Forgive me for my awful puns. I couldn't resist the temptation. I thought I needed a clever title for this review, but really the content of an iZombie review should speak for itself. I mean could anything I say really top the excellence of this week's installment, Pour Some Sugar, Zombie? Peyton was back, Ravi had something to do other than obsess over her, Liv ate stripper brain, Rita/Gilda was kidnapped and Major's chaos killer secret was revealed. This week was a really good example of how iZombie can hit it out the park with balancing the procedural and serialized element of the show.
The collective sound of excitement you heard this week, was the fandom getting excited about the fact that Peyton was back this week. It's not that I don't love Liv or that Rita/Gilda isn't interesting, but the show is severely lacking in the female department. So any chance the show gets to include Peyton on the action, I am here for it. Even if it means Liv eating stripper brain, which she does. This week was a fun one for me, as we start with #TeamZ just chilling and being normal people having helped Peyton move back in with Liv before Peyton gets an abrupt phone call from Cassidy, a stripper who happens to have key info for her Mr. Boss case. (Guys, Mr. Boss is basically the iZombie season 2 equivalent of Veronica Mars Season 2's Woody Goodman)
Peyton asks Liv to eat Cassidy's brain despite Liv wanting to avoid exotic dancer brains because she needed the information she had, and if Liv eats her brain not only can she solve her murder, but she can help Peyton take Mr. Boss down a peg. The show could've gone so many ways this week with Liv on stripper brain, but it played it amusingly safe, with Liv having heart-to-hearts with strippers in the bathroom and giving Peyton a lapdance. The specifics of the case are kind of fuzzy, as it just wasn't that memorable. It turns out Destiny (who worked at the club with Cassidy) hit Cassidy in a tire iron to the skull drive by to teach her a lesson. (Yawn) However, Liv was able to help Peyton discover the location of the stash house belonging to Mr. Boss and Clive got to dress up a pizza delivery boy. All in all, it was a pretty safe brain of the week, despite it being a stripper brain which to me, speaks volume. Just because she was a stripper, doesn't mean that was all she was. Stripping was her job, but it was not all she was.
Oh. Man. Major is a zombie again! Look we all knew it was going to happen, so that made the biggest question about his reverting back to zombie form basically a matter of, When? I love that the show came full circle with the opening of the episode showing the joy these characters get from living together to ending with Ravi's horror at his discovery of Major's secret. Early on in the episode, Ravi (and the many upset Minor fans) find out that Minor had been found and adopted by his former owner's brother. (Must've been a slow news day) Ravi points it out to Major, who dismisses Ravi's claim that this dog was their Minor, despite the fact that Minor appeared just around the time the Chaos Killer got to this dog's owner.
Armed with skepticism Ravi begins to dig and he finds Major's secret safe. (The same one Liv was so curious about many moons ago this season and was practically the downfall of their relationship.) Ravi then uses his scientist skills to determine what the numbers in the lock code sequence are. Once revealed, he then makes a list of all the potential combinations based on their meaning to Major. (Remind me to have Ravi on my side in case I ever turn to a life of crime.) Eventually he cracks in and he finds evidence that Major is the Chaos Killer. He confronts Major with this information and doesn't even give the guy a chance to explain, which upsets Major and apparently triggers his reversion. Which then prompts Ravi to give Major a dose of his own medicine.
In other news, the cure worked on Blaine! The down side is that Blaine now has amnesia. Which has prompted Don. E to turn himself into a zombie, because despite Blaine's insistence on staying away from Mr. Boss, he thinks it's his time to take in the action. I loved Liv and Peyton's double teaming of Blaine, but it's kinda sad that the charming bastard we once knew has been neutered for the time being. Though if it does mean that Liv and Blaine might pair up in the future and have a whole True Blood Sookie and amnesiac Eric hook up, then I'm all for it.
Brain-Bits
-Apparently people actually like Gilda/Rita and were looking forward to her being a zombie. I can't say I'm in that camp, though I do think it is about time the show had another female zombie as it feels like they're attempting to keep Liv special by making her our lone female zombie. Those fans hoping to see more of Zombie G were disappointed as she was quietly abducted from Liv's apartment (as she roamed through the freezer for brains) by an unknown assailant.
-"Guy with an ankle monitor gets a hot girlfriend yet someone won't date a guy who wears Crocs."
-Johnny Frost RETURNS! The more Johnny Frost the better, and with Keith Mars in town and Vinnie Van Lowe making an appearance, it'll be just like old times.
-Liv finally learned the truth about Drake after visiting his mom and seeing his graduation photo from the police academy. Liv spent quite some time worried about Drake and it turns out her only lead to his whereabouts, Blaine, can't remember who she's talking about. I'm still not firmly in the Drake-Liv camp because, like I wondered before with Lowell, I think it's just a romance with a tortured good boy that's bred out of convenience because she can't get Major.
-“It’s like a frickin’ Adele concert in here.”
-“I will kick you right back to the trailer park where you used to make out with your uncle.”
-"Dude: How much for a lap dance? $20? Peyton: I’m a lawyer. Dude: $40?"
I trying not to roll my eyes at the amnesia side effect of the cure, because I feel like it's almost too much of soap-opera trope to introduce amnesia as way to create drama and fast track redemption, but the show has never let me down, so I'm hoping it is nowhere near this simple and that maybe Blaine is just faking it. While I don't actually like Rita, I will admit that the show does have a problem when it comes to it's female zombie population, and while it seems too late in the game this year to fix it, hopefully it can be addressed early enough next year, when it has time to develop.
Peyton is probably going to die or get mortally wounded. This show has rarely ever seen it's good guys come out unscathed (much like it's noir predecessor Veronica Mars). I just have a sinking feeling about Peyton's odds of surviving, especially since we know that Ravi still harbors some feelings towards her as he remembers the exact day she moved in with them it seems just so odd all this little nods to their romance, that I'm sensing she's on her way out. Something tragic is bound to happen that will shape these characters in season 3 and Peyton has interacted with all of Team Z, so her death would hurt them all. (Fingers crossed I'm wrong though)
Character of the Week: RAVI- Because dude has mad safe cracking skills.
What did you think of stripper brain? Were you excited to see Peyton back and do you think she'll die? Do you believe Blaine really has amnesia? Do you think Ravi was wrong for digging into Major, and do you think Major will tell him the truth? Sound off Below!
Check out these glorious podcasts @iZombieNation and @iZombiePodcast
Remember that if you miss tweeting live on the first airing @NeptuneRising orchestrates a #iZombieRewatch #iZombieHorde #iZombie So Follow on Twitter and check it out.
And if you guys aren't doing anything Mondays or Fridays, follow on @AuthorChrisVale twitter and join in on periscope #GameNightwithTheVales.
Also, if you haven't heard of them yet, check out the brilliant ladies of @WingsThePodcast where they watch pilot episodes of shows and talk about them on their cast, they seem to be avid Veronica Mars Fans, so maybe we can get them to check out #iZombie for their show!
Or you could just follow me.... @CapesideRdmptn
