iZombie 2.17 “Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be”

Major Lilywhite could have easily been a throwaway character. He was the Ken to Liv’s Barbie, her partner in a life that was perfect on paper. She left Major once she became a zombie. There was seemingly no need for him as anything other than a possible love interest, should her circumstances ever change. In the hands of lesser writers, this no doubt would’ve been his fate. Fortunately for us, iZombie has no throwaway characters. In a cast of lovable misfits, whose complexities continually surprise, Major’s evolution has been the most astounding.

From the moment he went Rambo on the zombies in the Meat Cute during last season’s finale, Major has been on a steady downward spiral. As incredible as that assault was, ever since, his life has only gotten worse. This whole season, he has been a drowning man and recently, he’s barely been treading water. Last episode ended with Ravi confronting him about being the Chaos Killer, the stress of which triggered Major’s return to zombie form. “Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be” gives us what we’ve been waiting for: Major’s confession.

Although I’ve been growing progressively more frustrated with him, once the lies are stripped away, Major’s motives can be better understood. He’s not just protecting Liv from Max Rager. He’s protecting her from herself. Of course, a strong argument can be made that Liv is a grown ass woman, fully capable of making her own decisions. Major is robbing her of that right. However, this episode sees Liv closely examine the woman she once was, versus the one she has become. Her coping mechanism, the only way that she has managed to reconcile being a zombie, has been to use her newfound abilities to help people. Armed with the knowledge of Major’s extracurricular activities, the woman Liv is today would no doubt go straight to the source. She would set herself directly in the sights of Vaughan DuClark, who by the way, already has plenty of reasons to want to kill her. At this point, Major’s ostensibly faithful service is probably the one thing keeping Liv alive.

Ravi, ever the beating heart in iZombie’s chest, is initially unmoved by Major’s rationalizations for leaving Liv in the dark. Despite his protestations, Ravi is fully prepared to tell her the truth. That is, until she proves Major right. Blinded by her concern for the still missing Drake, she takes the fight to Mr. Boss. After Liv admits to beating the snot out of one of his henchmen, Ravi realizes that keeping this secret really might be the only way to keep her safe.

Once again, the case of the week itself isn’t terribly compelling, but the way that it ties into the lives of our major players certainly is. The most significant aspect of the Adderall popping, perfectionist, know-it-all Bailey’s brain, is the self-aware nature by which Liv consumes it. Before she chows down on that delicious looking stir-fry (stop tempting me to eat brains iZombie), she recognizes the similarities between Bailey and the woman that she used to be. For the first time, Liv seems to question whether her pre-zombie existence was as wonderful as she remembers it. Maybe her life had been perfect on paper, but it took Liv dying to truly give her life meaning.

As for Blaine, he still has amnesia. Ravi recounts to him all the horrors of his past, in an effort to explain everyone’s unfavorable reactions to him. As much as I love the idea of a clean slate leading to Blaine possibly becoming one of the good guys (for one thing, I’ll feel less weird about shipping him and Peyton), I do have to wonder if his memory loss is legit. Lest we forget, he is a Mephistophelian mastermind. Although, it is difficult to imagine why he would keep up such a charade, especially if it means letting his once loyal underlings run his Utopium business. Those two morons are now taking advantage of Blaine’s supposed ignorance and completely running the show over at Shady Plots. At least Seattle’s zombies are still being fed.

While we’re on the subject of zombies, this week’s case brings them to the forefront of Clive’s mind. Enrico Colantoni’s Detective Benedetto returns with some very interesting information. Turns out, he’s been running a pretty unscrupulous drug informant program with college students, making them turn rat on one another to avoid arrest. This is what got Bailey killed. One of Benedetto’s informants (the one who killed Bailey) told him that he was actually working for zombies! Naturally, he thinks the kid’s nuts, but Clive has already been circling the truth for quite some time. With this revelation compounding all the information that he already has, a detective as good as he is will certainly be putting the pieces together soon.

Clive isn’t the only one putting pieces together. The newspaper article that featured Minor has caught more than just the attention of Ravi. The groomer that Major left the dog with remembers both of them. She also remembers the shady circumstances under which he picked up Minor. After sharing her suspicions with Dale, Major winds up arrested as the Chaos Killer. Honestly, I’m kind of glad that it’s the dog that got him caught, if for no other reason than he left that poor guy on a bus! Next week, the season’s two final episodes will air back to back. With so many questions and Major’s life hanging in the balance, I’m counting the minutes to what I’m sure will be a killer cliffhanger!