iZombie 3.13: Looking for Mr. Goodbrain Part 2

When this season started it was clear that the writers had a very specific set of goals in mind that they wanted to achieve. Clear and concise planning on their part meant that this finale was able to achieve most, if not all of those goals, but there was still time for some interesting twists along the way.

As the direct continuation of the first half of this two-parter, this episode revealed how everything connected, and the answer is pretty straightforward, at least at first; Fillmore Graves really were behind many of this season’s wrong doings, though the character driving all of it wasn’t who I expected.

I’m a little disappointed that Carey Gold was the one who not only ordered the death of Katty Cupps, but was indirectly responsible for the Tuttle/Reed murders and orchestrated the outbreak of the Aleutian flu as well. It makes perfect sense when looking at the different machinations used to get us to this point, but I don’t think she was an important enough character to have as the big mastermind, here.

Chase makes for a far more interesting big bad in this instance, but perhaps such a reveal would have been too obvious. On the bright side it means that we get to keep him around a lot longer, something I’m happy to see. He never really shook his Logan Echolls tag for me, but Jason Dohring really shone these past couple of episodes, making Chase seem like a genuinely fascinating and layered character. He absolutely deserves a lot more screen time going forward, whether it's with Liv or the rest of the cast. He keeps those around him on their toes, something Liv and her friends will need.

Chase will also have an important role to play in the growing tensions that are rocking through Seattle now that the world knows about zombies, and half of the city is infected. It’s an ambitious idea to turn Seattle into a potential battleground between zombies and humans. Whether the series can handle something like this remains to be seen, but it certainly continues the trend of past finales in expanding the scope of this world. We got a glimpse into the potential devastation it could cause towards the close of the episode with the Fillmore Graves army attempting to stop an angry mob from killing them. Watching them take those humans down hints that the show won’t shy away from taking a plot like this to some dark places.

Major will also be front and centre in the fight to protect the zombie population. He’s now a zombie once again and ready to stand alongside Justin and the rest of the FG army as they attempt to provide food and protection for those who have turned. It’s starting to get hard to track Major’s zombie/human status now. He seems to spend every second season as one or the other, so maybe he’ll change back? I do think it was the only natural choice for Major at this point. He lost a lot because of the hate that fills the city, it’s only right that he’d want to make a stand against all that to honour Natalie and his lost army friends.

While most of this episode dealt with some world changing events, it ended on a much quieter and personal note with Ravi asking Liv to turn him in order to test his latest version of the zombie cure. Though he’s had a morally tumultuous season, Ravi has always been one of the more well-intentioned characters on the show, and his sacrifice here is a testament to that fact. How this will change the dynamic between Liv and Ravi is anyone’s guess, but I loved that a season that focused on such high stakes drama, closed on a quiet and life changing moment between these two characters.

Plus

I’m getting so tired of the whole “losing cell service when providing critical information” thing that so many shows do. Why couldn’t Liv have sent a quick text to Clive to let him know that the flu vaccine was being tainted by FG?

I also feel bad for Clive now that Bozzio is a zombie, meaning they can never properly be together. And he was finally able to come clean to her.

Blaine didn’t play a massive role over the last few episodes, but he certainly benefited from the surge in zombies around Seattle.

It looks like Peyton has taken Baracus up on his offer to work for him. It’ll be interesting to see where this position takes her next season.

Johnny Forst conning his way to the top of the vaccination queue was genuinely hilarious. I hope we get to see more of Daran Norris next season.

He Said, She Said

Chase: “If we’re going to survive, we’re going to have to do a few things that can’t be undone.”

Clive: “I’m sure there’ll be plenty more surprises to come.”

Liv: “Why are you doing this? Making more zombies? Do you want an apocalypse?”

While they didn’t reach the storytelling highs of the sophomore season, I think both this episode and season three as a whole were solidly executed. The ambition of the events that transpired here are still exciting and wonderful to watch unfold, but the series might benefit by taking a few beats next season to get back to the core characters. If the final moments of this episode are any indication, it seems like the writers may already know this. At a time when the world around them is going nuclear, we need to remember why iZombie works so well, and that’s with a well-written group of heroes (and anti-heroes) at its heart.

8/10

Also posted at Doux Reviews.