Kyle’s Thoughts

A lot of disparate story threads came together in another fun episode of iZombie. “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” showed how Blaine factored into the larger criminal underworld. Mr. Boss, the don of the Seattle crime scene, has found out that Blaine’s the new drug lord of the streets. The Seattle police department, in turn, searches the streets for the new player (Blaine), while the District Attorney turns full-on zombie and kills some of Mr. Boss’s drug dealers who threatened to kill him. Blaine’s influence and the open spot in Mr. Boss’s crime ring leaves space for Blaine to become part of the fold. Meanwhile, Major gets outed for the zombie murder he didn’t commit (he couldn’t kill a zombie dad, the aforementioned District Attorney) and Max Rager puts the screws to him. As you can tell a lot happened but the “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” had nice pacing and the blocks fit neatly into place.

The only issue I had with this week’s episode was the relationship between Liv and her zombie beau. It’s not that iZombie failed to develop the two’s love affair. It’s that it the romance was a plot device, tying in another loose end or two. Through happenstance, by virtue of her lover, Liv knows of Blaine’s involvement with the greater Seattle mob. This will start a domino effect that will lead Liv to discover how all the pieces fit. A spark like this had to happen sooner or later but I would’ve preferred later. Just because you let the viewers know how the pieces fit one week doesn’t mean that the main character should know.

I’m not sure how many episodes are left in this season, so Liv’s romance serving as a plot device might not be that big of a deal. If iZombie only has six more episodes, it’s right on schedule. If there’s another half to the season, “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” will have given way too much away too soon and either the show gets caught in a holding pattern or we’ll have to start questioning Liv’s intelligence with her inability to connect the dots, especially since her best friend Peyton is the new District Attorney and the two should discuss their two sides of the same criminal coin.

The brains Liv was on this week were fun. She took on the traits of a social media guru, so Liv morphed into a Facebook thirsty, Twitter mad, Instagrammer. This led to some great moments. Liv captures a video of herself opening a morgue supply box; it got 105 views on YouTube. She Instagrams her brain sushi before she eats it; she tags it as a salmon roll. She tweets out photos of herself at a crime scene. Clearly, a social media savvy medical examiner wouldn’t do most of what Liv did in this episode but iZombie has a habit of using exaggeration to the point of absurdity for comedic effect, and “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” is a shining example.

I enjoyed this week’s episode. I only hope that iZombie hasn’t started its rise toward its season’s climax before it’s ready.