amnesia in our dear Blaine. That can’t be good.
- “You’re clearly a Rachel.” -I’m a child of the 90s. Friends references will never not be funny to me.
- “Oh! Is that her brain there?” -Seriously, Peyton injects life into iZombie.
- Peyton trying to trigger Liv’s visions with the phrase “stash house” was hilarious.
- “Pasty ass ho!”
- “Did that bitch just smack me in the face with her ponytail?” -Liv’s stripper-isms were coming a mile a minute tonight, and most of them stuck!
- As much as I liked this episode, that “I’ve got to follow my Destiny” joke (with Destiny being the name of the stripper) was a little too on-the-nose.
- “There’s going to be a discernible carbon footprint on your ass if you don’t cut the crap.”
- I liked how Clive referred to Lorelei as “blonde” instead of “Asian.” Progress, people!
- Just three episode left this season! See you all next week.
