‘iZombie’ 2.08 Episode Recap and Review: The Hurt Stalker

So does everyone remember the mysterious woman who dropped off the padded envelope on Agent Bozzio’s doorstep last episode? Good, because she’s back. And by “back,” I mean “getting attacked in a parking garage and then shot when she tries to stab her attacker.” Natch.

Liv and Ravi are called to the scene and are mid-investigation when Clive arrives. He recognizes the woman, Regina, as an ex. What’s worse, the gun that killed her was dropped at the scene – a 9mm registered to one Clive Babineaux. Also at the scene? Regina’s phone with a message from Clive telling her to leave him alone or it would “go bad” for her. Yeah, this is not looking good for our favorite detective, especially since the case lands on the desk of our least favorite, Cavanaugh.

Liv is determined to prove Clive’s innocence, so she noshes on Regina’s brain pretty quickly. A little too quickly, as it turns out. Just as she finishes chowing down, Agent Bozzio brings by the contents of that mysterious envelope. It’s a scrapbook of Regina and Clive’s relationship, only most of it is photo-shopped. Liv has just consumed brain material from a stalker. Oh, Major’s going to love this.

Clive says that Regina was a “badge bunny,” more interested in his uniform than anything else, so he ended it after just a couple of dates. As it turns out, Clive wasn’t Regina’s only cop ex. Ravi and Liv’s investigation leads them to former clients Uma and Matthew, and Matthew got a scrapbook of his very own shortly before Regina drunkenly ruined their wedding. Matthew alibis out, but thanks to a flash, the Dynamic Duo find his scrapbook under a ‘love lock’ bridge. They also find Regina’s locks for Clive, Matthew, and a mysterious third person, “W.P.”

Liv and Ravi dig a little deeper to find W.P.’s police-issue SUV. W.P. stands for Walt Price, also known as the Chief of Police, and he’s none too happy to find Liv in the back of his vehicle, looking through his very own scrapbook. Liv gets arrested and thrown in the clink for the weekend. Most worryingly, they aren’t too concerned about Liv’s special dietary concerns. She only barely manages not to chow down on her cellmate before Ravi springs her.

Before being arrested, Liv managed to snag a page out of the Chief’s scrapbook that shows Regina wearing a very familiar ring – Uma’s engagement ring. Matthew may have alibied out, but she didn’t. Nor did her brother Karl. Regina had stolen Uma’s ring and was suing the couple for unpaid services rendered. Karl and Uma just planned to scare Regina in the parking deck, but when Regina was about to shank Karl with a cake knife, Uma grabbed the gun that had fallen from Regina’s purse and took the shot.  Case closed.

Of course, the case isn’t the only thing that Regina’s brains have been working on. Liv spends a generous portion of the episode being terribly suspicious of Major. “Rita” is still texting him and looking for a hookup, plus Liv sees Major put something away in the safe that she didn’t know he had. It’s a rough episode for the couple, but Major (barely) manages to get through it without Liv finding out that he’s the zombie hunter.

And finally, Vaughn du Clark learns that SuperMaxx is ready for human testing (sort of). He drinks it himself in front of Major, maxing out on the weight machine, but also demonstrating that the rage thing is still kind of an issue. Vaughn gives Major a few cans of the energy drink to “help” with Major’s zombie-hunting efforts.

Okay, let me start with this one thing that confused me, and then we’ll get on with the actual review. Somebody ‘splain to me the point of that last scene of Liv posing as Major to talk to Gilda. What was that actually supposed to prove, and why was she all teary at the end of it? I mean, I understand still being a little bit on the CrazyBrain and wanting to find out who “Rita” is, but why did a picture of lingerie (that SHE requested) warrant the waterworks? Maybe they’ll talk about it next week.

Speaking of talking about things next week, was anyone else disappointed that last week’s mysterious envelope drop turned out to be just related to the Murder of the Week? With the buildup that they gave it, I assumed that it would be somehow tied to the overarching zombie plot, but alas.

All in all, this was a solid episode that I truly enjoyed, if for no other reason than to see all of the good-natured ribbing directed at Clive. (Let’s be honest, Clive is starting to rival Ravi as my favorite character on this show.) There were a few holes that bothered me, but I’ll forgive them because iZombie let us see Clive in cosplay.

iZombie 2.08 Episode Recap

Best Quote:

Ravi: “What’s George R. R. Martin doing right now?”

Clive: “…not writing.”

Things to Ponder:

• So the Chief of Police was willing to obstruct a murder investigation for his own purposes, and everyone was just kind of okay with this?
• Has anyone else noticed that we never really see any of the other zombies on the show dealing with different personalities? We got a glimpse with Lowell, but why Blaine wasn’t slipping Daddy Dearest somebody with happier tendencies, I’ll never know.
• Clive as Khal Drogo is a joy that will live with me forever.