iZombie, Season 2, Episode 17: “Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be”

Here I am once again, recaping the last three episodes of Season 2 of iZombie. And today I’m catching up on Episode 17:

 

Should point out that the only pre-show titles was the title card.  This told me that there was gonna be a lot to cover.

 

• We start out at Radio Uni and it looks like Cosima from Orphan Black is running for student president against a douche bag who looks like a guy. Once the program is finished she leaves with a friend. As she’s reading her phone the friend wants to know why Cosima of the Northwest didn’t drop the bomb on Douchebro—
• Major (Robert Buckley) wakes up on the sofa at home with Ravi (Rahul Kohli) telling him what happened. Major is hungry and, no surprise, he needs brains. He spills on Max Ranger and his zombie collecting, and he tells Ravi the zombies aren’t dead, they’re on ice. Major also reveals that if he didn’t do this, Vaughn (Steven Weber) was going to kill Liv. Ravi wants to tell this to Liv: Major doesn’t, ‘cause he know that Liv wants to work for justice, and if they tell her what’s really going on, she’ll go out trying to be Ms. Super Zombie, and she’ll die.

RT: I am SO glad this is issue has come to light. Even though Liv doesn’t know yet, at least someone else knows about it. It is a story line that had been starting to get on every last nerve of mine, it just seemed to be the same thing over and over again and I am not a big fan of Groundhog Day.

CF:  I would really like to see Season 3 develop a little of the supernatural stuff that’s prevalent in the comic.  It would be nice to see Liv develop a relationship with a ghost or vampire instead of everything being “Eat a Brain Solve a Crime” plot, because I find all the ancillary stuff more interesting that figuring out the crime.  And Major did need to bring up the idea of Liv putting herself out there more and more and ending up dead-dead, ’cause that’s where she’s heading.

RT: Now this would be awesome!

“Then again she’s a zombie, so death shouldn’t be that bad. Right?”

• Speaking of Liv (Rose McIver) working for justice she goes to Mr. Boss’ joint looking for Drake (Greg Finley). She goes into an office, big ass dude follows her, we hear things doing down hard, and out she comes, having turned the joint into Thunderdome.
• At the morgue Major’s getting a brain shake and feels a whole lot better. He wants to know about the cure, and Ravi tell him he’s still working on it and it hasn’t done well. He know about Blane (David Anders) taking the cure, but there’s the whole memory loss thing, thought Major thinks Blane is just faking shit ‘cause it’s Blane.

RT: I totally agree with Major on this one.

CF:  I get the feeling Blane’s checking out what his minions are doing way too much for a reason.  Among other things.

• Blane’s back at the funeral home/drug running job and the minions are carving up the brains for their din din. Blane wants to know a few details about what sort of business they’re in, but the minions are giving him the run around, telling him to chill and they’ll handle stuff. For now that’s good enough because Blane doesn’t know better.
• Finally we cut to kids making out in a pool when they shouldn’t be there, and they’re not alone: it’s Cosima girl, aka Bailey Barker. Of course she’s dead . . .
• Ravi is sleeping in the morgue when Liv shows and wakes him. She tells him a about Drake being a cop and what she knows about him working to bust Mr. Boss. Ravi tells her that Major is a zombie, and that’s all she needs to freak a bit, and not because Major is singing and all-around nice. He’s eaten a Happy Brain^tm that makes him feel positive and look upon life like it’s all rainbow and unicorns. Liv lets him know that feeling’s not gonna last forever, and ruminates that at least he didn’t get the stripper brain.

RT: Stripper Major–a show I would totally watch 😉

CF:  They need to make it happen.  Really happen.

RT: We need a hashtag for this!

CF:  #iStripperMajor?  #MajorStripper?  I got nuthin.

• L & R are off to meet Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) and pick up Bailey at the pool, where Ravi begins running off a bad Godfather imitation about sleeping with the fishes. Don’t quit the day job, dude.

“You want I should take the girl and leave the cannoli?”

• Victim’s friend says she knows Bailey was killed by the Douchebro, Brody, because Bailey had major dirt on him: he not only didn’t take his SATs, he paid someone to take them for him. Ooooooh, burn! Sounds like Murder Time to me.
• Back at the morgue Liv wants to know if Ravi and she would still be friends if she wasn’t, you know, a zombie in need of brains. She mentions this because she remembers being a lot like Bailey before she turned. And speaking of that—time for some stir fried Bailey brains!

RT: This is a very slippery slope for anyone to go down let alone someone who has a cannibalistic dietary requirement. I like to think their friendship is fated and not chosen.

CF:  It’s opening up a shitty possibility that Ravi is friendly with Liv only so he can study a zombie up close and personal.  And that’s an even worse idea.

RT: See the ever-optimist in me didn’t even consider this because I love their relationship so much 😦

CF:  I spend too much time on The Dark Side.

• Liv and Clive visit Brody, where Douchebro is being totally Broish with another Bro. Clive brings up the SAT thing, and Brody blows it off and go full-on asshole about the matter. He says he had dirt on Bailey as well: she was busted selling Adderall to hyper-attentive geeks who wanted to be more hyper-attentive while studying. Douchebro sees this as a total wash, so no need to kill her, amiright? And the whole while this dude is speaking to Liv he keeps calling her bro: I so want her to kill him and flush his brain down the shitter.
• Vaughn has filmed a Super Max ad, and he’s so fucking proud, ‘cause he’s pretending he’s hanging from a cliff while drinking SUPER MAX. He loves it and mentions that the song playing during the ad was written by Rob Thomas. Rob Thomas? That name sounds familiar . . . is it the singer or the writer? But doesn’t the singer write? Never mind. Anyway, he’s showing this to Gilda (Leanne Lapp), who’s now locked in a glass cage sporting a full-on white zombie doo.

RT: Gilda totally looks better as a zombie. Now i just hope they throw away the key and let that bitch rot!

CF:  As much as I dig gingers, Gilda Zombie is totally slammin’.  And yes, they probably will let her rot a while.  But you know she’s destined to show up at Liv’s eventually so they can become undead frenemies.

Gilda finally has a death stare that’s the real thing.

• She is not happy; she wants out. But since Daddy is scared shitless of zombies, he isn’t letting her out ‘cause he knows darling daughter will kill and eat him. He tells her he’s looking for a cure, but only after Super Max is out and in stores and all that bullshit. He wants away from her, and she wants out, but guess who gets their wish to come true? Gone, Daddy, Gone.
• Liv at the police station looking for Drake. She tells Det. Vega’s partner, Det. Lou Benedetto—no relation to Sal Benedetto of Hill Street Station, I’m sure—the details as she knows them, but then Clive shows and wants information about Bailey Barker selling drugs. Lou’s like it’s no big deal, but Liv visions on Det. Benedetto scaring the hell out of Bailey. Clive is taking a call while Liv is going through Bailey’s records, and she’s all hyperfocused like, well, like she used to be. And later Liv has all the stuff for this case laid out, with charts showing all kinds of ways things could have happened, and a map of the various places they may need to visit. Yeah, no driving around in a RV for a fucking hour for this zombie!

RT: I really think Liv needs to jump universe and teach Rick a thing or two. Or maybe she could just eat his brain? Nope, scratch that idea! I don’t want CW taking an iZombie episode and dragging it out for twice the amount of time for half the actual story.

CF:  I debated linking to your recap of that pile of shit we both know as the worst season ending episode EVAR, and then thought, “I know Rachel will come out here and read this, chances are good she’ll link it up.”  And I was right!  It’s like I ate your brain or something!  And a hour in a RV with the iZombie people would be a talk-fest and a half.

RT: You know me too well 😉

• They interview a kid at the cafeteria about who was making charges on Bailey’s card and get told it was Brody, aka Douchbro. Clive is getting freaked about Liv being so focused. She spills on Drake missing, and she’s trying to focus. Clive tries to calm her down. A kid stops him and wants to talk. He says he knows who killed Bailey Barker. It was Det. Benedetto. The kid says a few months back he was busted trying to buy Utopia and Benedetto tells him work for him or else, and he knows this was the same thing he did with Bailey. The kid told the detective he was going over his head to report him to his superiors, and Benedetto told the kid he’ll kill him. Real anger management issues there.
• Clive and Liv go talk to Benedetto. Right off the bat he’s leaning on Clive with the “Thin Blue Line” crap before saying he doesn’t give a shit about study drugs and the real reason he’s leaning on kids is because he wants to stop Lucky U. He tells a tale about finding a kid who was dealing real weight, and they get him and and shit, but dealer says he can’t talk about what he’s doing ‘cause, get this—he’s working for zombies. Can you believe that happy bullshit? Zombies?

RT: When oh glorious when will Clive join all the bloody dots? If it looks like a zombie and eats brains like a zombie, it is a motherfucking zombie Clive!

CF:  Seriously, he just never seems to notice that Liv has all these personality changes, and I know they write it off as she’s like psychic or something, but damn:  The Zed Word is coming up more and more, and he’s still like, “Hey, Liv, what do you think of all this zombie business?  Pretty wild, huh?”  Maybe that’s all gonna change after the next two hours of the Season 2 iZombie finale.

RT: I bloody hope he works it out soon. How did he even get a job as a detective anyway, since he can’t even, you know, deduce…

CF:  Considering he’s supposed to be a deducing wonder, guess he just figures Liv’s complexion and hair color are a personal choice.

“I’d give you the dealer’s name, but I’m worried we’d fade to black–“

• Needless to say Liv. Is. Not. Happy.
• Peyton shows up to talk to Blane. She thinks he’s bullshitting her with this memory loss bullshit, and she lets him know that he’s back to being a bad guy to run around Mr. Boss—who Blane doesn’t know. He heads down stairs and finds the minions pickin’ and grinning: no shit, they gotta some kind of bluegrass party going on while the drugs are getting packed for shipment. These are some fun drug dealers, I’m tellin’ ya.
• While Liv is organizing her fridge Det. Benedetto comes over and for a talk. He lets her know that he makes these deals with people he busts all the time, and it’s not that big of a deal—as since Bailey was an over-achiever she was making some good scores for him. He’s also heard that Liv is a real go-getter and will probably have her own morgue one of these days. What he really wants is for her to keep her mouth shut, and in return he’ll keep an eye out for Drake.
• Back at the station Dale (Jessica Harmon) sneaks a FBI background check form in on Clive and tells him he should move on to the FBI, ‘cause once the Chaos Killer is caught she’s heading back to the East Coast. Right then Blane walks in looking for the morgue, and it’s apparent doesn’t know shit about anything.
• Ravi is checking out Blane; Clive wants to know what’s up with the check ups. Ravi BSes about what he’s doing, and Clive smells the BS. After Clive splits Blane ask why people get so many negative vibe when they’re around him, and Ravi fills in all the bad news. When it’s over Blane knows what a shithead he was, but just then Major walks in and Ravi tells Blane about how he turned both Liv and Major into zombies. Feel good time, people!

“At least tell me I was a good scumbag.”

• Major is still riding high on good brains. He wants to take the cure. Ravi doesn’t want that, but Major’s last fuck left a while back, and so what if he doesn’t remember anything when it’s done—at least he won’t be dead! So Major gets this idea: he’ll scratch Vaughn, turn him into a zombie, and Ravi gives him the cure, and they’ll see what happens. Wins all around.

RT: And the worst idea ever goes to…

CF:  The show plays things smart for the most part, and I was doing some serious eyebrow arching here.  Oh, no, Major:  nothing could possibly go wrong with your plan.

• Liv is fixing all the stuff in her home, and Peyton is giving her the look. Pay wants wine, Liv needs to be sharp. Old Liv is back, which means it’s a good time to flash on someone who knows she partied and says the guy in the cafeteria can hook you up. It’s the same guy who fingered Douchebro as buying food with Bailey’s card.
• Clive’s reading his FBI thing and Liv has the news: Bailey was trying to buy Utopia from the cafeteria guy Steve Walsh, and she knows Benedetto was lying his ass off. Time to fly, Clive, and Liv knows a way that has no road blocks—

RT: What, not even a Saviors burning pile of logs roadblock? Man, they are not in Georgia any more.

CF:  In Seattle they’re waylayed with layers upon layers of Starbucks cups.

• Steve is dealing with Blane’s people, and Benedetto shows up and gets Steve. Things are getting ugly; Benedetto knows Steve killed Bailey because she was wearing a wire, and then took her money, which was marked, so he’s fucked all around. Steve says the money is in the cookie jar, which is probably bullshit, because there’s a Blane minion in there who was making a buy when Lou showed and thought he’d stick around. Steve admits to the killing Bailey, and Blane’s guy kills Steve. Money is left on the table, ‘cause this goon knows how to leave a messy crime scene that points to the sucker.
• Clive and Liv at Steve’s place: Benedetto is alive. He tells Clive and Liv about Steve being a CI, and he knows that Steve strangled Bailey. He’s walking and talking, but he doesn’t know who punched him. The Blue Line is now up as Lou raps about how he’s saving kids even though his moves are sketchy, but Clive hasn’t any shits to give, either. It’s up to Internal Affairs to deal with Lou, who gives Clive the, “You’re gonna need backup one day, asshole,” which is usually the sort of threat that comes with getting shot in the face later.
• Dale starts looking at Clive’s FBI form just as someone shows up with information about the Chaos Killer. Well, not the killer, but there’s this dog, Minor . . .
• Major is with Vaughn, and he’s ready to do the scratching and the curing. The henchman comes in, and there’s whispers. Vaughn doesn’t look comfortable now, and says they’re all gonna head over to Tacoma. Major leaves to drop his gym bag, but before he gets far Dale is there with the FBI arresting him. He’s on the floor being cuffed. And turning zombie.

RT: FAAAAARKKKK!!!

CF:  And this sets up the possibility of the iZombie Apocalypse breaking out in the Seattle slammer—

What did you think of Episode 17 of Season 2 of iZombie? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below!