“A long time ago, we used to be friends.” Veronica Mars fans no doubt noticed the Dandy Warhols’ quote Liv uses in regard to her best friend Peyton (the track served as the show’s theme song). “The Real Dead Housewives of Seattle” finds Liv incredibly lonely. She’s not heard from Peyton in months. Upon discovering Liv’s newfound taste for brains, she ran out of their apartment and hasn’t been seen since. Major, now constantly floating in a cloud of Utopium, still refuses to speak to Liv. Sure, she and Ravi have gotten close, but it’s not the same. Smiling, she tries to sell him and Clive on going out with her for drinks Friday night (we later discover that it’s her birthday), but they decline her invitation, leaving her to chow down on the brains of a murdered trophy wife alone.
Taylor the trophy wife’s brains are definitely a change of pace from last week’s fraternity brother. This is Liv at her most melodramatic. Unfortunately, she’s more concerned about shopping with Taylor’s personal stylist and getting her nails done, than solving the murder. The case is already complicated. Taylor’s bitchy, self-absorbed friends are unsurprisingly of little help and her husband was having an affair. Then again, so was she and you’ll never guess with whom: Seattle’s Most Eligible Bachelor, Vaughn Du Clark. “Just hearing his name makes me need a full body detox wrap and an ear canal flush,” is Liv’s reaction to the news.
Immediately following Liv and Clive’s interrogation of Du Clark (during which she freaked out and threw a drink at him), they run right smack into Major outside his office. Liv doesn’t take the news of his new employment opportunity well, despite her only knowledge being that he’s working as a personal trainer there. In fact, she goes full Diva on him, yelling and slapping him in the face. It’s a funny scene, but ultimately it speaks to how hurt and disconsolate Liv is. Major won’t even speak to her, but he’s working for the world’s biggest jackass? On top of that, he also didn’t remember her birthday.
Liv’s even too over the top for Ravi though, who puts up with her no matter who she’s channeling. “I am literally going through hell,” she tells him, when she feels he’s not paying her enough attention. “You’ve literally forgotten the meaning of the word literally, “ he responds. As they’re arguing, Peyton appears on TV discussing the war on Utopium (she’s an ADA). They are both completely thrown by her return, as neither of them has heard a thing from her in months and here she is, back in the city, without a word.
Meanwhile, Major’s guilt is growing exponentially with each kill, so he’s drowning his conscience in drugs. According to Gilda, Du Clark’s initial plan to solve the zombie problem was to inform all the suspected zombies that they’d won a cruise and then sink the ship. At least with Major, some of those people actually get to live, what with him being a human zombie detector and all. Knowing that he’s doing this to protect Liv had me on his side initially. However, after a particularly unsettling sequence of him driving a zombie to his death and ignoring the man’s pleas for mercy, my sympathy for Major is waning. First of all, Liv can take care of herself. Second, she’d be devastated if she knew what he was doing.
By episode’s end, there is hope for Liv and Peyton, possibly even for Peyton and Ravi, who started dating at the end of last season. Honestly, I felt Peyton was a rather ancillary character in Season 1. However, now that she knows Liv’s secret, her role seems much more integral. As evidenced by this episode, Liv needs her BFF. The reason why it was harder for their friendship to strike a chord last season was probably because, all we really saw of their friendship was Liv constantly trying to keep her at arm’s length, so she wouldn’t find out the truth. With Peyton on board, Liv will have a much stronger support network, which she will no doubt need moving forward.