[TV Review] “iZombie” Episode 2.15: ‘He Blinded Me With Science’

By Trace Thurman on March 23, 2016

iZombie returned after a 5-week hiatus with “He Blinded Me With Science,” a table-setting episode that puts all the pieces in place for the final four episodes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it’s not exactly thrilling to watch the characters put together information that the audience has known about for months.

Liv ate the brain of Eleanor Cash, a 52-year-old single scientist who was employed by Vaugh du Clark at Max Rager. Cash’s Brain gave Liv super-intelligence, and helped catch her up to speed with information that viewers have known for quite a while: Drake is employed by Mr. Boss. Then Major kidnapped him! This is a pretty exciting development, and it will likely help Liv to realize that Major has been the Chaos Killer the whole time.

Cash’s brain definitely helped move the plot along at a rapid pace this week. The sequence in which Liv was thinking with science infographics floating above her head was cute, but the episode didn’t make much use of the technique for it to really make an impression. What was fun was seeing Blaine have a similar reaction to the brain, but again the episode didn’t play with that dynamic nearly as much as it should have. Liv’s science-brain also allowed her to help Ravi with his cure (RIP New New New Hope), which he promptly gave to Blaine.

Once again, the case of the week was the weakest part of the episode, but at least the killer reveal at least provided a moment of surprise. Cash was in charge of an experimental trial that left a patient with a horribly disfigured face (seriously, that was messed up), and after blaming everything on her partner she was set on fire. I have to admit, I had to do a double take when “Annie” was revealed to be Annie’s twin sister Jenny. It was a nice little twist.  iZombie is very good at making you feel empathy towards many of the murderers, so it hurts when you see Clive (sometimes reluctantly) begin to read the Miranda rights.

The best scene came early in the episode, when Vaughn du Clark called Major into his office for a meeting. It all goes to show that communication can work wonders for relationships (and greatly enhance the quality of a show)! Major called Vaughn out for having Rita room with Liv. Then Major told Vaughn he slept with Rita. Then Vaughn told Major that Rita was his daughter. Then Rita showed Vaughn her black eye. It was a series of rapid revelations that was a long time coming. If only it had occurred earlier in the season.

Vaughn and Rita had their own special moment in this episode though. After studying a female full-on zombie/Romero zombie, it broke free and Vaughn left Rita there to die. Vaughn has been a pretty hilarious villain, and while we’ve seen him do plenty of terrible things, this is a new low for him. His nonchalant attitude to closing the elevator doors was a douchey move, but when Rita finally made it back up to his office (she had to have been scratched, no?), the look in his eyes was telling. It was a nice moment from Steven Weber and if we’re lucky Leanne Lapp will be given some great scenes in the future

Maybe I’m just holding a grudge against iZombie for taking so long to get the characters up to speed with the audience. “He Blinded Me With Science” was a solid episode of the series, but it mainly succeeded in getting you excited for what happens next, as opposed to what was actually happening in the episode.

Random Notes

• Chapter Titles of the Week: The Meal’s On the Bus; Feed Me, See Morgue; To Err is Human, To  Forgive Bovine; Cold Hard Cash; Interview With the Zombie; Kids Say the Darndest Things; She Finded Me With Science.
• Brain Recipe of the Week: I’m not 100% sure what that was. It looked like Brain Stew. You tell me!
• “We would not want any zombie-come-latelies coming to the party, would we?”
• Seems like du Clark is going to be going on a murderous rampage soon, no? I feel like he may be this season’s real big bad.
• Clive and Dale finally (finally) learned that that brained they sent for testing was a human brain and not a cow brain. Good job, team!
• That look that Clive gave Liv and Ravi when he saw them observing New New New Hope’s corpse was priceless.
• “You know who else has a secret basement? Everyone.” -du Clark was really on point tonight, wasn’t he?
• “He’s running a funeral home, straight out of freshman English. Foreshadowing? Hello!”
• Surely that cure won’t kill Blaine, right? It’s too soon, especially considering his fake-out death in the last episode.
• Peyton’s back next week! And she helps Liv with her new stripper brain! Color me intrigued.