{"id":5892,"date":"2016-10-10T08:00:21","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T15:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/?p=5892"},"modified":"2016-10-04T09:39:30","modified_gmt":"2016-10-04T16:39:30","slug":"mark-watches-izombie-s02e15-he-blinded-me-with-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/2016\/10\/mark-watches-izombie-s02e15-he-blinded-me-with-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Watches ‘iZombie’: S02E15 – He Blinded Me… with Science"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the fifteenth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0iZombie<\/i>, I am in awe of this show. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0iZombie<\/i>.<\/p>\n

What an incredible episode, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand how season two keeps getting better, but here we are, fifteen episodes along, and I am MESSED UP. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chat.<\/p>\n

Scientist Liv<\/b><\/p>\n

Out of all the brains\/personalities that Liv has inherited, Dr. Cash is the most muted of them all. It works, though, especially since she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s able to push forward the cure plot\u00c2\u00a0and<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0act in a more observational role. And for where she is in this story, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s key. Is her relationship with Drake worth pursuing? We see her boundary issues pop up again, since she plants a phone on Drake in order to track him. She hasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t quite learned what behavior is acceptable or not, and the scientist brains don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help. To her, she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s merely acquiring data to be used to test her hypothesis.<\/p>\n

And initially, the data supports the fact that Drake is everything he claims to be. The irony, of course, is that Liv is biased, and she can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even see it. She does not have all the information, and she makes a judgment call based on that. Granted, there was hope that this could be resolved; perhaps Drake would reveal who he really was to Liv. But he never got the chance, since he was coincidentally frozen by Major. WHICH IS GOING TO BACKFIRE, I PREDICT IT NOW. Aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t his buddies in Vice going to realize he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s disappeared? OH GOD, THIS IS BAD.<\/p>\n

Seriously, give Liv a break. I FEEL SO BAD FOR HER.<\/p>\n

Blaine<\/b><\/p>\n

His transformation in this episode is a goddamn spectacle, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. After spending so much time getting used to his arrogance and certainty, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He Blinded Me\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 with Science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d presents us with a new version of Blaine: one who is frightened by his own mortality. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never seen it before because Blaine always believed he was immortal, that he was bulletproof, that he could face down anything life threw at him. And now, he could die at any moment because of the cure that Liv gave him.<\/p>\n

As he realizes this, he changes. David Anders still gives us the wit and snappiness of Blaine, but it slowly drains out of the character throughout the episode. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fascinating to watch because the other characters (and the audience) keeps waiting for the inevitable joke or condescension, and\u00c2\u00a0it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t happen<\/i>. Go watch that scene with Chief and Don E. again. Their reactions are so vital to understanding the shift that happens here! They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve pretty much never seen true sentimentality from Blaine, and it just weirds them out.<\/p>\n

How long will this last? Will the new cure actually cure him, or will it have even worse side effects? It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s eerie to think of how quickly he began to get sick after resurrecting as a zombie, so\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 will this go wrong even\u00c2\u00a0quicker<\/i>? I DON\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T KNOW.<\/p>\n

Max Rager<\/b><\/p>\n

It was satisfying to get a case-of-the-week that tied so heavily into the normal mythology while having a resolution all of its own. There are hints of other plots within the burning of Dr. Cash. I totally saw the fake results thing as a reference to Liv faking the test that Dale had gotten on the brains found in Suzuki\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fridge. The whole case was about how Jenny felt the need to take on Annie\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s problem without consulting her, which was quite similar to Liv donning a wig, make-up, and glasses in order to infiltrate Max Rager without consulting Babineaux.<\/p>\n

Yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the details about the inner workings at Max Rager that interested me the most. I still can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t praise Steven Weber and Leanne Lapp enough; they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re just so\u00c2\u00a0perfect\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>as Vaughn and Gilda, respectively. In particular, this episode highlights just how desperate Vaughn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s become. He knows Super Max makes himself aggressive, and he doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. (That scene where he blames Major for Gilda\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s black eye is HORRIFYING.) He is excited by the progress his research team has made, despite that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now inevitable that Super Max will create a veritable army of hyper-aggressive people that can only be stopped by OTHER PEOPLE ON SUPER MAX. In this,\u00c2\u00a0iZombie<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0tackles corporate greed, albeit in a ridiculous way. The kind of calculations that Gilda mentions \u00e2\u20ac\u201c factoring in the cost of lawsuits \u00e2\u20ac\u201c is something that major corporations do\u00c2\u00a0all the time<\/i>. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why so many business repeatedly violate laws and codes; they know their profit margins will be untouched by regulatory fines or the cost of lawsuits, so why do the right thing?<\/p>\n

But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d argue there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s another layer to this: as a person, Vaughn Du Clark is heartless, a truly, despicably selfish human who only cares for his own gain. This episode\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s most shocking moment is Vaughn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s sacrifice of Dr. Lockett and\u00c2\u00a0his own\u00c2\u00a0daughter<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0to the zombie that breaks free of its confinement. (And note that it broke free specifically\u00c2\u00a0because<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0Vaughn kept torturing it.) We knew he was cold and self-serving, but given how quickly he came to the defense of Gilda at the start of the episode, I thought that maybe he had some sort of need to protect her within him.<\/p>\n

However, in the end, he didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t care. He let her get attacked, and she could have died. Well\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 I guess she technically did? There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a 0% chance she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not a zombie now. OH GOD, HOW IS THE SHOW GOING TO DEAL WTIH THIS? How is she not going to kill her father for what he did to her?<\/p>\n

Whew, this show is so great.<\/p>\n

The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He Blinded Me\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 with Science\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n

– I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b>
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0 Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"