iZombie Season Finale “Blaine’s World” Recap
We reached the iZombie season finale, and what an iZombie season finale it was! Wrapping up a crazy number of subplots and threads while establishing great implications for what could happen in the second season, this was the perfect butt-end of an all-too-short thirteen weeks.
The good news is that Ravi managed to perfect his zombie cure. The bad news is that he only has enough material for two human doses. Liv wants to take one of those doses badly, but Ravi points out the cure is best left preserved until he can figure out how to make more. Liv is desperate, though, and when Ravi isn’t looking, she loads the medicine into a syringe for later.
We now know who was continuing to kill the amateur indie band known as The Asshats even after Max Rager’s hitman had been put down. It was Cameron, the remaining member after all the other ones had been offed. He was offered cash from a woman working for Max Rager in exchange for the recovery of a tell-all article his lady friend had been writing.
Max Rager itself had mixed reactions to the conclusion they reached from the whole incident: they now believe their product causes zombies. Some of the upper-level employees patted themselves on the back for it. The CEO, Vaughn (because bad guys are always named Vaughn) was less than pleased, and made reluctant plans to change the energy drink’s recipe. Too little, too late — by the end of the episode, the report was out and the company was in trouble.
The moment Blaine makes a phone call to Liv, though, none of this matters as much. He wants his astronaut brains, despite the fact that they have to be past their expiration date by now, or Major dies. Liv makes the exchange, but for some dopey reason does not check the face under an all-concealing hood. Now Blaine has his operation intact AND Major’s life in his hands; who will save the day this time?
MAJOR! The epitome of incompetence until now, Major frees himself from Blaine’s clutches, races to his secret stash of weapons and returns armed for bear. Seeing Major Rambo-blast his way through Meat Cute, mowing down zombie after zombie, was one of the best moments the series has given us yet. It’s all too typical for a show, especially one on the CW, to write in a love interest and call it a day — to lazily throw eye candy in there and not bother with depth or character development. Major could have been this character, but they went out of their way to give him his own life, his own plotline, and finally, his ultimate moment of badassery. When the season started I had no interest in Major at all. Now look at him. I’m so proud, even if I didn’t raise him.
The only member on staff that Major wasn’t quick enough to defeat was Blaine, who shot him in the gut and kicked him a few times for good measure. He was about to finish the job when the cocking of a high-powered weapon turned his head, and there was Liv with a huge scowl on her face.
Blessed with Xanatos-like mental reflexes, Blaine is prepared for every situation, including this one. He has no more tricks up his sleeve, except this fact: he’s built himself up as the pillar keeping the zombie community from collapsing, and if he dies, an unknown number of undead in the city will lose access to easy brains and seek them out through more destructive means. And…he’s right. When Blaine is finished telling Liv this, she eases off on the trigger, but keeps the gun in hand so she’s allowed to tend to Major. And the first thing that Major says to Liv is “See, I told you there were zombies, but you didn’t believe me.”
Blaine gets an Uncle Scar look on his face and thinks “Ahhhh, so she never TOLD you! This would be the worst possible way to find out! Let’s GO for it!” He tells Major point-blank that Liv is a zombie and also that Major is the dumbest dude in the world for not picking up on a single clue. And….he’s right. Both times. Liv is devastated — and furious. It probably wasn’t a good idea to make Liv angrier, because like I figured, she decided to use the syringe on Blaine when he wasn’t looking.
If the show had killed Blaine I wouldn’t have appreciated it. He’s too good a character to throw away after just one season. This is a good way to keep him around while resolving the season’s arc at the same time. Blaine was a scoundrel and a manipulator and an astronaut murderer, but he was such a charming astronaut murderer. You had to smile as you saw the last shot of him REALLY enjoying the taste of his food.
As Major lays there, voice fading, clearly not going to last another few minutes, Liv realizes she has only one way of saving him…..and gives him a deep scratch. This is the moment I figured we were heading all season, especially after noticing his full name, “Major Lilywhite,” is another zombie pun. Why else would he have that name if he didn’t become a zombie eventually?
When Major wakes up the next morning, Liv is looking over him expecting to get her six-pack boytoy back. Instead, Major lays into Liv for pretty much screwing up his life, for standing around and watching him dig himself into gigantic trouble without so much as a warning, for letting him believe he was crazy and sit in a mental hospital because he’d be “safer,” and now on top of spaghetti, turning him into a zombie without his permission. He tells Liv she’s gotta be KIDDING if she thinks having the same malady is going to bring them together; it’s not like couples grow closer by sharing an STD.
This is the verbal beatdown Liv has needed all season; I love her but seriously, I don’t think I’d date her. She realizes Major is right….and sacrifices the last of Ravi’s cure, and the hope of humanity, by using it to restore Major to normal. Which is another bad decision, but hey, at least their relationship is on the road to recovery now.
But Rob Thomas wasn’t done twisting the knife, OOH-HO NO! Just when you thought the show forgot about Liv’s brother, he arrives for his first day at work at Meat Cute about ten seconds before it explodes. He has just enough time to realize the shot-out windows and bloody bodies on the floor aren’t normal, and then gets a faceful of building before he can turn around.
The last scene of the iZombie season finale is the guy in critical condition at the hospital, and possessing a rare blood type that only Liv can match. Having just lived through everything that’s happened that day, Liv has no choice but to look at her dying brother in the presence of her own mom and say “No.” Cut to black.
Now imagine if the iZombie season finale had been the series finale, like it had a chance of being when these scripts were being written and no episodes had aired yet. Ending the show like this would have caused a massive wave of petitions and protests and endless harrassment of Mr. Thomas to start a Kickstarter for an iZombie movie. Happily, this isn’t the darkest timeline, the ratings were above-average for The CW, and we’re getting a second season beginning this fall. I’ve enjoyed bringing you these recaps, and if you equally enjoyed reading them, please share them. Popularity on social media is what will ensure that I get to write more of them.