iZombie - Real Dead Housewives of Seattle

*** / ****

While Vaughn du Clark continues to insist that Major kills zombies on a “hit list”, Liv eats the brains of a “Rich Housewife of…” who was assaulted by a proposed hitman, both going off a back balcony, crashing into rocks after a steep fall down the canyon her home rests upon. The hitman is in a coma and Liv is trying to determine why her victim was targeted.

This go-around Rose McIver gets to mimic those chatty, affluent bourgeois diva wives. Her posture, wordspeak, and interest in the finer things (wardrobe, accoutrements, bling, etc.) are emphasized to successful effect. Again, why I personally love the show is seeing McIver work her chameleon act, each episode wearing a new character, zipping up in an additional persona. Seeing Liv all fashionista, going into excitable conversations with ladies questioned by Clive about accessories, Pilates, yoga, and shoes is certainly a treat. Whatever character (stereotype, caricature) McIver embodies is a total transformation.

__________________________________________________________________________

Major suffers by association, his life just a doormat due to his relationship to Liv. Major having to kill for Du Clark is yet another trial he must endure. Leanne Lapp has a juicy second season role as Du Clark’s messenger and secretary, Gilda, a bit too gung-ho to serve her boss in capacities that require a disregard for life, whether it is human or zombie. If there is guilt, Gilda sure doesn’t seem to show it. She bothers Major while the guy is lifting weights, trying to leverage his mission as helpful, pointing out that if he doesn’t kill through the process of elimination, a middle-of-the-ocean cruise dump would be “plan B”, with innocent lives killed with zombies.

Major continues to show his addiction to Utopium, too, taking a snort before really diving into his workout regimen. And the episode follows Major as he must once again kill, cranking up the radio inside his car as a zombie victim begs for mercy from within the trunk. Another bullet to the head, and body dumped over a bridge, as this has become part for the course, a daily duty he has to tolerate. Live learning he works for Do Clark certainly doesn't help matters.

___________________________________________________________________________

While Blaine was the chief antagonist in the first season, Vaughn Du Clark has taken the role in the season season of iZombie. His Max Rager company being responsible for the zombie outbreak, Du Clark continues to orchestrate the next product that could very well produce something else dangerous. SuperMax just sounds like a product waiting to produce all-powerful zombies that would rip the heads off people. Du Clark has no qualms murdering as many as he needs to in order to get rid of any evidence or trace of bad drug or zombie outbreak tied to his company. The husband of the victim in this episode, Real Dead Housewives of Seattle, Terrence (David Starzyk), is on the board of Du Clark’s company, developing into quite a rival when it is determined that Du Clark and Terrence’s wife were sleeping together. In fact poor Liv has to experience a flashback to Du Clark telling her victim to take it easy while they are in the middle of a sexual encounter! Du Clark exploiting Major’s love for Liv is one of the second season’s major storylines, but developing also is Gilda being not only Du Clark’s daughter (!) but she’s attracted to Major. Gilda initiates a passionate encounter with Major while the two are in a gym!

So Gilda is Du Clark’s daughter, Liv’s new roommate, secret spy, and rival for Major’s affections. Liv is totally unaware of Gilda’s true identity. Gilda has successfully cultivated this façade and Du Clark is seemingly on Cloud 9 and on top of the world. Du Clark sleeps around, content with his whorish ways and bachelor lifestyle, as Gilda is a product of his many conquests. Now going after Major, Gilda has made this whole situation all the more complicated.

___________________________________________________________________________

Peyton returns in this episode after needing to get away for a while, distancing herself from Liv, the zombie. Head of a taskforce to weed out the Utopium drug trade, Peyton seems to have come to terms with what she was witness to. Ravi returns from a date with a lady named Stephanie, and Peyton awaits, with a hug and a hi, she seems to be comfortable and at ease. Ravi, of course, feels awkward about it all because Peyton just pops up out of nowhere and is all chummy. Liv returns home after the case regarding her victim, Taylor (Ona Grauer), falling prey to Terrence’s lover (Jazz Raycole), and notices a cake in the refrigerator. It is Liv’s birthday, and Gilda informs her that the one responsible, through description, is Peyton. Liv had assumed she might never even see Peyton again, so the cake is quite a surprise. Just when it appears Liv might have no friends and romance, she’s reminded of the potential for both. Right now it does appear Major and Gilda might be an item, so Liv is alone. Peyton had been away so Ravi and Clive (although neither was available for a friends’ night out) were Liv’s only true “buddies”. Raycole’s Bethany appeared to be hired by Terrence as a “stylist”, someone to make sure he looked the role of a high powered business suit. Liv, equipped with Taylor’s personality, could communicate with Bethany about clothes, wine, and shopping. But Bethany being revealed as the one who hired the hitman to kill Taylor, soon discovered by Clive when interviewing the employer of this assassin once again deprives Liv of the potential for a new relationship.

___________________________________________________________________________

Du Clark taking the challenge from Terrence, leading him to his doom after being told the board would vote him out of the company, the iZombie Creative once again establish just what kind of threat the Max Rager CEO truly is. Weber plays Du Clark as flamboyant, braggadocios, confidant, and free of any lingering effects of conscience or regret in any immoral or abhorrent behavior that he exhibits. And he’s quite a happy-go-lucky monster, too. He isn’t bothered by his actions but right the opposite…he has such fun. He’s just living the high life and ordering the deaths of people (or leading the likes of Terrence into a zombie attack in some lab located on a hidden floor in his company’s building!) without a care in the world!

___________________________________________________________________________

I have to say that the episode provides McIver with the opportunity to model for us in designer dresses that fit her body quite exquisitely. In designer shoes, wearing designer necklaces, and fitted in dresses that hug her impressive figure; McIver makes you do a double take. She’s a lovely woman. Beautiful woman. But it all ties into her character of the episode. It isn’t just Liv in the finest fashions, but McIver once again unveiling a specific personality. I thought she hit it out of the park yet again.