Previously on iZombie: Liv and Major totally kissed! After hitting yet another low, by scoring drugs from one of the kids he used to mentor, Major showed up at Liv’s door, asking for help. The episode ended with a long awaited smooch and “Love and Basketball” picks up right there. However, their passionate make out session is iced when Liv asks, “Do you have any open sores in your mouth?” A mood killer to be sure, but girl’s got a point. As it stands, they have no idea if they can have sex without Major becoming a member of the undead. Liv’s fear of zombifying him is too great, so much to his chagrin, she asks if they can try being friends.
As for Major, he’s still working for DuClark and hiding it from Liv, which is a dick move after he was so harsh about her keeping her condition from him. Also, it’s a dick move because he’s killing people. Drowning in a potent cocktail of Utopium and self-hatred, Major needs someone to pull him out of it. Lucky for him, this week’s murder victim is Mike, a security guard, but more importantly, a peewee basketball coach. In other words, Liv (after ingesting poor Mike’s brain) gives Major the mother of all motivational speeches. In fact, she pep talks him right out of the house and into Mike’s coaching job, which is exactly what he needed.
Their search for the killer leads Liv and Clive down several different avenues. The kids that Mike coached suspect the father of one of their teammates, RJ. Upon further investigation, it turns out that he is a humongous douche nozzle who beats his kid. Unfortunately, the guy’s got an alibi, but Liv fears for RJ’s safety. In a moment both revealing and uncharacteristic, our favorite detective pays him a visit and kicks his ass. Up until this point, we’ve really only known Clive to be by the book, but something here causes him to snap.
For me, it brought to mind the Veronica Mars episode, “Nobody Puts Baby in a Corner,” in which the monstrous Sheriff Lamb showed compassion to Duncan and Veronica when they were trying to help an abuse victim. Although the men are incredibly different, in both instances Rob Thomas took a law enforcement character outside of his box when child abuse was the motivating factor. Speaking of V Mars, this episode featured yet another shout out, when a different murder suspect is shown betting on a college basketball game involving Veronica’s alma mater, Hearst.
The resolution of this week’s mystery is clever, if not a bit convoluted, but the episode was a vehicle for so much more! The creepy zombie testing over at Max Rager has hit a wall using their mindless zombie and they need the blood of a more coherent one. Gilda, still rooming with Liv, has to scheme a way to covertly get a sample from her. Turns out that this is an easier task than she initially assumed. During what Liv sees as nothing more than a much needed girl talk session (where are you Peyton?), she reveals the recent developments between her and Major. This prompts Gilda to “accidentally” stab her, getting the drop of blood she needs to bring back to her den of iniquity. Liv is, of course, still completely ignorant of whom Gilda actually is, as well as her unfortunate relations with Major.
Meanwhile, on the zombie antidote front, Blaine strolls into the morgue singing “Friday I’m in Love,” because he believes he’s got the cure. It turns out though, that this is not the boat party concoction from which Ravi was able to synthesize the original cure. This drug is actually an instant zombie killer! Side note: good thing it was tested on Gabriel, the world’s most irritating zombie. A hilarious struggle ensues, set to the Cure song Blaine was so appropriately crooning moments before. Ravi is triumphant in destroying it, but I’m going to go ahead and say that Blaine knowing that such a weapon exists, is not awesome.
Just when it seems like no more could be packed into this episode, Clive gets harangued for calling Suzuki’s widow and suggesting that her husband may have offed himself. However, his tenacity pays off when she brings him a Tupperware container of brains from Suzuki’s freezer. Aside from that, sexy FBI Agent Bozzio has some unsettling information to share with Clive, regarding the Meat Cute case. He finally has someone else confirming his already strong suspicions. Now that Clive is armed with brains of unknown origin and a new partner in crime, things are not looking good for Major.