Thursday, March 26, 2015

IZombie, Season 1, Episode 2: Brother Can You Spare a Brain?



Javier missed dinner without calling, which is so rude – but then he does have a good excuse after being stabbed through the eye with a paintbrush. Murderers are so inconsiderate when it comes to dinner plans.

Time for Liv, Ravi (who has heard of the artist) and Clive to be called in. Clive pokes for Liv to reveal any psychic visions much to her snark but he’s already decided that Javier’s wife is guilty. They make him back off by having to do gross messy things with the body. Liv also thinks the psychic lie is so going to come back to haunt her. Still, brain time!

At home things are still awkward as Major drops by with a lot of Liv’s things she’d left at his house and awkwardly mentions the many engagement gifts he also has if she wants (except the panini press which be used, broke and rebought and that line alone means I may forever love him in all his adorkableness) and it’s all so awkward and sad and kind of sweet but mainly awkward and sad. Peyton is a witness to the awkwardness and puts in an order for a juice press and adds some wise words about Liv pining afterwards

Liv also continues having nightmares about the other zombie who started the mess at the boat party. She still can’t find any clues about him, but then her research is limited to Instagram

But moping about how she daren’t have sex without risking zombiedom (hence not wanting Major around) leads to a sex, illicit flashback from Javier who was having an affair. In recounting the vision to Clive it’s fairly clear that while Liv fears to have sex, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t miss it. This leads to lots of snark and Clive even more convinced Javier’s wife, Lola, is guilty.

They go to interview her and find her being comforted by the woman from Liv’s vision. She’s Tasha and Lola introduces her as Javier’s lover – well that kind of scuppers the adultery motive. They interview Lola while Liv is completely entranced by Tasha in an extremely unsubtle and highly sexual way and Clive certainly notices while still being highly doubtful over Lola and Javier’s open marriage.

Clive still insists that Lola is guilty until Ravi sends the information that the killer was over 6 foot. Lola is not over 6 foot. Liv, naturally snarks, because everyone on this show gives great snark.

However, Artie, friend and agent of Javier, is pretty clearly crushing hard on Lola but is not on board with the whole open marriage thing (he assumes Lola is monogamous and Javier was just a terrible husband). He’s also 6’ 2”

Ravi has found a police sketch artist to help Liv describe the zombie guy – but artist Javier’s personality is oozing all over Liv and her descriptions are flowery but not that practical. Ravi is, of course, amused. Thankfully that flowery language comes with enough artistic skill for her to do her own sketch – and go home and surprise Peyton with criticism of their flat’s awful painting. She is completely loving Javier’s passionate adoration of beauty, though


At the morgue the zombie Liv has been looking for, Blaine, has found her. He also thought he was the only zombie and is impressed by Liv’s career choice for convenient brain snackage (he resorts to grave robbing) he also has an excuse for why she saw him attack someone – a guy tried to mug him so he “Raged Out” what Liv calls “Full-On Zombie Mode.” They then talk about the disgustingness that is brains and how much they miss food and they’re so awesome even if he’s a villain I want him to stay forever.

Ravi is, of course, thrilled to have another zombie to play with

He also become a zombie at the boat party – and didn’t realise that it was him, in full-on zombie mode, clawing Liv that changed her. He’s very apologetic but that leads to another vision so Liv has to get back to the case... and would rather not leave Blaine alone with Ravi. Blaine is kind of hurt and puppyish about it

To the police station where Clive has rounded up all the guys who were boyfriends with the women Javier slept with and Liv picks out Tasha’s jealous ex. Time for another interview and more flirty, fascinated Liv. From him they learn that Javier was sleeping with Artie’s 18 year old daughter

Liv and Major have another moment with lots of cute insight into the driven, focused and completely practical (but rather joyless) woman Liv was and how she’s pretty much the opposite of that while channelling Javier. Poor Major is now very very very confused.

We catch up with Blaine at a bar and whatever reservations Liv has about sleeping with people are clearly not shared by him. He picks up a woman they go home and start having sex – and his eyes turn zombie.

He joins Liv at work and she reminds him why she’s not a big fan of his which he does acknowledge as well as acknowledging what a terrible person he was. He’s not entirely altruistic about this nor just seeking friendship; he would really like her to be his brain dealer. She agrees and arranges to meet later – which is where she finds him talking to representatives of his ex-employer from when he was a drug dealer, convincing them to hold off. She sees him hands over what looks like drugs and is not impressed and storms off – so misses the part where the guys threaten Blaine to get him in the car

In the car Blaine ominously talks about running the city – before going full-on-zombie and massacring them both.

He then calls in on the woman he slept with and it looks like Liv’s fears may be reasonable – because she has become a zombie. And he now offers to sell her brains (she is obviously wealthy)

Liv repeats all her worries to Ravi before Clive takes them both to a fancy party for more psychic visions – oh and reveals that Artie is broke. Of course, with Javier dead his paintings are worth way way more which may have benefitted Artie a lot. While Clive questions Lola and Ravi gets involved in shenanigans, Liv goes to a darkened room and is followed by Tasha’s jealous ex. She has a brief vision of a woman called Becka being pregnant with Javier’s child (despite Lola saying he didn’t want children) before the ex attacks

And she breaks his nose, her eyes flaring zombie. She rushes upstairs to have a whole confrontation with Artie over killing Javier because he got his 18 year old daughter pregnant and Ravi decides it’s time for a crime re-enactment. Yes, in the middle of the party – because he’s looking at the loft with its multiple levels and realised there are plenty of places where a shorter person could stand above Javier and stab him with the paintbrush.

Which puts Lola back in the frame – Lola who wanted kids when Javier’ and Artie cracks because he was covering for her (and her bloodstains). He was fine with covering up the murder if she had snapped because of a philandering husband, less because she’s hiding Javier getting his daughter pregnant. Oh and the guy Liv just smacked bursts in and threatens Liv again and this time Clive hits him.

Of course, it turns out Clive, with his “the wife did it” was right all along

Liv returns to revelling in Javier’s brain and I determined to experience life more and leave more behind than academic success – more art, more music – and more Major. She goes to him and comes on heavily – but he backs off; she’s been completely absent and pushing him away for 6 months and now she needs to be close to him? He kicks her out.

She closes, as she and Peyton hang a new painting, with the reflection that parts of her were dead even before she became a zombie, and that Javier’s brain has brought them to life




It’s painful and sad for Liv, but I kind of like that Major rejected her. I think it shows more depth to their relationship than if he’d accepted her blatantly physical come ons. By rejecting her, he shows that he was hurting, has been hurt and has been desperately trying to connect emotionally with Liv, his fiancée, for months and failing and being driven away constantly. For him to make out with her or have sex with her would have said that all that pain and loss is less important than sex, or that sex with Liv is what he missed. A relationship that has been so badly broken for 6 months doesn’t get fixed with Liv suddenly deciding to go for it – and that’s aside from Liv’s radical personality change that must leave him leery.

Blaine looks like he’s going to be a rather glorious villain and has just what this show needs; menace, snark, an edge of fun and hefty dollop of adorkableness. Though Ravi is really cornering the market on adorkableness.

This show has so much adorkableness. And I just love how the characters bounce off each other – it’s so much fun and I love them all already. There are shows that have gone on for 6 seasons that haven’t had me this invested in the characters.

I’d like to think this episode showed that Liv was bisexual… but I think this is more the channelling of Javier than anything else – so I would like to see more confirmation of this before going with it.