iZombie 1×2 Review: Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?

Another week, another funny, awesome, and smart episode of iZombie. Now that we are out of the oft-clunky pilot, “Brother, Can You Spare a Brain” was able to show off exactly what makes this show so great. We got more intelligent dialogue, Liv making fun of the fact that her being a zombie having a nightmare about a zombie was meta, and lots of brain recipes (brains pizza rolls this time!). This was also the week that Babineaux grew on me.

Speaking of Babineaux, the chemistry between him and Liv become much more apparent this week. In order to skate over the zombie thing, Ravi and Liv told him that she is a psychic and that is why she has the visions. Babineaux doesn’t question it because her track record is so good! Although I have to suspend a lot of disbelief about this factoid, it makes me like his character more. In fact, I think that is why I like a lot of the cast: they trust Liv even if it doesn’t make sense.

One of the best parts of the episode for me was that we saw how much eating the brains of the deceased impacts Liv’s daily life. Not only can she take of the memories of the dead, but she actually becomes like them with feelings and emotions. In tonight’s story, the deceased was an artist who had a very open relationship with his wife. He loved women, he loved art, and was passionate about color and vibrancy. Luckily, we were able to see Liv “come alive” through those feelings. She became very flirty with one of the victim’s mistresses, and even delved into painting and jazz. It was pleasant to see Liv in even more of this airy and light mood. She even tried to get back into good graces with her ex-fiance, Major, by eating more artsy brains and flirting. Unfortunately, it backfired. We will have to keep waiting to find out if they can salvage their relationship.

Also, hey, it’s another zombie! We were finally introduced to Liv’s major antagonist, Blaine, played perfectly by David Anders. They are the only two zombies, and he is the one who made her a zombie. At first, it seems like Liv wants to trust him after they have a conversation about food and the texture of brains being unpleasant. But Liv has a bad feeling about him, and rightly so. First of all, David Anders can play a bad guy like no other. I immediately thought he was smarmy and up to no good. Turns out, he is purposely turning people into zombies to make money by selling them brains. Of course, he is trying to get Liv to be his supplier. Going from dealing one drug to another in the afterlife. Once Liv finds out, she will not be happy.

On a shallow note, Ravi continues to make me laugh out loud every time he opens his mouth. And he is oh-so pleasant to look at. I seriously could watch a show of just Liv and Ravi and be totally okay with that. They have such a sweet friendship, and Ravi knows it. He even called her out on the fact that she didn’t want to leave him alone with Blaine because she was afraid something would happen. I am definitely glad that Ravi is the only one (besides Blaine) who knows her secret for now.

I really need to give props to the writing crew on this show. As a writer and grammar nerd, I appreciate vocabulary and smart dialogue, and the writers are giving me exactly what I want. During this episode, particularly the part with the sketch artist, I wondered if the writers just sit around with a thesaurus to see how many different words they can introduce. Hey, sometimes I like needing a dictionary to follow a TV show. I cannot wait to see what is in store for next week.

Author: Erin

Erin has reviewed many shows over the years including Orphan Black, iZombie, Penny Dreadful, and Killing Eve. She has a keen eye for on-screen chemistry, and loves to tackle the subject of casting. She is also our horror aficionado. She live tweets shows, and loves to share her feelings. Erin has a BA in History, and likes to analyze the lore behind historical fiction. She attends San Diego Comic Con every year and has also attended C2E2 and WonderCon.

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