Huh. Two episodes in the queue. I didn’t think I skipped a week.
Oh well, time for the lightning round.
Eat, Pray, Liv
A cute little episode with a clever twist on the case of the week. Also an episode with no visions from the brain of the week. Good for them on mixing things up.
At least I finally got it stuck in my head that Ravi’s old boss is “Katty” though I still can’t tell her apart from the CEO lady. By now it’s pretty obvious that she is going to learn the truth about zombies, the real betting game is whether she’ll be a zombie before or after that moment. I’m still not happy about Ravi having a fling with her. While yes guys – well anyone – can do something stupid in a moment of emotional pain, it stretches believability that he would be with someone that was previously established as him disliking so much. I mean if he went back to that one barista who didn’t know Star Wars maybe…
Curious to see what’s going on with Major and the former DJ as I can’t tell whether the bonding effort is just that, or if Major has some kind of larger plot planned.
All in all pretty standard season filler. I give the grade a C.
Wag the Tongue Softly
At this point I’m starting to think the writers have an annual contest for the worst thing they can put Major through. It’s hard enough watching him slowly die but now we have to watch him be thwarted on completing the ONE thing on his bucket list? You’re killing me, show! (well, technically you’re killing him, but I’ve grown empathetic)
Meanwhile it looks like Blaine’s new character rewrite is going to stick. Ok I guess I just find it more meaningful for a character’s redemption to come from a desire for it and to put in the work to obtain it. By this point it almost seems like just pandering to the Blaine fans on the part of the writers. Though… for a show that was half decent on science and medicine (though Hollywood sets a LOW bar in that regard), Ravi’s “I’m going to cure memory loss” effort just makes me facepalm. Do you not think there isn’t entire industries working on trying to cure things like dementia and Alzheimer? Yet RAVI BY HIMSELF is going to do what entire companies can’t? This is one area where I wish the show was taking advantage of the new (supposed to be) company ally and have Ravi work with their researchers on the cure. There’s a lot of potential intrigue and drama there.
The case of the week was another fun twist. By now we can definitely see a pattern where it looks like this season the victims will be the most animated characters to give Rose McIver more… to make it clearer that she’s under the influence. Which I don’t mind since I’ve said before the one flaw in the show is that at times it could be hard to tell where Liv ended and the new brain began.
Though, I do have to complain about the most unrealistic thing the show. A gun range in Seattle*?? And there’s a white supremacist there? I can believe in literal zombies and Ravi curing major diseases all by himself before that bullshit. Just… was the show tired of being fresh and interesting and decided to do the most cliche thing imaginable? There’s been reports of a rise in female gun ownership in America, so what if it was a woman at the gun range? Maybe one that started buying guns after seeing the picture her brother showed her (so we can keep that connection).
It’s just sad to see the show shoot it’s own creativity like that. The grade drops to a C-.
*Ok I kid a bit. If you do a google maps search for gun ranges in Seattle it shows like… half a dozen around there.
paladinteacher 4 years ago
I’m back! For a little while, at least. I feel like I just crawled out of a black hole that was the last school year. Unfortunately, the next school year does not look like it is going to go any better, because I am signing up for graduate school classes that I will be working on during my evenings. Well, I am going to do what commenting I can while I can and hope that next summer things will be better.
Gosh. I didn’t realize that I didn’t get any farther than episode 3 in my comments. I had less time than I thought I was going to last summer before planning time struck. And, honestly, I hope these don’t turn out to be a hot mess, because I went back to re-watch season 3, but I also caught up on season 4 at the same time.
“This is one area where I wish the show was taking advantage of the new (supposed to be) company ally and have Ravi work with their researchers on the cure. There’s a lot of potential intrigue and drama there.”
Ravi working with Fillmore Graves to come up with a solution to the memory loss problem – Good idea.
At the beginning, with the little snippets that set up Cheryl as being the office gossip, then the fire alarm going off – I had a flash to Dwight Schrute’s emergency drill from The Office. 🙂
The body in the morgue looked truly terrible – swollen, mottled skin, tongue sticking out. TV death is not usually so gruesome.
Clive called it at the very beginning – “Could be what we’re looking at here is an office prank gone wrong.”
Utopium in Cheryl’s yogurt caused the reaction that killed her. Utopium reacted with Max Rager to cause the zombie virus originally. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. (Also, it would be interesting to find out how Utopium was originally cooked up.)
Clive – “I’ll start bringing in all the fifth-floor employees.”
Liv – “I’ll eat Cheryl brain.”
Ravi – “I’ll wait for you to go Willy Loman and depress me further. . . or sell me a spit sink.”
This show – throwing in a reference to Death of a Salesman. I love it.
And right after this exchange is the “cook the brains” segment, and one chunk of brain sticks to the bowl. It takes an extra shake to get it off.
And as Liv is stirring the pot in the lab, Ravi says, “You know the old saying, ‘A watched pot never boils’ . . . until its contents reach a temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmosphere.”
When Liv comes over as Ravi is giving Major the syringe with the cure, she is sitting in the chair looking like Dana Carvey as the Church Lady.
Ravi – “What’s up with you? You look like the zombie who hate the canary’s brain.”
She can’t stop herself from telling Ravi about Blaine and Peyton.
I thought that they did a good job with the editing. They had a lot of characters and motives to give information on for the case of the week, and then there were the stories of Blaine and Peyton, and Major’s hunt for Natalie. It was a lot to balance. I would almost say that the character of Pete was unnecessary; he was just there so they could use the porn actress as part of the plot, and Ravi could make his jokes about the porn.
Major – (to Ravi) “You wanna come help me stake out his place? Just look for Natalie?”
Ravi – “I hate sex slavery as much as anyone, but I don’t feel like going out in public at the moment.”
Major – “Ravi, it’s a stakeout, all right? We’ll hunker down in my car. You don’t even have to wear pants.”
(This is the selling point for Ravi – really?)
Ravi – “Why not? I’ve got nothing else to live for.”
Major – “And – we know you’re good at waiting in cars.”
(Pretty cold, Major)
During their stakeout:
Major – “All we have to do is affix this GPS tracking device to his car.”
Ravi – “The one parked behind those massive gates?”
Major – “Dude, don’t pitch problems, all right? You’re the brainy sidekick. The guy with answers as sharp as his wit is dry.”
After it’s dark and Ravi is asleep, men come out of the house and Major punches Ravi.
Major – “Hey. Go time.”
Ravi – “Then go already. . . Did I really need to be awake for this part?”
Major – “There’s that dry wit.”
My favorite comic title of the episode – “Chasing Their Tail” – when Major and Ravi are tracking the man’s car.
When the car stops in front of them and the bodyguard gets out and threatens Major and Ravi, that was a pretty tense scene. Major taking a beating to get close enough to slip the tracking device into the goon’s pocket was heroically smart/stupid.
Ravi – “Listen to me Major. You’re not responsible for Natalie.”
Major – “I made a promise.”
Ravi – “Well, of course you did. She was gonna kill herself. But now, you’re the one acting suicidal. You’re not Galahad questing for the Holy Grail, you’re Don Quixote tilting at windmills. These guys are zombies. They know how to eliminate zombies.”
When Major spies on the man outside the apartment building, he and that big blue car are not exactly hidden. (My biggest quibble with the episode) But it leads up to a great music scene. “Man of La Mancha” starts
“Hear me now, oh the bleak and unbearable world.” (Major crosses the street)
“Thou art base and debauched as can be” (Major goes into the apartment building)
“And the knight, with his banners of bravery unfurled, now hurls down the gauntlet – ‘good eve’”
(Major gets into the elevator just ahead of the doorman)
“I am I, Don Quixote, the lord of La Mancha
My destiny calls and I go
And the wild winds of fortune will carry me onward for whithersoever they blow”
(The elevator opens and Major steps out into the hall)
“Whithersoever they blow – Onward to glory I go-o-o-o-.”
(Major knocks on the door, the elevator opens behind him. The doorman is coming)
Then the music stops as the door opens. Natalie says, “Oh my God, Major.”
The timing and the words to the song match up perfectly. It reminded me of the scene from season 2, I believe it was, set to the song from Les Miserables. Plus, I have liked this song since Scott Bakula sang it as Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap.
The picture you have of Blaine and Peyton at the casket was a memorable scene.
Blaine – “What if my memory comes back and I just see stuff that I’m unequipped to deal with?”
Peyton – “That’s not the Blaine I know. You can’t just assume the worst.”
Blaine – “Yeah, well, the Blaine you know killed people, okay, and behavior like that just doesn’t come out of the blue. A few of those people probably begged for their lives.”
This is why I should dislike Blaine more.
The suspect Jim said that the co-workers came up with their plan to prank Cheryl after a team-building seminar. (That worked out differently than it was intended to.)
Cheryl was a miserable person. Her habits and her gossip alienated her from others.
In retrospect, this is a pivotal episode. Major gives the syringe to Natalie, Peyton and Blaine sleep together (the boxers were a surprising win) and at the end Clive and Liv meet Harley Johns. The ramifications of these actions play out for the rest of the season.
paladinteacher 4 years ago
Episode 3.04 – Wag the Tongue Slowly
I’m back! For a little while, at least. I feel like I just crawled out of a black hole that was the last school year. Unfortunately, the next school year does not look like it is going to go any better, because I am signing up for graduate school classes that I will be working on during my evenings. Well, I am going to do what commenting I can while I can and hope that next summer things will be better.
Gosh. I didn’t realize that I didn’t get any farther than episode 3 in my comments. I had less time than I thought I was going to last summer before planning time struck. And, honestly, I hope these don’t turn out to be a hot mess, because I went back to re-watch season 3, but I also caught up on season 4 at the same time.
“This is one area where I wish the show was taking advantage of the new (supposed to be) company ally and have Ravi work with their researchers on the cure. There’s a lot of potential intrigue and drama there.”
Ravi working with Fillmore Graves to come up with a solution to the memory loss problem – Good idea.
At the beginning, with the little snippets that set up Cheryl as being the office gossip, then the fire alarm going off – I had a flash to Dwight Schrute’s emergency drill from The Office. 🙂
The body in the morgue looked truly terrible – swollen, mottled skin, tongue sticking out. TV death is not usually so gruesome.
Clive called it at the very beginning – “Could be what we’re looking at here is an office prank gone wrong.”
Utopium in Cheryl’s yogurt caused the reaction that killed her. Utopium reacted with Max Rager to cause the zombie virus originally. It’s the gift that keeps on giving. (Also, it would be interesting to find out how Utopium was originally cooked up.)
Clive – “I’ll start bringing in all the fifth-floor employees.”
Liv – “I’ll eat Cheryl brain.”
Ravi – “I’ll wait for you to go Willy Loman and depress me further. . . or sell me a spit sink.”
This show – throwing in a reference to Death of a Salesman. I love it.
And right after this exchange is the “cook the brains” segment, and one chunk of brain sticks to the bowl. It takes an extra shake to get it off.
And as Liv is stirring the pot in the lab, Ravi says, “You know the old saying, ‘A watched pot never boils’ . . . until its contents reach a temperature at which the vapor pressure of the liquid is equal to the pressure exerted on the liquid by the surrounding atmosphere.”
When Liv comes over as Ravi is giving Major the syringe with the cure, she is sitting in the chair looking like Dana Carvey as the Church Lady.
Ravi – “What’s up with you? You look like the zombie who hate the canary’s brain.”
She can’t stop herself from telling Ravi about Blaine and Peyton.
I thought that they did a good job with the editing. They had a lot of characters and motives to give information on for the case of the week, and then there were the stories of Blaine and Peyton, and Major’s hunt for Natalie. It was a lot to balance. I would almost say that the character of Pete was unnecessary; he was just there so they could use the porn actress as part of the plot, and Ravi could make his jokes about the porn.
Major – (to Ravi) “You wanna come help me stake out his place? Just look for Natalie?”
Ravi – “I hate sex slavery as much as anyone, but I don’t feel like going out in public at the moment.”
Major – “Ravi, it’s a stakeout, all right? We’ll hunker down in my car. You don’t even have to wear pants.”
(This is the selling point for Ravi – really?)
Ravi – “Why not? I’ve got nothing else to live for.”
Major – “And – we know you’re good at waiting in cars.”
(Pretty cold, Major)
During their stakeout:
Major – “All we have to do is affix this GPS tracking device to his car.”
Ravi – “The one parked behind those massive gates?”
Major – “Dude, don’t pitch problems, all right? You’re the brainy sidekick. The guy with answers as sharp as his wit is dry.”
After it’s dark and Ravi is asleep, men come out of the house and Major punches Ravi.
Major – “Hey. Go time.”
Ravi – “Then go already. . . Did I really need to be awake for this part?”
Major – “There’s that dry wit.”
My favorite comic title of the episode – “Chasing Their Tail” – when Major and Ravi are tracking the man’s car.
When the car stops in front of them and the bodyguard gets out and threatens Major and Ravi, that was a pretty tense scene. Major taking a beating to get close enough to slip the tracking device into the goon’s pocket was heroically smart/stupid.
Ravi – “Listen to me Major. You’re not responsible for Natalie.”
Major – “I made a promise.”
Ravi – “Well, of course you did. She was gonna kill herself. But now, you’re the one acting suicidal. You’re not Galahad questing for the Holy Grail, you’re Don Quixote tilting at windmills. These guys are zombies. They know how to eliminate zombies.”
When Major spies on the man outside the apartment building, he and that big blue car are not exactly hidden. (My biggest quibble with the episode) But it leads up to a great music scene. “Man of La Mancha” starts
“Hear me now, oh the bleak and unbearable world.” (Major crosses the street)
“Thou art base and debauched as can be” (Major goes into the apartment building)
“And the knight, with his banners of bravery unfurled, now hurls down the gauntlet – ‘good eve’”
(Major gets into the elevator just ahead of the doorman)
“I am I, Don Quixote, the lord of La Mancha
My destiny calls and I go
And the wild winds of fortune will carry me onward for whithersoever they blow”
(The elevator opens and Major steps out into the hall)
“Whithersoever they blow – Onward to glory I go-o-o-o-.”
(Major knocks on the door, the elevator opens behind him. The doorman is coming)
Then the music stops as the door opens. Natalie says, “Oh my God, Major.”
The timing and the words to the song match up perfectly. It reminded me of the scene from season 2, I believe it was, set to the song from Les Miserables. Plus, I have liked this song since Scott Bakula sang it as Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap.
The picture you have of Blaine and Peyton at the casket was a memorable scene.
Blaine – “What if my memory comes back and I just see stuff that I’m unequipped to deal with?”
Peyton – “That’s not the Blaine I know. You can’t just assume the worst.”
Blaine – “Yeah, well, the Blaine you know killed people, okay, and behavior like that just doesn’t come out of the blue. A few of those people probably begged for their lives.”
This is why I should dislike Blaine more.
The suspect Jim said that the co-workers came up with their plan to prank Cheryl after a team-building seminar. (That worked out differently than it was intended to.)
Cheryl was a miserable person. Her habits and her gossip alienated her from others.
In retrospect, this is a pivotal episode. Major gives the syringe to Natalie, Peyton and Blaine sleep together (the boxers were a surprising win) and at the end Clive and Liv meet Harley Johns. The ramifications of these actions play out for the rest of the season.
paladinteacher5 years ago
Episode 3.03 – “Eat, Pray, Liv.”
“Also an episode with no visions from the brain of the week. Good for them on mixing things up.” Good for you for picking up on that. I didn’t even realize that until I read your review.
Okay, I think it’s going to be impossible to stick with my rule of trying to comment like I don’t know what happens in the rest of the season. So, Spoiler Alert for the rest of these comments.
Major’s misadventures in the training exercises, always being the one who made his team get five extra miles of running, and then finally achieving success, makes his decision in the finale a bit more credible. He is seeing himself as a member of the Fillmore Graves team. Okay.
I don’t know exactly when I realized that the cooking the brain segments are like youtube cooking videos, but I was quite annoyed with myself for not making the connection sooner.
Favorite comic title of the episode: “Who’s Your Daddy?” when Blaine has the meeting with the lawyer and his father.
Angus – “So word is you lost your memory.”
Blaine – “I did. It was the darnedest thing. I looked under all my couch cushions, in my car . . .”
Angus – “I’m glad to see your sense of humor made it across the Lethe.”
In my opinion, the played Blaine’s memory loss well. Enough sincerity for viewers to believe it could be true, but still the outside possibility that Don E. was right about him faking.
Every idea that Don E. had, Angus told him, “Needs work.” The bloom is coming off the rose quickly in that relationship.
Don E. – “I was thinking . . “
Angus – “I don’t think you should start sentences that way anymore.”
And when Don E. came up with the ghost pepper idea – That’ll do pig.”
Clive was so frustrated with the Zen people.
Devon – “You remember what I said about my house a few nights ago?”
Ladybird – “You mean when your positive energy was obstructed?”
Clive – “That’s not a thing.”
Liv – “You’re doing it right now.”
Two scenes – Major looking at the coffins when he went to talk to Blaine, and looking at Justin and Liv dancing in his living room. Not a word said, but the look on his face. Losing his memory is going to be like a death. Robert Buckley did a great job.
“I’m still not happy about Ravi having a fling with her. While yes guys – well anyone – can do something stupid in a moment of emotional pain, it stretches believability that he would be with someone that was previously established as him disliking so much.”
Knowing what we find out about Katty from the end of the season also gives that situation a little more plausibility.
This episode, the “other stuff” going on overshadowed the case of the week – Major at Fillmore Graves, Peyton and Blaine, getting the memory cure into Blaine, Major getting sicker, once I start listing it, it’s even more than I thought. Hmmm.
I do remember that at the time the episode aired, iZombie was listed as a “bubble show” and there was speculation about whether it would get another season or not. I was irritated that it had barely started airing when the speculation was going on.