iZombie: All's Well That Ends Well

"This is why the time of patty cake is over..."

Last night Mrs Llamastrangler and I bit the bullet. We’d been delaying seeing the last ever iZombie, because then it would be over. And we weren’t disappointed, although there was a lot to cram in. It’s not the creators’ fault, but would it really be too much to extend the running time beyond a paltry forty-two minutes...?

Anyway, we begin with half an hour of narrative in which all the plot threads are concluded and, although there’s a lot of dramatic tension (I love the moment where Liv, Clive and Ravi are caught on the plane- only to find the police officer to be on their side) and drama but things end as happily as the title implies. I love the way both Blaine and Don E end up down the well with Blaine’s sad for all eternity, rushed though the sequence inevitably is, and how we think for w while that Peyton may be dead after her fatal shooting although, of course, that pervert Blaine scratches her. We also have time to see Clive become a dad (aaah!) and Major’s heroic sacrifice to prove in live telly that the cure works; it’s not his fault that Ravi made damn sure he survived. And as for Enzo, his fate is poetic; the ultimate zombie racist dies human. It’s a pity that Durkins seems to survive.

But we then end with the coda, ten years later- a brave choice but one that pretty much works and gives happy endings for our heroes, perhaps a little trite but not unearned. Zombieism can be cured now so zombies are not a threat- is it that simple? At least Liv and Major are together. That kiss...!

Yes, it’s rushed. But within its forty-two minute constraints the episode works well. And I salute the firm decision, heralded by the title, not to go grimdark and have a defiantly happy ending. Wonderful,  and a fitting end to a series I will very much miss.

iZombie: Bye, Zombies

"We are in the South now. You don't put stolen jewellery in a black man's pocket."

The penultimate episode. Nearly there.

Confession time; this is a heist episode (it's too close to the end for murders of the week), and the pop culture references centre around Mission Impossible and Ocean's 11, neither of which I happen to have seen. Still, I'll do my best.

So Ravi sent the tainted Utopium to a scientist at the CDC in the hop of a zombie cure... and the money-grabbing bastard has realised there's more money in palliatives rather than cures. This is why state health services should always be allowed to veto this kind of evil. Anyway, the point is we have a pretext for Liv, Ravi and- after some persuading- a Clive who is touchingly emotional, to carry out said heist in a clever, entertaining and ultimately successful fashion with the help of some appropriate brains from the restaurant of a grieving Don E. It's splendid stuff.

It's the penultimate episode, though, so other arc threads are gently nudged towards their respective conclusions. After all, we have racist extremists for both humankind and zombiekind respectively trying to start a war. The nuclear bomb of Damocles still metaphorically hangs over the city. But not all is bad; Ravi gets to rub in Blaine's face that Peyton is his girl ("That was genuine cockiness!") which is cool and, I think, just on the right side of not being misogynistic.

Blaine reminds us, however, that, despite being the witty villain we love to hate, he is in fact an absolute ***, making Peyton genuinely afraid as he kills one of the Freylich kids and threatens the rest. I predict he's going to die. We also get the most touching grave robbing scene ever as Liv and Major remind each other that they like each other and kiss. Awww. Except... this is near the end and anyone could die. Could they...? Would they...?

While the heist is successful the episode ends on a grim note; Major is alone, a fugitive, in a New Seattle where he's been usurped by Enzo and the extremists are merrily warmongering. And he has to get some Max Rager from Fillmore Graves...

What an episode. What a season. What a series. One more to go...

iZombie: The Scratchmaker

”Let’s face it- we’ve all got a little monster in us.”

It finally happened; a Blaine episode, after his near-absence from the opening episodes. Following his downfall last week we now follow Blaine as he adjusts to his new reality- and survives, as he always does. Oh, there’s a perfunctory murder of the week with a matchmaker being murdered and Liv on match maker brain. But all this happens in the background. Other characters get their moments- now that Dale is off on maternity leave (I know they have shit working conditions in America- do they have that?) it’s fun to see Clive getting to sit in the big chair.

But this is about Blaine, stuck in a cell, forced to answer questions and, worse, his entertainment options limited to the TV edit of Snakes on a Plane in endless loop. He’s an evil, amoral, annoyingly witty man who we all live to hate, and this is probably the right moment to praise David Anderson to the skies for inhabiting this gloriously witty sociopath. iZombie without Blaine is a terrifying thought.

There’s a rather big change to the status quo here as it turns out Al is the niece of none other than Stacey Boss, who is behind all of this and planning to takeover Blaine’s brain business wholesale- successfully, although not without some cleverness from Major forcing him and his new sidekick Don E to lower the price. Interestingly,Blaine is left to think that the brain business has gone elsewhere, effectively coupled by Don E and his shadowy benefactor. I’m sure he’ll take it very well when he finds out.

All this and Major, who is on fire somewhat, has a bit of a mini-showdown with Durkins. Another splendid episode, then, and a final season which is coming along very nicely.

iZombie: Five, Six, Seven, Ate

“Nobody puts Ravi in a corner!”

Another bloody strong episode here that continues to set up plot threads for the final season while still managing to function as the season’s first murder of the week.

Said murder is fairly banal if seen simply as a whodunnit, perhaps, but it’s based on a competitive samba dancing telly programme and has Liv on dancer brain. Even better, it has Liv and Ravi going undercover as new contestants on the show, at one point spending a lot of time on a rather hilarious sequence as Ravi very slowly learns to dance by the most efficient means possible- montage. It’s an utterly hilarious sequence and one which both highlights how great Rahul Kohli is at physical comedy and shows how the programme still knows how to balance humour with the darkness.

And darkness there is- Dolly Durkins May not appear but her baleful attempt continues as a school identifies and isolates its zombie pupils, causing yet more intra-community friction, and threatening to drive a wedge between Peyton and Major. On a more personal note we learn that not only is Dale pregnant with Clive’s baby but Michelle, whom he dumped last season, is also pregnant with a baby who may be his.

We end on a note of hope, though, as Liv, as Renegade, agrees to adopt the late Jordan’s two orphaned brothers, and they start to learn that humans among the gang can be wonderful people. Unlike last week’s very dark episode this one is full of humour, and ends positively. But I still think this season will take a turn for the Hobbesian.

iZombie: Thug Death

"This is the spot where lazy murderers who don't want to fight traffic dump their victims.""

So it's the fifth and final season and we're a few months into the new status quo- Peyton is, effectively mayor and Major is the new commander of Fillmore Graves. But lonely is the head that wears a crown and Major is already feeling the tension between his principles and what is likely to help him maintain his position. Meanwhile Liv and Ravi are doing the same job as ever while Liv continues to moonlight as Renegade, and "real" brains are becoming scarce- for all except Blaine, who is incredibly rich from the brain business and has a fridge full of the bloody things.

This episode has two main strands. The first is that this time it's Ravi, not Liv, who's on the brain of a thug, and bloody hilarious, showing us that Rahul Kohli is every bit as good at this sort of thing. But the other strand is, of course, that the zombies of New Seattle rely entirely on the goodwill of humans, and things are precarious beneath the surface. One viral video of a woman being ripped the shreds by a zombie has led to the end of the brain supply and, while Blaine can solve this problem with threats, the potential remains. Worse, we have a new anti-zombie demagogue, Dolly Durkins(!), who is also running an anti-zombie suicide bomber network which is sure to keep Major stressed. And, as we find out, her first volunteer is the eviscerated woman's husband.

Elsewhere we have Clive being as deadpan witty as ever, a new scientist character in Dr Collier who, to Ravi's relief, turns out to have ethics, and three abused ill kids who Liv's network are trying to smuggle in. Already there are a lot of balls in the air and the fact that this is the final season suggests to me that this feeling of precariousness will grow and grow. But this pisode on its own is as fun and witty as ever. More please.

iZombie: And He Shall be a Good Man

"I'll let you spank me from time to time."

THIS IS THE SEASON FINALE. HERE BE SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Well, that was very good indeed. It was obvious, i think, that Zevon and Chase Graves were going to die; Graves because he's committed too many unforgiveable acts to be allowed to live and Zevon because we already knew he was to be executed first and television drama law dictates that Liv be saved only in the nick of time.

But Peyton surviving was unexpected, especially after all that deliberate foreshadowing in the last few episodes. Certainly the opening scene continues this foreshadowing, with Ravi hearing about Washington pulling the plug on brains coming into a suddenly unsafe Seattle, and firmly insisting that she stay where she is. So back she comes, they kiss, and the next time we see them they look quite post-coital. Er, less than ten minutes later.

But we're left in no doubt that the whole episode is about saving Liv from judicial killing. Oh, and Zevon, if people fancy it; we all know the poor chap's going to die.

The plot's a little complicated- both Jordan and Comedy French Bloke are acting as double agents but, given the stakes, the tension never relents. Johnny Frost is back. Clive and Dale are rudely interrupted before they have sex which, given what later happens, is probably just as well.

The minutes before the execution are incredibly tense. For Liv, that isl Levon's certain death is, I'm sure Levon's death has already been factored in by every single viewer at this point. And then chaos ensues as Major, in full-on zombie mode, leads a crowd of humans and zombies through the doors. Said chaos is superbly depicted in the directorial choice to show a series of short scenes fading to black, until Liv has guillotined Graves and we all punch the air.

So life goes on, Major now runs Fillmore-Graves and thus, sort of, the city. Meanwhile reality catches up with the quixotic Angus, leading his followers in a Waco-like last stand as manipulated by the son he at last disowns again. It's a dramatic but cruelly pointless end.

Liv is, of course. devastated to lose another boyfriend in yet another brutal way. o she resolves to eat Isobel's brain, the last cure. But there is at least a bit of happiness with an ad hoc wedding between Dale and Clive, and Liv is able go give Clive a rather nice wedding gift by making children a possibility. Er, do we know that Dale even wants kids...?

We end, after Liv's devastating yet inevitable bereavement, with Liv seemingly still Renegade, this time with friendly leadership of a New Seattle that, increasingly, sees itself as an independent city state...

IZombie: You’ve Got to Hide Your Liv Away

“Enjoy handcuffs, Whitey!”

Is it the penultimate episode already?

I think it’s been enough superb episodes in a row now to come out and say this season has recovered amazingly from a very poor start; possibly the biggest comeback in television history, as it really was a very poor start.

The whole thing hinges on a simply evil ultimatum by Chase Graves- Curtis is to be judicially killed unless "Renegade" hands herself in. Naturally, it's obvious that Liv is going to do this so, equally naturally, Major (having finally retrieved his head from Graves' smelly arse) kidnaps her, relocates them both to a house in Oregon and feeds them both a dose of 1950s domestic bliss brain. As you do. Still, at least Liv got a last night with Levon, claiming to have flown to Majorca via Barcelona, as apparently Palma doesn't have an airport. Hmm.

So this week's murder- a self-centred, narcissistic valley girl- must be investigated by Clive with Ravi (it's that time of the month) on narcissist brain, hence scenes reminding us yet again how bloody good Rahul Kohli is.

Meanwhile, we discover that the comedy French bloke at Fillmore Graves has sympathies with Brother love, and Blaine convinces his father that God wants him to send zombies out beyond Seattle by means of, er, brain rain. I suspect that the spread of zombieism beyond Seattle is for next season, as there are only so many minutes of this one.

It's a dramatic last few scenes for this incident-fuelled and rather superb episode; we end with both Liv and Levon in the hands of Graves, who plans to murder them next episode. Oh, and Isobel's brain may have given Ravi an actual cure for zombieism. Has any iZombie season finale been more hotly awaited...?

iZombie: Insane in the Germ Brain

"I love you guys..."

SPOILERS ABOUND. BIG ONES. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Ouch. That his Mrs Llamastranger and myself hard, you evil writers you. We both suspected that Isobel being so extremely likeable and cool was because she was going to die, and crush our hearts in the process. Damn you, Rob Thomas and co. This is the most evil thing since Joss Whedon killed Tara in Buffy. It's that bad..

Other interesting things involve Ravi meeting Peyton's parents, and seemingly earning her Dad's respect by telling him not to be a dick. On that note, though, both her parents and Ravi don't want her to return from Washington DC after her visit, as there are plans afoot in said city to perhaps nuke Seattle, which would be bad. But the parting scene where Peyton says goodbye to Ravi and Liv is suspiciously scripted; she's going to die there, isn't she?

Oh, and there's a murder, which is pretty ho-hum, including the germaphobe brain that Liv eats. But it's interesting that the killer proves to be a zombie accomplice of Blaine and Don E- who, incidentally, is great on director brain while directing a sermon of Angus'. And Dale accidentally overhears Clive's chat to Liv last episode about how he can have kids with Michelle, but not her. So she dumps him, and is kind enough to lie about seeing someone else. But he's still heartbroken. Michelle likes him a lot, but is he really happy with her?

We also have Major's mission coming to a successful conclusion, and a celebration- but one of Major's two proteges ends up shot by Chase Graves, leading to a mini-shootout in which both proteges are shot dead and Graves injured. Surely now he has to get what's coming to him?

But the episode is all about Isobel, her awesomeness, and how much it hurts that she's gone. Damn you, writers, and thank you Izabela Vidovic for making us love your character so much. Outstanding episode, obviously.

iZombie: Yipee Ki Brain, Motherscratcher!

"The show ran out of money, so everything cool happens off-screen and the characters just talk about it afterwards."

This season as been pants-to-average most of the way through. So how come this is the second sublime episode in a row? We really seem to have hit a hot spot.

We start by establishing that Isobel is staying, in desperate hope for a cure, but she's so cool and adorable that I fear we have to die. Dale is investigating Baracus' murder and has a fair idea where to look, and Liv is on don't-play-by-the-rules cop brain and, for once, doesn't feel like cooking..

But life goes on between the coyotes, who are expanding and bonding; there's even a montage to replace the usual culinary one. There are some cool action movie puns. And an awful lot of stuff happens as it becomes clear that the end of the season is not too far away. Angus declares himself just "the Baptist John" and is really pushing for Blaine to be the zombie Jesus, silly though that sounds. Clive wants kid and is brooding over dumping Dale for Michelle and her fully functioning womb.

Te big moment is the cliffhanger, though, with Major finally clicking what Liv is up to. What happens now? It's very notable, though, that this episode is all arc, arc, arc and nevertheless manages to excel. I hope the rest of the season is as good.

IZombie: Chivalry Is Dead

“What the Hell is a TARDIS?”

iZombie has done tabletop role-playing; now it’s time for LARP. It’s all very fun, and Rose McIver is as awesome as ever. Mind you, I may be a latent tabletop guy myself but I suspect that LARPers in real life probably speak in a less annoying way.

It’s all good fun, though, and another good episode that harks back to seasons of yore. I love RVi’s indulging of Peyton’s knight in armour fetish, and the dialogue just sings. Interesting, too, that we find the killer (nice whodunit, incidentally) but not a confession, and a conviction seems unlikely. Where’s Columbo when we need him?

It’s onteresting to see Blaine and his duped dad working for Stacey Boss (him again!) in attacking a prison bus to find a large widget of money- money which has in fact been found by Peyton and given to Liv for railroad purposes. Peyton is now involved, and taking one hell of a risk.

The big twist comes at the end though- Liv scratches the latest terminally ill arrival only to find that, cruelly, it doesn’t work. Does this mean some people are immune to zombies in? And why does it have to be that poor girl? It’s quite the twist and a rather good episode.

IZombie: Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Brain

“You’re printing fake news...”

Another good episode, this, reminiscent of earlier seasons in its humour and fun, but also showing us how very, very wrong things are in New Seattle under Chase Graves’ tyranny. And tyranny it is; that's made clear by his shutting down, with violence, of a local newspaper for criticising his "judicial" murder of the good Mama. So far, so appalling but expected, and we duly hope for justice and for Graves to get his comeuppance.

However, what's truly disturbing is just how complicit Major is becoming; he seems to enjoy his violent exercising of authority and ends the episode as Graves' right hand man. This is how tyranny happens,of course- a genuine problem, in this case a shortage of brains exacerbated by the black market, leads to universal rights and liberties seeming inconvenient to those in power. Suddenly they are no longer universal, and therefore no longer exist. But it's doubly shocking to see a character we know and like dipping his hands in the blood. It it bitterness, his break-up with Liv, having to put up with all those accusations of being the Chaos Killer, as the dialogue implies? Either way, he seems to be an analogue, for this liberal American  show, of those friends and families of the crew and viewers who have voted for Trump and for the apparent normalisation of behaviour that used to be shocking so very recently.

In other, less tangential plot threads, Liv is throwing herself into her role as the new Mama with gusto and acquiring a new, more ethical boyfriend into the bargain. Clive is having difficulty adjusting to an open relationship, unable to hide his situation from any prospective date. Eventually he resorts to visiting an escort (illegal use of a prostitute in America, I believe; Clive is potentially open to kompromat). Only after this do we get the cruel twist that Dale has never gone as far as sleeping with anyone and it is he who has fully made the relationship an open one. Ouch, but clever writing. At least Ravi and Peyton continue to be a sweet couple.

Anyway, the plot; this week's murder victim is one of those loathsome pick-up artists, Rose McIver is brilliant as ever as Liv with douchebag brain, and a poisoned condom is an inspired murder weapon. All this combines to make an episode sufficiently fine that it could even have graced an earlier season. Finally!

IZombie: Brainless in Seattle, Part 1

”And she gets to live another day!”

This season of iZombie has been a bit rubbish so far, and frankly I’m starting to get worried. Especially as this episode is somewhat meh and it’s the first of a two parter.

Rose McIver is of course fabulous as Liv on Bridget Jones’ Diary brain, but the murder plot- about “bad” people smugglers who promise to get people into Seattle but then kill and harvest their brains for, among others, Don E’s restaurant- is dull. Yes, it’s the harbinger of a crisis as zombies are facing a shortage of brains that is bound to lead to chaos, but the plot is dull.

The season arc continues to get into gear as Chase Graves sends Blaine to locate Renegade, while Peyton and aravi show signs of warming to one another again- and Liv sees that Dale is cheating on a live, no doubt for the sex. To tell or not to tell? But, regardless, this is awfully dull. What is happening to iZombie?

IZombie: Blue Bloody

”Would you rather stay in here with Ravi and talk about your genitals?”

A better episode this time, as we return to the traditional whodunit format, with the victim being a particularly obnoxious rich woman, killed, delightfully, by a golf ball to the eye- fired, of course, by a golf ball gun. Liv eats her brain, of course, and once again Rose McIver excels in one of the best starring roles on television.

This time the arc stuff is proportionate and watchable, too, with not too much overwhelming exposition and world building. Angus is hugely entertaining as a splendidly over-the-top zombie preacher, no doubt limbering up to be the season big bad. Clive confessed to Ravi in a brilliant scene that he’s getting, ahem, frustrated by the need to not have sex with Dale. And one of Major’s two recruits from last episode screws up in a big way.

The ending is unexpected, though. The whodunit plot is wrapped up, with help from the ever entertaining Vampire Steve, and we turn to the ethics of getting a sick child out of quarantined Seattle for an operation in Los Angeles. And so Liv and Major, who earlier had some creative and amazing rich bitch sex, have a big row and split up. Wow. Dramatic, but was this really built up to? It feels sudden.

Anyway, by no means one of the best episodes but back on track somewhat. Let’s hope the season stays that way.

iZombie: Are You Ready for Some Zombies?

"All bulls' pizzles hit the road..."

Before I get started... fear not, iZombie is current. I'm still very much committed to finishing Buffy and Angel aside from current TV such as this, plus films. I still may do stuff that's currently on my Sky Plus in addition, and will probably slot in finishing a season of Game of Thrones between seasons of Buffy/Angel, but fear not!

Anyway... this opening episode isn't that good, is it? The wit doesn't sparkle like it usually does in spite of the funny scene with Shakespeare luvvie brain, the post-zombie apocalypse setting leads to a lot of exposition, and the trinity of Liv, Ravi and Clive don't even get much screen time what with how much of an ensemble cast this show has slowly developed.

Anyway, four months have passed. Seattle is all walled off, so MAGA and all that bollocks. Everyone knows about zombies, although there is much seething resentment, and "Z"'s painted on the doors of households known to hold zombies. There's a nice scene, though, as Ravi and Clive exchange a brief acknowledgement of the irony when Liv, the only white person present, has to deal with the social awkwardness of casual racism. Brains are rationed, but Chase Graves are more equal than others. Blaine is an informer to Chase Graves, and there's the spectre of a zombie guillotine. Oh, and there's a token murder and a token quirky brain, but the whodunit really doesn't feel very important here.

Ravi is getting zombie "periods" once a month, which will be interesting, and Major is now going back to his roots and counselling teen zombie delinquents, except it seems to be for the purpose of recruiting more soldiers. Worryingly, we seem to have two extra young members of an already-large cast at the end of the episode. Weirdly, Clive can now be open about the way Liv gets visions from eating the victim's brain.

But it's all rather over-complicated, with two many characters, too much exposition and too many plotlines. Here's hoping things improve.

iZombie: Looking for Mr. Goodbrain, Part 2

"Well, at least it's not just us with our wangs hanging out..."

Oooh boy. This is quite the eventful finale. Hard to believe this all managed to fit within 41 minutes. Where to start...?

It's a downbeat beginning as Major and Justin briefly (41 minutes!) mourn their dead friends and Liv's confession to Justin about sleeping with Chase Graves leads to him, quite reasonably, being very upset and dumping her, knowing full well that resisting the urges of a particular brain is far from impossible.

But there's scarcely time to breathe before we get straight on to the web of intrigue and revelations that pretty much defines this episode and which I'm certainly not going to summarise; this is not a synopsis.Suffice to say there's been skulduggery within the ranks of Graves' underlings, Baracus was always a red herring and what seemed to be a nefarious genocidal plot turns out in fact to be a plot to seize control of Discovery Day so that humans and zombies can live together in (theoretical) harmony; scenes towards the end indicate that reality is not quite so idyllic.

The role of Johnny Frost in all this is both hilarious and inspired- I love how he uses the fact he's reporting on live television to jump the queue and get vaccinated- and it's heartwarming that Clive is finally able to be fully truthful to Dale, and equally heartbreaking that he's just too late to stop her being infected. But a short, silent scene shows that they're together, and he's staying with her, even though sex is now seemingly out of the question.

But nothing is more moving than the final scene, as Liv sees the final stages of Ravi's truly splendid lab experiment with many vials of bubbling liquid all connected intricately. It seems Ravi has concocted a vaccine and is testing it on himself. Liv is quite moved by this and the two of them have a deeply moving conversation in which they each declare their (platonic) love for each other. And Liv scratches him...

Wow. THAT'S how to do a finale. And tonight it's Doctor Who's turn...

iZombie: Dead Beat

"Juries today- they've seen every episode of CSI!"

Oh dear. Major has been arrested and evidence of him being the Chaos Killer looks pretty damning from the FBI's point of view. Not that it matters; far before that happens he will turn into a zombie in prison and start the apocalypse (although, surely, some random zombie is bound to be strayed and imprisoned at some point anyway; the apocalypse is inevitable). Oh, and Ravi has to explain it all to Liv.

I love the awesome lawyer provided by Max Rager, but this whole episode is adrenaline-fuelled and awesome. We discover that Major's frozen bodies have vanished, presumably because of Max Rager. Du Clark is going to sell the company to a military contractor for loads of money. But through it all is the suspense of whether Major will get his brains in time. It's truly nail-biting.

The real punch-the-air moment, though, is Liv finally telling Clive everything... and dramatically proving to him that she's a zombie. Finally! Clive, being a good bloke with integrity, immediately releases Major- at the horrible cost of his relationship with a furious Dale. We end with a vision of the once frozen zombies in a cage in Du Clark's basement. This is truly addictive telly.

One more to go...

iZombie: Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be

"Like me for my antidotes, love me for my anecdotes."

A swotty student is murdered and it's all linked to study drugs and a corrupt undercover cop within vice. It's a nice whodunit, if inevitably a bit perfunctory at this late stage of the season, but we get to see Liv on swot brain, and it's really underlined how unusual Clive is for not being at all corrupt.

Meanwhile, amnesiac Blaine's employees are taking advantage and claiming to be in charge. Ravi tells Liv that Major is a) the Chaos Killer, except without the killing part, and b) a zombie. And Vaughn fails to win a "father of the year" award for his treatment of his zombified daughter Rita. There's a lot going on. We even meet the most annoying of the frat boys from Zombie Bro again.

It's all about the ending, though: Dale and get FBI mates arrest Major for being the Chais Killer. Two episodes to go. This season is amazing.

iZombie: Pour Some Sugar, Zombie

"That was like interrogating a puddle."

There's a murder just outside a strip club, and Liv ends up eating stripper brain. This is a particularly good and clever whodunit, but we're far too close to the end of the season for that to be the only focus of the episode, much as it takes centre stage more than it has lately. 

Peyton's new roommate is Peyton, meaning that they, Major and Ravi have a Friends thing going on- nice bit of metatextuality going on there. And the twist here is that stripper brain gives Liv an insight into Mr Boss that Peyton is eager to glean; cue comedy scenes of her trying to get Liv to have a vision. And the episode gets bonus points for Ravi humming "The Stripper".

It's good to see Johnny Frost again: he's the same actor who played Spottswoode in Team America: World Police, you know. 

The end of the episode is littered with bombshells, though. Post-cure, Blaine has amnesia! Ravi opens Major's safe and realises he's the "Chaos Killer"! Liv realises that Drake is an undercover cost, and missing! And... Major is now a zombie.

Excellent stuff. But,considering all the arc-related bombshells we get, I suspect that it's the last big emphasis on the weekly whodunit we will get until the end of the season...

iZombie: He Blinded Me... with Science

"You Americans and your violence!"

This week's murder victim is a research scientist who ends up burned to a crisp; cue Liv acquiring scientist brain. We also get some rather dramatic arc stuff to remind us that the season finale is not far off.

Ravi learns that Blaine is a zombie again, and Blaine learns that his days are therefore numbered. While Liv and Clive navigate a good if a little perfunctory murder mystery involving a pair of twins and Max Rager being used as a red herring, Major calmly explains to Vaughn do Clark that he slept with his daughter and Liv rather naughtily does some undercover work behind Clive's back- will this come back to bite her? And what of the captive full-on zombie in Max Rager's basement that Liv sees clearly in a vision?

This is, perhaps, a rare example of the murder mystery plot feeling like an afterthought with all the arc stuff going on; iZombie is usually perfect in judging this balance. But it's an exciting and entertaining episode, especially the (admittedly predictable) ending where Liv, suspecting Drake to be a bit dodgy, arranges to confront him... and he doesn't turn up because Major kidnaps him. Ouch.

But even that doesn't beat the unexpected moment where Rita is scratched by the Max Rager captive zombie, and is imprisoned by her increasingly pantomime villain-sequel father...

iZombie: The Whopper

"I invented the orgasm, Clive."

It had to happen: Liv eats the brain (via the usual brilliant food montage) of a congenital liar. What also had to happen was Clive noticing Liv adopting personality traits of the victims for her visions. It would have stretched credibility for him not to have noticed something by now; how soon until he discovers the whole truth?

Meanwhile it's all happy families as Blaine's apparently dead zombie dad leaves him sod all in his will while leaving everything to his abusive old nanny- nice bit of character background there for our poor little rich kid. 

Things don't end there, of course; Blaine soon kidnaps Major, discovers the truth, gets his dad back to be tortured into another will, and insists on deciding which targets on his list Major gets rid of yet. Meanwhile, there are still signs that Drake is something of a dodgy choice of boyfriend for Liv, and the death of the zombie rat indicates that neither Blaine nor Major will live long after reverting to zombiedom. Ouch. That's a bit of a bombshell. 

For the second episode in a row there isn't really a murder mystery as opposed to the arc plot, but it's a bloody good episode, climaxing with our heroes finally discovering the tainted utopium..