Courtesy of The CW
Liv (Rose McIver) moves to act against Blaine (David Anders) as Major (Robert Buckley) courts danger.
Let’s bitch it out…
There’s a case of the week – and it features Veronica Mars‘ Percy Daggs III no less! – but it hardly matters when the overall mythology of the series takes such a leap forward. Last week Liv discovered that Blaine is operating a brains-on-wheels service for rich clients like Lowell (Bradley James). This week she gets confirmation that Blaine and Julien (Aleks Paunovic) have been killing street kids in service of bougie brain delicacies; this reveal prompts Liv to make the call to deal with her maker.
The brains of the week help because the army victim offers Liv the skills and the weapon to take Blaine on. First, however, there’s the matter of dealing with Lowell. It makes perfect sense that Liv initially decides to break things off with Lowell because he has been lying about the origins of his diet and the implications of eating so many young people. He counters that a) they’re not all young and b) he doesn’t solicit mystery and danger like her, but both statements are false arguments and everyone, especially Liv, knows it. It is isn’t until Lowell comes to her door with a freshly dug brainy peace offering and a basket of tears that Liv is able to forgive him. From there we move into post-fight sex and murder planning.
I’ll admit that Liv’s last minute decision to refrain from murder – for fear of becoming Blaine – doesn’t really resonate with me. It’s the typical hero dilemma and one that feels equally informed by the tired need to retain Liv’s half-humanity and (what I presume is the writers’) desire to keep Anders around as the (first season) antagonist. Alas, you can’t make a big power move like this without suffering some kind of consequence. That fate befalls Lowell, who makes the fatal decision to attack Blaine independently (in my mind I imagine Lowell did this partially to do “the right thing”, and partially because Blaine dares to bring over those truly disgusting looking brain sirloins). If we’re being honest, Bradley James was unlikely to stay on iZombie due to his commitments to A&E’s The Omen spin-off, Damien. After witnessing the palpable chemistry between him and McIver, however, I had begun hoping that the writers would find a way to retain him, despite his commitments to his own show.
Alas it’s not to be and now instead of watching Liv get sexy-snuggly with Lowell, we’ll have to watch her mourn his loss. And hopefully plot revenge.
Courtesy of The CW
Other Observations:
- Major’s internet research uncovers a plausible enough sounding urban legend for him to spread at Julien’s gym in order to…make himself a target? It’s entirely unclear what Major hoped to achieve by loudly and provocatively requesting human brains at the gym. Was he really so dense that he thought the brains were part of a hardcore bodybuilding regime? Or did he anticipate that Julien would come for him? I have to assume its not the latter, otherwise Major should be carrying around his illegally purchased gun, instead of keeping it hidden in his underwear drawer. Whatever Major’s plan, he manages to ward off death, but Julien’s last minute phone call to Blaine suggests that this is a conflict that is by no means over.
- As many of you speculated, Ravi (Rahul Kohli) discovers that zombism cannot make the interspecies jump between rats and humans. This means that Ravi is safe from joining the ranks of the undead. Whew!
- Finally, Liv and Ravi also deduce that the appearance of Jerome’s body at last episode’s crime scene suggests that there is a dirty cop on the force. There are too many moving parts this week to ask Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) to investigate, but I expect that as we move closer to the finale, this discrepancy will garner further screen time.
Best Lines:
- Ravi (seeing Liv in early): “You okay? He asks rhetorically.”
- Blaine (chastising a henchman): “You do not purge your bowels in the toilet of a man with a helicopter.”
- Victim’s daughter (meeting Liv): “You’re freaky looking.”
- Ravi (when Clive asks if he can steal Liv, aka Ravi’s charge): “I tried to sign her permission slip, but my hands are covered in viscera”
- Liv (as Clive pulls up YouTube): “But no more lip-synching to Frozen.”
Your turn: did all of these developments in the mythology excite you? Did you think Liv would go through with Blaine’s murder? Did you expect Lowell to die? Did you expect Major to escape death? Are you happy Ravi isn’t going to crave brains any time soon? Sound off below.
iZombie airs Tuesdays at 9pm EST on The CW. Next week: Liv turns to booze to cope.