S03.E12: Looking for Mr. Goodbrain, Part 1

[ElectricBoogaloo]

4 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

And the misuse of I? "He told John and I to meet him at the restaurant." AAAAAAGH.

Add me to that list. I don't understand why people have such a difficult time with object pronouns. Hearing "between you and I" is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

Also annoying and on the rise: "John and I's relationship."

[ElectricBoogaloo]

So Carey Gold, the assistant to Floyd Baracus, has a daughter named Patrice who was on the same flight from Paris to Seattle that Katty and the CDC said was the first vector in the suspected zombie/Aleutian flu carrier. The same flight also had a little barking dog like the one Chase has in his hotel room. Chase just returned from Tripoli so it's possible that his flight to Seattle connected in Paris. He arrived in S3.E8 (Eat a Knievel) after Vivian's helicopter blew up, so the flight in question was a week or two ago?

We know that both Patrice and Tatum are zombies and now we know that Patrice's mom works for a zombie. They have access to brain tubes, so they are somehow connected to Filmore Graves. I know some people think that Floyd or Filmore Graves turned Tatum into a zombie to get James Weckler  to cooperate, but I still think that she was already a zombie who got turned at the company picnic and her father cooperated with whoever is pulling the strings because they threatened to expose her as a zombie. Should we assume that Carey is a zombie too? I mean, she works for a zombie and her daughter is a zombie so either she's like Ravi (in the know and sympathetic to the cause) or she's a zombie too.

One thing I will say for Jason Dohring is that I liked how he made sure no matter how close he got to Liv while they were in the bar, he made sure not to actually touch her. When he had his arm on the back of the banquette, his hand never touched her. When he bent that same arm, he also kept his hand from touching her. When Liv leaned toward him, he pulled his hand a few centimeters closer to himself so that it didn't touch her. It wasn't until he started talking about his desk fantasy and scooted closer to her that I think they actually touched (and even then he may have had his arm draped across the back so he still wasn't touching her).

[Cthulhudrew]

21 hours ago, Paloma said:

All great questions and possible answers, but this one raised another possible inconsistency for me. If Natalie was basically a forced zombie call girl and later forced mistress of a zombie, why would they have needed to pay her anything? I can see them keeping her in nice surroundings (as much for the clients' benefit as for hers), but she was presumably being kept prisoner and a sex slave by her need for brains, which is why she wanted to kill herself originally.  I just don't see them giving her enough money to save up and travel the world, even assuming she could escape.

She was an escort as a human before (and evidently a pretty successful one); one of her clients turned her, and at that point they were essentially blackmailing her into being an escort for their clients in order that she could have access to the brains she needed to live on. 

(That said, I do seem to recall her saying something about having nearly blown her savings back when she first met Major, so I'm not sure where she suddenly got some cash. Maybe she looked up some human clients after taking the cure and got back on her feet.)

Edited June 23, 2017 by Cthulhudrew

[Chicago Redshirt]

So Carey Gold, the assistant to Floyd Baracus,

Carey is either some sort of FG executive or executive assistant. She was in the meeting at FG after the truthers got away from Major and Justin (somewhere there must be Majustin fan fic) in Episode 8, for example.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

6 hours ago, Chicago Redshirt said:

 

Carey is either some sort of FG executive or executive assistant. She was in the meeting at FG after the truthers got away from Major and Justin (somewhere there must be Majustin fan fic) in Episode 8, for example.

D'oh! Thanks for remembering that. For some reason I kept thinking of Carey as the woman who was helping Baracus at the fundraiser (including watching his kid and telling Floyd to work the crowd). I somehow forgot that I'd seen her at the FG meetings earlier in the season. She must be decently high up because in the dominatrix episode, she met with Liv, Vivian, and the main military guy at FG. Heh, well that settles that - she's definitely a zombie if she works at FG!

Edited June 23, 2017 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Affogato]

15 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

So Carey Gold, the assistant to Floyd Baracus, has a daughter named Patrice who was on the same flight from Paris to Seattle that Katty and the CDC said was the first vector in the suspected zombie/Aleutian flu carrier. The same flight also had a little barking dog like the one Chase has in his hotel room. Chase just returned from Tripoli so it's possible that his flight to Seattle connected in Paris. He arrived in S3.E8 (Eat a Knievel) after Vivian's helicopter blew up, so the flight in question was a week or two ago?

 

Is there an actual timeline? It seems like 'a week or two' is a pretty short time frame to take over FG operations, beicoming CEO and field commander in charge of actual forays and insert himself into local politics. Even if he had been planning the operation for a long time this seems unlikely to me, although it is possible that the FG involvement is a 'black water' operation and he may have been around Seattle a lot when his brother was around, which would help people accept his leadership. It would also argue that he was supporting Baracus long term.

Plus buy a house, although he would have minions for that. I admit him being in a hotel room argues the short time frame, but when has he had time to hang out in the bar and pick up women? 

Yes, eating tubes of brain paste is a huge timesaver....

 I understand Katty and the CDC are still around, so the time must be short. I just don't find my belief suspended.

It just seems pretty odd to me, as if the time line must have continued as if there were 26 episodes, in 13 episodes, if that makes any sense. Like when they cut the extra episodes they also excised the time.

[Affogato]

http://www.litsite.org/index.cfm?section=Digital-Archives&page=Industry&cat=Healthcare&viewpost=2&ContentId=2610

Is probably the 'Aleutian Flu' referenced.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Chase showed up in the last scene of S3.E8 Eat a Knievel. That was his first appearance on the show. The events that we see happen from S3.E9 through S3.E12 do not take place over, say, six months. Each episode covers only a few days and we know that there aren't huge time jumps between episodes based on what happens at the end of episode and the beginning of the following episode. For example, Harley and his buddies grab Don E. at the end of S3.E9 (Twenty Sided, Die) and at the beginning of S3.E10 (Return of the Dead Guy), we pick up right where the previous episode left off with Ravi and Don E. trapped with Harley. S3.E11 begins with Liv and Blaine busting in to save Don E. That means the time elapsed between the end of S3.E9 and the beginning of S3.E11 is only a few days and definitely less than a week. Even if we're generous and say that each of those four episodes covers a week, that would mean that Chase has only been in town for a month. I'm not saying that everything Chase has set up in that time is realistic, but that's the timeline that the show is giving us.

[Affogato]

8 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Chase showed up in the last scene of S3.E8 Eat a Knievel. That was his first appearance on the show. The events that we see happen from S3.E9 through S3.E12 do not take place over, say, six months. Each episode covers only a few days and we know that there aren't huge time jumps between episodes based on what happens at the end of episode and the beginning of the following episode. For example, Harley and his buddies grab Don E. at the end of S3.E9 (Twenty Sided, Die) and at the beginning of S3.E10 (Return of the Dead Guy), we pick up right where the previous episode left off with Ravi and Don E. trapped with Harley. S3.E11 begins with Liv and Blaine busting in to save Don E. That means the time elapsed between the end of S3.E9 and the beginning of S3.E11 is only a few days and definitely less than a week. Even if we're generous and say that each of those four episodes covers a week, that would mean that Chase has only been in town for a month. I'm not saying that everything Chase has set up in that time is realistic, but that's the timeline that the show is giving us.

Yeah, so maybe there isn't actually a big bad, as Rob Thomas has claimed....we are just engaged in a set up for the apocalypse, because there isn't time for a bad. Chase, who is a zombie (spray tan) and isn't in a relationship with Carey or anyone else  (hooks up with Liv in bar) is leading the mercenary outings because that is his area of expertise and, so far, has been more reactive than active, although he seems to believe in the FG mission,  If he was on the plane it makes sense he'd have Katty's room number, keep it, and may not know she's dead yet. Carey was already in place re Baracus's campaign and is looking more suspect by the minute, but for no clear reason, There isn't any definite proof pointing to who blew up the helicopter. Boss and Blaine are just going to come forth and mess things up on the big aftermath, but they will have a ton of brains to keep some semblance of order.

Kudos to Rob Thomas for finding ways to have Chase run around mostly naked, because he's much better looking naked than clothed.

I'm spending way too much time on this, but  If the time doesn't allow Chase to set things up realistically, he probably didn't set it up.

Thanks for your timeline.

[XtremeOne1]

Can we give Liv a story that's not about a boyfriend or a case? Same with Peyton. I feel this season both have had like zero character growth. Can we please go back to Liv's family drama. Maybe instead of a random story with some tumblr chick or another Blaine and his daddy issues story, we can give Liv an actual storyline? Or maybe just cut out that bald Blaine lackey. 

[Affogato]

2 hours ago, XtremeOne1 said:

Can we give Liv a story that's not about a boyfriend or a case? Same with Peyton. I feel this season both have had like zero character growth. Can we please go back to Liv's family drama. Maybe instead of a random story with some tumblr chick or another Blaine and his daddy issues story, we can give Liv an actual storyline? Or maybe just cut out that bald Blaine lackey. 

In fairness Peyton doesn't have a boyfriend right now and her two main plotlines, investigating Wechtler's death and becoming Baracus's chief of staff are both job, not romance, related and the Baracus job would seem to put her at the center of the action withour romantic entanglement and she is part of these things because of who she is, not what she is.  She's doing much better than Liv, who is being swamped by brain waves, which she no longer needs to have happen with the advent of brain paste, but probably thinks are the only things that give her value in her job. With any luck she starts to find herself. 

I like Don E and would really miss him. 

[jhlipton]

On 6/21/2017 at 6:46 AM, talktalk said:

A girl can never catch a break, can she? Just as Natalie seemed to get her life on track again - got a new place in Italy, hooked up with the hot guy who saved her life, she got blown into pieces? There is no justice!

On 6/21/2017 at 8:41 AM, CCTC said:

Speaking of Natalie, if she really is dead, that is such a cruel fate for an innocent woman who had a horrible life and finally had things turn around.  There was really no reason to bring her back like that except for manufactured angst, which was not really needed because there is already enough of that.

This show, like many others, seems to believe #HookersDeserveToDie.  As soon as she mentioned having money, I knew she was doomed; all the more when Major said he'd join her.

 

On 6/21/2017 at 11:46 AM, Thrifty said:

Aren't you supposed to think unsexy thoughts?

TV/movie trope of having people say things aloud because we can't hear their thoughts.

On 6/21/2017 at 5:35 PM, Lady Calypso said:

She cheated on her boyfriend, though. They just happened to define their relationship because Liv was afraid of being on these brains.

On 6/22/2017 at 1:37 AM, Richness said:

I too am upset with Liv for cheating on Justin, especially after they just finished discussing their relationship. However, I'm not perturbed by that relationship, and the speed that it came on. I continue to enjoy this show immensely.

She cheated almost immediately after saying that she and Justin were exclusive.  That's pretty cold.

[dubbel zout]

Plus, Liv was supposed to be on her way to meet Justin at Major's party. Yikes.

[Bruinsfan]

On 6/21/2017 at 4:11 PM, Ashand11 said:

Is it possible that Chase just took her number after meeting her in the bar but never actually called her or had sex with her?

I'm thinking likely. Wouldn't there be medical signs if she had been in the process of zombifying when killed? For that matter, wouldn't it take a LOT more physical damage than we saw to keep her from reanimating if she'd been infected?

[Jacks-Son]

This episode started out as a LOL-Fest. Liv on Katty brains (R.I.P. Katty Kupp, [Christina Cox], you were always one of my favs as Henri's love interest on "Blood Ties" - guess she's still on "Shadowhunters") was hilarious when she started having visions of Katty having sex with Ravi. Damn, Ravi's O face and exhortations were disturbing :-).  Ugh, Fargo still looks like a little kid. Clive's phobia was also funny. Then shit got dark. VERY DARK. This was one of those episodes that you can't fathom until the dust clears in Part 2.

[Affogato]

15 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

I'm thinking likely. Wouldn't there be medical signs if she had been in the process of zombifying when killed? For that matter, wouldn't it take a LOT more physical damage than we saw to keep her from reanimating if she'd been infected?

I think he was on the plane and she interviewed him and he got her room number so they could keep in touch. He'd want to keep track of the investigation and apparently she'd want to have sex. He doesn't seem like he'd want to turn her and precipitate the apocalypse before the island is finished, so I'm guessing sex is off the table.

Lord knows what Liv thinks at this point. This may end up being a turning point for her.

[Bort]

16 hours ago, Bruinsfan said:

Wouldn't there be medical signs if she had been in the process of zombifying when killed? For that matter, wouldn't it take a LOT more physical damage than we saw to keep her from reanimating if she'd been infected?

I don't think so. Katty had done some zombie autopsies and the only thing she found that was weird about them is that they had brains in their digestive tracts.

[Chinspinner]

I simply think this show suits a procedural format, rather than an over-arcing story. In the first season the procedural format and whimsy made it a fun watch. Now it is getting bogged down in confused season arcs and an unnecessarily bleak tone that is drawing all the vim from the show.  

Edited June 27, 2017 by Chinspinner

[jhlipton]

On 6/25/2017 at 11:46 PM, Bruinsfan said:

I'm thinking likely. Wouldn't there be medical signs if she had been in the process of zombifying when killed? For that matter, wouldn't it take a LOT more physical damage than we saw to keep her from reanimating if she'd been infected?

If talking about homicide makes you squeamish, please skip this post.

 

This makes the the cause of death even weirder than I first thought:  She was stabbed several times, then hit with a blunt object.  (Or she was hit with a blunt object and the killer stabbed her a few times... to make sure???) I'm trying to envision a scenario where one person is stabbing another, then picks up an object and WHAM.  Unless the knife had a heavy pommel?  It's just weird.

If the killer suspected Cupps was a zombie, he (probably) may have tried stabbing her, then crushed her skull when that didn't slow her down.

[KaleyFirefly]

Agree with all the "Jason Dohring is hot and so is Major" posts. And there is definitely more chemistry between JD and Liv than between her and Justin. 

Poor Major and Natalie, they can never find happiness. As soon as he agreed to go with her to Italy, though, my first thought was that somehow he'd get zombified again. So I didn't see her death coming.

While it's lame that Liv tried to justify her cheating on Justin by saying "it was the brain I ate", it would have been difficult, while on horny-brain, to resist JD...that hotel scene was hot. But we never got to hear what Liv's sex fantasy was!

Liv's new look is really beautiful. 

I love Ravi but could have done without the cringe-inducing sex visions.

It is really weird that neither Chase nor any of Major's buddies wondered how he got turned back into human again, when they supposedly don't know there's a cure.

Edited June 28, 2017 by KaleyFirefly

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah, they kind of buried the lead on that one.

[possibilities]

15 hours ago, KaleyFirefly said:

It is really weird that neither Chase nor any of Major's buddies wondered how he got turned back into human again, when they supposedly don't know there's a cure.

That bothered me a lot. No questions, even? Did they think he was never a zombie? We know he and Justin ate fun brains together, so at least Justin knew Major had been a real zombie, not a fake.

[dargosmydaddy]

4 hours ago, possibilities said:

We know he and Justin ate fun brains together, so at least Justin knew Major had been a real zombie, not a fake.

I thought Justin was aware of the cure, though, and that it was no longer available? Or did I just make that up because it would make more sense?

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, dargosmydaddy said:

I thought Justin was aware of the cure, though, and that it was no longer available? Or did I just make that up because it would make more sense?

Justin knew of the cure because when they went to The Scratching Post, he knew Major couldn't eat a ghost pepper.

Edited June 28, 2017 by jhlipton

[Ashand11]

On June 22, 2017 at 2:49 AM, AllyB said:

Considering that you didn't watch most of this show where Buckley got to do the exact opposite of what you are describing, you can't really say that. When IZombie started Major seemed like dead weight on the show, a bland former love interest of the lead with no real personality outside of that. Many posters called him Duncan 2.0 and felt the show would be improved by his departure. But by the season 1 finale that had begun to change as Major had some surprisingly entertaining moments where he was funny and smart. By early season 2 he grew into an enormously witty character who was a joy to watch on screen. Initially because he was paired frequently with Ravi at the point when Ravi was a truly fantastic character but as Buckley made the role his own, Major became a great character in his own right. Robert Buckley has done a marvellous job turning the boring ex into an utterly charming, witty character.

And as for JD always playing the misunderstood bad boy, that's not what's happening here. He's playing the military leader who Liv and co see as an ally and a good guy. But is in all likelihood a hero in his own head who believes the ends justify the means to the point where he is making decisions that make him the actual big bad of the season. That's the polar opposite of Logan Echolls. 

I have seen him in other shows too. This isnt the only thing Ive seen him in and Ive never found him compelling in anything. I have only ever seen him in One Tree Hill and Lipstick Jungle and I just found him annoying in both. As for Dohring, we didn't exactly know what type of character he was going to play until the last episode.  Even though I didn't think he was supposed to be a bad guy most people did think he was supposed to be. Either way maybe he doesnt usually play the misunderstood bad boy but he usually plays a 'bad' character.

Edited July 6, 2017 by Ashand11

[AllyB]

On 7/6/2017 at 7:23 AM, Ashand11 said:

This isnt the only thing Ive seen him in and Ive never found him compelling in anything. I have only ever seen him in One Tree Hill and Lipstick Jungle and I just found him annoying in both.

It doesn't matter if you saw him in things where he didn't get a chance to show his range. In this show he did but you didn't see it. Just because you haven't seen him show his charm and range doesn't mean that he doesn't have it. 

[AudienceofOne]

Boy am I late to this party. 

Things that you notice when there's a long period between episodes.

1. Liv's undeveloped relationship with whats-his-name is so underdeveloped that I'd forgotten they were "dating" until she kissed him and then I was briefly confused

2. Half of Seattle really is in a conspiracy to cover up the existence of zombies. The truthers are right

3. Why isn't Ravi curing or vaccining? Shouldn't that be what's he'd doing every minute?

4. Why is Liv so completely overtaken by her brains these days?

 

On 21/06/2017 at 10:08 PM, Thrifty said:

How did Harley Johns know where Major's big party would be?

 

Weirdly, that was the thing that bothered me. I say weirdly because it should be this season's 700000000 plot points that bothered me but this was it. This wasn't an advertised FG function. It was a spur-of-the-moment farewell party

The one thing I got out of this episode was Chase's little dog and the guy on the plane who talked about the little dog. I'd say it's more likely that Chase started the flu outbreak to weaken Seattle's human population and killed the CDC boss to cover that up.

It may seem like a weirdly regressive thing to say, but I'm kind of over the way this show uses sex as a relationship shorthand. One day I think I'd like to see two people have a connection that didn't need sex as a starting point. I think it's a result of this season's truncated timeline but not everybody jumps straight into bed with somebody. Major's slept with at least three women in the back half of this season and I'm supposed to believe he was genuinely emotionally attached to each of them. I just don't. Mostly I think he's just lonely and desperate.

I suddenly realised that may be the season's emotional point with both him and Liv.  Ok, I can get behind that. 

[Thrifty]

1 hour ago, AudienceofOne said:

It may seem like a weirdly regressive thing to say, but I'm kind of over the way this show uses sex as a relationship shorthand.

This show?  Every show does that.

[Affogato]

On ‎8‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 3:40 AM, AudienceofOne said:

Boy am I late to this party. 

Things that you notice when there's a long period between episodes.

1. Liv's undeveloped relationship with whats-his-name is so underdeveloped that I'd forgotten they were "dating" until she kissed him and then I was briefly confused

2. Half of Seattle really is in a conspiracy to cover up the existence of zombies. The truthers are right

3. Why isn't Ravi curing or vaccining? Shouldn't that be what's he'd doing every minute?

4. Why is Liv so completely overtaken by her brains these days?

 

Weirdly, that was the thing that bothered me. I say weirdly because it should be this season's 700000000 plot points that bothered me but this was it. This wasn't an advertised FG function. It was a spur-of-the-moment farewell party

The one thing I got out of this episode was Chase's little dog and the guy on the plane who talked about the little dog. I'd say it's more likely that Chase started the flu outbreak to weaken Seattle's human population and killed the CDC boss to cover that up.

It may seem like a weirdly regressive thing to say, but I'm kind of over the way this show uses sex as a relationship shorthand. One day I think I'd like to see two people have a connection that didn't need sex as a starting point. I think it's a result of this season's truncated timeline but not everybody jumps straight into bed with somebody. Major's slept with at least three women in the back half of this season and I'm supposed to believe he was genuinely emotionally attached to each of them. I just don't. Mostly I think he's just lonely and desperate.

I suddenly realised that may be the season's emotional point with both him and Liv.  Ok, I can get behind that. 

Ravi does actually have a job aside from working on the vaccination and his lab is pretty primitive so it is going to leave him a lot of free time. In fairness, too, he does have a platonic relationship with Liv, so not everything is about sex.

Yes, I think you are right, Liv and Major are both lonely and desperate and that both of them really want a connection with someone, anyone. Still, with everything going on, I think some one of them could decide to put a hold on dating.

[aradia22]

So... the season started off a little slow for me. It's tough because I thought they had a good balance in season 1 and most of season 2. I don't want it to be completely goofy case of the week because that's Bones and I don't want it to be completely somber and serious because that's no fun. The first few episodes of the season fell on the far too serious side even if there was still clever and quippy humor throughout. Lately I've felt like things were getting a little better and the humor was coming back but in watching this episode, I noticed a major problem. What about consequences? They brought back Drake and I ADORED that. You know how much I loved him. But Liv just letting a brain coerce her into sleeping with the new head of Fillmore Graves? Really? Aside from the need to pair Liv with every musclebound man who appears on the show, what gives? The old Liv would have agonized over that and either talked herself out of it or made a conscious decision to go for it for one reason or another.

Also, even though we're approaching Detection Day, weirdly everyone in this new plot feels underdeveloped. I was happy to see Tongayi Chirisa who is wasted as Father Nicholas on the Jim Gaffigan Show get to play a very different part. But he's much more bland than Liv's other boyfriends. I mean, he's written that way. He's more of a reactive character. He never seems to offer much of a challenge or go off on his own plots. I have no idea where they were going with the brothers and the truthers. The tough thing when you have real-world analogies is that you really have to have that nailed down or you risk losing the message. I feel like they've already lost the message... the same as when you do something about Salem or witchhunts, except there are actually witches and they actually hurt people. I miss the woman who was running Fillmore Graves. I think the new guy is her brother? Anyway, it's a shame they killed her off because she could have become interesting. I feel like we got so much of Vaughn du Clark and these two just pop up when they're needed. And also because iZombie apparently has a shirtless male quota each season (not that I'm complaining). I don't know. I'm still enjoying the show but I also feel like we're very close to them losing the plot and a sense of who the characters are. Most of the relationship drama has been dropped (love triangles, etc.) But there's a feeling of inevitability with Detection Day so the only loose ends are this dominatrix footage/murder scheme I don't care about and some stuff with Blaine (who has been disappointingly absent except to spend way too much screentime singing... not very well).

[morakot]

On 6/21/2017 at 5:51 AM, Chicago Redshirt said:

13. Will Major's reunion with his mom be more than a one-of?

All signs point to no.

(Binging...)
As he didn't even invite her into his house, even to use the bathroom, after driving him all the way from Walla Walla which is, at the very least, a four and a half hour drive, I'm clear that it's just a one-off.