The episode opens with Major laying on Ravi’s table… but he’s alive. He got the crap kicked out of him by the Candyman – the guy who has been kidnapping kids from the local skate park. The crew doesn’t know, but Blaine, the first zombie Liv encountered, is the culprit behind the nabbings. Blaine runs a fancy schmancy restaurant that specializes in fancily-prepared brains for its zombie clientele. He’s still a slick, love-to-hate villain and to add a bit more of his storyline into this episode was a refreshing, albeit grim, change of pace.
Liv has to slam down some rotten brains of a shut-in computer nerd to determine how he was murdered. The rotten brains are a new frontier of food for Liv… the “breakfast of champions.” The side effects of this particular brain are less personality change and visions; more vertigo and nausea. She does acquire some of the dead guys’ muscle memory and therefore his gaming skills.
She initially scoffs at Ravi as she “remembers” how to log on to dead guy’s computer. She opens up an MMORPG and Ravi explains it to her. Her naiveté about gaming comes off as a little disingenuous. She eventually succumbs to her brains and starts dominating. This transition from “This is so nerdy!” to consuming Cheetos and yelling at her teammates comes off as a little hokey. It seems like she’s selling the initial “this is weird and geeky” a little too hard.
Ravi, on the other hand, is in his element with all of this! He patiently explains the industry to Liv, despite her bad attitude about it. He decides to go home and help her navigate the MMORPG from his own account. “How will I know it’s you?” Liv asks. “I’m a wereterrier with healing abilities called Arf Vader,” Ravi explains. This is a delightful easter egg that harkens back to iZombie’s source material. In it, Gwen (the zombie) has a best friend who, instead of turning into a werewolf, turns into a wereterrier during full moon. Part of me hopes that the iZombie show will take more of its source material and integrate it with the show – Ravi would make an excellent actual wereterrier and I could see Peyton making a great ghost. An iZombie fan can dream, right?
Lowell comes over to check on Liv, since her ingestion of a gross brain. They swap some info about each other – from stories of ex’s to their own zombie origin stories. Liv confesses to not being over Major and Lowell takes it very casually. However, he still tries to plant a smooch on her – and she painfully pulls away. Liv then proceeds to notice a lead in the case and Lowell makes a graceless exit. This scene is so awkward in all the right ways. It’s wonderfully human – a clumsy girl and a nervous boy. It’s endearing and one of the more authentic scenes in the episode.
“Virtual Reality Bites” does a fantastic job of juggling several strands of storylines – Major searching for his missing foster kids, Blaine being the cause for those missing kids, Clive investigating the murder case and Liv with her new love interest. The episode is engaging and just as fun as they others, while still maturing these storylines. iZombie is consistently a fun show and I eagerly await the next episode!