I had planned on reviewing this episode and the finale together, since they aired back-to-back, but after a few minutes, I realized I wasn’t giving this episode enough attention, so I split them up.
Episode Title: Dead Beat
Original Airdate: 4-12-16
With Major arrested for the Chaos Killings, Ravi tells Liv everything Major has been up to. Hoping to save Major, they decide to thaw one of the victims (Drake, of course), to prove that Major couldn’t have killed him, only to discover the deep freezers empty. After Major’s bail hearing gets him out of jail for the Chaos Killings, Clive is then able to rearrest him for the Meat Cute Massacre, after someone in lock up confesses to having sold Major all the weapons, for a plea deal. After not having a “proper” meal for several days, Major is on the verge on turning “Romero,” which would be far worse behind bars with plenty to snack on and, in turn, infect. A desperate Liv confesses everything about the secret world of zombies to Clive. He doesn’t believe her at first, until she stabs herself in the chest and turns. That night Major is released, thanks to Clive’s tampering, effectively destroying both the Meat Cute and Chaos Killer cases, plus his relationship with Bozio. After Van du Clark sends his henchman to kill Liv and Major, Ravi accidentally gets in the way, killing Janko, whose brain his targets then devour in order to gain info on where the newly thawed zombies are being held, which Liv glimpses in a vision, seeing a very living Drake in the basement at Max Rager, of course.
I was nervous after last week’s episode ended, thinking they would do something easy to get Major off the hook for all the trouble he’s really caused. But I was pleasantly surprised. Coming down hard on Major AND Ravi (as an accomplice) was inspired. It provided a good excuse to keep Ravi and Liv out of the morgue, thereby showing Liv just how difficult it is to come by a zombie meal without killing, and how important Blaine and his business are to the zombie community. (Though $25k a month is outrageous.) And it gave the born again Blaine his first chance to play hero as he discreetly provided Liv a snack. Is this a turning point for our once Big Bad?
Again, bringing in another Veronica Mars alum was an excellent choice with Ken Marino as Major’s attorney, provided by Van du Clark. Does that guy ever NOT play a slimeball? Doesn’t matter; he’s was perfectly cast and highly entertaining.
But the real star of the show was Liv telling Clive everything about her world. And showing him…graphically. I’m really glad they pulled the trigger on this, as the secret was starting wear thin. I’m also impressed they did it in the penultimate episode of the season, as such a reveal is usually reserved for a season finale, sometimes as the actual cliffhanger. The scene played out perfectly and I’m really looking forward to next season when Liv and Clive’s partnership changes. The finale didn’t leave a lot a room for the dynamic shift, as it was almost non-stop action. But when the dust settles, they will have to learn how to work together with this new revelation between them. Hoping it makes for some excellent television.
It was definitely a fabulous episode that did some much needed spring cleaning for the world-building that was starting to get messy, as well as being an intriguing lead up to the finale. And Liv’s meal of drummer brains wasn’t over the top, so score!
Channel: Superhero 