Saturday, March 31, 2018

iZombie 4x05 Review: “Goon Struck” (A Step in the Right Direction) [Guest Poster: Chloe]

“Goon Struck” 
Original Airdate: March 26, 2018

The first few episodes of iZombie season four primarily existed to establish the tone and direction that the season would be going in. These episodes were largely frustrating for me to watch because they established a lot in a very short amount of time without taking the time to delve into some of the more complex aspects of the narrative, or providing insight into how anything would be resolved.

However, I should just remind myself every once in a while to be more patient with the creators and writers of the show. These episodes ultimately proved necessary because they have set things up for a more focused middle third of the season. “Goon Struck” exemplifies what iZombie can be when all of its narrative components work well together. It is an episode that works because it is not trying to be overly ambitious with its plot. The episode does still have a lot of moving parts, but they are a lot better integrated so it no longer feels overwhelming to keep up with individual components.

The primary murder victim this week is an aggressive hockey player. Watching Rose McIver immerse herself in this particular role was a lot of fun to watch because she makes the transition between last week's “rom-com” brain to “hockey punk” look seamless. This particular brain gives Ravi, Clive, and Liv an opportunity to have a lot of fun with each other. It showcases why they work so well as a team, and watching them bond over bad hockey puns — and their hatred of haughty French detectives — is a beautiful thing to witness. The show works best when it balances humor with the more dark and sinister elements of the plot, and that balance is displayed so well in “Goon Struck.”

The case of the week is ultimately significant for more than just its humor. It is used as a means of connecting the Renegade/Mama Leoni storyline to everything we have seen so far this season. At the end of last week’s episode, it was unclear what Chase was planning on doing with Renegade — although killing her was the likely outcome. However before we reached that inevitable conclusion, Chase surprised me. He initially decides to put Renegade in “zombie jail” (also known as a deep freezer) in order to preserve her for future use.

While all of this is happening, Liv gets a vision of Blaine killing our hockey player. It then becomes apparent how this plot element fits in with the rest of the story. The murdered hockey player was working with Renegade in pursuit of doing the “right” thing, and got murdered for being in the way. The way that the show integrates these storylines is both logical and effective. Now our characters are more or less aware of each other’s motivations. Blaine is his usual evil self and is more interested in looking out for his own needs than anyone else’s. Major continues to make morally questionable decisions, all while masquerading himself as “just” and “good.” Chase is struggling to maintain order in the complex system he has created in New Seattle. And Liv continues to be most interested in being on the side of justice, which is why she makes a very big decision at the end of the episode.

By the end of the episode, Chase decides to publicly execute Renegade to serve as an example to the citizens of Seattle — her actions were not tolerated and will not be tolerated. So of course Liv decides to team up with our new character, Levon, (who we don’t know that much about yet but sure welcome to the show, Daniel Bonjour) and “pick up where Mama Leoni left off.” It may seem like a more subtle shift in tone than some of the other changes that have happened this season, but it will likely have a much bigger impact. The possible uprising that I theorized about a few weeks ago could be the result of Liv’s decision. Now that she is more aware of what is really happening in her city and the kind of leader Chase Graves has solidified himself as, she is going to be more determined to undermine the whole system. I am really excited to see how this unfolds, and I am just grateful that this season has indeed been building to something special. I hope that the next few episodes continue to develop the ideas that have been fleshed out in this episode and that we slowly build to the most emotionally satisfying finale to date.

The sub-plot with Major and Don E initially seems out of place with the rest of the episode, but ultimately ends up working well when we discover what they are really doing outside of Seattle. At first it appears as if they have kidnapped a woman for no reason, but when she turns out to be the daughter of an influential army general (the same general who wants to bomb Seattle and put everyone out of their misery), the choice makes sense. It then becomes clear that Chase wants to use the woman as a weak attempt at gaining leverage in order to insure that his plans for New Seattle stay intact. Apart from that, the plotline is generally unimportant. It does give us some funny Don E one-liners, but mostly the plotline is used to fully cement where Major’s allegiances are.

Major is Fillmore Graves to the core and is willing to do anything it takes to maintain the notion that he is on the “right” side of history. However as I have mentioned before, Major is a mess of contradictions. He preaches about the importance of creating harmony and safety within New Seattle, but looks the other way when immoral things happen. He can watch someone get publicly executed for turning zombies, but when he scratches someone in the same episode, it is treated differently because he is part of Fillmore Graves. The only time his morality ever gets checked is when he is around Liv. At the end of the episode when Liv gives him a disapproving look, his expression falters for a moment because he knows what he just participated in was wrong. The question now is what is he going to do about it? He has had numerous opportunities recently to make better choices and he still refuses to listen to reason. If Liv ultimately turns her back on Major, I question whether he will be able to morally course-correct on his own, or if he will even want to. It is apparent by the end of the episode, that despite their romantic history and their friendship, Liv and Major are officially on opposing sides as the plot moves forward. 

Elsewhere in the episode, Peyton actually gets something to do! (Sort of.) Even though it is part of the B-plot, it still manages to be well-integrated with the rest of the story. When bus patrons come to the mayor’s office with complaints about their zombie bus driver, Peyton take it upon herself to alleviate their concerns while also attempting to help the malnourished driver. He is one of hundreds of underfed zombies living in New Seattle — which again speaks to the food shortage and “image” problems facing Fillmore Graves and New Seattle in general. The main problem with this is that despite Peyton’s desire to maintain harmony between non-zombies and zombies, she has no actual control over what happens in New Seattle — including the food supply. So promising to take care of one starving bus driver backfires tremendously for her.

When the driver gives his new rations to his family, he is left still starving, passes out at the wheel, crashes and ends up eating the brains of two passengers before getting shot and killed. It is evident that while her job of helping people used to be meaningful, Peyton no longer has the capacity to make a difference for the citizens of New Seattle. She works for a zombie mayor, but when Fillmore Graves controls almost everything, does her job as a staff member mean anything? Ultimately this storyline with Peyton delivers a message about futility and hopelessness. If the mayor’s office cannot help meet the needs of Seattle’s citizens, and Fillmore Graves isn’t meeting needs either, then who is going to? (And no, joining Angus’s church/cult isn’t going to be the solution.)

This storyline again speaks to a much bigger problem for the city as a whole because it shows how little facets of everyday life are being impacted as the result of problems at the top. Fillmore Graves has restructured Seattle to be a military state, but it is becoming increasingly clear that they are losing control over their own citizens. It is mostly the result of neglect, which speaks to poor leadership rather than ill-intent. While I used to think that having the wall, the soldiers, and the minuscule rations were a way for Fillmore Graves to control the citizens of New Seattle (and to an extent that is still partially true), now I see them used as a desperate attempt to maintain order in a city that — from an outsiders perspective — is in ruin. Chase Graves, while once seen as a strong-arm, now seems ill-equipped to oversee the aftermath of his own creation; and he seems scared of what will happen if he cannot fix the mounting problems facing his city.

Perhaps the most satisfying part of “Goon Struck” is getting to see more of Chase Graves and getting a better understanding of his motivations. While Chase is a person who would like to be seen as a ruthless and aggressive leader (and he succeeds in doing that most of the time), he has also always been characterized as a little sheepish and vulnerable. We saw some of that in the finale last season, making it clear that his vision for New Seattle came out of necessity rather than an actual true desire to be evil. I am certainly not saying that he doesn’t possess the ability to be evil; rather it doesn’t come as easily as he would like people to think. That is what makes him an interesting antagonist to pair alongside Blaine. For Blaine, being ruthless and calculating is just who he is. His motivations have always been crystal clear. Chase was thrust into Seattle and forced to make some tough calls in order to push the notion of a “new world order” forward. His behavior is not always a reflection of his true values, but something he has ultimately decided to do out of fear. He is afraid of the world that exists outside the walls of New Seattle, and what the people of that world could do to its citizens if he cannot maintain order. 

He is afraid that if he shows weakness, everyone who is under his control will turn on him, and he will be left in ruin. His motivations and actions in this episode align perfectly with a fear-based mentality. He doesn’t want to have to make an example out of Renegade, but does so because the fear of losing control over the system he has created is much greater than his desire to be good. He publicly executes Renegade not because he truly wants to, but because he needs to convince himself that he is still strong and in control.

However, Chase has not anticipated what the aftermath of his actions will be. He incorrectly assumes that this action, along with kidnapping an army generals daughter, will be provide him with the time and leverage needed to negotiate and “fix” his broken city. Little does he know that it is about to make things a whole lot worse. The rise of Angus’s church and Liv’s decision to carry on Renegade/Mama Leoni’s legacy are just two components of many that will lead to Chase’s downfall. I fully expect that Chase will get thrown out of power or killed before the end of the season.

Ultimately, “Goon Struck” is a simple but good episode that showcases what iZombie can accomplish when it focuses on one thing at a time. The writers have developed such an intricate world, but sometimes it is nice to just explore and develop one facet of it at a time, before building to bigger ideas. The episode exemplifies why all of these characters (even the antagonists) matter, and that sometimes taking the time to explore character rather than plot, works better for the show. It gives us a more compelling reason to empathize with their struggles, so that when things do reach their inevitable breaking point, we will be emotionally ready.

There won’t be a new episode of iZombie next week, but I will be back in two weeks with my coverage of “My Really Fair Lady,” guest-starring Rachel Bloom!


  1. So mocking a french accent was fun ? Moreover this 'french accent' was not even french ! But more german...and Ravi 'mocking accent' was even WORSE !!!!
    ps: a french educated woman.

  2. Ugh..I don't agree with this simplistic analysis..eyeroll.

    Why Liv is on the 'right' ? She is far more stupid than Chase could ever be..He doesn't have much choice and maybe it will be his dowfall but i don't see Liv and her lackey Levon will be in the right when they make Seattle's situation worse by creating more zombies (even if it save sick humans) and let humans out of Seattle..If there are too much zombies and not enough humans..Seattle will be nuked !!

  3. Great insight though! Perhaps there is more to this season than meets the eye. Keep us posted