‘iZombie’ Season 3, episode 11 recap: ‘Conspiracy Weary’

Photo Credit: iZombie/The CW Image Acquired from CW TV PR

iZombie’s Liv takes a trip down conspiracy theory lane to investigate Harley Johns, while Peyton gets a huge break in the Weckler case.

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We open with Ravi facing off against the zombie hunters. At the last moment, instead of shooting him, they push him out of the way and taser Don E, forcing him to turn in front of the live stream. Before things can go too far, Liv and Blaine arrive on the scene, dropping smoke bombs to mask their fight from the live streamers. Major and the Fillmore Graves soldiers show up and take out a few of the conspiracy nuts who refuse to stand down, leaving only Harley Johns alive.

Blaine and Chase meet for the first time as Ravi searches for Rachel. Chase asks Liv for help with investigating Harley, and Justin discovers that Harley may be responsible for the Baracus assassination attempt and Wally’s murder after all. Meanwhile, Blaine and Don E feed on conspiracy nut brain and Liv joins them in hopes of finding clues to help with her Harley investigation.

Ravi comforts Rachel after the traumatic scene at Wam Bam and things get awkward when he tries to kiss her. Even more so when she finds out that his roommate is the Chaos Killer (or Kidnapper, if you ask Major). There’s also some filler conversation about Major’s weird thing with Shawna, but that’s neither here nor there.

Conspiracy Brain Lane

When Shawna invites Major out on the town, though he’s reluctant, he finally agrees. She decides to take a picture to commemorate the event which, for some reason, seems nefarious.  When Liv updates Peyton on her Weckler findings in a tirade filled with crazy theories, Peyton soon realizes that Bo Johns’ brain has taken effect and she’s gone full-on conspiracy nut. A now paranoid Liv gets Clive up to speed, and Ravi has a theory that could help them find the compound. They recruit Don E and Blaine, also tripping on Bo brains, to help with the investigation.

Peyton discovers a mysterious key in Weckler’s wallet, while one of the Fillmore Graves soldiers, who also ate Bo’s brain, has a vision of the Johns compound. Rather than notify Liv and Clive, Chase Graves decides that the situation would be better handled outside of their umbrella. Peyton questions Tatum Weckler about her father’s key. The key belongs to a safety deposit box and Peyton asks to come along when she opens it in exchange for helping Tatum track down the bank. She agrees and Peyton finds the memory card inside the box. Before she leaves, Tatum has a vision, something that Peyton doesn’t miss.

At Wam Bam, the three Bo brain eaters have a joint vision but it doesn’t lead to any new information. Clive sends Blaine and Don E away, and Liv has a vision of Harley admitting that he knew about the bug in his truck and that the cabin is a trap. She texts Major, who asks Chase to pull back the troops. Unfortunately, two soldiers don’t get the memo and are blown up inside the cabin.

There’s something about Shawna

Liv finds Ravi sleeping at the lab and he catches her up on the Shawna situation. Like me, Liv doesn’t trust her and decides to investigate her online, where she finds a Tumblr page filled with pictures and texts from Major. Finally, Major realizes that Shawna might be crazy (although Liv has her own conspiracy theories about her motives). Rachel visits Ravi at the lab and asks him point blank if he’s a zombie. He tells her all about zombies, explaining that they’re not monsters.

Clive gets hard evidence that Harley and the Johns’ were behind Wally’s murder. Shawna tells Major that she posted their pictures and conversations to improve his reputation. She promises to take them down but he dumps her anyway. The Fillmore Graves soldiers tease him about Shawna using t-shirts with his face on them. Peyton and Liv watch the memory card footage and realize that Weckler was forced to kill the dominatrix. Peyton also tells Liv that Tatum is a zombie and they suspect that Baracus, who has just won his mayoral campaign, may have turned her as a way to blackmail Weckler into doing his bidding.

Read all about it

Meanwhile, it’s revealed that Rachel is a reporter investigating zombie nuts and Ravi just gave her a front-page story. Clive realizes that the Johns’ cabin may not have been abandoned after all. At the cabin, they discover an outhouse hiding an escape hatch which leads to a bunker. Inside they find Harley, who claims he didn’t kill Wally or Anna. When he pulls a gun, Clive shoots him. Liv gets a vision which confirms Harley’s story but before Clive can feel too badly, a newly turned zombie Harley rises.

Elsewhere, the t-shirts with Major’s face on them are not helping his reputation, but he puts this aside to celebrate new Mayor Baracus. Finally, Rachel’s zombie story makes the front page and Ravi realizes his mistake.

Thoughts and Theories

• I feel strangely vindicated now that Shawna is out of the picture. I’m 90% sure that she was behind the “Killer Abs” t-shirts. Although it could technically have been one of the zombie soldiers, I doubt they’d want to draw any undue attention to themselves, especially with Baracus’ campaign underway. Of course, it could also have been one of Shawna’s Tumblr followers, but she had motive and means, so my money is on her. I knew she was up to no good. I’m also sure she’ll be back at some point.
• Harley Johns isn’t what he appears. Liv hypothesized that he was more than just some conspiracy nut and I agree. He’s been way too smart throughout this whole process to just be another wack-a-doodle. I’m curious to see what happens now that he’s been turned.
• Rachel, you sneaky little minx! I have to admit that I was completely taken in by her whole “sympathetic to zombies” charade, although I like to think I would have been smart enough not to give her all of the information on zombies until I trusted her way more. No offense, Ravi, but you still met the girl at a zombie truther meeting. At least do some vetting first. You work at a police station, for Christ’s sake!
• I definitely don’t trust Mayor Baracus at this point but the jury is still out on Chase Graves. He doesn’t seem as radical as I originally assumed, but I don’t like him leaving Liv out of big investigative decisions. It seems sketchy. I guess time will tell when it comes to his motives.

iZombie airs Tuesday nights at 9/8c on the CW.