For much of its running time, “Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat” is just another fun episode of iZombie. Liv eats the brains of a cheerleader and becomes ultra-peppy, before then consuming stoner brains and turning into a character from pretty much any Seth Rogen movie. Meanwhile, Ravi and Peyton plan for a weekend getaway together in San Francisco, while Major keeps his investigation into the Meat Cute going but stays out Blaine’s grasp. It’s all enjoyable, solid television, and then the last 15 minutes happen, and everything goes to hell in the best way possible.
What makes “Dead Rat” such a fantastic episode of iZombie, following up last week’s season best installment, is that it doesn’t let its characters make decisions without any consequences. Liv feels the guilt of having turned Sebastian into a zombie (although it really wasn’t her fault) and heads home, only to confront from him there after he’s attacked Peyton. In order to stop Sebastian, Liv needs to go into full-on zombie mode and kill him, but Peyton witnesses everything, and instead of trying to concoct another lie, Liv finally tells her the truth: there are zombies in the world, and she’s been one since the night of the boat party. And unlike last week’s fantasy, where Liv explained the truth to Major, who was fully accepting and understanding, Peyton runs away as soon as Liv leaves the room, and the last that Liv sees of her best friend is that look of terror and betrayal that was spread across her face.
After weeks and weeks of having Major on the case, it’s very interesting and, in some ways, a much better decision by iZombie to have Peyton find out the truth first. It especially works well because of how so many of Peyton’s stories this season have been directly tied to her disappointment in the person that Liv has become. After Liv eats Kimber’s brains and is, therefore, much more excited and girly, even suggesting that the two of them go to spin class together, Peyton couldn’t be happier, even referencing how it feels like old times, which is why it’s so sad later on in the episode to see how crestfallen she becomes after Liv eats Nate’s brains, essentially transforming into a lazy stoner. In order for Liv and Peyton to move forward in any way in their relationship, Liv needed to tell her the truth, because it hasn’t been so much the physical limitations of being a zombie that have weakened their friendship; it’s been the fact that Liv hasn’t been able to open up about what’s really going on with her and provide reasons for her constant mood swings and odd decisions.
However, while the emotional fallout from Liv’s confession appears to be quite damaging to her and Peyton’s friendship, it’s not as bad as the actual, physical danger that Major finds himself in by episode’s end. While he’s been in tough spots before, such as when Julien broke into his house and tried to kill him, he’s never been in as much trouble as he is now, as his continuing investigation has led him to being shackled and kept prisoner in the back of the Meat Cute, with Blaine promising that he will get the location of the astronaut brains from him. Major’s arc in this first season has been a great one, and even if he ends up dying next week, I’m hopeful that he’ll at least get to take out Blaine or Julien beforehand. That grenade that was mentioned definitely has to come into play somehow, right?
Ultimately, “Dead Rat” serves as another strong example of why and how iZombie is quickly becoming The CW’s best show. This series manages to provide good, consistent laughs each week, with Rose McIver and Rahul Kohli causing most of them, and features some of the quickest, wittiest dialogue on TV. However, it’s also delivering very impressive dramatic sequences (one only need watch the ending musical montage of this episode, set to James Blake’s “Retrograde” to realize that) and knows how to perfectly pace character development and big twists and turns. We’ve only got one more episode in Season 1, and even though I haven’t seen the finale yet, I feel comfortable repeating myself again: iZombie is no longer just one of the most fun shows on TV–it’s one of the best.
Other thoughts:
– Liv’s brother applying for a job at the Meat Cute finally came back into play! I figured iZombie wouldn’t tease something like that without following up on it. That was yet another surprising and welcome moment in an episode full of them.
– Maybe not surprising but definitely alarming: who attacked Bex Taylor-Klaus’s Theresa at the end of episode? We know that Nate wasn’t killed by a zombie, even if Kimber was. This seems too big of a moment to leave the episode off on if it’s just Cameron doing the killing. Maybe whoever it is could possibly be the big bad for Season 2?
– What was last night’s best Ravi moment: reflecting on his old high school crush, with whom he had German class; telling Liv to “Be aggressive, be, be aggressive,” after she’s eaten Kimber’s brains; or his awkward but very funny conversation with Major about Peyton? It’s a tough call, I know.
– Also a tough call: Drunk Liv or Stoner Liv? Actually, I’m thinking Cheerleader Liv may beat them all, purely because of Rose McIver’s delivery of “Totes.”
– Clive is getting dangerously close to figuring out Liv is a zombie just because he keeps stopping by during lunch. This week, he actually eats a piece of pizza with brains on it, but he assumes it’s the mushrooms and their texture that are the problem.
What did everyone else think about this week’s iZombie? What do you want to see happen in next week’s season finale?
[Photo via The CW]
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