Although Liv takes on the personality of a big gambler in this week’s iZombie, none of the money bets that she makes throughout the hour are anywhere near as important as the gamble that she and Major are taking with their reunited romance. While it’s confirmed by Ravi (after he’s tested every single condom available, of course) that the two can’t sleep together because Liv will pass along the zombie virus to Major, that lack of physical intimacy might not be what ends up holding the two of them back from each other. Instead, it’s the quiet, emotional distance that Major is keeping between him and Liv; despite their desire to be close to one another, he’s still hiding secrets, not fully divulging everything that he should if he truly wants to give their relationship another chance.
That’s not to say that Liv and Major are doomed, although they very well might have been if he was actually killing the zombies he’s been kidnapping, instead of just keeping them locked up in a freezer for the time being (by the way, what a relief that was to see: Major’s still the good guy that we always thought he was). However, there is no denying the fact that Major is lying to Liv, and he’s doing it for the same reason that she lied to him all of last season: he’s trying to protect her. As we saw with how events unfolded in iZombie Season 1, keeping secrets from a person, even for their supposed protection, never works out as well you think it will; in fact, it actually ends up causing more damage most of the time.
While it’s understandable that Major hasn’t told Liv about the “zombie hunting” he’s been doing for Max Rager, that doesn’t make it any less frustrating, especially when she brings up the specific individuals after they run into Clive and Bozzio on the street. After seeing how Liv’s dishonesty last season ended with Major nearly dead and Clive suspecting him of the Meat Cute massacre, you would hope that iZombie‘s characters would learn from past mistakes. Here’s hoping the reveal that Major isn’t actually murdering the zombie he captures will lead to him finally confessing to Liv what he’s been up to, so that the two of them can fully be a real couple again.
As mentioned above, while Major is continuing to gamble with his and Liv’s hearts, she actually become a full-blown gambling addict in this week’s iZombie, arriving at the barber shop to make several bets throughout the hour. However, Liv’s time there doesn’t just provide some great humor or allow iZombie to thematically link her “personality of the week” with her and Major’s current love life; it also introduces us to Stacey Boss (Eddie Jemison), who is somehow scarier in one episode than Blaine has been through nearly 20. Boss’s entrance is everything iZombie fans could hope it would be, from his “hypothetical” discussion of how to get people to kill themselves to his threatening of Peyton at the D.A. office. While we’ve heard much talk about how Boss is the city’s big, bad crime lord, Jemison’s creepy, malice-filled performance solidifies the character as iZombie‘s most formidable foe yet, and that’s saying a lot, especially with Vaughn Du Clarke still in power.
It’s still unclear how all these separate threads will tie together, although Major’s kidnapping of Blaine’s dad may be the link, since he’s doing it under Vaughn’s orders, and Blaine has already made it clear that he has a connection with Boss. The villains of iZombie have mainly been sitting behind desks and giving orders so far this season (minus a couple murders committed by Blaine and Vaughn), but “Max Wager” indicates that a terrifying change is coming and that they’re all about to become much more active than before. Let’s just hope that not only Liv, Major, and the rest of their friends are ready for it.
Other thoughts:
- So how long we thinking until Max Rager discovers that Major isn’t actually killing the zombies on the list? I think it’ll happen in the winter finale.
- Blaine kills his grandfather and takes out her brain, but for what purpose? Was that the brain he was going to deliver to his dad instead of the one from his rival’s son? No matter what, Blaine’s whole scene with his grandfather (“Just listen to the music”) was dark and brilliant.
- Clive geeking out over Calvin Owens (guest star Rick Fox) was absolutely terrific. Clive’s enthusiasm about basketball is a nice little character trait that I wish we had seen more of in iZombie‘s first season.
- Also, I love Clive and Bozzio together. Jessica Harmon’s a lot of fun in the role, and it’s nice to see Clive smile more, even as the two of them struggle to figure out what exactly happened during the massacre at the Meat Cute.
- Rose McIver and Robert Buckley are so incredibly charming and believable during Liv and Major’s Skype striptease. That was probably my favorite scene of the episode.
- This week in Ravi’s awesome: his utter disgust at how couplely Liv and Major are, the condom balloon animal that he makes, and this exchange with Clive after the detective tells him a criminal was shot right in from of him: “Did you soil yourself?” “No.” “Then you’re a hero in my book.”
What did everyone else think about this week’s episode of iZombie? Comment below and let me know.
[Photo credit: Jack Rowand/The CW]
