Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

iZombie: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie Review

The Grave-Robber Gourmet

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 22, 2016

Spoiler alert: This review assumes that the reader is familiar with Season 1 of iZombie. Readers new to the series should consult the Season 1 review for a spoiler-free introduction.

The second season of The CW's iZombie was all about more: more episodes, more murders for Liv Moore (Rose McGiver) to solve, more personalities for her to absorb, more zombies appearing in Seattle, more villains plotting against her and her pals—and, of course, more brains, glorious brains, for Liv to consume in ever more imaginative concoctions. One of Season 2's best running jokes is the rapid-fire culinary preparation, as Liv whips up one picture-perfect gourmet delight after another, the better to disguise the essential ingredient. The results would be right at home on The Food Channel, and the show's producers have missed a prime opportunity by not including a Blu-ray extra about the behind-the-scenes machinations of the wizards who craft Liv's elaborate meals. Who knew that Seattle's morgue contained a master chef's kitchen?

But the prime example of "more" in iZombie's second outing is its ingenious tangle of interlocking storylines. As he demonstrated with Veronica Mars, co-creator Rob Thomas is addicted to convoluted plots that snake in all directions to the point where viewers need a scorecard to keep track of the lies, charades and hidden agendas. Thomas and his writers' room have concocted an intricate 19-episode thriller that builds to a stunning finale in which the zombie apocalypse long feared by the show's heroine appears to be on the verge of becoming a reality.

The shadow of the "Meat Cute Massacre" that concluded Season 1 hangs over the new season, as Liv's policeman partner, Det. Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin), refuses to accept the official explanation, according to which his former superior, Lieutenant Suzuki (Hiro Kanagawa), perished while battling drug dealers. As the audience knows, the real perpetrator was Liv's former fiancé, Major Lilywhite (Robert Buckley), while Suzuki was secretly one of Meat Cute's zombie customers, who triggered an explosion to cover up the shop's true business, which was providing brains to Seattle's growing population of the undead. Even after Babineaux is ordered to abandon the case, he keeps picking at it, assisted by a newly arrived FBI agent, Dale Bozzio (Jessica Harmon ), who has been dispatched to Seattle to investigate a series of prominent disappearances attributed to a villain dubbed "the Chaos Killer". Babineaux's persistence will ultimately lead to dangerous discoveries, and, not surprisingly, the Chaos Killer will turn out to have a zombie connection.

Liv's boss, medical examiner Dr. Ravi (Rahul Kohli), continues to search for a zombie cure, but his efforts are hampered by the exhaustion of his supply of "tainted Utopium", the party drug that, when consumed with the energy drink Max Rager, turns people into zombies. Ravi exhausted his supply of tainted Utopium to create two doses of an experimental cure, which Liv used on Blaine (David Anders), the former drug dealer-turned-proprietor of Meat Cute, and on Major, whose assault on Meat Cute left him a zombie. Ravi's cure turns out to have side effects, some of which emerge immediately, while others only reveal themselves as the season progresses. Ravi's work is far from done, while the search for a new supply of tainted Utopium continues.

Blaine, ever the entrepreneur, has not let becoming human again deter him from continuing to peddle brains to his zombie clientele. He has acquired a funeral home, where a new crew of lackeys does his bidding and the dearly departed provide a steady supply of edible gray matter. He also dips back into his former life as a drug dealer, which puts him on a collision course with Seattle's head gangster (and Blaine's former employer), a diminutive accountant known as "Mr. Boss" (Eddie Jemison). Seeking to remove the competition, Blaine offers his services as a confidential informant to Liv's friend, Asst. DA Peyton Charles (Aly Michalka), who is investigating Mr. Boss. While Peyton now knows that there are zombies in Seattle, having learned of Liv's condition in Season 1, she has no idea who Blaine really is or why he's being so helpful.

The CEO of Max Rager, Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber), quickly emerges as the chief villain of Season 2. As Vaughn prepares to launch a new and enhanced energy drink, Super Max, he remains cheerfully indifferent to his products' side effects. With the assistance of loyal aide, Rita (Leanne Lapp), Vaughn has developed a sophisticated plan to quietly rid Seattle of zombies before the launch of Super Max, thereby eliminating any risk of scandal. Liv Moore occupies a prominent spot on Vaughn's hit list.

While these machinations (and many others) gradually play out, Liv continues to assist Babineaux with murder investigations, exhibiting the zombie equivalent of multiple personality disorder as she inherits the memories and character traits of the victims on whom she dines. A basketball coach, a habitual gambler, a pole dancer and a masked vigilante (think Kick-Ass) are just a few of Liv's temporary identities. A standout entry is Episode 10, "Method Head", where the victim is the lead actor on Liv's favorite TV show, Zombie High, a CW-like drama about a high school where athletics and romantic melodrama are routinely interrupted by attacks of the undead. It's a hall-of-mirrors tale in which fiction comes uncomfortably close to Liv's reality.

Season 2 continues iZombie's tradition of jokey guest appearances. Ken Marino, who played sleazy P.I. Vinnie Van Lowe on Veronica Mars appears in episode 18 ("Dead Beat") as an equally sleazy defense attorney. Enrico Colantoni, Veronica's straight-arrow father and former lawman, shows up in episodes 14 ("Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind") and 17 ("Reflections of the Way Liv Used to Be") as a vice cop from Babineaux's former division, who may or may not be crooked. Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars herself, makes an uncredited cameo that I won't spoil for those who haven't yet viewed the season. And the final episode features an appearance by singer Rob Thomas, with whom iZombie's co-creator is often confused, entertaining the crowd at a Max Rager company affair. It's a once-in-a-lifetime performance.

iZombie: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

iZombie continues to be shot digitally, primarily by cinematographer Michael Wale (Continuum). Season 2 retains the bright and cheerful visual style established in previous episodes, with the color palette mimicking Michael Allred's original renderings for the Vertigo series from which iZombie is adapted. (The opening title sequence continues to recap Liv's backstory in graphic panels.) The Warner Archive Collection has distributed the season's 19 episodes over four BD-50s, all of which feature a clean, sharp and detailed image free of noise or interference. Blacks are solid, whites are crisp, and colors are fully saturated, though not to excess. The average bitrate varies from a low of around 23 Mbps to a high of 26 Mbps, with a capable encode and no anomalies.

iZombie: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The surrounds see more action in iZombie's second season, which, like the first, has a 5.1 soundtrack encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. Liv's recurring demonstrations of culinary expertise are accompanied by a "whoosh" and the clatter of kitchen utensils that fills the room and adds to the sense of wonder at how human brains can be made delectable (at least in appearance). Several episodes feature intense effects that cannot be described without spoilers (see, e.g., episode 14, "Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind"). In the season finale, a huge party takes an unexpected turn, and the soundtrack rises to the occasion. Josh Kramon (Veronica Mars) continues his scoring duties.

iZombie: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Deleted Scenes (1080p; 1.78:1): Listed by episode title. Some of these would more accurately be labeled "Extended" or "Alternate" scenes. The most significant deletions are from "Whopper", where an entire subplot was dropped.
• Disc 1
• Grumpy Old Liv (0:34)
• Disc 2
• Love & Basketball (0:48)
• Abra Cadaver (1:00)
• Cape Town (0:23)
• Disc 3
• Method Head (1:17)
• Fifty Shades of Grey Matter (1:20)
• Whopper (3 scenes) (7:03)
• Disc 4
• Dead Beat (2 scenes) (2:25)



• iZombie: 2015 Comic-Con Panel (disc 1) (1080i; 1.78:1; 29:43): All of the participants from the previous Comic-Con panel return: creators Rob Thomas and Diane Ruggiero-Wright and actors Rose McIver ("Liv"), Malcolm Goodwin ("Babineaux"), Rahul Kohli ("Ravi"), Robert Buckley ("Major") and David Anders ("Blaine"). A new addition is actor Aly Michalka ("Peyton"). Both the cast and the creators remain enthusiastic, displaying a new-found confidence, now that the series has been renewed. Thomas provides a brief preview of Season 2.

iZombie: The Complete Second Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

As of this writing, The CW has postponed the debut of iZombie's third outing to mid-season and cut back the episode order to thirteen, reportedly due to declining ratings. If Season 3 turns out to be the show's last, at least we'll have WAC's excellent Blu-ray presentation to savor at leisure. Highly recommended.