iZombie is
back, complete with awesome banter (he really wants an atta boy!) geekiness and
the best character interactions. Really, the way this team interacts with each
other is just some of the best I’ve seen on TV. It makes everything more fun. I
also love Peyton and Liv and we really need more of it – especially the she so
casually accepts Liv’s visions
This episode’s murder is a librarian erotica novelist which
means Liv ends up eating the brains of a sex focused writer. There’s good and
bad here
On the good, absolutely no-one is shamed for sex (and Liv
even openly calls out slut shaming). Nor is anyone shamed for liking erotica or
wanting to read it. The people deriding Grace’s book as “pornography” and
regarding it with contempt are clearly not cast in a positive light for doing
so. Equally neither Liv nor Peyton are shamed for having sex
On the bad, the fact that Peyton at least (more on that
later) and Liv potentially are going to face all kinds of sad badness for said
sex. Even if it’s not overtly shamed, the negative consequences hitting is not
so good.
Also on the bad, we have Liv living out this brain by
crossing a lot of lines – groping Ravi and giving sexed-up brains to zombie Drake
because she wants to sleep with him. Being horny is not a justification for
molesting and drugging (effectively) those around you
On the good, Liv also stops them having sex until the
brains wear off so she knows that BOTH of their consents are uncoerced by
zombie-brain effects. I definitely appreciate that – but they do end up in bed
together, is this after the brain wears off?
The actual killer is also the writer’s disabled husband
who feels emasculated and ashamed by his wife writing sexy books because he can’t
satisfy her. Now, Grace’s neighbour says it’s “doesn’t” not “can’t” but it’s
still as very terrible depiction of disabled sexuality especially since we, as
a society, continually consider the disabled to be sexless
This is especially a problem when we consider that the
depiction of the disabled on iZombiehas been problematic.
In other storylines, Dale and Clive nearly catch Major –
and Major has to get rid of his dog so it’s not used to trace him. Poor Major
They do manage to catch Blaine, following all the
evidence to his door. But Blaine is still giving lots of awesome information to
Peyton to help her bring down crime boss Stacy Boss. So much so that they’ve
become close – and Peyton sleeps with Blaine
When Clive and Dale arrest Blaine on an old minor warrant
so they can charge him, Peyton swoops in to the rescue, clearly uncertain but
not seeing enough evidence in Dale and Clive’s case to justify destroying her
source.
Until she goes and sees Liv – who knows exactly who
Blaine is and how dangerous he is.
And that does raise the question of whether cured zombies are contagious zombies?
Liv’s lover Drake is also working for Blaine – reliant on
Blaine for brains he is the one giving him all the useful evidence against
Stacy Boss… and he’s not happy with how vulnerable it makes him. He considers
Liv another potential brain source.
Other little gems:
Clive and Liv going to see Grace’s husband and meeting a
big scary huge guy – only to have their first assumptions shattered by him
being a nurse
Dale snarking about Clive Mansplaining to her.
Major’s dog is called Minor. How could I have missed
this?!
