‘iZombie’ recap: ‘He Blinded Me...With Science’

There’s already a mountain of evidence that Vaughn Du Clark is a hideous, godawful human being and, hence, a fantastic “iZombie” villain.

He’s greedy, unscrupulous, power-hungry, heartless and violent. And now he’s all roided up on his own product, the still-in-test-mode Super Max energy drink, which amps up his every loathsome quality.

So why am I shocked that he throws his own daughter to a crazed-and-starved full-Romero zombie in this week’s episode? Because that’s a new low, even for Du Clark, and it’s a terrible moment when he closes an elevator door on her, sealing her fate.

Then again, it makes sense for this character, and the series needs him to stick around for as long as possible. He can’t sacrifice himself to save his offspring, the scheming chip-off-the-old-block Gilda/Rita. Then who would torment the undead in the secret basement of his evil corporate HQ? And who would unleash a lethal caffeinated beverage on the unsuspecting public?

That’s right – it’s all about Vaughn. (Steven Weber, not incidentally, has never been better, and he’s clearly relishing this ice-water-in-the-veins role. Keep up the horrific work, pal!)

So Gilda/Rita, or Gildarita, is a walker now, and Blaine might not be, though it’s too soon to tell for sure. Drake is in the deep freeze, courtesy of Major and the endless zombie-outing list, and Clive and Dale learn that size matters in gray matter (those are human not bovine brains in evidence).

On to the nitty-gritty of “He Blinded Me With Science,” in which the murder du jour matters for at least a few reasons: first, it gives our heroes a bird’s-eye view into the shady workings of Max Rager and second, it adds another righteous perp to the “iZombie” list.

The killer, like so many others on the dram-rom-zom-com, had noble motives and a solid rationale but, well, she’s still a cold-blooded psycho who’ll have to pay for her murderous deed.

The victim is Dr. Eleanor Cash, who gets doused in the face with lighter fluid and agonizingly burned alive. It turns out that this research scientist had been part of some drug trials that went awry, and Liv Moore (Rose McIver) and Det. Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin) immediately suspect one of the test subjects.

A pretty blonde named Annie is disfigured because of Cash’s negligence, and winning a lawsuit and a few bucks isn’t enough to satisfy her sister/nursemaid, Jenny, who takes matters into her own hands. Cash goes up in flames, earning the gallows-humor nickname Cinderella, and Jenny gets her revenge.

When that hearty cerebellum soup kicks in, Liv realizes that Cash has a more recent work history, and it’s checkered, too. The not-so-good doctor has been working in Max Rager’s subterranean hellhole using an alias. Risking the wrath of Clive once again, Liv goes undercover to get a peek inside Du Clark’s lair.

This is the only episode of the series so far that Liv is allowed to look like a warm-blooded real girl, but the disguise is short-lived. Du Clark recognizes her – even the “smart gal” glasses don’t fool him -- and tosses her out of the building.

Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli) must be grateful that Liv will go back to her pasty face and bleached look soon, since he dubs the normal-person look “literally the stuff of nightmares,” to which Liv notes that he spends far too much time with the dead.

Aside from being creeped out by Liv Comes Alive, Ravi is working to refine the cure for zombieism. His efforts keep flopping, and lab rats keep dying. (There’s a New New New Hope, and she seems to have a target on her furry back).

None of that matters to Blaine de Beers (David Anders), who is fresh from his own grave and looking for a lifeline. He’s willing to lay low and stop slinging Utopium because Mr. Boss doesn’t know he survived the brutal trip to the woods and that throat slashing. But he wants to stick around.

Ravi and Liv also want that, since Blaine’s death could set off a whole bunch of zombie chaos on Seattle’s streets.

Blaine, sipping a nice Chianti and philosophizing, tells his goons that they should carry on the designer drug business when he’s gone. And even though he knows there’s a 50-50 chance that it can kill him instantly, he takes the experimental cure.

Result? Unknown, but the series recently got picked up for a third season and Blaine’s a fan favorite. Not much guessing required here.

Major Lilywhite (Robert Buckley) tries to balk at Du Clark’s zombie hit list, and confronts the slimy businessman about Gildarita (Leanne Lapp) infiltrating Liv’s apartment. Liv is supposed to be off limits, he reminds Vaughn, as long as he whittles away the local undead population.

Vaughn is unmoved, except when he finds out that Major and Gildarita had been sleeping together. Maybe that’s why he abandons her later, when he could save her from a zombie attack?

Major, still weighed down with the blackmail burden, captures his latest zombie victim. And it’s Drake, Liv’s current boyfriend, snitch for Blaine, double-crosser of Mr. Boss and, most important, a deep undercover cop. His disappearance will not go unnoticed.

Another thread, left from the Meat Cute case: Clive and Dale got duped before – those Suzuki brains didn’t come from a cow after all – but they know now that Blaine’s dad also had some frontal lobes in the refrig. What will they make of it? And when will they start to understand what they’re dealing with – and who they’re allied with – in the new post-zombiepocalypse Seattle?