iZombie – Five, Six, Seven, Ate!

By starrymag | May 23, 2019

By: Maggie Stankiewicz

 

 

Two dancers. One lunch date. Gulliver (Cody Kearsley) and Nancy (Carlena Britch) recite their choreography and discuss their contest strategy while sharing a “disgusting” protein drink. Almost immediately upon ingesting the protein shake they crumble to ground, reaching out for one another, but dying before their fingertips can meet. A jump cut later Ravi (Rahul Kohli) and Liv (Rose McIver) reveal to Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) that they were poisoned with cyanide, just days before competing in a life changing dance competition. Liv takes the double-death as an opportunity to chow down on some dancer brain, leaving Ravi to eagerly anticipate her impeding jive.

 

Across New Seattle we see that Fillmore Graves is busy halting a zombie-profiling event masked as a routine school lice check. Identifying zombies, the school argues, shouldn’t be a problem if being a zombie doesn’t pose as a threat. In the middle of the event, one of the undead soldiers makes an uncouth joke and a child attempts to grab one of their sidearms. The event is caught on tape and the bigoted school administrators bring their concerns to Peyton (Aly Michalka), who is busy treading the line between protector of humanity and supporter of zombie rights.

 

Liv’s dancer brain is powerful, not as nuanced as her recent meals, and she shimmies into the morgue to chat with her boys on their impending investigation. Liv suggests that she and Ravi become dancers in attempt to identify the killer undercover. Clive is reluctant, Liv is persistent and before Ravi can protest he’s preparing himself to ingest dancer brain. It doesn’t take long for the duo to enroll in the competition under the aliases of Jake Steele and Juliette Valentine. Liv and her new personality add another level of complexity to the mission by creating “inside” names for them, Fred and Ginger. Once the formalities are through, Liv and Ravi question the event coordinator on potential suspects – Lars (Brian Dare) and Tina (Sidney Leeder).

 

The competition proves to be unfriendly and insist on spectating a routine performed by “Jake” and “Juliet.” Because the protein powder that killed this episode’s victims was planted in one of their homes, Liv makes it her goal to swipe Tina’s phone. In the same studio Clive interviews additional suspects on the nature of Gulliver and Nancy’s relationship. The interviewees reveal that the pair were fiercely co-dependent, a concept that frightens Clive as he watches Ravi and Liv embrace their new personas.

 

Peyton’s own fight for peace within the city leads her lecture Major (Robert Buckley) on his loose grip of the Fillmore Graves soldier. Peyton warns Major against allowing his soldiers to frighten children, but Major pushes back. He asks her to take his word and explains that the lice checks are dangerous for zombie children. The two can’t seem to find middle ground.

 

Meanwhile, Clive and Dale (Jessica Harmon) are working through their pregnancy preparation class when Clive’s old flame Michelle (Christie Laing) arrives to the same gathering. Clive is stunned by this revelation and quickly spirals into believing he is the father to both women’s in utero children. Dale is seemingly oblivious to her man’s plight. In fact, she even suggests that they go and greet her. As they approach, Clive’s ex-flame is not thrilled by his presence and even more worrisome she’s just as far along as Dale (and without a birth partner). This is when Dale comes to the conclusion that Clive impregnated Michelle. She reacts calmly to the situation, but explains to Clive how his actions in sleeping with Michelle, dumping Michelle and then proposing to her could be seen as…problematic. Dale then demands that Clive talk to Michelle to determine whether or not he is the father of both their babies.

 

Liv and Ravi mingle with the competition and continue to focus on Lars and Tina. When the mood in the club shifts and the patrons begin to dance, Ravi grows anxious. He neglected to consume the dancer brain so Liv compensates by leading. Liv, too distracted by the brain, misses the opportunity to swipe Tina’s phone and is instead bombarded with a memory of Gulliver and Lars meeting in secret without their female partners. Liv pulls Ravi aside to give Ravi the details of Lars and Gulliver’s affair – in which Gulliver was deathly afraid of Tina’s rage. They orchestrate a plan to get close to the other couple – the affair solidifies their position at the top of the suspect list – and find themselves agreeing to share a hotel room with the dancers after dress rehearsals.

 

Clive pays a visit to Michelle and asks her if the baby in her belly is his, but she isn’t sure. The detective asks if she would be willing to have a DNA test, but Michelle declines in fear of putting the baby at risk. She assures him that as soon as she knows the paternity of the child she will let him know. To distract himself from the anxiety he returns to the morgue. With their undercover mission now in full swing, Liv gets Ravi prepared to fully embrace his role as the “frame” of their dancing duo. Down in the morgue they practice their steps. Ravi struggles, but Liv is a natural. Clive steps in when he can’t tolerate Ravi’s extreme lack of talent and quickly begins coaching the couple on how to move fluidly alone and with one another.

 

Outside of the investigation bubble tensions are high across the city. The same high school that was visited by Fillmore Graves is dealing with a bit of a bullying problem in which human teens are bullying one of the known zombie students. Unable to regulate his adolescent hormones and his zombie aggression, the young man allows his eye to redden and chaos ensues. Peyton, having a meeting within the same building, is interrupted by the sounds of children screaming. She leaves the principal’s office to find the “Z” boy defending himself with a bit too much gusto – frightening the human children around him. Peyton’s heart breaks for the boy but knows that this outburst will sorely damage her argument that zombie children should be able to integrate with the humans.

 

As representative of all citizens, Peyton is forced to call Major back in despite their disagreements. Major takes a seat with the zombie children. The young bullying victim tells Major that he wants to become a FG officer so he can begin killing humans. This revelation shakes Major, but he doesn’t tell Peyton about this concerning confession. Despite their prior disagreements the old friends apologize to one another before Peyton drops a bomb on him. The two boys in her office are the younger brothers of Major’s fallen soldier Jordan. They’re orphans, and they have nowhere else to go.

 

Even days after the double-impregnation fiasco, Clive is short on answers and Dale is short on patience. He tries to distract himself by interviewing some of Gulliver’s water-polo teammates and, despite clues on some other potential perps, he can’t escape the sharp stares of his baby mama. Clive wraps the interview up and asks the man to email him a photo of the polo team before entering Dale’s office to discuss Michelle’s refusal for a DNA test. Even though Clive and Dale aren’t ready to face their problems, Ravi and Liv certainly are. They arrive to the dance studio dressed and ready to perform. Well, Liv is ready to perform. Ravi is having a panic attack. Codependent in all the right ways, Liv calms Ravi down just in time for their call time. The two manage to perform a spicy little number for the audience, which includes Lars, Tina and a now highly amused Clive. Then, in the midst of their dance Liv is stricken by another memory of Gulliver’s water-polo teammate begging him not to leave – lest Nancy makes his life a living hell.

 

The vision is compelling enough to direct Clive and Liv to Gulliver’s ex-boyfriend Renaldo (Logan Fenske). He quickly reveals that Nancy is responsible for breaking the two of them up and admits that he wanted to get her out of the picture. Unfortunately, before he can provide any more help in solving the case, Renaldo is stricken by the same symptoms Nancy and Gulliver did before dying. His water bottle was also spiked with cyanide. Ravi shows up, still in his dance gear, to assess the body while Clive runs off to the birthing class. He is late so Dale volunteers to be Michelle’s birthing partner. The two women quickly soften to each other, Dale’s act of kindness enough to melt the tension. Just as the two women settle into their roles, Clive arrives to witness the extreme grace demonstrated by the two women.

 

As things begin to wrap up there are still a number of loose ends. Thankfully, Jordan’s brothers are not among those loose ends. Major and Peyton conspire to house the children in a nurturing environment – under the care of Renegade and her clandestine gaggle of rescuers and foster zombies. The children arrive in the midst of Baron’s memorial where the others tell them that Baron was a human. The two boys, once privy to violence against humans, are briefly shown that humans like Baron and Peyton can be good and kind. Perhaps there is hope for all, even in the midst of war.