iZombie: Physician, Heal Thy Selfie Review

This iZombie review contains spoilers.

iZombie Season 2, Episode 12

iZombieis full of supporting characters doing heroic things, and tonight’s episode — “Physician, Heal Thy Self” — really highlighted that fact. In one storyline, we have Peyton, literally risking her life to bring down Boss. In another, we have Major, literally risking his life to save the zombies on Max Rager’s hitlist. And then we have Liv… trying to figure out her zombie love life. (#ItsComplicated)

I’m not saying Liv isn’t doing her part to bring justice to the greater Seattle area. I am saying that her storyline is not the most interesting part of iZombie right now…

Major is on very thin ice with Max Rager.

Major continues to be the quiet hero of iZombiein the most masculine sense possible — i.e. he is not asking any of his Team Zombie friends for help (even though it is probably the smart play). Though it has been clear since Major first “took” the job as Max Rager’s zombie hitman that his life is in danger, iZombiehas done a great job in recent episodes highlighting that fact with the gleefully sociopathic management of CEO Vaughn Du Clark.

Tonight, Du Clark was making his power absolutely clear to Major (and us) by striking back at people trolling the Max Rager brand on Twitter. (“We’re a global brand. Like Starbucks. Or the Eye of Sauron.”) And by “trolling,” I mean raising serious (probably valid) accusations from one Thai man that Max Rager’s product caused his father’s heart attack. Du Clark has the young man killed in a motorbike accident on the other side of the world. That’s how powerful he is. That’s how powerful Max Rager is. This is the enemy that Major is currently taking on by himself.

Peyton gets a job promotion.

Peyton is the type of woman who always has a plan. That’s how she has climbed the ranks to become the assistant attorney and take on a hugely important case at such a young age. But, in this week’s episode, her life does not go as planned. Not only does she not resign from the district attorney’s office, she will no doubt be promoted with the suicide of her boss. Bad news for Boss, who Peyton seems even more determined to take down.

Of course Peyton’s former boss isn’t really dead. He is Major’s latest not-victim, safely frozen (we hope — does Major actually know the long-term effects of zombie freezing?) in Major’s storage unit. When iZombie first started, Peyton and Major seemed poised to be the weakest narrative links. They were the “normal” characters who would serve to ground Liv’s crazy zombie life. But, at this point in season 2, they have the most power. Major is the one with a crazy zombie secret, and Peyton is poised to take down Seattle’s biggest crook. Not too shabby for two norms. 

Peyton and Ravi reconnect.

Peyton has done a good job not only ingratiated herself back into life at the district attorney’s office, but back into Ravi’s life, as well. Of course, she didn’t have to try very hard — or at all, really. Ravi has basically been in love with Peyton since he first saw her. The Ravi and Peyton Drink Together subplot wasn’t exactly narrative-bending, but it was a nice, sweet, subtle development of this character dynamic. Also, it gave us this line from Ravi: “Big deal. I’ve been spinning since 4:30.”

Liv contemplates her zombie love life.

Well, this was more time spent on the Liv/Drake relationship than I ever thought we’d get. Frankly, I didn’t see iZombie using this relationship as anything more than a one-night stand, but I don’t hate it — even if it was one of the duller parts of tonight’s episode, there was still plenty to like here. The introduction of Drake’s mom and the fleshing out of his backstory will no doubt come in handy as we get pulled further into the world of Boss and Blaine’s battle for the drug users of Seattle.

Liv’s realization that Blaine is the other Utopium dealer in town wasn’t the gamechanging twist I was hoping for at the end of such a good episode. As an audience, we already know Blaine’s big time drug ambitions. And did we really think the Drake/Liv thing was going to work out? Still, I forgive iZombieit’s lackluster ending because it gave us that Liv Unboxes Her Morgue Haul vlog scene. Pure Millennial magic.

Blaine is back on Boss’ radar.

For the second week in a row, Blaine suffered some disappointment. First, Peyton cut him loose after finding out his true identity. (Side note: Do we think Blaine actually cares for Peyton? It’s hard to read him. He does seem to like her. And we know he’s capable of caring. He loved his grandfather. Of course, that didn’t keep him from straight-up murdering him. Though he seemed really sad about it…)

Second, Boss came to collect on the $4,000 worth of Utopium Blaine took off with when he ditched Team Boss back in season 1. And the interest is way up. Like Peyton, Blaine is a character who always has a plan. Unlike Peyton, he is willing to plumb villainous depths to achieve his goals. The more iZombiebacks Blaine into a corner, the more nervous I become.