iZombie - Grumpy Old Liv

Season 2: Episode 1

*** ½/****

Liv’s going through a lot: Major isn’t talking to her, her mom and brother don’t want her near them for not giving her blood, Vaughn Du Clark has planted a spy to record her conversations posing as a roommate, Payton is missing, Clive believes Major is behind the five deaths his boss took credit for before his own demise, Ravi is needing more “impure” Utopium in order to manufacture more “cure” given to Major and Blaine, and Blaine orchestrates a new drug business of pure Utopium while masquerading as the proprietor of a funeral home business!

The case involves a cantankerous misanthrope, turned into this despised neighborhood grump who complains about everything and everyone, primarily due to 30 years of fibromyalgia. Found dead under her car due to someone kicking out his jack, a shoe footprint could be the major clue that could very well find the killer along with Liv’s brain-eating history trigger memories.

• ·         Byron Thistlewaite (Adam Rose) calls into the tipline pointing a finger at a rowdy kid in the neighborhood.

• ·         Rowdy kid (Jesse Haddock) has an alibi.

• ·         Sister-in-law, Clara (Mary Black), in a wheelchair had a rather volatile relationship with him

• ·         the victim tried to feed Byron’s dog poisoned food

• ·         the victim’s vehicle was keyed by Clara, responding to him in a fit of anger

To me, the second season couldn’t have kicked off any better as Liv’s life is a disaster. She needs the “specially cut” Utopium and must go to Blaine in order to secure more. Blaine agrees to try and get some because his own life might depend on it. Blaine is always up to no good. He uses the funeral home because fresh brains continues a client list and why not a new front for your drug trade. Caskets, we see, can hold a lot of U-vials. Du Clark utilizes his very agreeable secretary, Gilda (Leanne Lapp), to serve as a plant, posing as an IRS employee and new roomie for Liv. That allows her to record conversations so that Du Clark can blackmail Major (trying it out as a personal trainer) into hunting down all zombies and killing them! Du Clark wants his Max Rager chemical zombie outbreak taken care of so that his new Super Max line will go released without any controversy or bad publicity. Brother Evan tries to recover while Mom tries to cope with why Liv wouldn’t give him blood, unaware of the zombie that courses through her daughter’s body. Ravi continues to work on a new cure but needs more of the tainted Utopium in order to find any success. What is neat about the “cure” is that both Blaine and Major can seem to sense when a zombie is near…the camera zooms in on their hairs standing up on end! With Clive still unsure of Suzuki’s death and the five bodies left behind, he feels Major is linked to them as Liv tries her best to move him off the scent.

Major killing a client who is a zombie while Glenda looks on lustfully certainly is a hell of a development. Particularly, because Vaughn Du Clark has poor Major between a rock and a hard place. His association with Liv has sure done him no favors! Liv wanting to just disassociate herself from those she loves because of her difficult circumstances just doesn't work out. No matter how she tries, those she loves continue to be pulled into danger... through no fault of her own.

Liv’s new personality turns her into a bossy, grouchy, opinionated, racist, confrontational knob. Clive tires of her while Ravi just deals with it the best he can. It is always fun to watch Clive react towards these twists in attitude and personality, taken aback by her and often startled at the things that come out of her. Ravi knows her situation, so he can take it at stride a bit easier. Still, it can certainly be jarring to those used to Liv one way, only to be introduced to something completely different. Liv trying to navigate between who she is and the person deriving from the brain she eats can be quite a test indeed. Never more is that the case than in Grumpy Old Liv.