iZombie: Season 1, Episode 3: The Exterminator

So in a really weird series of events, I ended up watching this episode on Hulu late at night. There was a really strange mixup and it turns out that they posted what I think is Episode 7, “Maternity Liv.” That’s a pretty substantial mistake Hulu. How did you even get access? I was pretty much confused the entire time, as Liv had a new boyfriend and Major was off doing acts of vigilantism. I’m pretty sure I saw some spoilers, but it’s so far ahead that I’m don’t even know what they were. Thanks a lot Hulu, I’m going to be looking for hints to these things for the next three friggin’ episodes! Damn it!

So in the end I was forced to watch the episode on the CW’s website. Thankfully they posted the right one. Still confused about the Hulu’s access to an episode so far ahead, but I’ll stop beating that dead horse. Let’s discuss the right episode: “The Exterminator.”

Let’s start off with the brains Liv got this week (The name Liv Moore couldn’t be better for a zombie). She ate a completely unassuming, mild mannered fact junkie and family man who ended up secretly being a completely sociopathic hit man. Where the artist from last week made Liv extremely passionate, this hit man turned off all of her emotions off. Just seeing Rose McIver play so many different versions of this character is worth tuning in every week.

What made things even better was seeing her frustration at starting with a complete picture and having to work backwards. Since she ate a killer instead of a victim this week, she knew who dunnit, she just had to provide enough evidence to get Clive to help her move forward. What’s interesting is Clive’s obviously skeptical nature can’t possibly buy this forever. I’m already sensing him figuring Liv’s secret out, but pretending not to know so he can continue to get ahead.

In addition to Liv’s newfound emotional carelessness, we stumbled upon a view of the worst case scenario. Her friend Marcy was a classic zombie of “Walking Dead” proportions and there was nothing they could do to fix her. They fed her fresh brains, but to no avail. There is a point of no return if Liv or one of the others fails to eat for long enough. Liv saw the consequences of failure and Ravi witness how terrifying she is when she goes into “full on zombie mode.”

I also like that they explained the new personality wearing off after enough time. They also halfway mentioned that eating new brains can override the current personality. Apparently skills stay though, because Liv retained her artistic ability. This week’s lack of empathy helped her out after seeing Major with a new woman, but she’s learning about herself with each new experience and allowed herself to feel once again when she could’ve continued to numb herself.

This show is staying as fresh as vacuum sealed brains and making me happy to see the both the zombie and murder of the week genres. Even the one-liners bring smiles to my face. “Two’s company, three is a horde,” she said upon hearing about Marcy. An issue she rectified by way of mercy-killing.

Seeing Blaine again reminded us of the building tension in the situation. I’m not quite sure what his plans are, but there’s a definite guarantee that nothing good will come of them.

Jonathan Jones

Jonathan Thomas Jones is a speculative fiction author and founder of geekhavenreviews.com. He has been passionate about all things geek for his entire life. See more about him at jonathanthomasjones.com and follow him on twitter @jtgloryjones.