‘iZombie’ 2.03 Episode Recap and Review: Real Dead Housewife of Seattle

Trophy wife Taylor Fowler is killed by fake-realtor Joe Fricano, but it quickly comes to light that Joe was only the hired gun. It’s up to our Scoobies to figure out who did the hiring!

Investigation starts with the realtor who Joe was pretending to be. She IDs him as the guy she kicked out of an open house last week for rifling through the owner’s nightstand. Who might that owner be, you ask? None other than current Maxx Rager CEO and all-around bad guy, Vaughn du Clark. The plot, she thickens early in this episode.

As it turns out, Taylor’s husband Terrence sits on the board of Maxx Rager. Not necessarily a great thing for Vaughn, since during an investigative office visit, Liv flashes on him sleeping with Taylor. She storms out of the room, only to run smack into Vaughn’s 3 o’clock appointment, Major. She ends up slapping him, but at least now he knows that at least 75% of Liv’s brand of crazy comes from whoever she’s had for lunch.

Clive and Liv are still following every available lead. They go to Joe’s day job, a place that does custom car stereo installations. His coworkers don’t recognize either of their main suspects (at this moment, Vaughn and Terrence), so the duo head back to the scene of the crime to interview Terrence. He seems devastated, but flies into a coffee-table-shattering rage when he finds out about Taylor’s affair with Vaughn. He has an alibi, though. He was at an appointment with his personal stylist, so that’s where Clive and Liv head next.

Bethany confirms Terrence’s alibi, but gives up Taylor’s two “besties,” Deborah and Camille. They’re definitely Real Housewives, but ultimately have nothing helpful to contribute, other than triggering another flash for Liv. This time, she sees Terrence punching a hole in the wall the FIRST time he finds out about Taylor’s affair with Vaughn. Taylor was having none of his lip, though, since he was stepping out on her using a Sugar Daddy site.

Bethany calls Liv back about a pair of shoes that Liv was looking for (she IS on trophy wife brains, after all), comes over for a closet raid, and ends up inviting Liv to a private sale. Looks like Liv has a new girlfriend!

Of course, all is not what it seems. Clive heads back to the car stereo place with a portfolio of the women that Terrence has been in touch with on SugarDaddy-o.com. NOW they recognize someone: a woman named Harmony, who looks remarkably like a certain personal stylist that is currently hanging out with our intrepid heroine. There’s a scuffle in Saks (okay, it’s not actually Saks, but I liked the alliteration), and Liv manages to bring Bethany in. Turns out, she was wanted for fraud and blackmail in three different states before she got the idea to kill off Taylor in hopes of becoming the 3rd Mrs. Fowler.

However, it looks like no one is going to become the next Mrs. Fowler. Terrence tells Vaughn that he has the swing vote to get Vaughn kicked out of the company, so Vaughn takes him down to the secret sublevel lab and locks him into a room with a ravenous zombie. Board vote canceled!

So while the crime-solving has been going on, the other two plotlines for this episode have been busy, as well. Major still isn’t sold on the zombie-killing business, but Vaughn has him by the short and curlies, so he takes out a zombie jogger with a cute bassett hound (which I feel is going to be important later). Major takes out his Utopium-heightened emotional state on Gilda, who seduces him in the Maxx Rager gym. It’s also strongly implied that Gilda isn’t just Vaughn’s assistant, she’s also his daughter.

Meanwhile, Peyton is back in town and heading up a Utopium task force (yay!). She apologizes to Ravi, and they hug it out. She also quietly drops off a birthday cake for Liv, making her the only one of Liv’s friends to acknowledge the day.

Peyton’s back!! Granted, it’s entirely possible that I only like Peyton because she’s played by Alyson Michalka, but for now, I don’t care. Here’s hoping that her return means good things ahead in Liv’s personal life, which seems to be suffering of late. Speaking of which, props to iZombie for not using the Surprise Birthday Dinner trope to end the episode. I mean, yes, it was kind of like kicking an extremely pale puppy, but having Peyton be the only friend to acknowledge Liv’s birthday made her return all the more poignant.

So just out of curiosity, is anyone out there still rooting for Liv and Major to get back together? I feel like I was supposed to be more outraged when Major and Gilda hooked up, but it really just felt like Major’s Bad Decision #167. I’ll be honest, I don’t really have a Ship for this show other than Ravi and Major’s adorable bromance, and I’m okay with that. Not every CW show needs to have a will-they-won’t-they or a set of musical partners (I’m looking at you, Vampire Diaries).

Looks like next  episode is when Rose McIver gets to show off her guitar skills. Looking forward to it!

iZombie 2.03 Episode Recap and Review: Real Dead Housewife of Seattle

Best Quotes:

Clive: “What am I, Driving Miss Crazy?”

Liv: “A long time ago, we used to be friends.” (You guys, I had to pause the show, I was laughing so hard.)

Things to Ponder:

• So Major’s turning into a junkie and Peyton is leading a Utopium task force. How long before those two worlds collide?
• It’s been a while since we’ve seen Liv go into a good zombie-rage. I’ve missed that.