While Major’s investigation lands him in hot water once again, Liv confronts Lowell over the source of his brains.

BRAIN FREEZE

Note: The following review goes into detail about the episode. SPOILER ALERT!

iZombie continues to surprise me each week. I’ve been loving the pacing so far, and now we have a world shattering event thrown into the mix. Liv and Lowell were such a good couple, and their relationship had advanced swiftly since his introduction to the show. Alarm bells should have been ringing when he dropped the L-bomb so soon here, but I figured Lowell was pretty safe for the time being. As the episode progressed, though, it started to become clearer that something terrible was about to happen, and then Blaine shot Lowell in the face.

It’s a shocking moment, and one that elevates Blaine up to a whole new level of villain. His deeds so far have been terrible for sure, but murdering Lowell is personal for both us and of course Liv. Now it’s true, we didn’t technically see Lowell die, but I’d be incredibly shocked to see him come back from this. I think the cut away was supposed to spare us from seeing a headshot, while also allowing us to focus on poor Liv’s reaction to watching him die. It was a great moment of redemption for Lowell. As I expected, the situation with Blaine’s brains and Lowell wasn’t as dark as it appeared. Blaine lied about where he was getting the brains from, and because Lowell wasn’t out investigating murders like Liv, he wasn’t getting flashes of the victim’s memories. It was rather telling that as soon as he did get a flash, he immediately knew he had to kill Blaine himself, and unfortunately he just wasn’t quick enough.

Things will surely have to come to a head now very soon. Blaine has killed the man that loved Liv right in front of her eyes, and she’s going to be gunning for him big time now. Side note: I say the man who loved Liv because I’m not entirely certain that Liv felt the same exact way. She had strong feelings for Lowell, and was revelling in being able to share a life with another undead, but I don’t think she ever actually said anything about love herself. Regardless of that, Liv is going to be absolutely devastated. I’m sure she’ll even blame herself for not being able to kill Blaine when she had the chance, but I’m also thankful that we didn’t see Liv becoming a killer at this stage of the show. Blaine has to pay for his actions, but perhaps payback won’t even come from one of our heroes. We’re starting to get a glimpse of some powerful people who Blaine has “zombified,” and he may find himself in over his head with them soon enough.

The brain of the week was a pretty fun one, with Liv gaining all of the military training and PTSD that comes with eating the brains of a murdered veteran. It was a hoot seeing Liv absolutely dominating her competitors at paintball, and her call to arms was admirable. This soldier’s spirit led to a couple of strong moments, including that monologue Liv had while staring through the sniper scope at Blaine. She had a chance to finish Blaine off but couldn’t take it for fear of becoming like him. This decision has cost the life of someone she deeply cared for, and she’s going to have to live with that for the rest of her zombie life.

The other major aspect of this episode was Major’s continued investigation into the “Candyman” and the mysterious case of human brain. Major’s already gotten his ass kicked on a couple of different occasions, and now he finds himself marked for death. The “fight” with Dupont was a decent bit of thrilling action, although it did lean a little bit towards a clichéd horror movie chase. I liked that Major hadn’t immediately figured out he was dealing with zombies, although he may start to go in that direction after shooting Dupont three times only for his body to disappear. Dupont’s eyes noticeably glowed red there too, although I’m not sure if Major took notice of that either. My only complaint about this was Clive being so sceptical of Major’s story. Major hasn’t given him too many reasons to doubt him, and it seemed like there was plenty of physical evidence to back up his story. I don’t know why Clive, who has a “psychic” partner, was so quick to doubt.

THE BREAKDOWN

iZombie’s strongest episode yet delivered on all fronts. There was plenty of the show’s trademark wit and charm on display, but this was joined by a real emotional punch right at the end that will have huge ramifications for everyone. Lowell’s death is sure to send Liv reeling, and she’ll be out to put a stop to Blaine as soon as possible. Major is now Blaine’s number one target, and it seems like only a matter of time before he gets let in on the bigger picture. I didn’t even get to talk about Ravi in amongst all of the other chaos. Thankfully, it looks like his zombie rat bite isn’t going to turn him into a zombie anytime soon, which is a good turn of events, as Liv is going to need her closest ally’s full attention right now.

95/100 – Superb

Was Liv right not to shoot Blaine, or would you have liked to see her pull that trigger? Tweet me @OldSnake24. Also, be sure to follow us @YouNerded!

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