iZombie - Mac-Liv-Moore
**½ / ****
While the formula of the show is featuring your seasonal arc
as background while a current case from crime scene to morgue to eaten brains
of the victim to the investigation serves as primarily a distraction (sometimes
actually benefiting the arc that functions as a means to keep the show
continuing on its track from season station to season station), I think Mac-Liv-Moore finds a way to try and address its
subplots as the most important part of the episode while the case is a minor
diversion that peeks its head out from time to time to remind us it exists. Liv
eats the brain of a dead white underground Seattle rapper, carted into the
morgue with his girlfriend, soon learning through her work with Ravi and Clive
that the one responsible was a zombie killer who escaped from the convict bus
that was overturned by Angus’ church of the undead. Chase Graves didn’t know
about Major’s report when he (and his kid soldiers) was nearly killed in Angus’
church, which sends him into a rage. The show has done a swell job of
communicating Chase’s quietly stewing rage he’s kept held in check which
surfaces from time when he slightly loses control (in this episode he smashes a
locker with his fist collapsing into it a major Hulk Smash hole), confiding in
loyal Major. Major’s tug-o-war between Chase and Liv, on opposite sides of the
turning-humans-zombie ongoing battle within Seattle as brain supplies continue
to dwindle, also remains a dilemma he must consistently withstand. Blaine has
now devised a masterplan to spread the zombie virus across the country so that
Seattle doesn’t serve as the enclosed “Lost City of Z” so that he can reap the
rewards of “real estate price hikes”, paying a major price for a cyber-genius
brain (that came from a virgin brainiac with socially awkwardness) fed to his
cohort, Don E. Blaine will give the mayor of Seattle the zombie cure then kill
him in cold blood when he is human again to be displayed on the internet (the
dark web). Those with enough money will more than pay millions for the cure, so
Blaine eyes the financial investment of killing the mayor, while the dark web
beckons payers to reach out to him. The city goes on “lockdown” intruding upon
Clive and Liv’s case, so that Fillmore-Graves officers can search the streets
for the missing zombie serial killer. With the brain of a rap artist, Liv
slings “mad rhymes” and speaks the language while also dressing the part, as
Clive, Ravi, and members of the police force congregate in private to play
Dungeons & Dragons! The show has been moving Clive away from Bozzio and
towards another female police officer, Michelle (Christie Laing) during the
season, and with the D&D game, her involvement (and desire to play) results
in the two kissing while fighting over a recording of their activities (the
skewering from fellow police officers would assure plenty of giggles for years
to come). The discovery of dead human mayor and Blaine’s dark web recording of
it places Peyton in the role of acting-mayor! Peyton, who knows of Liv’s
underground activities replacing Renegade and dying Isobel’s status as an
outsider who entered into Seattle illegally, secretly opposes Fillmore/Graves.
So Major’s inner circle is against his boss, certain to increasingly make
things more and more difficult. Peyton informs Ravi of Liv’s replacing the
guillotine-head-smashed Renegade, and Isobel’s immunity against the zombie virus
piques Ravi’s curiosity. Isobel, before she dies, will not leave Seattle,
wanting Ravi to investigate her for a possible immunity that might just serve
the public at large in regards to the zombie virus. And even Major’s
underlings, who follow his lead as officers for F/G, begin a romance with each
other, trying to determine if it is serious or not.
McIver, dropping rhymes, gets into the part for sure. That
is no surprise, but this persona isn’t altogether overwhelming as has been in
times past. Rhymes at the end as narration is a nice touch. Graves entrusting
in Major when it appears there is dissention in the ranks will only tighten the
squeeze as Liv, Peyton, and Ravi continue to work against Chase. Graves also
contending with the uprising in Angus’ church and Blaine’s own hatched plot to
spread the zombie and reap profits from a cure offered to the highest bidder
doesn’t do him any favors.
Comments
Post a Comment