iZombie - Eat, Pray, Liv

The head bashing of a Zen guru (with the statue of Buddha, for extra irony!) is the next case for Clive and Liv, while Major begins to feel health deterioration through a vicious cough and weakened physical state. Major is performing underwhelmingly through obstacle course training, each time out hit by paint pellets, resulting in his white helmet team being punished with five miles runs. Ravi is dealing with pride and jealousy, especially angry at the prospects of Blaine and Peyton (who he finally admits to being in love by episode's end), hoping to cure Major of his zombie disease through a serum. But Ravi needs Blaine to take the experimental serum to determine if memory will return so Major won't lose his. That would mean "old" Blaine returns along with his memory, leaving Seattle once again left to deal with a fresh onset of criminality. 

The episode marks the return of Angus, Blaine's father, looking to start up a club with Don E...this is the beginnings of The Scratching Post, a posh hangout for zombies who pay top dollar. Angus hopes to cut into the brain supply trade, as Don E seems enthusiastic and game to compete with Blaine.

The investigation is an excuse to have Liv in Zen mindfulness mode, speaking in calm enlightenment. Clive is obviously annoyed. The Zen murder victim once turned an investment broker colleague into the DEA for coke distribution, clearly establishing a MO that provides a rather unsurprising and rather lackluster conclusion to the case. Clive does endure a garbage bin search for bloody shoes. Zen practitioners are included for amusement as Clive displays frustrations questioning them. Liv, though, has plenty of proverbs for her partner to roll his eyes at and sigh.

Ravi's former boss, Katty (Christina Cox) returns to investigate cases involving a zombie in a plane crash and the Super Max zombie, barging in during a much difficult time. Ravi must try and steer her away from any clues that would expose his friends. Why he sleeps with her seems merely used as a melodrama soap opera device to keep him and Peyton apart. These kinds of twists just do not work to me but we're so often used to also keep Liv and Major apart.

Blaine does indeed agree to be the guinea pig after Ravi convinces him to atone for his sins, and the episode does allow us to see Blaine and his father meeting...Blaine doesn't remember his past struggles with Angus but is told outright that his father had no good feelings towards his son. The episode ends with Blaine singing while playing piano at a club, perhaps one of the final scenes featuring him as a decent man. Sort of a tragedy that prevails throughout the episode, letting us see that Blaine forgoing his fresh start in order to atone. Major, on the other hand, might finally be rescued from certain death...the episode features a moment where Major visits Blaine at the morgue, looking over at coffins with obvious melancholy. 2.5/5