Season Two starts off not long after the Meat Cute massacre that ended the show's first season. Liv (Rose McIver) has given one of the two zombie cures to Blaine (David Anders, Alias, Heroes) in order to keep him from making more zombies, and the other to her former fiance, Major (Robert Buckley, One Tree Hill) after turning him into a zombie in order to save his life.
Unfortunately, with the only two cures gone and no more of the tainted drug that led to zombie virus in the first place, Liv's boss, Ravi (Rahul Kohli), has nothing to work with in his attempts to make more vials of the solution. Ravi's mission this season is to find more tainted Utopium in the hopes of making more cures. Interestingly enough, it seems that the cure does impart one unusual side effect. It seems that Blaine and Major have developed the ability to know when zombies are near.
Major finds this zombie-radar has put him in a tough spot. Major is approached by the CEO of Max Rager, Vaughn Du Clark (Steven Weber, Wings, Helix) and hired as a zombie killer. Of course, Major's first reaction is to refuse, but when Du Clark and his daughter/protege Rita (Leanne Lapp) threaten to not only kill Liv, but all of the potential zombies on their list (as opposed to having Major check each one out individually), Major is backed into a corner and is forced to take on the job.
While Blaine doesn't use the new ability all that much, he does find himself seeking out a new business. With his butcher shop burned to a crisp, he decides to open a funeral home. Not only is it the perfect way to keep Seattle's zombies supplied with brains, but it also acts as a front for his new drug dealing business. It seems he has decided to go up against his former employer, Mr. Boss (Eddie Jemison, Ocean's Eleven) and is selling Utopium on his own.
While Major and Blaine's story will have large effects on the season as a whole, especially as we learn what Du Clark has in mind for zombies and his new energy drink, what makes iZombie such a good show is that it does a great job of running these major storylines alongside Liv's day-job as a fake-psychic medical examiner that helps Detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin, Breakout Kings) solve murders. As before, Liv eats some of the victim's brain and then works to have visions triggered that will hopefully lead to discovering just who put the victim in the morgue in the first place. Of course, not wanting to reveal herself a zombie, Liv continues her charade as a psychic.
This season is filled with a ton of new personalities to really test McIver's acting skills. Among these minds are a grumpy old man, a stripper, a frat boy, a country singer, and a basketball coach. For the most part, these come with fairly harmless personality traits, but a few others she will take on will have have impulses that are harder to control. In iZombie: The Complete Second Season, Liv will eat the brain of a pathological liar, a compulsive gambler, a librarian that writes erotica, and even the brain of a woman who is apparently very possessive and jealous. Needless to say, she is going to have to work double time to keep her zombie secret on the down low, especially from Clive who is starting to raise a few questions.
One of the reasons Clive's interest is piqued is because an FBI agent is assigned to work alongside him. Agent Dale Bozzio (Jessica Harmon) is brought in to look into the disappearance of several rich individuals. What neither Clive nor Bozzio realize is that the disappearances are the result of Major's night job as a zombie hunter, but they are starting to see some really odd patterns that could lead them to knowledge of zombies in Seattle.
iZombie: The Complete Second Season doesn't come with a lot in the way of special features. It has a slew of deleted scenes, as well as the 2015 Comic-Con panel where the actors and show-runners talk about the first season and what was to be expected in Season Two. Like most Comic-Con panels, I found this featurette to be very enjoyable, especially when several of the actors try to imitate McIver's New Zealand accent.
As with the first season, iZombie: The Complete Second Season is a fun series that mixes season-long plots and one-off stories really well. Where some shows might focus on the single-episode mystery and slip in a little of the over-arching story just to keep the bigger plot moving, iZombie seems to consistently find a balance between the two so that neither aspect feels lacking at any point. If you enjoyed the first season, you will love this one, and I can't wait to see where the show goes after this season's finale.
