iZombie 2.11 “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter”

This week iZombie tied its storylines together with everyone’s favorite binding agent: sex. Not only did the brain of the week bring out Liv’s inner concupiscence, but getting it on, or at least the desire to, played a huge part in advancing several plot threads that have been dangling for quite a while. When Liv ingests the grey matter of a horny librarian named Grace, who happens to write erotic fiction, she’s a hairsbreadth away from rubbing herself against a banister. Seriously, she’s caressing Clive, spanking Ravi and just plain going for it with the dreamy Drake. Speaking of that guy, we finally find out why it is that Blaine had Liv zombify him (although she thought she was doing it to find the tainted Utopium). Drake is Mr. Boss’s bodyguard and it’s his more up to date info on the crime lord’s operation that Blaine has been feeding to Peyton. The toppling of Mr. Boss’s empire would leave things wide open for a takeover.

This episode sees the sparks that have been flying between Blaine and Peyton finally start a fire thanks to some booze and smooth talking. Although this ends nightmarishly for Peyton once she discovers the truth about the charming psychopath she just had sex with, it works out perfectly for Blaine. Not only does he get laid by a woman who looks like she “was created in a lab by 14 year old boys,” but when the Chaos Killer investigation closes in, Peyton comes to his rescue with the immunity granted him as a key witness in the case against Mr. Boss. Agent Dale Bozzio may be wrong about the identity of the murderer, but she and Clive are dead right in thinking that Blaine is a monster. On another note, Dale (Jessica Harmon) fits in perfectly with the rest of the cast and it has been really great seeing the softer side of Clive that she brings out.

Meanwhile, the actual Chaos Killer was so close to being caught this episode, it really is ridiculous that he hasn’t told Liv or even Ravi. It was only because Major overheard an exchange between Liv and Clive that he learned about the tracker on Minor. Of course the most heartbreaking part of this episode was seeing him leave the dog on a bus and watching helplessly as it drives away. It’s not as though Major dropped Minor off in the middle of nowhere or anything, but it was still a shitty move and I am desperately hoping that at some point we’ll get an update on where the puppy winds up, although I doubt we will. Aside from that, he chugged some of the brand new Max Rager in an effort to help him evade the cops and that can’t be good.

The mystery at the heart of “Fifty Shades of Grey Matter” was pretty strong. Although it was a case of “the husband did it,” there were plenty of twists and turns getting there and it was fun watching Liv fantasize the whole way. The overhyped Kristen Bell cameo (not so because it wasn’t exciting, but because there wasn’t much to it) would’ve made a much better surprise than an announcement done weeks prior to the airing of the episode. Don’t get me wrong, it was awesome to hear Bell reading Grace’s Upright Position audiobook and we’ve been hoping she would make some sort of appearance since iZombie began. However, knowing that this episode would feature voiceover work from her definitely made it seem as though there would be more than ten seconds of it. That being said, I do love that Liv says she’s always felt a connection to the actress.

The previous installment of iZombie left me pretty disappointed due to the lack of a visible resolution of fallout from the midseason finale. This episode sees the show getting back on track, once again seamlessly weaving the case of the week throughout the main plot points and using it to propel the story forward. Although they’re wrong about the exact nature of Blaine’s criminal activities, it will be interesting to see how Dale and Clive deal with him now they know he’s up to no good and that they’re essentially powerless. Aside from that, what consequences will there be from the night that Peyton and Blaine spent together? We now know that the zombie virus can be sexually transmitted, even when using protection. While Blaine is not currently a zombie, we also know that the cure isn’t permanent, so the virus is probably laying dormant in his system. Either way, luckily Liv told Peyton the truth about him immediately (and props for the use of Leonard Cohen’s “A Thousand Kisses Deep” during those final scenes). Hopefully, Liv didn’t make a mistake of her own when she slept with Drake. Peyton thought that she knew the man she was sleeping with and Liv can’t even claim that.