The Second Season of iZombie is back again on solid ground, with a bit of foreshadowing, more twists than the average person can handle, and a really solid murder to boot. iZombie is back at it’s best, and I love it.
Review of iZombie Season 2 Episode 6 ‘Max Wager’
Let me get right to the heart of this episode. The murder was a two-parter! But it wasn’t your typical two-part mystery, actually each episode was mostly self-contained. But Max Wager was able to build off of the last episode is such a perfect way, it gave the last episode more weight, we got to see some consequences.
I also loved that Liv’s brain this week was from a character previously introduced, and not as “Hello, I’m the guy that’s about to die, nice to meet you.” It makes me look forward to the inevitable day that Liv has to eat the brain of a newly deceased main character (Peyton or Clive, perhaps?).
What was pretty interesting was the sexual tone of this episode. A lot of this episode was devoted to Major and Liv trying to figure things out, while Ravi tries to figure different things out. While it was a change from the norm, it felt natural considering the Sex = Zombie plotline’s focus this episode. Speaking of which, it seemed like that was a little rushed. As if the reveal of condoms ineffectiveness should have been held back until next week, but considering Liv and Majors eagerness, coupled with many other plot-lines are beginning to climax (pun intended), it seems to be the right choice, rushed or not.
Moving from sexual tone to sexual tension we got a bit of our favorite FBI agent Dale with Clive. Other than the fact that it was so a date, the important part of that scene was to talk a bit about the brains. Everything is pointing to Clive finding out about zombies within the next three episodes, Clive has been unusually attentive of Liv’s changing behaviors, has rushed her into cases without letting her eat, and of course, the Suzuki brains. The question is whether the Suzuki brains will help Dale hunt for Major.
Another great moment this episode had was a question brought up for the first time. Is being a zombie bad? Blaine mostly deals with the issue, even going so far as to ask Liv what she thought. Blaine’s daddy was the first to really cement the idea that being a zombie might not be such a bad thing. Blaine has benefited, his father has benefited, and we, certainly, have benefited, because no zombies means no iZombie. The only problem I had, is that is seems like found his answer, he likes being a zombie, but if that is truly the case then his fathers threat means nothing. If Blaine’s dad’s threat means nothing, then Blaine has nothing to worry about. Blaine certainly didn’t have to go as far as he did.
Speaking of going far, Blaine and Grandpa, dang. Really have to give David Anders credit here, you could tell, just through facial expressions how hard it was for Blaine to kill Grandpa. Especially when he found out it was all in vain.
An additional moment worth loving was when Major and Dale met. It was immediate that their interactions won’t end well, a great moment leading up to what will hopefully be a great arc.
iZombie‘s been pretty good with its villains so far, Blaine is great, Du Clark is a wonderful asshole, but Stacey Boss, yeah. The scene between Peyton and Mr. Boss was fantastic (even if the build-up was a little obvious), so far iZombie is three for three with great villains. I look forward to what Mr. Boss has in store for us.
But there were two standout moments this episode. The first is when Liv began gambling with “The Barber.” This is the first time that Liv’s persona is really gotten in the way of the case (unless you count that BS villain in the third episode). What makes this so special is that it’s indicative of what is happening throughout iZombie, but I have one more moment to cover.
And that moment, as previously alluded to, is when Blaine found out that his dad was missing. Anyone with half a brain knew immediately why, Major killed him. This is a major moment in iZombie, not only was it heart-breaking for Blaine (He killed Grandpa for nothing!), but two major plot-lines have crashed into each other.
All throughout iZombie, from here on, we will see endless bumping between the plotlines. Major’s is affecting Blaine’s, Clive’s will affect Dale’s which will affect Major’s, Major’s also affects Peyton’s which affects Mr. Boss’s which affects Blaine’s. Things are about to get messy, I can’t wait.
If I were to critique anything overall it would be the number of antagonists. While Blaine has shifted into more of a morally ambiguous position, we still have Super Rager and Du Clark on one side, and Stacey Boss on the other. With everything else iZombie is juggling, one of these villains is going to be defeated soon, but which? Given how quickly Mr. Boss has been introduced and the pace of the Rager arc, I’d guess Stacey Boss will be dead or behind bars by the end of the season. I don’t like that idea, Mr. Boss has far too much potential to be just a seasonal villain, but we can’t have two central antagonists that have nothing to do with each other. This is just speculation though, we’ll have to wait to see what iZombie does.
Overall this episode was iZombie at it’s best, everything was rock solid, and I cannot wait for the next episode. But what did you think? Did you enjoy the episode as much as I did? Do you agree with what I have to say? Let me know in the comments, all discussion is appreciated!
