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: Max Wager

"Aren't Brits supposed to be repressed? What would Judi Dench say?"

Liv and Major are now publically a couple again, and the episode pretty much revolves around the question of whether they can have any kind of sex which doesn't end in Major acquiring a sudden taste for brains. There's also a murder mystery, of course, and a brain that turns Luv into an inveterate gambler. It's also an episode that gave me great difficulty in choosing the opening quote: "That is the sound of a man's sphincter shrinking" came a close second. Just so you know.

There's a scene where Peyton is visited by the hitherto mysterious but very menacing Mr Boss. I love that they've cast a short actor to play him as a jovial and superficially nice guy who is clearly deeply terrifying underneath it all. I also love the strip poker; the sexual tension between Liv and Major is really quite palpable.

There's a nice resolution, much as its a bit soon after the basketball episode: the murder was ordered by Clive's basketball hero. Less nice is Blaine killing and eating his vegetable of a grandfather, but it's interesting to end with Blaine's zombie father being kidnapped by Major as another one for the freezer..

Yep. More good stuff.

iZombie: Zombie Bro

"You're like that box of chocolates from Forrest Gump- you never know what you're gonna get."

This time we get an episode set in the bizarre world of American college fraternities; one can't help but think that all these keg parties would be somewhat unnecessary if only the Americans would lower their drinking age to something sensible (I mean, 21???!!!!) and put bars on campus. Still, it's their decision. Anyway, frat boys are a thing, and it's a very weird institution.

This week Liv dines on the brain of a murdered frat boy and gains the urge to play silly drinking games; Rose McIver is utterly magnificent here. It's a fun episode and a good whodunit, tinged with real tragedy in its resolution. 

Meanwhile Ravi goes out some utopium as "research", which leads Major to tag along and do the same, with inevitable consequences; the stuff is essentially ecstasy. But the death of Ravi's zombie dealer leads him (and Liv) to realise that there's a zombie serial killer about. If only they knew who it was..

Meanwhile, we meet Blaine's equally nasty father-a zombie, of course. And we end with the bombshell that Major is now a utopium addict. Another excellent instalment of a promising season, then.

iZombie: Liv and Let Clive

"You got your ass kicked by a girl. Get over it."

This is an episode which needed to come early in the season; any later and we'd know and trust Clive too well to believe he could have dodgy relations with criminals. Instead we get an episode which deepens his character; he spent a year undercover and was deeply affected by it.

We also have more moustache-twirling by Blaine along the usual lines. His extortion victim, Jackie, actually fancies him. Bastard. Blaine is already a superbly written and acted villain.

The plot is, as ever, a superbly crafted mystery and che character development is proving to be first class; it'll be interesting to see what happens now that Major has moved in with Ravi. 

iZombie: Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?

"What's more meta than a zombie, the  having a bad zombie dream?"

Time to return to iZombie to complete the first season; then it's True Blood again. I'll then do the second season of iZombie, the final season of True Blood, and then I'll be back to finally finish Buffy and Angel. Promise! Obviously there will also be films.

Anyway... this second episode features an excellent murder mystery which follows all the rules and features her off of Scrubs, but it also develops the characters and format in a way which is extremely promising. 

The conceit of Liv acquiring traits of those whose brains she eats is brilliant and potentially a cause for endless fun; here she becomes artistic and says things like "There was something historic about his chin". I love this series' humour, visual wit and style, characters and brain eating generally but this is a unique selling point.

Interestingly, we meet Blaine, the first other zombie and a somewhat cynical one. I love their conversation about terminology and "full-on zombie mode". Blaine became a zombie that same night and has visions too; interesting. Unfortunately he's a baddie who makes rich people zombie and sells them brains for big money. We'll be seeing more of him then.

Liv's developing relationship with her ex-fiancé, Major (odd first name!) is clearly something to watch; here, her new found artistic enthusiasm helps them to bond over jazz. Other cool things include a dog-friendly Internet cafe called "Mutt Bowl Surfers"; Gibby Haynes would approve. So far I'm really enjoying this series.