iZombie: Season 1, Episode 4: Liv and Let Clive
There was something interesting that happened at the beginning of this episode. Clive demanded that Liv stay away from this case. Clive came down to the morgue and instantly identified the body as someone from his past. We then proceed to learn a lot about where and where clove was before we met him at the start of the series.
We’ve heard mention of his past in vice in offhanded remarks, but we never knew how deep it went. He once went into deep cover to infiltrate a Chinese gang called the “Blue Cobras.” When I say deep I mean deep. When Liv eats his old gang buddy Sammie’s brains, she sees her friend (with a mustache) beating another gang member senseless for being a cop.
What makes this even more interesting, is the intense anxiety and paranoia that comes with Sammie’s memories. It causes her to instantly believe Clive is a crooked cop. It puts their friendship to the test and is an interesting change of pace from their usually buddy buddy dynamic. She’s eager to follow him and find out what’s going on, but it doesn’t work out well as she gets on the Blue Cobras’ radar.
Ravi, as usual, plays the part of both comic relief and voice of reason. Since he doesn’t have the same paranoid anxiety, he tries to convince Liv to handle the situation better. She doesn’t listen and things get worse and worse until she sees the vision that matters the most. She sees Clive’s former partner being called out as a cop and they have to rush as quick as possible to prevent him from being killed. The moment of reconciliation between Liv and Clive brings out all the feels when we find out what’s really been going on and why Clive switched to homicide in the first place.
The whole time, we see Blaine and his hijinks. He is building up his zombie army and making constant connections to also build up his power. He even has a personal chef that makes different gourmet brain dishes. It makes one wonder how he will possibly be stopped later on. He’s playing it smart and even keeping zombie enforcers in the freezer.
The only thing I wonder is how eating brains affects him and his minions. Do they see memories and get new skills and personality traits too? Liv even learned Kung-fu in this one. I mean it didn’t help her win a fight against the leader of the Blue Cobras (she needed to zombie out for that), but it was a pretty awesome scene. I just wonder what’s going to happen in the long run since her brother walked in on her beating A.J.’s face in.
The funny part was how she brought herself closer to her ex-boyfriend Major through her heightened sense of paranoia. She met his new girlfriend and quickly talked Ravi into moving in with him to keep the new girl out. How easily the two closest men in her life got along was funny and actually made a lot of sense. Seeing the circle start to grow is endearing and hopeful on a show that has such a potentially bleak outlook. They’re still keeping it light and it is still an incredibly interesting show. They keep testing the limits and it is definitely keeping me coming back for more!
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.
