iZombie - Astroburger

Heading into the final two episodes of the first season, Astroburger is a pivotal episode. Major learns of the zombies, with Liv even copping to their existence after much reluctance. A video recording of her eating brains is found, made by Scott E, for whom Major met in the mental hospital after a voluntary stay. Liv being able to tell Major that she’s a zombie, finally revealing why she didn’t marry him, is a relief but he’s on a mission to destroy Blaine and his brood. With these big developments also Ravi finally succeeding at a possible zombie cure comes at the very end of the episode after experiments on rats finally paid off (with very little material left, to boot). Ravi and Peyton seems to also be an item, considering there is a hint by Liv that they are even perhaps intimate! Ravi poking fun at Peyton’s socks and their playful banter (good chemistry which kind of surprised me, truth be told) indicates there is potential. I reckon, just the same, that potential will be undermined by the writer’s room, not ever keen to allow romances to last. Liv lying down with Major, all comfy and right at home, gives us the clear understanding that this is where she really should be but fate has dealt them a raw deal. Liv seeing herself eating the brains of a victim, that look on her face, it impacts because she sees herself as a monster. Considering her stance on the mental hospital’s doctor going against an oath they are sworn to uphold in killing Scott E in order to keep a baby she so desperately had been wanting (since her husband hasn’t been able to provide her one), Liv seeing her own (even if “not herself”) abandonment of it is a shock to the system. Then Major telling her he would be killing zombies, it is quite a load to bear in such a short time. Blaine’s brain operation finally comes under some threat thanks to Major’s investigation of them, in Scott E’s apartment when Blaine and Candyman were there to set fire to it to protect themselves. The astronaut’s brain “kidnapped” by Major (among others) certainly sets Blaine back. Speaking of Blaine, Liv had contemplated poisoning him when he visited the morgue for more Ravi testing, but she wasn’t altogether sure it would work on a zombie anyway.

I was kind of expecting the Steve E story to be a bit more developed by those in creative decided to forward the plot ahead to his death as Major waited for him to take part in another game of chess. Steve E had introduced the idea of zombies to Major in the previous episode, but he wasn’t quite convinced of what he was saying due to his being in a mental hospital (and often talking about the devil always visiting him!). So the brains eaten in this episode are Scott’s and Liv actually has hallucinations of devils, and each devil (whether on bags of chips or a college mug) mocks her! Clever as the scripts often are with this show, a devil does actually draw Liv to a revelation involving the doctor in the hospital. The use of the weatherman (Daran Norris) as a plot device is also one of those brilliant out-of-left-field knockouts…you have to ask yourself why he continues to be so involved when he has no reason to be. Norris’ inclusion as Liv investigates Scott E (Babineaux is reduced to the background mostly here) is a nice touch that freshens up the proceedings. His speaking in weatherman should also be a sign that something is not quite right about this picture.

Blaine’s enterprise meeting resistance is certainly a welcome sight considering he just appeared to be running roughshod and the very head of the Seattle Police Department is under his thumb (Suzuki anticipating the brains, moved about by Blaine in pathetic fashion like a dog really wanting his bone). So Major launching an assault on him seems ideal, although the danger in doing so is quite recognizable.