Warning: This recap contains spoilers, undead and otherwise, for the iZombie episode “Wag the Tongue Slowly.” Go find some brains to eat if you haven’t watched yet.

Did you hear about what Liv did in the latest installment of iZombie? Come closer, I’ll tell you everything in the kind of whisper that totally isn’t quiet: she ate the brains of an office gossip. Yikes.

While Liv relished in learning and dishing secrets to solve a murder with Clive, there was also some progress made on the zombie front. Well, kind of. Ravi’s potential solution for the loss of memory caused by the cure didn’t work, and Major’s getting worse… and Peyton is still attracted to Blaine, which I don’t entirely hate for some reason? Liv and Clive tracked down an unsavory individual from the zombie message boards and learned he was just as dead set on killing zombies in person as he seemed on the internet. He said things like, “You can’t murder what ain’t alive.” So, that’s reassuring.

Since Major’s on mercenary rations from Fillmore Graves, we didn’t get a different personality from him this time around. We witnessed him flip into full-on hero mode as he focused on finding Natalie and fulfilling his promise to help her, but it was from the heart and not inspired by someone else’s brains. Major knows he’s potentially on his way out, and I like seeing a bit of the heart of gold we initially saw in him back in season one before he was affected by any of the zombie craziness. And for gold stars, he got to make his dashing(ish) rescue to “I Don Quixote.” It’s not a song I hear on network television, or any television, often enough.

The Meal

Let’s talk brains! Liv snacked on the head matter of Cheryl, an office gossip at a dental supply company. She excelled at her job but made enemies of her co-workers by spilling details about them to others. Liv went simple with Cheryl’s brains by chopping them into bite-size pieces and mixing them into a pre-made can of a southwestern style soup. I don’t know if I can make this meal fit my theory about the recipes matching the owner of the brains. If Cheryl was work-focused and wanting to keep cooking easy, then canned goods might have been a go-to for her?

Anyway, it was one of the less appetizing food creations I’ve seen on the show.

Liv

Now, for the brain. Not much about being a gossip is positive. Cheryl was constantly inserting herself into the business of her co-workers and giving up dirt on them to whomever would listen. The stack of complaints human resources had on file about Cheryl was so big it filled a massive binder. But a thirst for information is an asset when one is doing police work, so at least Liv got some kind of advantage out of it; she couldn’t wait to dive into reading every report, phone and text logs, and message boards. Of course, her motivations on Cheryl’s brain were unhealthy—she wanted to know all the details possible for the sake of holding the knowledge and using it. Knowledge of others’ secrets is power. (Think of Varys on Game of Thrones.)

Cheryl’s hurtful actions made me think of the gossips I’ve known in my life—we’ve all come across them and probably participated in gossiping. Sometimes the urge to gab comes from a place of anxiety; if you can get the dirt on someone else, your own problems seem minor by comparison. Sometimes gathering and dropping information is rooted in insecurity; if you can manipulate who knows what, it gives you some measure of power. It can also be based in getting attention, being bored, or being resentful or angry.

But did Cheryl have power? It didn’t seem like her methods led to any gains. She shared details that broke up marriages, cost people promotions, and more. She did it often enough, and in such an intentionally harmful way, she isolated herself from those around her. Why would anyone want to risk giving anything away to her when it could be used against them?

Liv thankfully didn’t take Cheryl’s gossiping tendencies to the extreme. She could have easily fallen to a bad place where she spent her time digging up skeletons belonging to people in her immediate circle instead of focusing on solving crime. The closest Liv got to obnoxiously nosy territory is when she kept tabs on Peyton and Blaine.

Rose McIver brought the nuance to Liv’s assumed personality, as usual. She practically drooled over any fresh tidbit coming her way. It was apparent Liv enjoyed getting to the be one who controlled the flow of confidential info. And that part is especially important because I think the moment of triumph at extracting or divulging intel is what gossipers get some sort of high from.

Did Liv’s behavior in this episode remind you of anyone you know? Head to the comments and tell me your thoughts about she portrayed the gossiper.

Images: The CW