We see a group of youngsters camping and boozing it up as “iZombie” Episode 1.07, “Maternity Liv,” opens. It’s a cool little gathering until a strange young lady comes wandering into their site looking rather unhealthy. She collapses and dies shortly thereafter. The woman was pregnant, and although she herself bit the big one, we quickly learn that the baby survived.
Shortly thereafter we eye the woman’s parents in the morgue, identifying their deceased daughter. While there, Clive asks if they’ve got any idea who would want to do such a thing, and the father immediately pegs Dillon Munson, the woman’s ex-boyfriend, as the SOB responsible.
The brain eating gets under way, Liv gearing up to dive into the woman’s life as she once knew it. She immediately begins feeling the effects, maternal instincts she’s never experienced coursing through her. She’s immediately sensitive to just about everything around her. And while juggling those emotions, she receives her first vision, a look at the woman’s parents roughing her up, apparently attempting to keep her from her boyfriend – who takes a punch to the face from her father in the same vision.
Liv stops by to see Clive and declares her belief that the dead woman’s own parents locked her away for months, subsequently leading to her death (declared a result of extreme shock). Dillon is brought in for questioning. He’s a known figure to the police force, but he doesn’t seem as guilty as anyone expects, despite his grating arrogance. In fact, he provides a clue: Dillon saw his girl picked up by someone in a dark pickup truck and noted the out of the ordinary barking from dogs. It could mean nothing, but it could be a pivotal clue.
Meanwhile Major continues his own investigation of “The Candy Man,” bringing a local reporter into the fold, while Liv meets up with Lowell briefly. The affection they felt just a week ago seems to have fizzled quite a bit. Liv’s a little confused by the discomfort Lowell is giving off, but Ravi is anxious to just get back to looking into work. While these two juggle interesting conversation, Babineaux shows up to express his disdain for Major, as he’s had his new reporter buddy take the current string of missing cases to the papers, where it is noted that local police haven’t done a damn thing to resolve the problem.
We cut away to a scene in which Liv pays her mother a visit at work. Her brother is also there, bumming money. Both women bombard the youngster with a nice healthy lecture. What’s really relevant about the scene, however, is the fact that Liv’s mother hands the kid a few job applications, one of which is for Blaine’s butcher shop. The CW is lining up a deeper conflict with Blaine, and the promise is rather significant. If Liv’s brother gets a job with Blaine, his safety will be immediately put in jeopardy, and the growing rivalry between Liv and Blaine will reach profoundly dangerous levels.
Clive continues digging on the current case, and a paper trail again hints that the grieving parents may not be in as much anguish as they’ve been letting on. Clive and Liv head over to what is apparently the couple’s cabin, and after hearing some disruptions inside, they make entrance, where they find a hand-carved crib in the basement. It looks like it’s been there for some time, but that certainly doesn’t prove the parents’ guilt. The suspicion, however, lingers, even more pronounced now.
A brief commercial break, and we return to find Liv experiencing another one of her visions. At some point there was definitely some fishy business happening, and it initially looks as though it could have happened in the basement. A girl (presumably the deceased) can be heard crying while a stranger is seen sucking away on a cancer stick outside her window. Who the man is remains unknown for the time being. While Clive and Liv are in the basement, the parents arrive, and we segue into a revealing discussion between them and Clive. They’re quite forthcoming, and they’re beginning to look not as guilty as home viewers have been led to believe.
Liv clears up her vision, stating her belief that the stranger she saw was an animal control worker. That would help to explain the vehicle Dillon described; it also helps to make a little sense of the strange barking dog claim. What follows is a look into local animal control. In the investigation room an employee brings pictures of all animal control officers, but the man in Liv’s vision is nowhere to be seen. And then they learn that one Gerald Denny was recently fired for peeping in windows. But a look into Gerald’s recent whereabouts quickly eliminates him as a suspect, as he’s been behind bars for months.
Liv and Lowell later reunite, and Liv finds a little clarity in their current conundrum. As it turns out, Lowell recently feasted on the brains of a homosexual man. That explains the man’s lack of interest in her. There’s still hope for Liv and a romantic future. Yes, you can all breathe a sigh of relief… our zombie heroine isn’t doomed to loneliness forever.
It’s back to reality for Liv, who has yet another vision. This time we look through the eyes of our victim, Emily Sparrow, as she hangs from a window. Two women are staring at her, warning her that she’ll be caught if she continues her attempt to flee. And then she falls from the window, and Liv’s special insight fades away. She takes the 411 to Clive, who also has a few theories working for him, like the belief that the girl may have been trying to get back to her family’s cottage before collapsing and dying. Clive’s intuition leads them to a new suspect, who just so happens to be married to the same woman from animal control who was in the investigation room just minutes ago.
Before we wrap our current mystery, we spot Major trailing the man who beat the hell out of him just an episode or so ago, the man he believes to be “The Candy Man.” After the man stops and exits his vehicle, Major takes it upon himself to break into his car, where he learns the man’s name (Julien Dupont) and uncovers a brain in a plastic food carrier. Just as he makes this gruesome discovery, police arrive on the scene and slap a pair of cuffs on him. Meanwhile, Julien explains to the police that he works for Blaine and that he’s making a delivery of “gourmet” animal brains. As expected, our big bad villain walks away while Major is carted off to the station.
As Major is making a case to be branded a convict, Liv and Clive have moved in on their suspects. They approach the couple’s residence with a little watching on their minds, but our now obviously guilty party opens fire on their vehicle from within the house. The cavalry is quickly called in, and moments after they descend on the house, two more bodies pile up as the captain, who takes a bullet in the raid, snaps and goes full-on zombie mode, gunning down the man and woman. While the shootout ensues, Liv finds the other girls that she saw in her vision and brings them to rescue. There’s an ugly bit of business at the end of the episode involving the mice Ravi is experimenting on, and we’re sure to see more about that in the coming weeks.
We’re seven episodes into the inaugural season of “iZombie,” and the machine is running smoothly. The wit is still alive and loudly projected. Rose McIver is proving that she was born to take on this role, and for the most part the conflicts that our protagonists face on a weekly basis haven’t disappointed. There’s just enough depth and variety from episode to episode to hold viewers, and if all goes well, we’ll be gifted more than a single season of this fun alternative to some of the darker zombie fare out there.
“iZombie” Episode 1.08 – “Dead Air” (airs 5/5/15)
LIV HAS A VISION THAT MIGHT BE A GAME CHANGER — Liv (Rose McIver) and Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) work together to solve the murder of a morning radio talk show host who specialized in relationship straight talk. Liv becomes filled to the brim with insight after consuming the brains, making Clive extremely uncomfortable when Liv starts getting personal.
Meanwhile, Peyton (guest star Ali Michalka) steps in to help Major (Robert Buckley), and Blaine (David Anders) issues a warning.
Lastly, Ravi’s (Rahul Kohli) unexpected romantic connection has the potential to make things awkward for Liv. Zetna Fuentes directed the episode written by Aiyana White.
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