Courtesy of The CW
A murdered magician doesn’t produce a magical episode as iZombie gears up for its fall finale.
Let’s bitch it out…
If the last few episodes of iZombie have been cooking with gas, then ‘Abra Cadaver’ (love the title BTW) feels like a quick pump of the brakes as the series lays the groundwork for the fall finale. The second season has tossed a lot of balls in the air over seven episodes, including the Max Rager stuff, Major’s (Robert Buckley) murderous extracurricular activities, the case against Stacey Boss, Blaine (David Anders) and his father and the work-in-progress zombie cure. That’s a ton of area to cover and presumably things will come to a head before the series goes into the Winter break.
Case of the Week: Alas despite Ravi’s (Rahul Kohli) enthusiasm, the case of the week is a bit meh. The body of death-obsessed magician Sid Wicked is discovered during Seattle’s PrestoFest, a magic convention. Turns out that Sid was the black sheep of the magician circuit because he ritually exposed all of their secrets (Sid was a bit of a dick). His malicious exposés even targeted his ex-fiancé Houdina and kindly old Magnus. Unsurprisingly the victims who are next on his hit list, the Penn & Teller-esque duoSmoke and Mirrors, are eventually revealed to be the murderers. The best aspect of this case, apart from the bitchy commentary from both performers and Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) alike, is Liv’s (Rose McIver) flair in revealing the killers in a literal show-stopper. Aside from that, though…eh.
Liv and Major: Sid turns out to be a rather melancholy guy, which puts a bit of a downer on Liv and Major’s relationship. While I get that Major spent the majority of his S1 screentime around other characters, surely he would have a better sense of how varied Liv’s mood swings are when she’s on different brains. This conflict feels a bit undercooked and I can’t tell if it’s meant to be funny, or if it is meant to be representative of the chasm opening up between Liv and Major. The end of the episode suggests that Major doesn’t entirely understand how to deal with the polarizing personalities, though that should hardly be a deal breaker. Of course the ball still needs to drop on his secret (<cough the bodies in the freezer cough>) so they’re overdue for some drama.
Ravi’s Girls: Now that Peyton (Aly Michalka) is back in town, Ravi realizes that he can’t be with Steph (Debs Howard) any more. Obviously she’s a strong personality – the whole two weeks late Guy Fawkes celebration is impressive, but also overwhelming. Still, it is a shame that Ravi acts like a stereotypical guy on TV and abandons their relationship because there’s nothing inherently wrong with Steph aside from the fact that she’s not Peyton. Regardless, Steph’s out, Peyton’s freaked about his affection and Ravi winds up alone.
Courtesy of The CW
Other Observations:
- No longer alone? That would be Clive, who hooks up with Dale (Jessica Harmon) on “date night.” It’s kinda strange that Clive is quietly getting a story line because it seems to be happening almost entirely in the background with very little actual screentime.
- Thanks to Liv’s doctored report, Clive is thrown off the scent of the brain found by Suzuki’s widow…at least for now. Who knows what’s in the file that she leaves on his doorstep?
- While conducting research at Dale’s house during their B&E, Liv discovers that Blaine murdered an astronaut last year. Unsurprisingly he’s completely unapologetic.
- Liv also spots a picture of the dog that Major dognapped from one of the men he “killed”, but it is unclear whether she makes the connection. Interested to read whether anyone thinks she’ll bring it up later…
- Finally, who knew that David Anders has such a great singing voice? Sign up another cast member for the inevitable musical episode!
Best Lines:
- Liv (comparing their sex activities to real sex): “Like the difference between a turkey burger and a hamburger.”
- Major (when Liv asks if not having sex is okay): “I very much want to sex you up. And I very much have a penis.”
- Liv (when Ravi cracks a bad joke about Sid’s cologne): “You can do better than that.” Ravi: “It played better in my head.”
- Ravi (after Liv shows him a magic trick): “This is the best brain ever! I kinda want to just kill magicians so it never ends.”
- Blaine (when Liv complains that he’s there): “I’m an acquired taste. Like gazpacho or that free U2 album.”
- Waitress (after Houdina disappears and leaves a rabbit): “Don’t forget to tip your servers. Jimmy, what do we do with this rabbit?”
- Blaine (when Liv realizes they have to hide the results of the brains Suzuki had in his brains): “Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod, we throw it away.”
- Peyton (when Blaine hands her a card): “Free car wash?” Blaine: “Oops, wrong card. Don’t think our relationship’s at that level yet.”
- Clive (critiquing Mirrors’ writing): “Who uses an ampersand anymore?”
Your turn: what did you think of the magician’s death? Are Liv and Major lying to each other? Will Ravi and Peyton get back together? Are you missing the Max Rager plot? Should Clive get more screen time? Sound off below.
iZombie takes a few weeks off and returns Tuesday, Dec 1 at 9pm EST on The CW