“Zombie Bro”

iZombie eases into its second season as Liv has to ingest the brains of a murdered frat boy to solve his murder.

Viewers must be used to the formula by now as it has been front and centre for almost every episode. I’m still at the point where I’m enjoying the show but feeling the case and personality of the week formula starting to creak. There were some stellar attempts to change it up last season in episodes like “Astroburger” so it’s a little disappointing to see them go back to rigidly adhering to the established set-up at this early point in the season.

As always everything was suitably entertaining with the frat boy brain bringing out an obnoxious yet playful and likeable side to her. Despite the frat boy characters being walking stereotypes they perform their function in the plot well and manage to keep the twist ending just out of reach of the unsuspecting viewer.

I found the twist resolution to the case to be brilliant. Having the murder victim be the wrong guy with the same name is something I didn’t see coming. In retrospect it was nicely set up by including the other Chad and bringing out the drunk driving connection but the light bulb moment with Liv and Clive is excellently done and it was slightly different to see them chasing the wrong clues for pretty much the entire episode. In a way the portrayal of the frat boys as walking stereotypes was really clever as it would be easy to believe that the murdered Chad was exactly the sort of guy who would be involved in a drink driving accident so all of the viewers suspicions would point to someone wanting to get revenge on him.

Rose McIver fully commits to the infinite combinations of words that add “bro” in there and clearly has a lot of fun with it. I like to see Liv being more outgoing and the way she interacts with the guys at the fraternity has some real laugh out loud moments. McIver really is incredibly talented and gets to showcase her vast range every week. I couldn’t let this section pass without mentioning that the prank that Liv played on a sleeping Ravi was absolutely priceless.

Behind that her relationship with Major remains fractured and he only lets her get close to him in a moment of weakness after he has taken some untainted Utopium. This was perfectly done and felt realistic that in a vulnerable state he would let himself forget how angry he is with her. It’s going to take a lot more than taking care of him when he’s intoxicated to repair this significant rift between them. As a brief aside Major’s warning to Liv about them “always listening” seemed like intoxicated randomness but was actually the complete truth about the surveillance that Max Rager has placed on her.

It seems that Major was actually responsible for murdering the zombie as can be seen by the news report involving his family making an emotional plea for his safe return. Robert Buckley’s expression tells the whole story as it is full of guilt and pain. He hates himself for what he is reduced to doing so it makes sense that he would turn to Utopium to try and take some of that pain away. Major’s character arc is so far the most interesting this season and I wonder what depths the show will let him sink to next.

Ravi and Major always have such entertaining scenes together as their friendship just works in a way that feels organic. Having them go to a club in order to score some drugs was a hilarious situation as they were both utterly hopeless. I like that Ravi called Major out on his ability to find people selling weapons but procuring drugs is apparently a completely different skill set. Their nerdy awkwardness is always a joy to watch and it works really well here. Ravi being under the influence is something that was a bit overplayed but it was still entertaining.

It seems that Blaine is re-solidifying his position as the main antagonist with his plan to take down a crime lord named Mr. Boss and take his place. His plan is so far pretty clever with hiring 4 drug dealers that he then has killed so that it looks like Mr. Boss did it. He then blackmails the District Attorney into taking down Mr. Boss for him.

Some depth is provided to Blaine when he goes to visit his father (Robert Knepper). This sheds some light on Blaine’s back story which seems to be really twisted. Of course he’s not the first villain to have a tense relationship with his father and he won’t be the last but I like the spin that iZombie puts on it. Blaine shows that there is no limit to his sadism when it is revealed that his dad was the first victim of his unique business enterprise. The fact that Blaine could turn his father into a zombie without a second thought is consistent with his character and really adds to the layers of villainy that make up this character. Robert Knepper bounces off David Anders perfectly and their scenes together are an absolute joy to watch. I welcome more fleshing out of Blaine.

The show is still dropping the ball on the development of Clive. Every week we find out that he’s compassionate and intelligent but never seem to get too far under that surface. I did like that he flatly called Liv out on her constantly shifting personality and is showing more than a little agitation with that. We really need a Clive centric episode to give Malcolm Goodwin the chance to really dig deep into this character and give him the depth that I know is there.