The heart wants what the heart wants.
Warning: Full spoilers for the episode below.
Pep talk Liv is a fabulous Liv. Rose McIver was more amusing than usual in her turn as a basketball coach who always has the right words of encouragement at hand. It’s a strong coincidence she happened to eat the exact brain that let her speak words Major needed to hear and gave her the opportunity to give him work in his area, but timing’s funny sometimes. Because of the basketball coach brains, sports references were definitely present throughout the episode, but I appreciate how the writing was such that they weren’t overwhelming for non-sports fans (like me).
McIver continues to prove she’s a chameleon by adapting to Liv as all these different people, but one of my favorite moments in the episode was watching her and Ravi pal around while Liv was actually Liv. Sure, Liv eating brains is crucial to the procedural aspect of the series, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give her an episode off so we could spend more time with Liv. Such an episode couldn’t take place over a huge stretch of time because Liv would go all Romero zombie, but it would be a welcome change of pace and break up the regular format — even though iZombie does a tremendous job of mixing the case of the week with the longer term arcs.
As mentioned, Liv’s turn as a motivational speaker of sorts came at precisely the right time for Major. His renewed interest in Liv at the end of last week’s episode felt a touch sudden, but it’s not really a stretch. He was emotionally compromised, and emotionally compromised is the ideal state for making questionable decisions. Plus, he and Liv have history. It was believable, and I didn’t know I was rooting for them to be together until I saw how sweet they were with each other. Major’s no Lowell, but he and Liv are rather adorable. This show is humorous but also regularly bleak what with all the murders and brains, so a dose of cute is refreshing.
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photo Gallery:
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
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iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
iZombie: “Love & Basketball” Photos
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It’s been intriguing to see Major’s transformation. He hit rock bottom and kept digging, and it pushed the character into challenging territory. None of that is erased by bringing Major back to the light side. Robert Buckley brings both charm and edge to the role; he plays all Major’s sides — happy, tortured, lighthearted — well. And even if Major finds his way with his work and with Liv, he still has the whole Max Rager problem to deal with.
As excellent as the Major and Liv developments were, Ravi and Blaine win the best scene of the week. Nothing else could top those two wrestling on the floor of the morgue trying to grab the tainted Utopium first. It was like a cartoon in all the most amazing ways. Having Blaine brush it off casually and leave like nothing happened was brilliantly written and performed. Rahul Kohli and David Anders need to share more scenes together. Besides the hilarity factor, it was also a smart way to detour the cure again. We don’t actually want Ravi to find a working cure since it would mean the end of the series.
Clive had a chance to shine in this episode, too. He made the tiniest bit of progress on the Meat Cute case. It’s also possible he’s suspecting something’s up with Liv. She suddenly took notice of his Knicks baseball mug, and he noted her notice. It’s the sort of little thing I could see coming up later when Clive starts to put puzzles pieces together — because he has to at some point. Tonight’s episode emphasized his excellent detective skills (though the actual case was on the boring side). And how about him beating up R.J.’s father? It’s about time we get more of an idea of who Clive is outside of his job.
Watching Major follow the darkest timeline has been hard to watch, but it’s been great for the story. Happily, him trying to go back to a more straitlaced path is proving to be fantastic too. Besides the Major moments and Major and Liv feelings, this episode also excelled at pulling threads together by introducing the brain element to Clive’s Meat Cute investigation.
