Liv and Major get bad news

Back from the winter hiatus, Liv Moore and her friends return for, “Method Head” this week’s episode of iZombie. They open on a down beat, as Ravi tells Major and Liv about Hope, his experimental rat. With no warning, the “cure” wore off, which is not at all what Major wants to hear. This is also when Ravi finds out that Liv and Major broke up last episode. Blaine, too, is equally thrilled when he hears about the temporariness of the cure.

There are a series of scenes showing the passage of time, as they get new cases around Christmas and New Years. Clive continues to keep Liv out of the investigations. Liv, Ravi, and Major keep trying to find the alleged bodies filled with tainted Utopium that Ravi needs to try again on a cure. Liv does help as much as Clive will let her, but it isn’t the same.

This week’s case finally kicks off when the star of Zombie High School, ironically Liv’s favorite show, is killed on set in an accident reminiscent of Brandon Lee’s tragic death while filming The Crow. Liv is thrilled to be on set, while Ravi makes fun of the show. Clive, seeing how much of a fan of the show Liv is, agrees to have her help on this case, stressing it’s just for this one.

Major, still trapped into working for Vaughan Du Clark of MaxRager, keeps training Vaughan. Oddly, last show, he was showing signs of superhuman strength, but now seems to be normal again. Major gives Vaughan one of those fitness bracelets, and they joke about going steady. I really do enjoy the banter on this show, and that they give the bad guys some good lines, too.

Back on the set, Liv and Clive get conflicting stories about Wyatt’s ability to keep track of his props. Wyatt is the actor that shot Jordan, the star. There are enough veiled references to show that the iZombie is continuing its fun with parodies, in this case, The Walking Dead, although they take a shot at themselves, too. There is no shortage of motives, between co-star rivalries, a leaked sex tape, and tension between the dead star and pretty much everyone.

Liv goes on various tirades about acting, under the influence of Jordan’s brain. Her more ridiculous extremes are only witnessed by Ravi, which is probably a good thing at this point. As usual, she gets a few visions to help them along.

There are many subplots swirling around. The lines connecting Blaine, Clive, and Dale Bassio of the FBI are drawing tighter, setting up for a collision. What’s ironic is, with all Blaine’s done, it looks like the police and FBI are going to go after him for the string of disappearances in the area, which he actually didn’t do, and doesn’t know anything about.

Rita, Vaughan’s spy and daughter, is suspicious about Major. Whether that’s because that’s who she is, or because of learning that Major was sleeping with Liv, I’m not sure. Vaughan comes up with an elaborate test to prove Major’s loyalty, which is nicely drawn out. We also get to see near the end that Major is finally acting as smart as he seemed when we first met him.

Eventually the case is solved with a few twists I admit I didn’t see coming. The bad guy is caught, and Clive finally backs off on letting Liv help more. I think he missed her. A lot of things are building towards a climax. It’s going to be a busy second half of the season. Although that’s delayed some, as the show doesn’t return until February 2nd, which seems like an odd choice.

What I liked: The dialogue on this show continues to amuse me. It’s nicely done and delivered well by everyone. The jokes about Walking Dead and even iZombie were entertaining. While Liv is definitely the star, the rest of the cast is getting plenty of screen time and subplots. I particularly like how Major is handling himself now, and Clive and Dale got some great scenes.

What I didn’t: Really, not much. I prefer it when Clive makes more of a contribution to the resolution of a case then Liv does, since it’s his job, but it wasn’t a horrible balance this week. They don’t make Clive the hapless sidekick.

I’m glad the show is back, even if I don’t understand why they’re coming back for one week and then leaving, like Supergirl did earlier. I’ll give this episode a 4 out of 5.