iZombie - Second Season Finale

I FINALLY got around to the final episode of the second season of iZombie, “Salivation Army”. It sees the end of douchebag, Vaughn Du Clark, and his equally loathsome daughter, Rita. Rita is held in captivity by her dad while he continues to experiment on a supposed cure by using the zombies Major promised to set free when time permitted. Liv and Major (with help from Clive, who is still not receiving returned calls from Dale) orchestrate a plan to rescue the zombies (especially Drake) out of the lower floor of Du Clark’s corporation headquarters. It will require help from Rita who knows her father’s key code to get into the cells where the laboratory selects as guinea pigs. Major had hopes a scientist who worked for Du Clark might be an option but he sneaks some Utopium for him and his buds, taking a sniff before downing some Super Max, turning all of them into crazed, unhinged flesh-eaters eventually attacking all of the corporation employees (including singer Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20!) gathered for a party…Du Clark successfully sold his Super Max formula to a military subcontractor named Filmore-Graves, headed by Vivian Stoll (Andrea Savage), so he’s celebrating. So a hundred employees are either brain food or raging zombies, while Major, Liv, and Clive try to get the zombies to safety, but not without complications.

There is a subplot involving Stacey Boss sending his goons to execute Don E for replacing Blaine (who Boss believes is dead, later learning he’s very much alive somehow), taking out the muscle of the funeral masquerading drug operation, Chief. They kidnap Peyton, pistol whip Ravi, and await Blaine. The love triangle between Peyton, Ravi, and Blaine (still suffering amnesia) continues. Ravi and Peyton seem ready to begin again while Blaine comes along, still important to Peyton because of his ties to Boss. And it is Blaine who rescues Peyton, using Major’s night goggles as advantage to intrude upon Boss’ men and take them out. Imagine Ravi finding Blaine and Peyton hugging, while all of Boss’ thugs dead all around them.

The end of the episode has Du Clark closing protective doors on Major and Rita, while Liv and Clive are in another section, releasing the “Romero” zombies that were experimented on, even worse than those who go without brains for too long. Drake is one of them, as Du Clark releases his cell just so that Liv has to kill him. And Du Clark mocks Rita by releasing the zombies Major was protecting, telling her the chance for a cure is leaving with them! This vile corporate scumbag makes one mistake, lifting his hand in a bye wave forgetting Major has a gun…a gun with a bullet that does indeed penetrate the glass. There is not a better sight than bloody-handed Du Clark trapped in an elevator, his handprint so distorted by red it doesn’t unlock the other side door while zombies (including his daughter) swarm him, Major climbing out with help from an ax just in the nick of time. Du Clark, his end couldn’t have been more apropos.

The end has Liv realizing that Vivian Stoll and her military group are zombies feeding from the brains of singer Thomas! That is a lot to absorb but Vivian considers Seattle the potential base of operations for her “kind”.

Anyone who watches iZombie knows that there are plenty of convenient plot contrivances that prevent out heroes from certain peril. No reason Clive ever should have made it out alive. Vivian rescuing Major, Liv, and Clive, trapped inside a small room, as a horde beats on the window is another implausible but nonetheless expected development. As you have to anticipate in season finales, characters involved in story arcs often depart, such as Chief and Drake. While Blaine inevitably returns to the darkside, by this finale of the second season he still appears the amnesiac not scheming his next profitable venture that often includes a body count. 2.5/5