21st May2019

‘iZombie 5×03’ Review

by Xenia Grounds

Stars: Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, David Anders | Created by Diane Ruggiero, Rob Thomas

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After a stumbling second outing, the third episode of iZombie took the series back to basics. We have a murder of the week scenario and all the zombie hijinks that go with it along with sprinklings of further plot development.

In this episode, two dancers have been murdered and Liv eats the brains of the female (Nancy) which exposes their co-dependant relationship at first and then eats the brains of the male (Gulliver). Nancy is annoyingly needy and Gulliver is an enabler of it. It’s quite an interesting case to watch unfold and has its fair share of twists and turns from beginning to end. It has a rather anticlimactic end but the scenes we get before it are entertaining enough to accept that.

There is a lot of comedy in this episode as Ravi and Liv pose undercover as dancers. Liv has an advantage of eating a brain to make her a great dancer but Ravi has no such luck this time so he is absolutely horrified at the idea of dancing in general. With everything that has happened in iZombie so far, it’s hard to believe we’ve not had the chance to enjoy a dance montage to this extent before the final season. Clive and Liv physically help Ravi to dance which is set to ‘I Love The Nightlife’ and it’s hilarious viewing. The cheery on top is having Dale walk into the morgue at the end of this and while she knows it’s weird, she doesn’t ask any questions.

The second plotline of the episode is the one surrounding Michael. He’s yet another zombie kid that gets focus in this season. Quite a few have been in this season already but his story does explore something fascinating. It does remind us that for every human like Clive or Peyton, there are more zombie haters to outnumber them. It continues to show that cohabitation is not plausible between humans and zombies and how discrimination can influence youth. In school, Michael is subject to much abuse and no teacher or staff member is willing to help him because of their own prejudices. It is sickening but it also raises the question of whether kids should be turned into zombies. Kids have a hard time handling their emotions as it is but add in the threat of full-on zombie mode if they’re pushed too far like Michael was then human kids are endangered. In this case, I doubt many people would have sympathy for the kids in that school but it doesn’t make it any less scary when Michael does lose it because he is capable of killing them. Liv may not want kids to die but turning them into zombies comes with its own consequences and it’s a shame that this isn’t pointed out. At least not yet anyway.

Peyton and Major have a moment of conflict over this too. Peyton sees the human side as the video that filmed this incident supposedly showed Filmore Graves soldiers being unnecessarily aggressive by pointing their guns at high school students. However, the truth of the matter was that a kid tried to steal a firearm from one of the soldiers. Thankfully, this conflict is resolved by the end. Major never asked to be in this position he’s in but he’s learning to show the spine that he was accused of lacking last episode as he shows no hesitation in telling Peyton the truth of the matter when she goes to confront him. It is great that these two make up in the same episode instead of dragging it out.

Lastly is the plot with Michelle. For those who don’t remember (not that I blame you, I forgot much of it), Michelle and Clive had a brief fling in Season Four  of iZombie when he and Dale had broken up. However, it is revealed in a birthing class that Michelle is pregnant. It isn’t said that Clive is the father or not though. In a final season, it’s probably not a story that is needed because it seems like adding drama for the sake of it. Michelle was a flat character and her reintroduction in this season hasn’t changed that. This story is saved by Clive and Dale because Malcolm Goodwin and Jessica Harmon’s performances are great.

Overall, this is a fun episode in a season of iZombie that has been driven by drama and social and political commentary so far which I’m sure will rise its head again soon enough. For the most part, this is a filler episode but it’s entertaining in story and consistent in tone.

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