Kyle’s Thoughts

iZombie continues to impress. The stories intertwine in a satisfying way, and “Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be” called back to one of the show’s more fun episodes “Zombie Bro.” Austin and Brody, two of Liv’s former fraternity brothers, added levity and illustrated how much Liv has been through this season. I still don’t buy her relationship with Drake, it ascended too quickly and crashed like Icarus, but she has taken a more hands on approach toward crime fighting, which gives credence to why Major would keep his actions as the Chaos Killer—or Kidnapper—from her. And of course we had more twists and turns where the Chaos Killer arc is concerned.

I won’t spoil it here, but Major was in major trouble at episode’s end, and the fallout from his issues should be enough to propel iZombie to its season finale. If you caught iZombie last week, you know that Major’s been re-zombiefied. If you didn’t catch last week’s iZombie, I’m sorry for that spoiler. Major has a similar reaction to brains as Liv. He ate the happy-go-lucky brains—another callout to a stellar iZombie episode “Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind”—and that led to some great moments with Major, Ravi, and Blaine. A super positive Major even uttered one of the better lines in the show: “Who we were is not who we are, it’s practice for who we want to be.” That’s surprisingly deep for a character who functioned as comic relief at the time he said it. And that’s iZombie surprisingly deep.

I may not care about Drake and Liv’s short-lived relationship, but the story radiates into Liv’s professional career, and not just because she misses him. Detective Lou Benedetto, Drake’s contact at the Seattle PD, factored into “Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be.” Benedetto offered the dark negative to Detective Babineaux’s by-the-book cop routine. I won’t say how things go down and spoil the episode’s story, but Babineaux received some much needed development.

Blaine and Ravi took a backseat this week, but they still had some scene stealing moments. Blaine will factor into the show as it moves toward its finale. He’s the linchpin with Liv and her origin, Major and the zombie cure, Mr. Boss and the drug trade, and Peyton and her case against Mr. Boss. An amnesic Blaine may prove to be the deadliest Blaine. And how Ravi interacted with Blaine and super-happy Major was fun.

If Blaine and Ravi were in the backseat, Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber) was an afterthought. He didn’t even get a credit, but Du Clark was electric in the scenes he was in. He won’t win any father of the year awards, but that’s what makes Du Clark compelling. He quickly turned on her after she became a zombie—we knew she turned last week but I’m sorry if that’s a spoiler—but before then, he doted on her in his own way. To be honest I’m not sure how he functions without Gilda. She’s the one who ran Max Rager. I’m sure that will come to a head in the not-so-distant future.

iZombie has hit its stride, while the other DC Comics shows on the CW continue to flounder. I hope it can maintain its momentum and something tells me it can. “Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be” was another solid episode.

Thanks for reading.