TV Review: IZOMBIE: Season 3, Episode 9: Twenty-Sided, Die [The CW]

iZombie: Twenty-Sided, Die Review

The CW’s iZombie: Season 3, Episode 9: ‘Twenty-Sided, Die’ was an entertaining hour as Liv (Rose McIver) tries her hand in Dungeons & Dragons with hilarious results. The episode was amusing throughout the hour as we not only dealt with Liv’s case of the week, but we also had some major developments with Peyton (Aly Michalka) and the Wexler case as well as the return of Clive’s (Malcolm Goodwin) ex Dale Bozzio (Jessica Harmon) and Seattle’s kingpin Mr. Boss (Eddie Jemison). All in all, it was a great episode on all fronts.

This show has had some of the wildest cases we’ve had, however, it seems like this season it’s the weakest part of the episodes. Most of the time, the cases feel like more of an late addition to the procedural. They deeply get buried into the show, but it’s perfectly clear that the show wants to just focus on the other parts. With this investigation, it was a straightforward open-and-closed case. What we have is a dungeon master who gets poised and killed during a game and some of the players end up becoming suspects. It ended up being a throwaway case involving some players have some feelings toward a girl in their group. We never get a resolution once the FBI comes crawling along after Liv and Clive discover that the victim was actually a hacker who obtained files that has international proportions.

What we did get out of this was a fun scene with the gang as they tried their hand at some Dungeons & Dragons. Besides Liv having fun with the game, what was surprising was Clive’s reaction after only a mere hour of playing it. What a transition we saw when Clive went from bored to excited after he went deep into the game. It comes as no surprise that Clive would be interested in this type of game after knowing that he’s a real Game of Thrones fan. The episode was definitely a fun little nod to the popular board game with all its terminology and clichés.

Clive also reunited with his old flame Dale after turning over the case to the FBI. We can tell how happy he was after finding out that Dale came back when he stormed out of the office and desperately searched all over the area. It’s as if it was pulled straight out of a classic rom-com. It was a bittersweet reunion between the two former partners, as Clive confessed his feelings for her hoping she’d come back. Hopefully she returns and these two find a way to fix things between them.

Major (Robert Buckley) seems to have luck in that department as he may possibly have a secret admirer. After looking through all the hate mail he received during his days as the Chaos Killer, which Ravi (Rahul Kohli) desperately tried to hide, Major found someone who may truly understand his situation. It seems pretty suspicious but it works really well to propel Major into another frenzy. Major doesn’t seem to be able to escape his Chaos Killer past so it will be interesting to see how this mysterious girl draws him back in.

Ravi is getting to make some new friends as he goes undercover with the anti-Zombie community. These guys are already much of a danger to Liv and other zombies so we shouldn’t underestimate them. With video footage of Justin (Tongayi Chirisa) going full-zombie and other witnesses from the Max Rager massacre, the world of zombies is about to blow wide open. It’s going to be tough for Ravi to get out of this jam, especially after the guys kidnap Don E (Bryce Hodgson), the one who supposedly stole the cure that Ravi developed.

Speaking of Don E, he’s already in a bad spot after taking that blue brain that Blaine (David Anders) is marketing. It seems like Ravi is stuck in a dilemma where the zombie hunters are hoping for a vaccine, which is something he doesn’t have. On top of that, Chase (Jason Dohring) may soon find out also as he attempts to take lead in the fight for the zombies. We can expect a collision course between these two groups, so it will be interesting to see how that all plays out.

Chase is coming out of the gate as this strict leader who is always on task. Without any formalities, he went straight to Liv and questioned her about the death of his sister and the zombie killing case. It doesn’t seem like he’s too fond of humans either, so with Clive also in the know about zombies, it may not sit well with him. Peyton was also tied into this mess as she wants to reopen the Wexler case. Senator Baracus doesn’t seem to want to get involved, which raises some questions on what he’s possibly hiding. Peyton certainly won’t let this go, so we can expect her to get some help from Liv and the team. Perhaps the return of Mr. Boss may get her back into the case?

This week’s episode has pushed the case-of-the-week aside in order to forward the plot lines of the season. It would’ve been nice to get a resolution for the case rather than just putting it under the rug. Other than that, we managed to have some fun with Liv and the gang as they tackled a game of Dungeons & Dragons with hilarious results. The return of both Dale and Mr. Boss raises some questions as to where the season is heading as we are only getting closer and closer to the season finale, so we look forward to getting some answers.

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