Season three begins as we've never known iZombie before: with Clive climbing the character power rankings to #1 and Ravi falling to dead ass last. For some reason, we've piled on the CW Drama (tm) and added a full blown love triangle that torpedos Peyton and Ravi's personalities. In other news, Team Z has grown mercenary-size, and Clive is conflicted. Liv is also there, mostly being cool, good for her. Cheers!
On iZombie's season 2 finale, we finally get a full on zombie fight and a ton of potentially cool setup for next season. Ravi, Peyton and Blaine spend their time setting up a love triangle while dealing with Mr. Boss. Meanwhile, Major, Liv and Clive deal with Max Rager and an imminent possible zombie apocalypse. Unfortunately, while they do take out that particular threat, we get the onset of Fillmore Graves (geddit?) and Seattle as a full-on Zombie State. Dun dun dun!!
Alli and Mary get into a little old-school top of show booze-fueled ranting that our Buffy and Veronica Mars listeners will remember. If you'd like to skip right to the iZombie episode discussion, please head to 22:30. In our episodes this week, we're all-in on our season arcs: Major is having his traditional tough time, zombie-d out in jail. Ravi is helping as usual, Liv is going for justice, and Clive is finally, finally in the know. Grab a beer and join us. Cheers!
Everyone is changing their status this week, as Blaine cures himself but gives himself amnesia (or does he?), Rita turns into a zombie, and Major turns back into a zombie. Ravi gets a great scene of figuring out the whole Major is a now a two-time almost serial killer, and gives a lovely WTF dude speech. Liv, meanwhile, has some bonding time with Peyton and then discovers that Drake is not missing and sketchy, he's missing and a cop. Grab a beer and join!
Liv comes into her own this week and she clocks Rita/Gilda a good one. Meanwhile, Major and Blaine reluctantly team up for a little Major torture followed by some dad torture. Things finally catch up with Blaine in the next ep, though, when Mr. Boss brings the fear of god into us all, and slits Blaine's throat. A-men. Super Ravi comes to the rescue again as he continues his work on the cure and Drake reveals he has yet another employer. So many layers on our boy Drake, but ultimately: we miss Lowell.
Alli and Mary spend the top of showing trying to figure out who knows what about which plotline in iZombie at this point. It's like a riddle: No one knows everything, but everyone knows something. Liv continues to not come to easy conclusions: give Drake brains! Blaine is the Utopium guy! We also discuss what happens when someone doesn't have a strong personality trait for Liv to become? Surely some people are even keeled? Meanwhile, Ravi spends time mooning over Peyton and drinking (relatable). Cheers!
The continued issue of every other zombie (and character?) being more interesting and sympathetic than Liv comes to a head as Major learns some hard truths from a zombie hooker. Meanwhile, Alli and Mary discuss how it feels like we're watching two iZombies: Liv's Campy Personality Changes and Everyone Else Deals with Zombie-ism. Either could be a great show, but combined it's an oil and water issue. Pick a side, y'all!
This week, Alli and Mary discuss the merits of rigorous scientific testing when if comes to the zombie situation. If you were turned into a zombie, wouldn't you want to know how long you could go without brains? Your pain tolerance? How far you can run without tiring? Well, Liv doesn't seem that curious, which is a mistake as she ends up hungry in the slammer in these eps. Meanwhile, Clive has a stalker, Liv & Major continue their half-assed relationship and Ravi loves magic. Cheers!
Alli and Mary discuss the nature of set-up seasons and worldbuilding in television shows, whether we needed to muscle through quite so much turbulence before we reached the smooth sailing of season 2. Meanwhile, Major spends these episodes thinking primarily with his dick as he and Liv get back together. Ravi becomes the best bro to both Liv and Major as he researches zombie-ism as an STD. In the next episode, we meet another great creepy villain in Mr. Boss, who's coming for Peyton and Blaine. Clive is also there, although he has yet to find an interesting plot.
This week, Alli and Mary discuss the positive trending direction that season two has taken: Liv and Peyton are actual friends, with actual non-zombie interactions. The mysteries of the week are subdued and secondary. We're missing a bit of lore, but can't win them all. In episode one, Liv is finally forced to confront the consequences of her zombie behavior, and in episode two she's able to defend her self without losing the moral high ground. Progress, folks!
This week, Alli and Mary do a little top of show chat about birthdays and overall deal with a cranky cat. In iZombie news, we get a bit of a soft-reset on overall plotlines and relationships. Major and Ravi continue as our MVPs, clubbing utopium-style in the name of science. We are again a bit unclear on why Liv is such a non-character, completely subsumed in her brains, one of which is STRAIGHT UP RACIST, you guys. It's hella uncomfortable. Meanwhile, Blaine runs a funeral home now, so there's that.
Alli and Mary discuss penultimate ep and season finale of iZombie's first season. Overall, the episodes are pretty good, but we consider that although we've spent a whole season with Liv, we have next to no idea of who she is as a person. Meanwhile, in quite the turn of events from our season one episode one podcast: we crown Major our season one MVP! Go Major go! As it happens, he has a rough go where he's tortured, takes out Meat Cute, is stabbed, is zombified, rips on Liv, and then is unzombified. Main character who?
This week, Alli and Mary discuss Liv totally melting into the personalities of the various zombie brains-- yet, we don't really see any other zombie act this way. Since there isn't a lot of lore in the show yet, it's hard to get a good handle on who Liv is as a person. Is that on purpose? Are we doing Buffy an vampire lore part II? Who could know. Meanwhile, the show mourns Lowell for one whole episode, and then we move on to Major's (admittedly, big deal) issues. Will someone help this dude out? Seriously.
Alli and Mary discuss Liv's character, or lack thereof, and how that affects her status as main character. Why are the dudes all excellent, well-rounded characters while the women are ill-defined (Zombie Liv) or barely present (Peyton) with a primary characteristic of "hot/perfect"? Hm. Then, we get into Liv's zombie-privilege and whether it's moral to live as a zombie in general. Lastly: RIP Lowell. You were hot, but you were so much more.
This week, we discuss the weirdly out of place "lol nerds" vibe of this week's first iZombie ep, Virtual Reality Bites. We're seriously out here defining the term internet trolls you guys. You can do better, show! We get a little deep into LA industry culture before moving on to big life changes for primarily Liv and Major. Things are going well for Liv, who makes up with her mom and gets closer to Lowell. Major, on the other hand, continues getting his ass beat. Such is life.
Alli and Mary discuss the importance of emotional arcs and character relationships to build interest in the show. By the second episode, we've got crazy-charming Lowell, Ravi/Major bro times, Peyton not sucking, and Clive jumping in to the season-long mystery. We also go into the concept of voiceover: is it needed in iZombie? Is it a holdover from Veronica Mars? Is it a network mandate? Are we watching Dora the Explorer? Who can tell. Cheers!
Alli and Mary discuss the supernatural detective drama and the subsequent procedural vs. serial television debate. In a netflix world, how does a show like iZombie, or any of its similar peers, balance casual viewers and die-hard fans? We're looking forward to digging into this throughout the duration of the show. This week, we learn that Blaine straight up sucks and although Ravi is still awesome, he needs to brush up on the scientific method.
After living through the 90s and Buffy, then the 2000s and Veronica Mars/Firefly/Dollhouse, we've finally made it to the modern day! It's the teens, y'all! We're pumped to start iZombie, which will be the first show both Alli and Mary have not seen in its entirety. Once we hit the mid-season, prep yourselves for Theory Time. For now, we're introduced to the iZombie universe with personality-sponge zombie Liv, perfect specimen Ravi, ex-fiance Major and partner Clive, who is super serious but somehow is down with psychics. Cheers!
Veronica Mars is back, baby! And she is all words, no pictures. In this special edition of Must Be Tuesday, Alli and Mary delve into the first Veronica Mars novel, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line. Taking place immediately post-movie, we have Veronica going full idiot and attempting to take on some cartel bros, finding out that her mom has moved on, reconciling with Keith, and hanging with Wallace and Mac. Don't worry, she solves the case in the end. Grab a drink like the party-goers of Neptune and listen in. Cheers!
Well, Dollhouse officially ends on a weirdly paced, confusing extension of season one's "Epitaph One". After a significant amount of ranting (apologies to those who enjoy this ep), Alli and Mary determine that this bookend could have been skipped entirely, for a much more satisfying conclusion to a show that took a good look at consent, morality and the culture of money and excess. We are on to our month-long break, and will then be back with more Veronica Mars and iZombie! Cheers!
This week we finish up the present day Dollhouse plotlines before jumping into the ~future~ next week. There is some high-impact storytelling going on here, and a solid effort to wrap up the show for fans. Still... there is less than no room to breathe, and the episodes and characters suffer. Ultimately, Dollhouse realizes its potential more than Firefly ever did, but viewers are left with emotional whiplash to achieve it. At least Paul is roasted many times over! Cheers.
Don't let the title fool you, we really did love these eps. In the first ep, we yadda-yadda some new tech, but get to spend some time with Victor and Sierra, so it's worth it. Adelle drinks our podcast into the dirt, but comes out the other side as fierce as ever. In the next ep, we finally get to the much-touted attic, which is almost as fun and trippy as Buffy's Restless except... just a bit less than you would hope. Still, we have a good time up until the end when we're again threatened by the dreaded Caroline. RIP Echo as the most important character in the show! We'll miss you girl.
The train that is Dollhouse season 2 has surpassed high speed and is now hurtling unsafely toward the end. These episodes could each be 3-4 easily, but the episodes manage to entertain despite their density. We discuss Adelle's loose morals, Ballard's mainsplain-y attitude and Alpha's flashy style. Never leave, Alpha!