When Liv consumes the brains of a dominatrix, her bossy and controlling personality makes everyone a little uncomfortable, especially Clive. Meanwhile, Blaine and Peyton have a heart-to-heart.

iZombie gets a little kinky in this episode when Liv and company have to solve the murder of a dominatrix which brings in some characters who have had some screen time in previous episodes. It’s fun to see them come back, especially their squirming.

Rose McIver as always delivers a fantastic performance. In this case a dominating character who at the same time makes herself intimidating and sexual. It’s what you’d expect from a dominatrix and no matter how silly of subtle the command, there’s an excellent wink, nod, and whip to it all.

But, the episode really focuses on Major who has a major attack after being roughed up and is forced to take the zombie cure. It’s a touching moment that the season has been building towards and though short, how its handled by everyone is very sad and feels perfect in many ways. It’s absolutely fantastic and I know it has me counting down to the next episode to see what might happen.

The episode is a fun one like the series generally is. It mixes humor and heart and delivers on both in a lot of ways. A solid entry that had me caring about the characters and hoping for the best for Major.

Overall Rating: 7.80

Liv consumers the brain of a murder victim who had the reputation of being an office gossiper; Blaine and Peyton grow closer as they wait to see if Ravi is able to reverse the effects of the cure; Major is one step away from fulfilling a promise.

iZombie gives us an episode that mostly sticks to its formula in this episode but what the series seems to be doing in its third season is adding in a bigger mystery, well really mysteries.

Most of the episode focuses on a murder which has Liv consuming a brain to help figure out who the murder is. It’s the usual for the show and Rose McIver is always fantastic playing off the various personality quirks of her new brain. That story is interesting and there’s lots of fun, and funny, moments that keep it interesting.

But, the episode is really about those ongoing stories.

The fix to the zombie cure, the zombie killer, Blaine and Peyton, that’s all explored here and then some. And I think that’s where this season is really standing out. It’s able to mix in four or five different plotlines in a way that’s not completely clear how they all come together and every single bit feels like it has more than enough time to move it forward and entertain.

As always, the cast is fantastic and how they interact always stands out. When it really comes to having fun and seeming like they’re having fun, this cast and show really stands out. And here too, we get that, even when the story itself is a little dark.

iZombie constantly entertains and this season has picked up after a slow and odd start. Consistently it delivers one of the most fun hours of television and consistently has me laughing and putting a smile on my face.

Overall Rating: 7.65

Liv consumers the brain of a murdered lifestyle guru; Ravi’s former boss gets closer to uncovering the truth; Blaine and Peyton grow closer.

iZombie continues to stick to its formula in the third episode of the season which feels like a more cautious set-up than anything too groundbreaking.

The episode involves the murder of a guy that feels like an over the type yoga instructor and that aspect of the episode isn’t too exciting at all. It’s easy to figure out who the murderer is early on and nothing adds a whole lot to Liv or Clive. There’s a few funny moments, but overall, it’s fairly blah when it comes to the whodunnit stories we’ve seen in the past.

The bigger part of the episode involves Ravi and Blaine, really Blaine’s father. We see a new operation being set up by Blaine’s father and it’s the early moments of the story, but it feels rather familiar and what we’ve seen before, because it just feels like something Blaine has done. So nothing really new there.

The bigger story involves Ravi and Peyton and Ravi being an utter douche towards her. This season is adding some depth to him, but he’s being a dick so it’s kind of hard to like him. And as it stands if Peyton winds up with him, it looks poorly upon her too. That’s the biggest fireworks on the episode, it’s all pretty bland otherwise.

This third episode isn’t bad per se. We get to see Major act out a bit as a zumba instructor, but for the most part, the episode feels safe, almost too safe. With the first episode of the season being so different and the second adding a decent amount to Clive’s story, this third one just doesn’t quite work. An entertaining hour, but one that’s rather forgettable.

Overall Rating: 7.15

Liv, Clive, and Ravi suspect foul play was involved in a fatal car crash; Clive reveals his connection to a murdered family; Peyton tries to make peace with Ravi.

iZombie returns more to its normal formula with two cases that feel much more like the previous two seasons, but also with a twist as one ties into the greater narrative that began in the previous episode.

The first case is about a father and daughter who are killed in a car crash and things seem a little fishy. That leads to Liv and Major eating their brains with Liv taking on the father and Major the teenage daughter. That brings the humor as we get to see the two acting each stereotypical personality and delivering things in a way that had me smiling throughout the episode. Yes, it plays a bit too much into stereotypes, but it’s still entertaining in a way mostly due to the actors themselves, especially Major talking about abs and selfies.

The second story plays off of what began last episode with Clive and the family he found out were zombies. We get the full history here as they are unfortunately killed. There’s someone out there who’s killing zombies, but why? That seems to be the big picture, who knows, who’s killing, and how do they find the killers without causing a panic. The concept is a bit too much like the Chaos Killer story which I hated and who knows if that’ll play in here. It should since it’s really similar. The best part is that it gives a lot more depth into Clive who hasn’t had a lot of focus in the series. To see him pushed in the spotlight more is more than overdue as he’s been a great anchor and playing the straight man to the crazy.

The series is closer to what we’ve previously seen and it’s a stronger second episode than first due to that. I can see the big picture coming into focus with this episode and it feels like a bit old and a bit new. Hopefully, we get something that’s a bit different than the previous two seasons, but so far it’s an interesting start.

Overall Rating: 7.85

Liv finds there are more zombies in Seattle than she previously thought; though exonerated for the Chaos Killer crimes, Major remains a pariah; Blaine is accused of lying.

iZombie returns for its third season with an interesting first episode that picks up on the end of the previous season while also setting the series into a new direction with a big picture story.

When we last saw the series Max Rager is done and a zombie outbreak has been stopped and now for the cover up. That goes pretty high up as we find out there’s even more zombies and they have a goal of making Seattle a zombie paradise/sanctuary.

The concept is really interesting, especially when you think about it in the bigger debate over sanctuary cities, but how things are laid out within the story feels a bit out of left field really shifting the series away from the whodunnit type stories we’ve seen in the previous two seasons. That aspect is jettisoned instead the entire episode is focused on wrapping up the previous season while setting things up for what’s to come in this third season.

That shift is good, because things need to be shaken up for formula, but the abrupt way it’s done doesn’t quite work here. The show usually shines when it focus on the characters’ eating brains and acting out their new personalities, and that’s not really here. The humor is gone and while this is a first episode of a season it feels like it’s more of an addendum to the previous one.

We’ll see where this goes, but the big concept doesn’t feel like it quite works, but the series at least shakes things up and takes things in a different direction. We’ll see how far they’re willing to try out new things as the season progresses.

Overall Rating: 7.2