If the last episode of iZombie saw some major plot points intersecting, “Physician, Heal Thy Selfie” sees worlds collide. Dots that have been drawn all season are finally connected expertly by a single case that affects all of our characters. On top of that, iZombie chose to shake up its entire format by giving Liv, not one, but three headless dead guys. For the first time in the show’s history, she’s not using the brain of one of the victims to solve their murder. Liv may not have the same inside link to the case that she’s had in previous installments, but this is the crime that winds up tying everything together.
With no grey matter to contribute to her “visions,” she has to make brain sushi out of someone else at the morgue. Seriously, the culinary creativity on this show is awesome. Liv makes her rolls out of a twenty-two year old girl named Madison that was hit by a bus because she couldn’t be bothered to look up from her phone while crossing the street. The first thing Liv does after ingesting the Millennial is Instagram what really does look like spicy tuna rolls. Liv under the influence of Madison allows the show to make some insightful commentary about our social media obsessed culture as she tweets and grams her way through the episode. She even makes an unboxing video of the goods delivered to the morgue! Additionally, important questions are addressed. Seriously, what does it mean if the guy you’re dating isn’t on Facebook?
In this case, it means that he’s an ex con. Liv really digs Drake and who could blame her? Of course, Drake is hiding as many secrets as the rest of our core cast. Liv does some digging and unearths some unsettling news about Drake’s past. While he’s able to explain that away with a heartbreaking story about the assault charges stemming from him defending his mom from her abusive ex, Liv still knows nothing about his current job working for Mr. Boss. We get to know him a bit better in this episode (we even meet his mother), but it’s still too early to tell if this guy’s legit.
Speaking of sleeping with dudes you don’t really know, Peyton confronts Blaine with Liv right at her side. Turns out, our charismatic sociopath actually really does like Peyton, but she tells him that he was nothing more than a mistake. It is difficult not to, at least momentarily, feel bad for Blaine, because David Anders does such an amazing job humanizing him. This makes it easy to forget that he is the same guy who murdered homeless teenagers. Aside from his embarrassing encounter with Peyton, Blaine has another notable encounter when Mr. Boss shows up at Shady Plots. One of the victims was his nephew and all three were in his employ. This reintroduction puts Blaine back in his employ as well, on account of the fact that he owes him some serious money, although we’ll see how long that lasts.
Also tying into the hashtag themed episode, DuClark obsesses over Twitter comments about Max Rager to the point of actually killing an Internet troll who lives on the other side of the world. I mean, we’ve probably all at least thought about punching someone imbued with online bravery right in the face, but the energy drink magnate actually takes that many steps further. All the while, he compares his company not only to Starbucks, but also to the Eye of Sauron. Meanwhile, things at Max Rager are closing in on our hero when DuClark hires a new head of security to double check Major’s zombie killing operation. It turns out that the D.A. is actually a zombie, although Major marked him down as a negative (after seeing him interact with his kid). This omission brings all of his “kills” into question.
Now that we’re on the subject of D.A. Floyd Baracus, Mr. Boss’s goons came after him. This was assumedly due to how hard Peyton’s been trying to take the crime boss down, but really it turns out it was because Blaine was attempting to frame him for Baracus’s murder. Of course, Mr. Boss’s men had no idea they were going after a zombie, so instead of putting him down, they lost their heads and Baracus used the Chaos Killer’s M.O. to make an escape. This is what made DuClark doubt Major in the first place. The resolution of this winds up being Baracus faking his suicide so that Major can save his life by adding him to his freezer full o’ zombies.
This will no doubt lead to a promotion for Peyton and just like that, iZombie brilliantly weaves that one case through the storylines of all its major characters. Last but not least, Liv finds out that Blaine is the new Utopium dealer on the block, although really was that so shocking? Moving forward, Blaine and Mr. Boss will be duking it out over Seattle’s drug trade and we’ll have to see where Drake’s loyalties actually lie, with his job or with Liv.