After Liv chowed down on the brain of a man who was a shop teacher by day, vigilante by night, she dressed up in her own crime-fighting costume and said some hilariously dramatic things that Ravi joked would be good to use in her character's graphic novel (I see what you did there, iZombie). For a show that airs after The Flashon The CW a.k.a. a network that has made a name for itself partly on the backs of superheroes,iZombie had a great time poking fun at the ridiculous idea that people run around in costumes and attempt to fight crime but then go to work at pressed juiceries during the day. It's humorous in light of how saturated with superheroes popular culture has become over the last decade, but it's especially funny when viewed through the lens of a show like iZombie that is equally unbelievable in its premise. Liv thought the Fog was crazy for his nighttime activities as a caped crusader, but Liv is a zombie who solves murders through the visions she receives after eating the brains of the deceased victims who pass through the morgue where she works. I mean, vigilante crimefighters who say things like, "I'm the Fog, and tonight I'm thick with justice," don't sound nearly as crazy when you put things into perspective.
And this week, iZombie was all about putting things into perspective, whether it was Clive realizing how dangerous it was to allow Liv to consult on cases or Major finally coming to terms with how a brain affects a zombie, things were becoming clearer but also changing, and not necessarily for the better, for our ragtag group of heroes. Like many superhero tales, "Cape Town" ended with Liv standing on a rooftop surveying the city she was trying to protect, and although it was fun while it lasted, the particular brain put Liv in a dangerous position when she went to one of Mr. Boss's warehouses to stop a gun deal and after overpowering a few men with marbles, chloroform, and her built-in zombie rage, was nearly killed by the murderer, who'd been robbing Mr. Boss's high stakes poker games. Mr. Boss arrived and shot the woman, and if Liv wasn't already on his radar from his first appearance on the show, she is now.
Liv has done some questionable things as a result of whatever brain she's eaten that week, but has she ever been quite so needlessly reckless as she was this week? She is not a trained law-enforcement officer, and her zombie strength and instincts can't protect her all the time. The fact that there were repercussions for her actions is actually something that I think needed to happen in order for iZombie to continue to move forward, even if moving forward actually meant taking a few steps back. One of the worst things that can happen to a show is that it becomes complacent, and althoughiZombie was in no risk of stalling out—between Max Rager, Mr. Boss, and Blaine's scheming, the show has plenty of storylines to ensure it has forward momentum—Clive ending their partnership threw Liv for a loop and forced the show to turn inward in a way that we haven't seen in a while.
Clive blamed himself for Liv's actions because he'd been treating her like an equal when she wasn't one, but by putting an end to their partnership, he has unknowingly also taken away the one thing that gave real meaning to Liv's undead life. And so without her tether, everything kind of spiraled out of control from there. The way Liv sees it, if she's not using the brains she eats to retrain her humanity to also solve murders, then there are no positives to being a zombie. It means she suffers through visions of someone else's life for no reason, it means her personality shifts are for nothing, and it means that she no longer serves any purpose. Clive dissolving their weird little partnership essentially threatens to erase all of the progress Liv has made since the series premiere taught Liv that being a zombie didn't have to mean her life was over. And without helping to solve murder cases, the depression that once dominated Liv's life is already threatening to creep back in.
The first casualty of being a zombie without a cause was Liv's love life. It was already in jeopardy, of course, but after having a heart-to-heart with a zombie who was forced to have sex for food (thanks Blaine, you jerk pimp, we all know it was you who did this), Major thought he had finally begun to understand how the brains affected an individual, and was willing to forgive Liv for her stalker actions last week—an argument that bled over into this week's episode—but Liv decided to break things off. To his credit, Major was so sure that they're meant to be together that he's willing to wait and was certain this latest hiccup in their long, rocky road to happiness will be overcome. On the one hand, good for you, Major. Someone needs to fight for the relationship since Liv isn't able to. But on the other hand, by viewing Liv's zombieism as a temporary roadblock, that sent a message to Liv that he loved the woman she used to be and only tolerated the woman she was now.
Was this a fair assessment? Yes and no. It's hard to say if Liv would have ended things with Major this week if things had gone differently with Clive, but it's not as if they weren't already headed down this path. There were already cracks in the foundation of their rekindled romance because Major has been acting as if Liv was the same woman she was prior to being a zombie and she's not. That's both helpful and harmful; Sticking by someone is admirable, and I hope that Major sticks by Liv to help her through this next challenging phase, but refusing to accept that things have changed will likely do more harm than good. This could all end up being for nothing, though, given what occurred in the final few moments of the episode. But the fact that Major may revert to his zombie status, which could potentially mean they could reunite sooner rather than later, isn't even all that good of a consolation prize given of what it potentially means for a cure.
Since New Hope, the rat that Ravi had cured, reverted to her zombie status with no warning, does that mean the same thing will eventually happen to Major and Blaine? Does it mean that there really is no cure for the zombie virus? Liv is already feeling hopeless, without the hope of one day being cured, where does that leave her? In a way, we've gone back to the start with "Cape Town," with Liv mourning the loss of the life she once had and Ravi once again on the hunt for the cure.
The world of iZombie has grown so much in just a short amount of time and although Liv may potentially be regressing, the show itself is still moving forward. The world doesn't stop just because Liv has stopped moving. She is going to have to find a way to combat her downward spiral while also taking on the looming threats of both Max Rager and Mr. Boss. When you factor in that Major's gig as a human zombie detector could be up very soon and that Vaughn will have no reason to keep Major or Liv alive, the potential stakes only keep rising. But you know what they say: what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, and I have a feeling that Liv will, after some time, pick herself up off the ground and be a better version of the woman at the center of this madness.
POSTMORTEM
– To make matters worse, against her better judgment (and at Blaine's urging), Liv turned one of Mr. Boss's goons into a zombie in order to save his life because he supposedly knew how to find tainted Utopium. But really it was because Blaine wanted a man on the inside. Damn you, Blaine.
– Proof that iZombie is one of the best shows at adding new layers to its characters without explicitly stating anything: Blaine's zombie prostitution ring that was never actually attributed to Blaine except for the references to Team Z and forcing someone to do something awful in exchange for brains. In a way, it makes sense that he would do this because it's a way to satisfy paying customers without spreading the zombie virus, but it also takes Blaine's villainy to another level.
– Major's entire reasoning for not telling Liv about Vaughn blackmailing him was because he thought Liv would go after Vaughn and Vaughn would kill her and he didn't want to risk it. He also thought Liv would find what he's doing reprehensible. I'm still not sure that's a justifiable excuse because she's going to be more pissed that he didn't tell her when she inevitably finds out, just like how Major was pissed when he found out Liv was a zombie and was lying to him about the existence of zombies. However, I rather like that A) the zombies have started calling Major the Boogeyman, and B) that the show actually addressed zombie suicide this week. Let's hope Liv's depression doesn't lead to something similar.
– Ravi is many things but he is no Cisco Ramon. These are the names he came up with for Liv's superhero alter-ego: Super Dead, Mighty Whitey, Doctor Power, Dead Power, Doctor Dead, Snow Woman (cause she's ice cold, potentially deadly, and a woman), and Old Scratchy.
– Proof that Seattle could really use Cisco Ramon, these are the names of the show's "superheroes": Ghost Cobra, Gray Area, Super-Fly, Mega Fist, and Blue Swallow.
– "How do I know you didn't call her from a landline?" "Because it's not 1987."
– "You were worried someone would find a grown ass man wearing a cape in the back of a garbage truck? Pretty specific fear."
– "Were you thinking I'd lay the body bag out andwait for the Fog to roll in?"
– "Just keep saying stuff like that, I'll follow behind you jotting notes for the graphic novel."
– "I'm the nightmare before Christmas."