The iZombie season 1 finale has everything a good season finale should have. It wraps up all the moving parts into a mostly tidy bow, delivers on all of the show’s strengths and sets up a lot of interesting potential stories for the season to come. “Blaine’s World” is funny, exciting and emotional. It’s iZombie firing on all its undead cylinders. The show has combined two episodes worth of plot into one hour seamlessly and ends in a literal explosive bang.
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Another Dead Teen, Courtesy of Max Rager…
Even though there is another murder and therfore another mystery to solve, “Blaine’s World” opens with Liv considering using Ravi’s zombie cure. Ravi convinces Liv to wait for the sake of zombies worldwide — and the premise of iZombie. They only have the one vial and the “cure” could just as easily kill the subject as it could save them.
So Liv eats the brain of the victim of the week, Teresa. She’s the teenage drummer of The Asshats who was introduced in “Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat.” Liv uses visions from Teresa’s brain to figure out that Max Rager is behind Teresa’s murder and is possibly Teresa’s bandmate, Luke.
The devious head of Max Rager, Vaughn, has much bigger plans, though, than eliminating The Asshats. He plans to use Max Rager’s new energy drink to eliminate sleep all together with no ill effects to the user. The only problem is that the drink currently causes zombism.
The Asshats inadvertently discovered these side effects and that’s why Max Rager is trying to kill them. That’s Liv’s theory anyway. Liv and Clive are hot on Vaughn’s trail and trying to find the last remaining member of The Asshats, Cameron.
Or Maybe Not…
Cameron doesn’t exactly need saving, though. He tries to play himself off as a victim, but Liv and Clive quickly figure out that he’s chock-full of greed and evil. He is actually working with Max Rager. Cameron and the rest of his friends promised to cover up what they knew in exchange for a pay-off. Cameron wanted a bigger cut and has been eliminating his friends for their share.
Cameron is far from a criminal mastermind and is quickly picked up by Clive. Under threat of retribution from Max Rager, Cameron cooperates with the cops and reveals the company’s dirty little secret. This would all be great, except there’s that whole pesky matter of Major being kidnapped by Blaine.
Frozen (Ex-)Fiance
Major is being kept in the meat locker of Meat Cute where Blaine is freezing him just enough to keep him alive. Blaine is desperate to find out where Major took his brains. When Liv texts Major’s phone discussing the brains in question, Blaine has his answer.
Blaine works out an exchange with Liv — his brains for her ex-fiance. Liv stupidly takes Blaine at his word and agrees immediately. At the meeting, Liv doesn’t fully check that the man Blaine is exchanging is actually Major. Once Liv finds out that it’s an impostor, Blaine is already halfway down the block in his car.
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Move On, The Walking Dead — Lilywhite’s in Town
The real Major is literally blowing everyone away, audience and zombies alike. Major manages to break out of the meat locker and makes good on his promise to kill all the zombies. He eliminates all of Blaine’s minions in one killer sequence. It’s a scene so awesome, somewhere out there Rick Grimes is silently weeping that he isn’t as awesome as Major Lilywhite.
Blaine ruins all the fun by arriving back from the exchange and stabbing Major very close to the heart. As Major bleeds out slowly on the floor of the back room, Liv arrives at Meat Cute. Blaine goes to meet her out front and she shoots him in the side. Liv threatens Blaine, trying to force him into telling her where he is keeping Major.
A Deadly Decision
Major croaks for help in the back room, though, and Liv rushes to his side. As Major lays dying, Blaine takes gleeful pleasure in telling him the truth that Liv wouldn’t. Blaine tells Major everything she has been hiding from him all season.
Blaine might be maliciously corrupt, but he’s right. Liv should’ve told Major everything a long time ago. She doesn’t want to hear the harsh truths and stabs Blaine in the leg with the unstable zombie cure. Liv tells him he’s the test subject now, and if he dies it’s no big loss.
As Blaine sulks away to take care of his now-deadly bullet wound, Major is slipping away. With moments to spare, Liv scratches his neck, saving his life, but turning him into a zombie. Major is pretty displeased about the whole thing when he wakes up.
It’s not just being undead but also Liv’s whole year of lying to him and refusing to let him make his own decisions. Angrily, Major asks to be left alone. So Liv tries to makes it up to him by deciding to do something even worse. She injects Major with the zombie cure. The same “cure” she just used on Blaine moments before, the same cure that could very well kill Blaine. It probably won’t kill either man now, but it is does prove Major’s point for him. Liv is obsessed with making his decisions for him.
Ending the Season with a Bang
Major’s human life might be saved for the moment, but not all of Liv’s friends are safe. Her teenage brother, Evan, shows up at Meat Cute for his first day of work and is horrified at the carnage he finds within.
Unbeknownst to Evan, the corrupt police lieutenant, Suzuki, is trying to do away with all the evidence in the back. He shoots himself, writes Blaine’s name in his own blood on the wall and turns on the stove. Using a match, he makes the whole building explode right in Evan’s poor face.
Evan is rushed to the hospital and goes into emergency surgery. He is losing blood rapidly and they need a blood donor. Liv has the same blood type, or at least did when she was human. When Liv’s mother tells her daughter to go with the doctor, the season ends as Liv tearfully has to tell them no.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
Derek is a Philadelphia based writer and unabashed TV and comic book junkie. The time he doesn’t spend over analyzing all things nerdy he is working on his resume to be the liaison to the Justice League.
