S05.E05: Death Moves Pretty Fast

[ElectricBoogaloo]

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An independently wealthy 19-year-old dies; Liv attempts to cheer up Ravi after he learns some unfortunate news; Clive has a nasty fall at the crime scene; things suddenly go from bad to worse for Blaine.

Promo:

Original air date: 5/30/19

[dubbel zout]

Was Malcolm Goodwin really injured somehow? Or did he have some sort of conflict that meant he couldn't be fully in this episode?

Full props to the food stylist on this show. Those dumplings looked really good.

[ketose]

Ugh. That journalist was tedious. How exactly does she plan on getting her brains now that all hell has broken loose?

I can definitely feel the pace picking up as they have to figure out an end to this series. I think that creepy zombie master guy is a bad idea. I'd rather just see Ravi come up with a cure / vaccine and end the zombie scourge once and for all.

[Mr. Sparkle]

Who was that frozen/thawing zombie at the end? 

[thuganomics85]

Clive being out of commission (but still being available through phone video) was a fun way to shake things up, but I do wonder if this was always a plan or if Malcolm Goodwin needed less time for this episode.

This certainly felt like an episode where they are ramping up everything and having all of the leads at a low.  Thanks to the tainted brain packets, Enzo/French Guy takes advantage of a compromised Major and makes the human/zombie problems even worse.  Blaine's criminal past is exposed and not only is his operation in trouble, but Peyton might be effected as well due to their history.  Ravi's discovery ends up being leaked after-all and now he worries a bunch of kids will be hunted down and likely killed because of him.  Not a good night for most everyone!

I do hope Vampire Steve gets some kind of reward or at least a few days off after getting shot thanks to that "scheme!"

[mxc90]

It took a while for the setup and murder of Harris. Usually, the victim is killed before the opening credits. The kid was a jerk. 

I was surprised Blaine just went home angry after the Harris closed the door on him and let Alice's car be blocked all night!

The Alzheimer's brains was a slick move.

Only thing missing from Peyton's "cracking" was nervous sweat.

4 hours ago, dubbel zout said:

Was Malcolm Goodwin really injured somehow? Or did he have some sort of conflict that meant he couldn't be fully in this episode?

He was still feeling the "high" from the dance episode, tried a new move going down the stairs and it didn't quite go too well on the landing.

Edited May 31, 2019 by mxc90

[GaT]

There are only 13 episodes this season, that means we're almost halfway through. Why are they making everything so complicated? How are they going to wrap everything up? I can't even follow what's happening anymore.

[AnimeMania]

Did the French accent guy's hair always have those little curls? And I thought I couldn't hate him more.

They are digging themselves a huge hole, something tells me they won't be able to satisfactorily wrap this up and I am going to mad at how this ends.

[CletusMusashi]

As usual, the best character interactions are between Liv and Ravi. 

[tennisgurl]

Vampire Steve has got some pipes!

Was Malcolm Goodwin hurt or needing some time off, because it really seemed like maybe he needed a rest and thats why they wrote him as getting hurt. Still, him getting wheeled around the crime scene was funny, as was him Skying in while high on pain meds. Plus it meant we got a Liv and Ravi team up, which is always a good thing. 

Their mystery solving was pretty good, even if I knew it was the friend from basically the second he told the dead kid that he was sick of his nickname. But damn, couldn't have found a less nasty way to kill him? Liv and Ravi have such great chemistry, and having them together was so refreshing. 

Using those brains on Major to get him out of the way was pretty slick, but as always, I dont care about Fillmore Graves drama, and the idiot Pro Human dicks. I generally just cant stand the plot in general at this point, its rushing at a frantic pace to get to the end, and its just these two batches of assholes who are acting like assholes all of the time. Even when they make some progress with zombie/human relations, it all goes bad anyway. 

"You complete me." God its been forever since Ravi and Major had a good plot together, I still love their bromance and I always love when it pops up, however briefly. 

You would think a politician would have a better poker face than Peyton apparently does. Especially when asked about a sex scandal, which you would think any politician worth their salt would be all ready for! So I guess the true enemy this whole time has been...the free press! 

[aradia22]

I don't get where they're going with the journalist but I don't dislike the antagonists (Al, CHICS) too much, at least compared to the endlessness of Brother Love and other nonsense they've thrown at us. I think they've been in a kind of holding pattern and at least the antagonists give the plot some direction. Though I would like to see the good guys go for broke again and really fight back. I'm worried for them. 

I don't think the show is ending on cliffhangers so much as stopping in weird places that make the episode feel unfinished so at least it's become compulsively watchable again. It does feel a little cheap, like a movie not having a proper ending because they know you're coming back for the sequel. 

It was weird that Blaine was sitting by the giant glass walls of his apparently all glass house and no one tried to shoot him again. 

The most tedious plotline to me right now is Ravi's angst over these 300 kids. I think because it's such an abstract concept and we didn't know anything was going to happen... until Blaine found out about it. 

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I think that creepy zombie master guy is a bad idea.

I forgot about that one. I guess that metal protection on his head is interesting but otherwise, yeah, I hate it. I never liked Mr. Boss either. 

Lastly, since when did everyone LOVE Chase Graves? 

[possibilities]

I really liked the woman who ran FG, before her helicopter blew up. The place used to have happy children attending school, and they were working on taking care of each other.

Then the whole military mentality took over with Chase, and the deliberate contamination of the vaccines, and the wall that followed, and now it's all angst and in fighting and Major being sad and everybody else being dickish.

I never liked Blaine. I still don't like Blaine. The bad boy thing doesn't appeal to me on any level.

I liked the case of the week, and I always enjoy Liv and Ravi working together, but the whole quarantine, military, human-zombie conflict has gotten too convoluted, too stagnant, and is overall being badly executed. They used to show us individuals who were affected by the situation, and that was more interesting than just showing us all these FG people and Peyton hanging around their offices looking stressed, and an occasional shot of street violence and humans spewing hate speech. They used to have momentum to the overall arcs, but this season and last it feels like they've been treading water.

[ketose]

4 hours ago, mxc90 said:

It took a while for the setup and murder of Harris. Usually, the victim is killed before the opening credits. The kid was a jerk. 

I was surprised Blaine just went home angry after the Harris closed the door on him and let Alice's car be blocked all night!

My guess is that Blaine was using the blocked vehicle as an opportunity to put the moves on Al. If he wanted to leave he probably could have raged out and flipped the jeep over.

[mxc90]

52 minutes ago, ketose said:

My guess is that Blaine was using the blocked vehicle as an opportunity to put the moves on Al. If he wanted to leave he probably could have raged out and flipped the jeep over.

I can see that happening.

Blaine went 0 for 2 that night. Al probably used that opprotunity to sneak around to gather more evidence.

After watching again, Harris had a phone with him in the steam room. Did he try to call someone to get him out (afterall, everyone was suppose to love him) or attempt to break the glass door?

I guess the cop didn't warn Clive of the "Slippery Nipple" on the stairs. The cop must hate him.

[Affogato]

9 hours ago, aradia22 said:

Lastly, since when did everyone LOVE Chase Graves? 

I don’t think everyone did, but Enzo probably felt he had more traction with Chase. Could Enzo have wanted the big job? He certainly lost some authority  

I wish we’d found out a little more about Chase and fg infighting. I still think this show suffered from shorter seasons. 

[aradia22]

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I really liked the woman who ran FG, before her helicopter blew up. The place used to have happy children attending school, and they were working on taking care of each other.

Yeah, she was a good villain/ally and I miss having someone who seemed to have a plan.

Quote

I don’t think everyone did, but Enzo probably felt he had more traction with Chase. 

Others at FG are also referring to how much better things were with Chase. They also complained the whole time he was there. Maybe they just hate whoever's in charge.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Vampire Steve was awesome! Part of me wishes that Liv could stay on this Harris kid's brain a little longer because she's usually dismissive/impatient with Vampire Steve and this week she was totally having fun with him.

I get that the journalist felt that the truth was more important than anything else, but how does she think she and the other 10K zombies in Seattle who depend on Blaine for their brain supply are going to eat after this? If they are brain deprived for too long, they're going to zombie out and then start getting violent with the humans who are left in Seattle and eventually break out of the city.

I'm not necessarily saying that she should have kept Blaine's past a secret (and it's honestly surprising that no one else tried to dig into his past before now) but she could have at least attempted to work with the authorities to find a new supplier to smuggle in brains before exposing Blaine. Now a lot of zombies are in danger (which in turn could put the human population of Seattle and potentially the rest of the world) in danger. Her need to tell the truth ASAP was a little short sighted.

[dubbel zout]

She's a zombie, too, right? We saw her eat one of Liv's dumplings, and I think she and Liv had the same vision. So she's shooting herself in the foot, unless she has a private supply of brains.

[ketose]

1 hour ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Vampire Steve was awesome! Part of me wishes that Liv could stay on this Harris kid's brain a little longer because she's usually dismissive/impatient with Vampire Steve and this week she was totally having fun with him.

I get that the journalist felt that the truth was more important than anything else, but how does she think she and the other 10K zombies in Seattle who depend on Blaine for their brain supply are going to eat after this? If they are brain deprived for too long, they're going to zombie out and then start getting violent with the humans who are left in Seattle and eventually break out of the city.

I'm not necessarily saying that she should have kept Blaine's past a secret (and it's honestly surprising that no one else tried to dig into his past before now) but she could have at least attempted to work with the authorities to find a new supplier to smuggle in brains before exposing Blaine. Now a lot of zombies are in danger (which in turn could put the human population of Seattle and potentially the rest of the world) in danger. Her need to tell the truth ASAP was a little short sighted.

The Simpsons used the term "cartoonish supervillainy" to describe Mr. Burns' machine to blot out the sun over Springfield. Blaine is not quite at that level, but every time he should have been stopped, he manages to get out of it. Instead of killing Blaine, Liv cured him in Season 1 to stop him from being a powerful zombie. Of course, the cure allows for re-zombification, so it had not real effect on Blaine. Now, he's a criminal who kills, steals, causes misery and makes a ton of money doing it. I assume he gets out of jail before the season is out. Being the final season, I'm hoping for an epic and fitting demise.

[Cthulhudrew]

I liked that story Blaine told about how he's been affected by the needs of the public over his service providing brains and getting sentimental about it. David Anders really sold me on believing that Blaine might truly feel like he's a better person because of it.

Too bad all of that took place off-camera in some other storyline, rather than just being thrown in this episode.

I think that could have been a great story for Blaine (and Anders) who has really just been poorly served for the last couple of seasons as the writers desperately try to find a place for the character on the show. Really, he should have been written out a couple of seasons ago because he is a reprehensible killer and his crimes are well documented to all the good guys on the show. Either give him a redeemable (if doomed to tragedy) storyline, or get rid of him. It just wastes DA's talent and time, and makes the main characters look like idiots for not putting him behind bars by now.

Otherwise, this episode was the best of the season so far, IMO.

[possibilities]

I think the reporter was like the mother who told the press about her daughter's brain being a cure. Some people don't think about consequences, and just get carried away on their emotions.

Mom was processing her grief, and reporter was excited to have a scoop.

[AudienceofOne]

The fact is, Zombie City was never going to work. It was a monumentally bad idea no matter what the idiot Chase Graves acolytes think. Taking a hard line with the people who provide your food and can nuke you is just dumb. But I guess the myopic violent idiots tend to win just because they're violent and idiots. 

At this stage, I see this ending two ways:

1. Seattle gets nuked and everyone dies, which is I think waaaayyy to dark and depressing for this show. Although if Liv and Major get cured and them, Ravi, Peyton, Clive and Dale all get out before it goes then maybe that would be the right balance of tragedy and "happy". Still depressing though. No hope for any of us.

2. They find a synthetic cure for the virus and all the zombies get cured. This one seems like a copout. 

[ketose]

3 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

The fact is, Zombie City was never going to work. It was a monumentally bad idea no matter what the idiot Chase Graves acolytes think. Taking a hard line with the people who provide your food and can nuke you is just dumb. But I guess the myopic violent idiots tend to win just because they're violent and idiots. 

At this stage, I see this ending two ways:

1. Seattle gets nuked and everyone dies, which is I think waaaayyy to dark and depressing for this show. Although if Liv and Major get cured and them, Ravi, Peyton, Clive and Dale all get out before it goes then maybe that would be the right balance of tragedy and "happy". Still depressing though. No hope for any of us.

2. They find a synthetic cure for the virus and all the zombies get cured. This one seems like a copout. 

It's pretty clear that at least some zombies are not in Seattle. If the city does get nuked, I think Plan Z goes into effect and zombies just start scratching all over the US and the world. A zombie apocalypse ending would be fitting at this point.

Edited June 1, 2019 by ketose

[AllyB]

8 hours ago, AudienceofOne said:

They find a synthetic cure for the virus and all the zombies get cured. This one seems like a copout. 

That always seemed to be the ultimate ending for the show. Ravi has always been working toward a cure. Right from before the show started that was already part of his backstory. And his main arc throughout the series has been continually coming very, very close to a cure before being thwarted in some way (so the show could continue). Him finding a proper and plentiful cure has always been his likely endgame.

Until Renegade. Liv's arc for the last two seasons has been saving people's lives with zombie virus. So Ravi curing everybody no longer serves the same purpose because it undermines Liv's lifesaving missions. If a cure is found, no government in the world will tolerate people going around with an infectious zombie virus just because they don't want to die. They'd either be cured of the zombie-ism and allowed to live out their remaining time with their original illness or just shot in the head.

Edited June 1, 2019 by AllyB

[Goldmoon]

I think this season and last represents the show that Rob Thomas REALLY wanted to sell. He took the long way around to get here. This show was so original in the first two seasons! 

[AudienceofOne]

6 hours ago, AllyB said:

Until Renegade. Liv's arc for the last two seasons has been saving people's lives with zombie virus. So Ravi curing everybody no longer serves the same purpose 

Also, if your solution to a social problem is "curing" everybody so the problem no longer exists then you raise some really nasty comparisons and I think the show runners are far too intelligent to go there. No matter what criticisms I have of them, they're never cheap or tonedeaf (unlike a certain other post-apocalyptic show I could name *cough* The 100 *cough*)

[MisterGlass]

I'll say one thing for the reporter - it's impressive she found some survivors of the Meat Cute era to tell tales.  It doesn't seem like she picked up on the fact that Blaine was Patient Zero, though.

I liked seeing Vampire Steve having his equivalent of fun with Liv and Ravi.  Clive had my favorite little moment of the episode though, when Ravi told him he couldn't be a detective with a broken back, because he isn't Batman: "You don't know that."

I'm a little relieved Enzo's in the freezer because I find him tedious.  I'm glad Major's second, whose name I've missed, did an inventory.  It seems like they should have been checking that before now.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

On ‎5‎/‎31‎/‎2019 at 3:50 PM, dubbel zout said:

She's a zombie, too, right? We saw her eat one of Liv's dumplings, and I think she and Liv had the same vision. So she's shooting herself in the foot, unless she has a private supply of brains.

I kept thinking Liv would notice that there was another  dumpling missing on the tray.

[Babalu]

That reminds me, what did the potstickers or shu mai or whatever they were have to do with the case of the week? I can usually figure out the connection, but this week I was stumped.

[AudienceofOne]

1 hour ago, Babalu said:

That reminds me, what did the potstickers or shu mai or whatever they were have to do with the case of the week? I can usually figure out the connection, but this week I was stumped.

They were STEAMED dumplings

[possibilities]

The one thing that might actually change public opinion is the idea that zombies can cure other diseases, though. I'm surprised they haven't pursued that angle more, from a political strategy perspective.

I really don't see how this ends, especially with so few episodes left.

The disease... Freylich's?... that gave immunity to zombie-ism and also cured it, is the flip side here. The two groups should be getting together to negotiate some kind of alliance.

It seems like everyone is just trying to keep things from exploding, without any long term plan.

And with just a few episodes left, it's really hard to imagine how they end it, without deus ex machina. They haven't set up anything to be earned.

[ketose]

8 hours ago, possibilities said:

The one thing that might actually change public opinion is the idea that zombies can cure other diseases, though. I'm surprised they haven't pursued that angle more, from a political strategy perspective.

I really don't see how this ends, especially with so few episodes left.

The disease... Freylich's?... that gave immunity to zombie-ism and also cured it, is the flip side here. The two groups should be getting together to negotiate some kind of alliance.

It seems like everyone is just trying to keep things from exploding, without any long term plan.

And with just a few episodes left, it's really hard to imagine how they end it, without deus ex machina. They haven't set up anything to be earned.

I kind of disagree. Ravi has proved that he can create a cure, but it requires a supply of Utopium tainted in the exact way the original batch was. This is a case where unobtainium (a virually un-reproducible substance with a finite supply) comes up against deus ex machina. If they somehow found out how to make the cure from the research Ravi did, I would consider it earned.

Until there's a cure, there's little advantage to the zombie virus as a treatment for disease. We don't even know if people who are cured won't immediately revert to death's door. For now, only a small number of desperate people want to be zombified to stop their impending death. And when the brains run out, they'll die anyway.

[possibilities]

Those are good points.

If they were trying to find a source of the tainted utopian, or consulting with researchers about Freylich's, or SOMEHOW pursuing any of those angles, it would make sense to me. But as far as we've seen, Ravi hasn't even told anyone but Liv what the ingredients are. You'd think there'd be at least some nod to working on it.

If the source just shows up magically at the end, to me that will feel unearned, because we haven't heard a word about it in a couple of seasons.

Even if they don't trust the CDC or whatever other mainstream organizations could otherwise be tapped for research, they could show that Major knows, and has appointed a department at FG to do research and sleuthing.

They have all the contacts, they could be trying to lean on Boss, or Blaine, or finding wealthy zombies who want a cure and would use their resources to try to help. They could have moles in the Boss syndicate, trying to figure out what the "magical tainted drug" was made of, where it came from, etc.

The energy drink company was trying to do research, even if it was unethical methods for evil purposes. We don't seem to have any of that going on now, and we should, albeit minus the torture and bad motivations.

[ketose]

1 hour ago, possibilities said:

Those are good points.

If they were trying to find a source of the tainted utopian, or consulting with researchers about Freylich's, or SOMEHOW pursuing any of those angles, it would make sense to me. But as far as we've seen, Ravi hasn't even told anyone but Liv what the ingredients are. You'd think there'd be at least some nod to working on it.

If the source just shows up magically at the end, to me that will feel unearned, because we haven't heard a word about it in a couple of seasons.

Even if they don't trust the CDC or whatever other mainstream organizations could otherwise be tapped for research, they could show that Major knows, and has appointed a department at FG to do research and sleuthing.

They have all the contacts, they could be trying to lean on Boss, or Blaine, or finding wealthy zombies who want a cure and would use their resources to try to help. They could have moles in the Boss syndicate, trying to figure out what the "magical tainted drug" was made of, where it came from, etc.

The energy drink company was trying to do research, even if it was unethical methods for evil purposes. We don't seem to have any of that going on now, and we should, albeit minus the torture and bad motivations.

In the first episode of the season, Ravi was teleconferencing with the CDC. He asked the new doctor not to reveal the Freylich's cure. He seems to be keeping some things from them, however, like Ravi's vaccine and his monthly need for brains.

The tainted Utopium was cooked by Don E's dead brother, so the original maker can't make it anymore. There may or may not be some of the original batch lying around. I can't remember every plot point.

[Affogato]

6 hours ago, ketose said:

. For now, only a small number of desperate people want to be zombified to stop their impending death. And when the brains run out, they'll die anyway.

 I’m fairly sure virtually everyone, excepting the occasional philosophical outlier, would want the zombie cure if they had a fatal or disabling illness. If they were unsure a loved one would force it on them. 

[MisterGlass]

1 hour ago, ketose said:

There may or may not be some of the original batch lying around. I can't remember every plot point.

There was some that was buried at a playground.  They dug it up, and Ravi used it to make the batch of cures that was stolen by Blaine.

I feel like Blaine must still have one of the cures stashed for himself, in case it all goes sideways.

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Blaine, the guy you love to hate,lol. He may end up being the hero at the end of all this and come up with the cure due to some mishap handling by Don E.

[dubbel zout]

Don E., savior of the zombie world? Me likey.

[LoneHaranguer]

On 6/2/2019 at 1:01 AM, possibilities said:

And with just a few episodes left, it's really hard to imagine how they end it, without deus ex machina. They haven't set up anything to be earned.

Since Ravi was experimenting on rats, it wouldn't be implausible for rat brains to be a new source of food paste; or enable a more widespread cure If they could give rats that special illness.

[Chyromaniac]

On 5/30/2019 at 8:00 PM, dubbel zout said:

Was Malcolm Goodwin really injured somehow? Or did he have some sort of conflict that meant he couldn't be fully in this episode?

I doubt he was actually injured, and I have no idea if he had other work. However IMO, having Clive injured was just a factor of the “80’s teen movie” theme for the episode. It got “dad” out of the way so the “kids” could hatch a wacky scheme, and facilitated Liv’s talking to the camera gag. 

On 5/31/2019 at 1:41 AM, aradia22 said:

I don't think the show is ending on cliffhangers so much as stopping in weird places that make the episode feel unfinished so at least it's become compulsively watchable again. It does feel a little cheap, like a movie not having a proper ending because they know you're coming back for the sequel

Yeah- overall this was an enjoyable episode, but I agree that the story felt unfinished and weirdly paced. I mean, the murder was solved with something like 1/3 of the show left to go! I don’t know if shifting the reveal closer to the end would’ve made it better or not, but I do miss the narrative structure that the investigations used to provide in the early pre-outbreak seasons.

Still, props to whoever on the writing staff decided to reference Pump Up the Volume.

[erumwala]

On 6/1/2019 at 9:02 AM, Cthulhudrew said:

I liked that story Blaine told about how he's been affected by the needs of the public over his service providing brains and getting sentimental about it. David Anders really sold me on believing that Blaine might truly feel like he's a better person because of it.

Too bad all of that took place off-camera in some other pinoyflix, rather than just being thrown in this episode.

I think that could have been a great story for Blaine (and Anders) who has really just been poorly served for the last couple of seasons as the writers desperately try to find a place for the character on the show. Really, he should have been written out a couple of seasons ago because he is a reprehensible killer and his crimes are well documented to all the good guys on the show. Either give him a redeemable (if doomed to tragedy) storyline, or get rid of him. It just wastes DA's talent and time, and makes the main characters look like idiots for not putting him behind bars by now.

Otherwise, this episode was the best of the season so far, IMO.

Agree with you I like the way that the viewers also share their experience  in better ways.

[Ray Adverb]

EDIT: Oops

Edited June 14, 2019 by Ray Adverb
Wrong episode thread.

[Anela]

Was that Chase at the end?

I love that they still include side characters like Vampire Steve.