iZombie Review: Bye, Zombies (Season 5 Episode 12)

What can you ask of an episode that gives you absolutely everything?

iZombie Season 5 Episode 12, “Bye, Zombies,” is that one episode that, if you’re lucky, will come along once in a series.

It’s the kind of episode that encompasses everything that made you fall in love with the show and the kind of episode that will stay with you long after it is over.

It’s difficult to put into words why iZombie’s penultimate episode is so incredible because words cannot describe how a zombie heist is able to encourage so much fist-pumping, nail-biting, and crying from the comfort of my couch.

This show has stuck with it’s quirky ways to the very end and because of that, we got this wonderfully wacky episode. This is iZombie at it’s absolute best!

Let’s start with the zombie cure heist — a beautiful byproduct of the final season finally giving Liv the opportunity to take back her humanity, whatever the cost.

But iZombie doesn’t half-ass anything, let alone a heist, and so the whole thing can’t happen without an episode packed full of Ocean’s Eleven references.

This show’s ability to draw on personalities from any brain has always been an invaluable asset but hockey player and drag queen brain don’t even come close to recreating the cast of the greatest heist movie ever made.

Assembling a team of zombie con-artists using brains from dead criminals and trapeze artists stays true to iZombie while using the concept on a much larger scale than we have ever had the opportunity to see.

This is it for iZombie — this is the moment the show gets to cash in big on the brain persona concept and they do so without missing a beat.

When “Bye, Zombies,” isn’t out giving us the best Team-Z hijinks yet, it’s giving us every ounce of fanfare we deserve.

That starts with an elated Ravi channelling Tom Cruise as he delivers his epic heist monologue to the OG Brain Gang. This could very well be the last time we see all five of these characters together and that sentiment is not lost on the scene as these beloved characters break for a mission not everyone is likely to return from.

The emotional Clive and Liv content that follows is the icing on the cake. Clive is not one to break from his stoic character very often, so seeing him choke back tears as he tries to picture a world without Liv by his side is exactly the kind of heartbreaking development we need to see from this duo in their final days.

Clive is the Clooney of this show, so having him reluctantly join another big fight is the only way to do this thing right. The dancing was just an awesome bonus.

Fans will always root for star crossed lovers Liv and Major — they are endgame after all. Their relationship from exes to best friends has always been one of kindness and maturity. They have shown that couples can have complicated and loveable interactions that further the story regardless of being together or not.

So to see Liv and Major rekindle their love for each other with one grand kiss while robbing graves and taking jabs at one another is such a spot-on tribute to the characters.

These two have been through a lot together and stayed friends through it all despite some massive hiccups along the way. If all goes to hell in the season finale, at least Liv and Major got to have one last perfect moment of happiness together.

When it comes to giving fans what they want, Liv and Major work hard but Peyton and Ravi work harder.

Ravi and Peyton couldn’t let us move any further without throwing a possible wedding into the mix. iZombie’s adorable way of slipping hints of what the future may have in store for Ravi and Peyton as a couple helps keep the tension light and our hopes high as we move into the final episode.

But when given the choice between a funeral or a wedding, we know which one iZombie will lean towards.

I will always commend iZombie for the brutality that gave this goofy loveable show its sharp edge.

When Liv’s boyfriend Lowell was killed without warning, it was devastating as a fan to watch Liv crumble. But her pain moved the story forward and Blaine pulling the trigger at that moment solidified his status as a prominent series villain.

Even now, as we watch “Bye, Zombies” that unpredictable cruelty weighs on our mind. Ravi and Peyton’s mentions of a future together at times sounds more like ominous foreshadowing and Clive’s reluctance to leave his pregnant wife puts him in a dangerous hot seat.

This unpredictability helps give this episode some serious stakes and will always be something to admire about the series in its entirety.

However, with recent outrage over how the newest season of Rob Thomas’ Veronica Mars ended, I worry this sharp edge iZombie prides itself on having will ultimately cut us too deep.

The series finale is setting up for some major casualties and I wouldn’t expect anything less from iZombie. At this point, those casualties are shaping up to include Peyton or Major. While killing Peyton would devastate Ravi, her death has felt like a possibility for a while now.

Major’s death, on the other hand, would put Liv in another situation where her boyfriend has died and she is forced to rebuild herself again. We’ve seen Liv broken and guilt-ridden too many times to count. To kill off Major would be to repeat a cycle that does not leave our protagonist on a strong note.

While Liv deserves to leave this series happy, Veronica Mars is a cruel reminder that this likely won’t be the case.

iZombie manages to cover a remarkable amount of ground in one 45-minute installment. But nothing is quite as exceptional as the decision to split up the 5 members of the brain gang going into the finale.

Having Liv, Ravi, Clive as the main focus seems only fitting given their track record together over the years. As Ravi so brilliantly points out, they are partners now and there’s no chance they’ll be splitting up during the biggest fight of their lives.

These three are the backbone of the series and this episode as they share a history of chemistry no other core group of characters can come close to.

However, having Major Lilywhite forced to survive on his own may just be the best decision iZombie makes with this episode.

From day one Major has operated as a lone soldier, doing what needs to be done and doing it himself so no one else ends up in the crossfire. It has always been Major against the world and I am so glad he has been forced into a position similar to what we find his character in at the end of Season 1. Someone get this man a grenade!

Of course, the one combination of characters that truly allows “Bye, Zombies” to succeed is Blaine and Peyton.

Peyton and Blaine have a complicated history, to say the least. But their latest meeting takes things to a whole other level.

This season we watched as Blaine stopped holding back and went full villain — it was rather epic. We were kidding ourselves when we thought the worst had already been done because Blaine truly outdoes himself in this second final act.

The senseless killing isn’t what makes Blaine’s moments in the renegade bunker so bone-chilling. His true nature as a man with a hurt ego that believes his trauma earns him the right to have what whatever he wants at whatever the cost is what strikes such an emotional chord. There’s nothing more terrifying than a man that thinks a woman owes him something.

There is this fear that Blaine will kill Peyton just to so Ravi can’t have her and that kind of motivation is what makes Blaine’s development into the egotistical villain he is today particularly remarkable. Even at his absolute worst, Blaine is still the best thing that ever happened to this series. 

Blaine will do everything to burn Liv’s world to the ground during the finale and we will watch knowing there will never again be a villain on TV quite as miraculous and awful as Blaine DeBeers.

iZombie has truly outdone themselves with “Bye, Zombies”, fitting years of character developments and plot devices into one episode with precision, heart, humour — and more sass than we could ever begin to appreciate.

This penultimate episode is everything you could ask of a final season and more. 

It’s hard to say if the finale will be able to live up to the expectations this latest installment has set. If it doesn’t, at least we can look back on this wonderful hour of television and now we got to have a proper goodbye.

Goodbyes are never easy and iZombie makes leaving Team-Z in Seattle feel like mission impossible.

Top Lines From “Bye, Zombies”:

Clive: You guys aren’t highly skilled criminals.
Liv: No. We’re not. We’re zombies. We don’t need Ocean’s Eleven to do this job. We Just need the right brains.

Blaine [to Liv]: New man in your life? It’s probably for the best. You’re not that great with boyfriends, are you?

Liv: You know, when we get back with the cure, there goes your zombie partner. What’re you gonna do without me?
Clive: I don’t know…

Ravi: Was that an “I’m sorry, you’re gonna die?” hug?
Liv: I think he was crying a little.
Ravi: You haven’t seen the last of us Clive Babineaux! We Hope.

Major: I’m really glad we’re at this place in our relationship where we can dig up graves together without having to talk.
Liv: We are easy like Sunday morning.
Major: Let’s take a moment to honor how far we’ve come.
Liv: From fresh-faced kids picking out China patterns, to zombie exes grave-robbing felon brains.

Peyton: Take care of Ravi, please. I’m probably gonna marry the guy.

Clive: It’ll give me one last hurrah with my partner.
Ravi: Sss. Partners.

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

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The series finale of iZombie airs Thursday at 8/7c on The CW.

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