"Cape Town"
Original Airdate: December 8, 2015
MAJOR FALLING OUT
Beginning right where the previous episode ended, we see Liv berating Major for still having texts and sexy pictures from his ex-girlfriend, Glinda/Rita. (Sidebar: Could she even be considered a "girlfriend?" Maybe like an person with benefits?) Liv's still on her stalker brain from last week's episode so she's especially paranoid when Major gets a text from Rita. Note: Liv still doesn't know that it's Glinda.After fighting the entire night with Liv, Major goes to a bar and tries to flirt it up with a random woman, who just so happens to be a zombie. I think the most important part about this is why does Major think he can go flirt with someone else while he's still in a relationship with Liv?
Anyway, once he realizes that she, Natalie, is a zombie, he finds her address and returns to her home in order to capture and freeze her like the other zombies. When he gets there, he finds her as she's about to commit suicide and stops her. She starts to go into full zombie mode, but he's able to stop her by telling her that he's only been hunting zombies so that du Clark doesn't kill Liv. She immediately understands and lets him go.
Natalie then tells him a little more about herself. She used to be a sex worker with "upscale clientele." One night, she met up with a client and the next morning, she was — you guessed it — craving brains. In exchange for the brains she needed to survive, she would have to have sex with all of his clients. She became their sex slave.
Natalie used to have sex on her own terms. With all the money she made, she traveled and took amazing photographs. They were her choices, even though they were different from other people's, but he took that away from her. Even now, she still has to have sex with the clients for brains. She wanted to commit suicide because she hates herself. She doesn't even have money to travel anymore. "Being a zombie hooker is horrible. Being a zombie hooker when you've eaten the brain of a Benedictine nun or a man with dementia is an extra level of devastating."
They talk a little more about Major's situation — about how Liv doesn't know that he's hunting zombies, and about how if she were to find out, she'd find it horrible, just like he does. Even though he's doing it all for her, it's still inhumane. He's tried to figure out how to take down Max Rager, but it seems impossible. He's too powerful, so for now, even though there's always a risk that they'll end up killing him and Liv, he does what du Clarke wants him to do.
This entire exchange is probably the highlight of the episode. It brings together two characters that can be widely misunderstood and gives them a chance to let out all of the horrible things that they have to deal with. It's so touching when he agrees that he'll do the honor of killing her if they can't find a cure. She doesn't want to live in this world anymore. After all these years, she wants to make a choice for herself and this is it. She willingly steps into the freezer where Major keeps the other zombies and lets him inject her with a sleeping serum.
The conversation with Natalie really opened his eyes to the fact that he has to adjust to Liv's behavioral swings. He needs to be more empathetic with her and understand that even though her personality changes from time to time, the real Liv is still in there.
This realization comes too late though because when he suggests that she eat synthetic brains instead of real brains, she comes to the conclusion that it won't work between them. Sure, Major thinks that he gets it now, but he doesn't. She had a purpose when she ate brains, she was able to solve murders by helping Clive. Now that he basically quit the relationship and told her he can't work with her anymore, she has nothing. Now she's just supposed to eat brains to survive and not to help find justice for those who have been murdered.
It seems like, no matter what, it just won't work out between them, so Liv breaks up with Major:
"We both know, deep down that this can't work. Being a zombie has changed me. You love the woman I was before. You tolerate the woman I am now... The truth is we belong with our kind."Despite their break-up, Major's still hopeful that they'll find a cure and they'll be able to resume their relationship once more — as the people they were before all of this happened.
What he doesn't know is that he isn't in the clear yet either. On the 162nd day of being on the "cure," Ravi's lab rat turned back into a zombie with no premeditated warning signs, which means, soon enough, both Blaine and Major will turn back into zombies too.
THE MAKING OF A REAL HERO
Because Liv's on a superhero brain, she acts... well, like a superhero. A superhero called The Fog. iZombie takes after its sibling shows on The CW — Arrow and The Flash — and has Liv act over-the-top in her heroism. She repeatedly makes comments like "There are bad people in this world. We put them in cages, expect them to change. They never do," and "I make time for justice." She even adds in the small dramatic tonal shift that most superheroes use. I particularly liked that whenever Liv gave a big inspiring speech, the camera would look up to her, just like in literally any superhero show or movie.
Not to mention, Liv looks really cute in her all-black getup.
But it also caused her falling out with Clive. She purposely went against his wishes and — in his mind because he doesn't know she's a zombie — almost got herself killed. She threw away police protocol and did what she wanted to do. It wasn't rational or smart, which is why Clive blames himself for it. He's treated her like a cop all these years even though she's had no professional experience. I completely understand why he cut her off like that, but it still hurts to see her plead with him to keep her job. As she said, it's her "thing." The one thing that makes eating brains even remotely bearable because she's finding justice for those murdered. Without it, what's she going to do?
And with that, happy holidays and iZombie will be back next year!
Brainy Quotes and Undead Notes:
- When this episode started with a man donning full superhero attire, I instantly felt like quite a few of the people on this site — reviewing superhero shows! ... But then, of course, he had to go and die.
- "All you have to do to summon Hashtag is to #Hashtag." — Clive
- "This man is dying and your first thought is to bring him here?!" "Actually my first thought was to call you and have you come to my place, but I was concerned you wouldn't show." — Ravi and Blaine
- I don't understand how Liv's nail would scratch that deep into that guy's neck. Is that just me? Am I the only one who can't scratch someone and draw blood?
- So who is in charge of this prostitution ring? Is it Blaine or his dad? Even though his dad's frozen, maybe it could've been happening before? The only true suspect we have now is Blaine because he was definitely in the business of giving out brains before.
- Actually, Liv could make a really good superhero since she can't get hurt and has superhuman strength already when she turns into a full zombie.
- I like that they've got Stacey boss' "thing" be whistling. It's scary and intimidating because of how nonchalant he is when he does it.
- "You and me, this strange relationship is over." "Clive, I need this. This is my one thing." "I'm sorry, Liv." — Clive and Liv, a.k.a. break my heart, why don't you?
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