iZombie Season 3 Episode 8 Review: “Eat A Knievel”

After eating the brain of a prank-obsessed stuntman, Liv takes countless risks throughout tonight’s iZombie, from trying to light herself on fire to test out flame retardant to nearly impaling herself (and actually impaling Justin) while on her Super Maxed-fueled date. Some of these stunts and pranks lead to funny moments, particular the video Liv cuts together of her coffee prank on Clive. However, there’s nothing to laugh about in the final scene of “Eat a Knievel,” when Liv puts herself in one of the most dangerous situation she’s ever been in by trying to go undercover with Ravi at a meeting of zombie truthers.

The two friends pose as a married couple after Liv gets a spray tan and dons a wig, looking quite similar to how she does in Season 2’s “He Blinded Me…With Science.” But unfortunately for Liv, changing her skin tone and hair doesn’t give her a normal, human heart beat, which is what the truthers test before they let anyone into their meetings. The test alone injects some unexpected tension into Liv and Ravi’s undercover mission, but that intensity nearly reaches a boiling point when Harley Jahns almost recognizes Liv, telling her she looks familiar even though he can’t exactly place her. Ultimately, Liv leaves the meeting after Ravi provides her with a solid alibi, saying that she has to go home to take care of their kids since their babysitter canceled, but he heads on inside, obviously rattled but doing his best to keep his composure.

It’s an exciting and somewhat unusual way to end one of iZombie‘s more lighthearted and entertaining episodes of the season. Even though the case of the week involves infidelity and death by fire, most of this week’s events stay pretty surface-level fun until the final ten minutes of the hour, which not only features Liv and Ravi’s mission but also Blaine trapping his father down a well at their family estate and the arrival of new Fillmore-Graves boss, Chase Graves (Veronica Mars alum Jason Dohring).

Much like last week’s installment, “Eat a Knievel” is primarily a setup episode, establishing new players and pieces that will be important for the remainder of the season. The two most significant moments of the hour happen at the beginning and near the end, with Vivian’s shocking death ushering in the entrance of Chase and Blaine’s takedown of his father revealing that the villainous brain dealer is once again a zombie and once again teaming up with Don E.

Vivian’s death is both disappointing and exciting. The helicopter explosion feels like a cheap way to get rid of the character, and Andrea Savage’s presence on the series will certainly be missed. However, her death also brings Chase into the fold, and after only one scene, he’s already made an impression, one that suggests he’s going to be much more trouble than Vivian ever was. Chase is a driven zombie with only one thing on his mind: the impending war between zombies and humans, and his hardened, more militaristic personality indicates that he won’t have time for humans of any kind, even if they’re sympathetic to his cause like both Major and Clive are.

Also, with Chase now in charge, Major has to be even more careful than before about keeping his humanity a secret. Unlike Vivian, who has a private conversation with Major near the start of the episode, I have a feeling that Chase would have a much more violent and final way of dealing with this situation. After a couple of weeks of Fillmore-Graves feeling like a safe and secure place for iZombie‘s main characters, the company (and its headquarters) is back to being much more of a wild card and much more of a threat than it has been all season long.

Speaking of threats, Blaine eliminates anyone and everyone who threatens him in tonight’s iZombie by using the element of surprise. Hiding inside of a crate that’s been delivered to The Scratching Post, a now undead Blaine pops out and kills all of Angus’s men before shooting and capturing his dear old dad so that he can, as I mentioned above, drop him down a well. After watching Blaine suffer through the worst days of his life in last week’s episode, it’s extremely entertaining (and somewhat satisfying) to see him come back with a vengeance in “Eat a Knievel.”

Still though, I’d be lying if I didn’t say that the battle between him and Angus does feel a little too rushed. Another episode or two of back-and-forth between father and son would have been such a joy to watch; however, with a 13-episode season this year and, more than likely, Robert Knepper’s limited availability due to the Prison Break revival, the quickened pace is a necessary evil. And despite the minor complaints I might have, I can’t deny how absolutely fantastic it is to have David Anders back playing this more ruthless and snarky version of Blaine. I’m curious to see what type of business plans he and his father have cooked up and how they might involve Fillmore-Graves, although with Chase now leading the corporation, I’m doubtful that any type of partnership will be formed.

Other thoughts:

• I can’t stress how happy I am with this new undercover storyline for Ravi. It not only makes sense for him to pretend to be a zombie truther (since none of them have seen his face or know who he is), but it also provides him with another opportunity to be put his life on the line and be a hero after he stayed in the car instead of trying to rescue Peyton during last season’s finale.
• The promo for this episode might have gotten my hopes up a little too high for Liv on this brain. While I still enjoyed her risk-taking, prank-pulling antics, they didn’t make me burst out laughing as much as I expected them to, especially compared to everything Liv did on preschool teacher brain last week.
• However, daredevil brain does provide us with Liv and Justin’s wonderful date, which not only features small mentions to previous dates she had with Lowell and Drake but also the return of Super Max. Also, Liv kisses Justin, so it definitely seems like things will be getting serious for the two of them before season’s end.
• I love the random things that Ravi is a massive fan of. Last season, it was his love of magic, and in tonight’s episode, we find out that he enjoys spending hours upon hours watching mindless prank videos. He even nerds out when he gets to meet Finn’s team, and it is one of the best parts of the episode.
• Another one of the best parts: when Liv asks Finn’s crew what kind of prank he pulled on Rudy and suggests that he might have filled his Boston Cream Donut with…well, with something. Clive cuts Liv off before she can finish what she’s saying, but if you take a second to think about it, you can probably figure out what she would have said next.
• The best two title cards from tonight’s episode: “Sleepless in Seattle” and “Stunt Force Trauma.”
• “Almost added another stain to those overalls.” “I think you might’ve.”
• “You were a waste of my sperm.” “I gotta say, that kind of stings.”

What did everyone else think about tonight’s episode of iZombie? Comment below and let me know.

[Photo credit: Katie Yu/The CW]