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: Looking for Mr. Goodbrain, Part 1

"It was a grudge boink."

Into the two-part season finale, then. We begin with Ravi admitting to Liv that he's the source for the story with the big front cover photo of her in full-on zombie mode on the cover and getting away lightly. He gets less lenience from his old boss Katty Kupps. That's his last ever such bollocking, though, as Katty is promptly murdered and Liv spends the episode on what turns out to be her rather promiscuous brain. For this late in the season the form of the episode, at least, is closer to story-of-the-week than one might expect.

It's bizarre to see Liv made up to look human, at last worried about her anonymity; she looks so unlike herself. But the investigation proceeds as usual, with a nicely written scene where Ravi discreetly calls out a witness for her racism. Liv's flirtiness is anything but, though, and we're left feeling a little uncomfortable about what this means for her relationship with Justin.

Most tragic, though, is Major's rekindled relationship with a besotted Natalie, who invites him to Italy to live happily ever after. This automatically means that everything has to end in tears, and the episode ends with an explosive finale as the zombie Harley Johns kills everyone at Major's goodbye party except for Justin and Major himself. Dramatic stuff, and there's still the finale to go...

iZombie: Twenty-Sided, Die

"That's from an impotent proctologist, by the way. Enjoy it."

So iZombie does a D&D episode and, while not so chock full of geeky in-jokes as you might expect, still manages to be fun, engaging and give a fairly accurate (and hopefully attractive to potential newbies) impression of that splendid hobby. Mind you, not that I'm at all current, but the game they're playing seems to be using the old pre-AD&D that I, Rules Cyclopedia aficionado that I am, tend to use whenever I have a rare chance to game. Interestingly, though, the case is left unconcluded (hints of Russian cyber stuff- very topical!) and is handed over to the FBI- and, inevitably, a certain individual. Meanwhile, Peyton continues to remind us of that dominatrix case bubbling under. I'm sure both of these cases are going to lead somewhere big.

But we start with  Ravi undercover with the zombie truthers, forced to out himself and pretend to be working on a cure to prevent them kidnapping zombies, starving them and turning them full on Romero, which is, er, nice. This is obviously going to lead somewhere unpleasant.

Curiously, Baracus tries to persuade Peyton to drop the dominatrix case just before someone tries to assassinate him at his fundraiser; I suspect it's deeper than we know. Liv and Justin continue to be a sweet yet doomed couple, and we end with truther bloke showing Ravi a full-on Romero zombie- Don E, whos been on drugged WWII air ace brain. Just say no, kids.

But nothing- nothing- in even this splendid episode can top Clive and his dwarf PC, Earl. Please can we see more of this D&D campaign?

iZombie: Real Dead Housewife of Seattle

"I've never had a lady who lunches for lunch..."

This week is a particularly well-constructed murder mystery, playing by the rules, and the revelation of the killer is particularly satisfying. That box is ticked, and it's an important one. But we also have characterisation, and a story arc that is gathering pace.

Major is still being made to go after zombies for Max Rager, and kidnaps a particularly nice-seeming one. Vaughn, from Max Rager, had sex with the victim, who was married to an important member of the board, and is threatened by him... leading to death by zombie. And yes, as the wife and I thought, Liv's new roommate Zilda is a Max Rager spy... and she's seducing Major.

Meanwhile, Peyton is back- and she's been appointed district attorney and effective utopium czar for Seattle. I wasn't expecting that. It's also nice to see that she's calmed down, is fine and realistic about Ravi moving on, and is still a good friend to Liv. But where is her arc going?

A particularly good episode in a series that continues to be brilliant. More please.

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.