It’s the second to last episode and everything is heating up - and we finally, after a season where Liv and Clive have been utterly relegated to the sidelines of so much - have a murder which is relevant to the actual plot - but it also blows open this already extremely plotline heavy season.
But firstly we have the revelation last week that zombies are real. It isn’t reveal day because it’s a terrible trashy newspaper that sensible people don’t take seriously (like the Daily Mail) so it’s not exactly being taken seriously. But still zombies are the topic of the day and it’s certainly enough to make Liv choose to dye her hair and tan her skin - since it’s her zombie face on the front page of the newspapers. It also means she isn’t recognised by the reporter who has the nerve to approach Ravi and ask him for more information - he tells her to get out now and not talk to him again
Another person who has recognised the source is Katty Cups who lectures him on how irresponsible he’s bean and this is how he lost his job at the CDC, encouraging the completely fringe groups.
Peyton’s also seen the newspaper but tries to clumsily reassure Liv which is adoreable. She’s also been offered a job by mayor Barracus to be his chief of staff which is a major promotion. But Peyton is torn over his possible involvement in the Weckler murder - though when she mentions it he doesn’t blink. Liv reassures her - if Baracus is innocent then she can help the zombie mayor. If he is guilty she can keep an eye on him.
Then we have a body - and it’s Katty Cup’s body. She’s been murdered. Which is quite disturbing for Ravi but he doesn’t seem to have anything good to say about her. Liv does eat her brain still to help Ravi and we begin the shenanigans.
Shenanigans 1: Katty is from the CDC and is here investigating a strain of flu apparently brought from a plane journey from Paris. Ravi calls nonsense - there’s been no outbreak in France and this flu is defunct: he suspects it’s more likely to be suspected bioterrorism. Turns out Clive is majorly paranoid about disease- or at least bioweapons - and spends the rest of the episode desperately staying as far away from any suspect as they can.
Shenanigans 2: Katty and Ravi slept together. Liv gets visions of this and is absolutely horrified. While it’s tempting to be amused (ok I was amused) by Liv’s horror recoiling while Clive cowered in the corner, I think I’d prefer the depiction being Liv horrified seeing a friend that way rather than the idea that Ravi himself is somehow horrifying (especially since previous brain influence has kind of overwhelmed Liv’s own preferences and opinions).
The interviews of the air passengers don’t reveal much beyond the prejudice of one fo them (which Ravi nicely skewers - someone “like him” Wearing a “whosit” and a muslim. To which Ravi interprets as “being brown” “wearing a turban” and “being a sikh”). She also declares him having no value for human life so the next interview is the Sikh man focused almost entirely on his baby. That’s a nice take down, iZombie.
Liv goes to a bar to investigate on her own… going every night and every night resisting going with a man to his hotel room - I don’t know if she’s remembering Justin or just worried about spreading her zombieness. She does meet up with Justin where they establish that they’re a couple and exclusive.
Sadly, this is kind of the extent we learn about Katty Cups - she slept with a lot of men. And to be fair, no-one starts slut shaming her or implying bad things about her (though Clive does suggest if she has a different man every night there’s a chance of her running into the wrong one which isn’t shaming but it’s close to shaming adjacent). But it’s sad that this clearly talented CDC doctor is reduced to “woman with many men”.
It doesn’t help that Ravi is super creepy about Liv’s visions rather than recognising them as being intrusive and unwanted. Ravi needs to be so much less creepy around women.
Liv ends up drawn to the bar again, even as she thinks about desperately avoiding the brain’s desires, missing a party with Justin. And there she runs into Chase Graves and the flirting begins which leads to going back to his hotel room and sex (ok… he is one of those men who is 8,000,000 times hotter out of his clothes). And while in the hotel room she finds one of Katty Cups’ notes - he met her.
But that party she missed? Was Major’s.
Because Chase Graves figured out that Major is not a zombie (Shawna telling the whole internet she had sex with Major - which should have mean she contracted zombieness). Major begs to stay with the squad which has become like family to him (which we saw really well last episode) but Chase points out he’s putting the whole squad at risk with his non-invulnerableness
The rest of the squad doesn’t insist he stay - but they agree, he is family and demand to give him an awesome party to see him off
A guest Major brings to the party is ex-zombie Natalie. She’s back has come to catch up with him - after becoming human again she escaped, moved to Italy and is now back to get her stuff and have sex with Major (I can totally understand this to-do list) and join him at the party.
Which goes awfully because of Harley. Harley was a zombie last episode when Liv and Clive found him. With Major’s help they feed him some brains but it’s clear Harley hates and loathes what he has become. So they chaos-killer him, drug him and drop him in a freezer while they figure out what to do with him (Clive still has severe reservations about Fillmore Graves and doesn’t want to hand him over) and leave him in his bunker
Unfortunately, some of his fellow zombie hunters find him, defrost him and get eaten by him. This doesn’t help with his self-loathing. She he turns up at the party (where he got the address for the party from i don’t know and suspect I’m not expected to ask). Thankfully Justin and Major are outside when he arrives - because he has a massive suicide vest (what, survivalist groups stock suicide vests now? There’s a lot of narrative convenience here). He blows up the party - including all of Fillmore Graves’s zombies as far as I know, and Natalie.
Last storyline and we have Clive still following up on Katty’s murder and the people on the flight which leads him to Tatum (Weckler’s daughter), friend Patrice, Who turns out to be the daughter of Carey Gold - the civilian head of Fillmore Graves
Ok, every storyline just twisted and tangled and become more complex and now we have a flu bioweapon or CDC involvement and all the soldiers dead and zombie mayor possibly murderer which is also somehow linked to Fillmore Graves. Blaine and Stacey Boss are still out there. Oh and now we’ve got a Liv. Justin, Chase love triangle introduced which a) Justin really really really deserves better than this and it doesn’t speak volumes about him surviving and b) oh dear gods this show does NOT Need a love triangle. It really really doesn’t. Oh and Chase is also linked to Katty Cups somehow?
This is going to get very hard to follow.
Also in addition to Katty being introduced as likes-men-and-is-now-dead (which is sort of fridgy since she's being introduced just to add angst and advance the story with her death) we have Natalie. this is the very definition of Fridging - Natalie literally just appeared after several episodes of everyone completely forgetting about her (admit it, half of you forgot who she was) she was brought back expressly to die. She is hear to die for Major angst. that is the only reason she reappeared. And is that even necessary? He just said the people of Fillmore Graves are his family - but all these dead soldiers aren't enough, for proper Manpain you MUST have a dead woman, preferably a love interest. Seriously, this is Supernatural level fridging.
