Warning: Spoilers, undead and otherwise, follow for the iZombie season two winter premiere, “Method Head.”

Oh, iZombie, I’m so glad you’re back. The offbeat series has returned from its winter break, and the has movies its story forward in a hurry. “Method Head” brought a new case, and the opportunity to go super meta. The episode mostly succeeded in the delivery of its meta nods, but since the show airs on the same network as Supernatural (a.k.a. the kings of going meta), there were high standards to live up to. That said, iZombie made a rather good first showing.

The episode opened with a weird time jump. We leapt back to the holidays, landing right after Ravi found out that his zombie cure had failed. The show then glossed over New Year’s and jumped into the present. It was a weird narrative choice, and the decision took away the opportunity to see the fallout from Major and Liv’s breakup. This being the major (ha!) relationship of the show, we should have seen more of them wrestling with their issues—yes, even though we’ve seen them break up before. The only real positive to the clunky flashback was seeing an oddball holiday scene in the basement of Shady Plots. Despite his many flaws, there were moments that made Blaine seem like not such a bad boss.

Once we were caught up, Liv and Ravi got called to the scene of a murder on the set of the fictional series Zombie High. This is where the meta aspects came into play. Clive was freezing Liv out and staying true to his word about drawing a line in their work, but he was forced to bring her along since she knew the show well. I know weeks passed by since Clive made his proclamation, but I would have preferred to see at least an entire episode of Clive sticking to his guns. Though it was delightful to see Clive and Liv and Malcolm Goodwin and Rose McIver back in action, it didn’t feel earned. Them teaming back up would have been sweeter if we would have waited for it just a touch longer.

The murder of Zombie High’s lead actor Jordan led to some amusing antics, and some side-effects McIver ran with. The actual circumstances of the murder… eh. The case-of-the-week part of the show has been hurting the series this season because the cases have been boring. The reasons behind Jordan’s death fell into that category, but the television setting helped make up for it. They got to crack jokes about craft services (craft services is that magical), the youthful actors (not unlike those you’d find on many shows on The CW), the lack of science in Zombie High, and on and on.

Liv often internalizes a life lesson of sorts from the brains she eats and the experiences she has while solving the crime, but that didn’t happen in this episode. Instead, her weekly journey was about bringing her and Clive back together. Not every brain meal has to be followed by some meaningful conclusion about life—I mean, I don’t have epiphanies after I’ve eaten a bland salad—but Jordan’s murder needed something more.

Elsewhere in the world, Major continued to make bold choices. He is the breakout character of the show and is constantly showing unexpected depth. I should really see it coming by now. His actions in “Method Head” made me realize how skilled he’s become at leading a double life. He seemed to manage it effortlessly. He made the first steps to turn the tables. He’s being thoughtful and slow, but he’s building up to taking Vaughn Du Clark and Max Rager down. Side note: can someone explain to me why Clark dancing along with the robot cracked me up? I blame Steven Weber.

iZombie usually manages to find the middle ground between the murder plot of its episode and the longer story threads, but the various puzzle pieces aren’t coming together well at the moment. However, with Blaine, and soon Major, on Agent Bozzio’s radar, things are poised to get awfully interesting.

Favorite quotes:

• “He’s blinded you with man jewelry.” – Gilda
• “You know what would be fun? A zombie show where a zombie is the star.” – Zombie High zombie extra

What did you think of iZombie’s season two midseason premiere? Head to the comments and let me know.

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IMAGES: The CW