Tell-Tale TV Panel: iZombie Season 2

We’ve wrapped up another insane season of iZombie, and now we have to figure out a way to bide our time until Season 3 premieres next year. Hiatus is going to be rough.

In the meantime, let’s reflect back on how iZombie did this season. You can join the discussion by leaving your thoughts in a comment below.

Our panelists are:

• Lyra Hale, senior writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Caralynn Lippo, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV
• Allison Nichols, staff writer for Tell-Tale TV

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rank the season overall?

Lyra: Overall, I’d give it a 7 for Liv’s superb acting, storyline, and the continuing pain that is Blaine. Despite how much he aggravates me, I can’t see the show without him.

Allison: I’d give it a 7-8 overall. I enjoyed the continuing search for the cure, the Chaos Killer, and the Max Rager threat. The main issues I had were that we spent a little too much time on Blaine’s goons, and that we fell in love with Drake and he was predictably killed off.

Sorry, but I don’t care about Blaine’s goons. I wanted to see more of Liv and Blaine being forced to work with each other.

Caralynn: I’d give it a 7. I really liked mostly everything. I’m not crazy about the Mr. Boss storyline, but the payoff of having amnesiac Blaine rescuing Peyton was kind of worth it (sorry, Ravi!) Speaking of Peyton: I loved that she was in on Liv’s secret and more involved in this season. Love her character and love their friendship.

What was the season’s biggest mistake?

Lyra: I think this season’s biggest mistake was trying to redeem Blaine after he took the cure and started losing his memory. I love him as a villain. He’s sassy, level headed, and knows who he is.

By the end of the season I felt confused as the other characters about where Blaine stood. Yes, he did all those horrible things and killed so many people. But he doesn’t remember. So does that still make him a villain?

Is it that easy to forget the pain he caused and should he be forgiven? It left me in limbo on how I felt about a Season 1 favorite.

Allison: Abandoning Liv’s family was a pretty big mistake. Considering Liv refused to give her brother blood, I was expecting some huge family fallout and Liv struggling to win back her family’s good graces. We had like one episode where she tried, and then she forgot about them.

Caralynn: Seconding Allison, dropping Liv’s family completely is a HUGE plot hole. She basically didn’t even mention them aside from a “yeah, they’re really mad at me” in the beginning of the season. Like I said above, I also wasn’t crazy about Mr. Boss, so there was a bit too much focus on him for my liking.

 

What worked really well this season?

Lyra: Exploring Liv’s sexuality worked really well this season. Season 1 was about her getting used to her existence now that she was a zombie. Now we’re delving in and exploring different sides of being alive.

She got a boyfriend who was just like her that helped her explore the kind of human she is now. (Still bitter that he died and then popped up on The Flash as a zombie!) Hell, she even chomped on the brain of a librarian with a penchant for erotic literature. It’s liberating Liv, and I like it!

Allison: I thought the cure was well-handled. iZombie has always been good at following Ravi’s research and experimentation with his rats, and this season was no exception. It was really captivating, and I mean, I was in shock when Blaine was killed, and then he came back to life (as a zombie). I can’t wait to explore more of how Major and Blaine are doing and figuring out what the next step is.

Caralynn: Developing the group dynamic now that Peyton and Major are both in on Liv’s secret. Peyton isn’t always around, but when she is, I just adore the Peyton/Liv/Ravi/Major group dynamic. This entire cast has amazing chemistry, I live for their interactions.

What was the biggest surprise of the season?

Lyra: Biggest surprise of the season was something that they didn’t do, reunite with her family. I understand that they had to work on her relationship with her immediate circle, but what about her brother? Her mother?

Those are essential parts of who Liv is and I hope they’re saving that for Season 3 because I need to see them patch things up. Give me the family angst of explaining why she didn’t want to donate blood to her brother!

Allison: I was definitely shocked that Liv’s family was abandoned. After the season one finale, I expected Liv’s family to be a huge part of this season, and I even thought Liv might spill the zombie secret to either her mom or brother.

I was also surprised that Clive was brought into the loop! I could have seen him staying in the dark for awhile, but I’m glad he was finally informed.

Caralynn: Two things: Clive finding out the secret and Drake being killed off.

Why go through all that character development for Drake and having us (and Liv) get attached to him, only for it to end this way? I understand that the stakes needed to be high for the finale (which was totally awesome), but I felt like having him die so relatively soon after Liv had lost ANOTHER zombie boyfriend to a gunshot wound to the head (RIP, Lowell!) was sort of lame.

Clive finding out — well, that was shocking because he was the only major character still left out of the loop, and Liv keeping Clive from finding out her secret while out on cases was a major source of dramatic tension. That he found out so soon (only 2 seasons in!) was definitely surprising.

 

What did you think of this season? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

iZombie returns next year on The CW.