Lowell’s extra spicy bloody Marias

In Episode 5 of iZombie, “Flight of the Living Dead,” things really start moving—an experienced skydiver is impaled on a tree branch, Liv meets a young gentleman zombie with a sexy accent, and Major takes the search for his missing wards into his own hands when the police are suspiciously unhelpful.

Almost all of the characters’ stakes change this week, as the case-of-the-week becomes personal. Holly White was an adventurous, wild spirit who was once a sorority sister of Liv and Peyton’s at Theta Mu—that is, until they both voted to kick her out. Apparently she … played loud music at night? (We can only imagine how insufferable pre-med Liv, her pre-law pal Peyton and their like-minded sorority sisters must have been.) The descriptions of Liv’s undergrad self, along with her rhapsody on memories of a good egg salad sandwich (leading to Ravi’s perfect bored response: “#YOLO”), serve as counterpoints to the changes affected when she eats some of her dead old friend Holly’s brains and becomes adventurous.

In an uncharacteristic turn, Liv pulls her bike out and rides to work, to the soundtrack of “Oh My God” by Idaho band Hollow Wood. Holly ate up life with a spoon, so although this case hits close to home for Liv, it may also be the most fun she’s had since the show began.

Plus, cute boy zombie! Lowell Tracy (Bradley James) was one of the four surviving skydivers, who are all being questioned—although it takes some effort on Liv’s part to get the skydiving event turned from an accidental death to a murder case. We begin to suspect that something is afoot with this fella (besides just being a skydiving Brit musician) when he methodically mixes up a batch of the spiciest-looking cocktails we’ve ever seen. Who is this guy? And how/when did he join Team Z? Liv is too starry-eyed to think to ask.

Lowell looks utterly un-zombie-like—his hair is dyed and he is bright and non-shambly— and we don’t know whence his brain meals have been coming. Perhaps he’s signed up for Blaine’s dinner plan?—in any case, we doubt a handsome young zombie rock star is spending his evenings grave-robbing and cracking open skulls with rocks.

Ryan Hansen (Dick Casablancas from Veronica Mars and Kyle Bradway from Party Down, both Rob Thomas shows) plays omnisexual pro-snowboarder party boy Carson McComb in this episode, and it’s always a treat to see Hansen on TV again. Even though he often plays characters that are somewhat similar, we still usually find them entertaining. Although he (and all of the other skydivers) start out as suspects, the girl who is apparently the guilty party is never apprehended—at least not by the police. It seems like maybe the company the skydivers work for, Max Rager, is the reall über-baddie in the background. (And with a name like “Max Rager,” it seems quite possible that this company could have something to do with a recreational drug that turns people into zombies, too.) Look for the Max Rager corporation’s appearance in future episodes.

The final big revelation of the episode comes near the end—Major has guilted Clive into taking a moment to look into the disappearances of Jerome and Eddie, the two missing teens from Helton Shelter. The detective goes to check out the shady skate park, and finds a wall completely covered with overlapping “Missing” posters—at least 60 kids have vanished recently. When he goes to mention it to his lieutenant (Hiro Kanagawa), though, even while repeating over and over that he was doing all the looking on his own time, the Lou tells him to keep his nose out of it. Uh oh.  Lieutenant Suzuki is putting sriracha in his coffee. So it seems like Seattle is lousy with zombies—from rock stars to police officers—and all of them are better at faking looking alive than Liv is.

Major is not much more successful at finding the kids at the skate park than Babineaux was, but he does see a big old zombie goon wearing Jerome’s size 12 red-white-and-blue sneakers. He tries to confront the guy, but of course gets the snot beaten out of him. The last we see of Major, he’s unconscious and bleeding on a skateboard ramp. Poor handsome Major. We are worried. The nicest guy on television is pretty badly hurt. But at least Liv seems to be on her way to having a new beau—one she doesn’t have to worry about turning into a zombie.

Until next time, let’s once more enjoy those fine comic-style opening titles and Deadboy and the Elephantmen song. Things are getting hot and spicy!