Note: This review may contain spoilers about the episode
On this week's episode of iZombie, Liv teams up with Ravi to help find who killed a gang member that showed up in the morgue. However, this dead man has a connection to Clive's past and it's not all that Liv bargained for.
There's a couple of really solid story lines going on during this episode. On one side, there's Ravi and Liv trying to solve the murder, which brings them on this quirky and fun journey, much like we've seen in the rest of the series. In addition, there's also Blaine's brain smuggling operation and a couple of his men are about to turn on him.
Each of these stories have some pretty different tones to them. Liv's story is fun and at times stumbling because that's the nature of the character, to stumble on the answers. Then, there's Blaine's story, which has dark undertones to it of deception, betrayal, and murder. Strangely enough, both of these stories, which are on opposite ends of the tone spectrum, really balance each other out incredibly well. Put them together, and you have a full, complete show that has a broader appeal than Liv stumbling around every week, which is cute and fun and all, but could wear out its welcome incredibly quick if the viewer didn't also have the Blaine story.
Blaine's business is called "Meat Cute." Cue me giggling.
Other quite "giggle to myself" moments include Liv saying to herself "I know kung fu" much like how Keanu Reeves said during the Matrix. The show has a few moments like this each week and the comedic side isn't too much and fits in very nicely.
This was the episode that decided to finally build up its supporting characters. Everyone that felt a little flat and cardboard in previous episodes, Major and Clive mainly, got their own spotlight here. Clive's history is explored quite a bit here and he actually comes off, early on as a questionable character. By the end, everything is straightened out, but it has the viewer guessing which is a nice edition to this episode.
Blaine's story is about to cross-over with another character, and it some ways, it already has. We can see the build-up to a Blaine and Major meet-up and an eventual moment where Liv finds out what he's been up to. This is some fantastic build-up and will really get fans on board for the rest of the season.
On the down side of things, the fight scene, towards the end, was a little clunky at times. Liv's fighting felt a little stiff, and it's not just because of the rigor mortis (I'll see myself out now). The scene itself really worked for the episode, but the choreography could have been a bit more fluid and faster paced to make it feel more realistic.
iZombie continues to impress, even though it's a very loose translation of the Vertigo book of the same name. However, it's actually a really good adaptation for the CW as it captures a few small elements of the comic, but puts it into the fun and quirky CW format, which many shows have followed in the past. This was a show had had extremely low expectations for before it came out and now I'm a in for the long haul. Between this and The Flash, CW really knows what they're doing.
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