Thursday, October 22, 2015

iZombie, Season 2, Episode 3: Real Dead Housewife of Seattle



We have a wealthy lady, Taylor, in an impressive house who is attacked by a man pretending to be trying to buy her house for a whole lot of cash. She fights back impressively – dragging them both over her clifftop view

But it seems to be only her on the autopsy table with Ravi commenting on her breast implants – he’s alive but comatose. Clive has investigated and concluded that the fake estate agent was actually a hitman (whose day job is installing car stereos). Liv would also like to have a nice social get together – but both Ravi (who is immensely cute) and Clive say no. Now it’s time for Liv to have lunch on “a lady who lunches”

This includes fashion and style knowledge and focus during interviews and loving over pretty houses. She upgrades her wardrobe and nails as well. Liv is completely focused on Vaughn, head of Max Rager because there’s some links there – while Clive is going for more traditional policing and looking at the husband, Terrence.

That means both of them end up interviewing Vaughn with Liv continuing to wear her picky, fashion-conscious, vain, entitled persona. She also gets a vision of Taylor having sex with Vaughn. Not a visual Liv wanted. She confronts him and he gets creepy so she throws water at him.

She also sees Major when leaving; she’s not happy. She confronts him working for Max Rager with her full over dramatic brain and slaps him. They leave but Clive and Liv discuss her vision – and are overheard by Gilda.

They check the hitman’s work and only learn he had a client he visited (they visit people willing to pay not to come in) which was, presumably, his chance to meet either Terrence or Vaughn and be hired to kill Taylor. Of course they don’t know who the client was and the boss is away. Liv is also wearing “sitting shoes” which, as I tell Renee repeatedly, defeats the whole point of footwear

They go to interview Terrence who has a lawyer who consults on everything and a personal assistant who removes his need to remember anything. Clive rather tastelessly refers to his wife’s affair with Vaughn and Terrence goes on a violent rampage – showing he’s both violent and surprised.

Back at Max Rager Gilda scolds Vaughn for sleeping with Taylor – she’s not impressed at all. He does say that she wouldn’t exist if he didn’t sleep with other men’s wives so I take it she’s his daughter. She’s still not impressed – but she does tell them that Liv knew, somehow

On to interview Terrence’s stylist (who is his alibi) and more of Liv’s opulent house wife persona and talks a lot about shoes (those would be the sitting shoes which are still a terrible idea Renee). We also learn about Camille and Deborah, Taylor’s friends who are “awful people.”


They interview them – and, yes, they are terrible people who gossip and stick the knife in – and reveal that Terrence knew about the affair.

Liv tells Ravi about Major working at Max Rager in between a whole lot of super-dramatic whining while the news tells us that there’s a new crackdown on the Utopium trade – led by Peyton. Which is a shock to Ravi and Liv who didn’t even know she was back in the country. Ravi offers Liv some hope that Peyton will want to connect to her.

Now Liv gets a call from Bethany, the stylist, for more clothes and shoes talk – and invites Liv to an invitation only sale.

To the case and Clive has a list of all the women Terrence had been seeing on an online dating site and Liv, with her new brain, as lots of terrible things to say about each of them – with lots of slut shaming. And rather than follow up an interview with Clive she goes to that invitation only shopping trip (is it possible for an event to be more pretentious than invitation only shopping?)

It also turns out to be Liv’s birthday so she and Bethany need to celebrate that as well. Liv is clearly looking at replacing Peyton with a new best friend

While Clive does check with the killer’s manager who says he didn’t meet Terrence or Vaughn – but there was a new woman in his life – Bethany. Well that puts the crimp on Liv’s new bff. Bethany was also on the dating website and basically being a mistress of Terrence.

Unfortunately Liv’s new brain can’t act and Bethany quickly realises what’s going on, elbows Liv in the face and runs. Now Liv has to chase her in sitting shows (see how ridiculous they are Renee). She nearly goes Full On Zombie in the middle of an exclusive shop but manages to hold it off.

Now to the interview (motive is basically Bethany kills Taylor and then marries Terrence and all his copious sums of money) – she’s arrested since she already has a criminal history.

Over to Ravi who goes home to Major – and Peyton. Major leaves Ravi and Peyton alone to talk it through and who knows what about the zombieness. They have an awkward hug because Ravi has just come back from a date.

With the brain wearing off, Liv returns to her base personality and it’s her birthday. On Friday- with Ravi and Clive having plans (which is why she asked them to come out with her), no Peyton and no new friend, just a big bottle of booze and a cake… she didn’t buy the cake. Nor did Gilda, but by what she said it was Peyton who left the cake.

Gilda is still pushing Major to keep working through the zombie kill list, he’s snarky and not happy. Gilda tries seduction and points out without him parsing the list for zombies and non-zombies – otherwise they’d just kill them all.

Major does find another zombie and kidnaps him – another to the death list

And he continues to use Utopium and Gilda continues to try seduction – and it works, sex in the gym (those places are waaay too sweaty and smelly for that).

Terrence goes to see Vaughn – and his plan for a hostile take over. Vaughn does a full sales pitch to distract him to take him to the secret lab in the basement. And have him eaten by a rotting hunger consumed zombie.





For a show that can so often get things wrong, iZombie has surprisingly good comments and moments relating to social justice issues – often in one off lines; little things like Clive’s comment on Liv asking him to pull the car around.

And then we have everyone else throwing around the word “skank” unchallenged. In fact, this isn’t an episode where any woman comes out of it looking good (though I do appreciate it that interest in fashion wasn’t inherently seen as wrong or degrading – but it did come with an immense amount of shallowness). On top of that we have a Black woman who is basically a vicious, murdering gold digger preying on rich white men.

This whole episode felt a bit meh, a vehicle for the personality which just wasn’t that impressive.