iZombie season 1 finale review: Blaine’s World

This review contains spoilers.

1.13: Blaine’s World

You can be a zombie, and you, and you! Zombie-ness for everyone! Or nobody, as it eventually turns out in this solid season-capper for iZombie‘s first collection of episodes. Equal parts wrapping up Liv’s thematic journey through one season and setting up everyone else for the next, Blaine’s World thankfully embraced both the fun and the pathos that’s been the best thing about the show since the start.

The brain of the week is barely a factor, backing up my suspicion that iZombie would be a much better show if this element was dropped or at least played down, and the episode instead doubles down on the fan-pleasing moments while simultaneously defying expectations as to how Liv is going to react to certain situations.

Correctly assuming that what the audience really want to see is a moment or two of triumph for Major, for example, we spend a lot of the episode dealing with him and Blaine, and all of Liv’s big emotional moments are related to those two supporting characters, rather than the other way around.

That could have backfired spectacularly had the general iZombie fan not warmed to Major (and Blaine) the way they have, but seeing him break free, recover his arsenal and quite literally blast his way through Meat Cute is the highlight of the hour, if not the season. It’s a wonderful sequence, and the moment iZombie graduated to a new level.

The level of suffering dumped on Major over the course of thirteen episodes might have felt like the show going overboard at points, but it at least lends some depth and believability to his actions here. And he did it all regardless of Liv lying to him – that came later. He’s actually more involved with the zombie problem than any other white hat character has been, and that’s what makes the ending so tricky.

Liv is selfish, and it’s that selfish self-preservation that has kept her from telling friends and family exactly what’s been going on since the boat party. Her worst fears were confirmed last week when Peyton ran for the hills, and that’s more than likely what made it so easy for her to resort to using the cure first on herself, then on Blaine, and finally on Major.

She didn’t want to lose Major, holding on to the small chance of them being together again, and so she decided to turn him into a zombie rather than watch him die. She didn’t want him to hate her, so she gave him the cure in spite of it possibly being humanity’s last hope.

It’s a mess of questionable motives, and it’s certainly an interesting place to leave the characters ahead of season two. Major is now the world’s first zombie hunter, and Blaine a human. Even Clive is on the precipice of realising what’s going on after discovering one of the missing kids in the destroyed Meat Cute premises. Clive getting more involved is on the top of my wish list for season two, and this looks promising.

Notably, Liv’s decision to use all of the serum on various people for various reasons could lead to two things – humanity’s extinction after the zombie apocalypse inevitably gets underway, and Ravi being pretty annoyed with his friend. It may have ultimately gone to a good cause, but we can’t forget that, ten seconds before Liv realised that Major was in trouble, she was about to take her chances with it herself.

You can take your pick of villains for season two, even Clive and Major have to potential to become antagonists, but what we’ll most likely be dealing with is a human Blaine still attempting to control the zombie problem for his own gain, and a more explicit threat from Max Rager. Both have obstacles, with Blaine now a human and Max Rager’s internal memo being outed to press.

We’re left with Liv’s resigned decision to not save her brother, who’s been caught up in the second Meat Cute explosion and was fighting for his life. Had Liv not saved Major’s life twice over earlier that day, it’s plausible that she would have chosen to save him with her blood, but she knows the consequences now.

In many ways he’s a stand-in for the rest of humanity, and her use of the cure has made sure she can no longer save them. This first season of iZombie hasn’t been anywhere near perfect, but if season two delivers more like this finale, with emotions and stakes and Major with a grenade, then colour me excited.

Read Caroline’s review of the previous episode, Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat, here.

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