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iZombie: Looking for Mr. Goodbrain, Part 1

“What do they say at Fillmore Graves – Discovery day is coming? It certainly feels that way...”

We’re one episode away from the end of the season, and it’s looking like all that we were promised at the beginning is starting to come to fruition.

The biggest of those promises was D-day, and while it hasn’t evolved into a global event just yet, the signs of it turning cataclysmic are popping up everywhere. Liv’s zombified face is all over Seattle, forcing her to tan and dye just like most other zombies living in plain sight; the world is freaking out over the rapidly spread Aleutian flu; and last, but not least, anti zombie nuts are taking their hate to whole new levels of destruction, with some important people getting caught in the crossfire.

The latter twist is definitely what pushed the story over the edge this week, with a newly zombie-d Harley Johns blowing himself up along with house full of zombies celebrating Major’s dismissal from Fillmore Graves. The explosion itself is a big enough twist in its own right, raising the stakes and exacerbating the public’s panic over the growing zombie population. But it takes on a whole new level of sad since Major’s friend Natalie was one of those poor party goers.

The decision to bring Natalie back now seemed less heartbreaking at first. After taking the cure Major gave her, she got to do everything she never thought she could; she found the place where she felt happy, and now she wanted Major to join her. Finally Major had someone who trusted him, and somewhere safe he could hide out for a while. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way they had intended, and she became the second major casualty of the episode, after Katty Cupps bit the dust early on.

Katty’s death didn’t ring quite as hard as Natalie’s. While the latter character appeared just as much as Natalie, the former’s appearances were more substantial, giving us more of a chance to get to know her and making her death hurt just enough to make us all feel for Major. Katty was always more of a plot device, previously serving as a foil in Ravi and Peyton’s relationship and at other times, as a way to deliver the medical expertise of someone not in on the truth about zombies. Regardless of that, her death worked here purely from a storytelling perspective, with her brain providing some surface laughs at Ravi’s expense and tying FG to yet another crime; her murder.

Liv succumbing to the temptation of Katty’s brain and sleeping with Chase was hard to watch. She fought off the advances of every other guy who tried, but Chase’s charm and zombie-ness proved to be the winning combo. There was a lot of chemistry in the scenes that Liv and Chase shared, making their inevitable tryst seem natural. But are the side effects of one brain enough to justify her actions to Justin? Even worse, Liv may have ended up in bed with the person she had been chasing for most of the episode. Did Chase kill Katty over her investigation into the Aleutian flu? That napkin Liv found on Chase’s dresser with Katty’s name and room number on it is pretty damning evidence.

Plus

It was nice to hear Liv’s voiceover again.

Chase’s dismissal of Major was a lot quieter than I thought it would be.

Will we learn the whole truth behind Baracus’s role in the Weckler case before the end of the season? Will it tie back to FG or will we be seeing it play out on a larger scale next season?

Apparently Rahul Kholi is great at tearing down racist online trolls, so I’m sure he really enjoyed playing that scene where Ravi took some sarcastic digs at one of the racist passengers onboard the flight Katty was investigating.

Speaking of that flight, FG director Carey Gold’s daughter was the passenger from whom the suspected outbreak came from. It looks like everything really will tie back to FG.

He Said, She Said

Ravi: “Most women can’t help think about sex when they look at me. You’ll get used to it”

There were a lot of complex plots at work here, and while it was a tad overwhelming at times, episodes like this one prove that such a large volume can be handled well. As per the previous episodes, many of this season’s plots are coming together, meaning things are starting to get a little clearer and we can finally see through the din. We didn’t get all of the answers we were looking for yet, but it’s clear that this was just the first part of a much bigger and exciting chapter.

4.5 out of 5 napkins.

Originally posted at PandaTV.

3 comments:

  1. Hmm... At first I thought Logan was so in sync with Liv, because he also ate her brain after killing her. Than I remembered that her brain was intact when it got to the lab. So, him being such a perfect match for Katty-flavoured Liv was not an evidence.

    So, who is a big bad here? Logan — or Justin? You know, it's amazing; we're so close to the end of the season (thankfully, not the series), and I still have no idea who's the villain.

    I didn't expect Ravi to be so excited about being in Liv's sex visions. It's kinda freaky. Totally not because he is brown, of course.

    Equating the flu outbreak with zombie virus confuses me — are we sure it's the same thing? Why would CDC inspect a zombie outbreak? They aren't aware of zombies existence, are they?

    I love it when TV characters show their smarts. Peyton testing Baracus was another great example this show is so rich with.

    So, what, full D-Day next week, as I expected?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and: where is Bozzio? Did they really bring her in for one meaningless cameo?

    Rachel so needs to get eaten.

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  3. I was feeling the ghost of Veronica Mars all over the episode, with blond Liv, with her voiceover all over the bar scenes and of course Logan popped onto the screen just as I was thinking about it. :)

    I'll save the plot commnent for the finale because I watched both eps together.

    ReplyDelete

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