iZombie "Virtual Reality Bites" (REVIEW)

written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)

Another week, another brain, and Liv experiences her most physically debilitating side effect yet. The stiff of the week is a socially agoraphobic basement dwelling troll, the worst possible kind. He calls hismelf the Sim Reaper and leaves all manner of digital destruction in his wake, a true digital psychopath with a God complex. His cause of death; anaphylactic shock. Normally, I can find myself sympathetic to the weekly dead head, but this time I can’t help but feel like he deserved everything he got… and then some. Last week’s episode closed with Major getting his ass handed to him by one of Blaine’s zombie lackeys while Liv starts a bit of a flirtatious romance with a charming new zombie.

down in a troll's cave

As far as the case is concerned, Liv contracts a serious case of agoraphobia, forcing her to back up Babineux from the comfort of her couch and webcam. As if I didn’t have enough of a reason to love Rose McIver’s Olivia Moore, throwing down some gamer jargon while playing an MMORPG (ya know, for the case) and the cute way she interacts with those around her after getting hopped up on anti-anxiety meds, never thought I’d fall in love with a zombie.

In hunting down clues to who killed Sim Reaper, this episode doesn’t do much to endear the viewer to the deceased. He deserved to die in the most horrific way possible and suffering from a violent anaphylactic episode seemed quite fitting for him. In other douchebags of Seattle news, the charmingly evil Blaine continues to run his murderous chop shop, turning new folks into reliant customers while killing of people he thinks no one else will take a second look at.

While trying to narrow down who killed the despicable troll, a long list of suspects turns into a list of Sim Reaper’s victims. Internet trolls, especially the most despicable ones, will push every boundary to ruin the lives of their victims, in many cases solely for the “LOLZ.” What can push a person to take someone’s life? Sim Reaper made the decision easy, from hacking personal social media accounts to forcing a small family owned business to close their doors. He deserved to die, and I’ll say it again that I have zero sympathy for Sim Reaper, I really fucking hate internet trolls.

Overall, this episode was solid. Further showcasing Rose McIver’s ability to become anyone while endearing audiences to her personal struggles. I especially liked how they showcased the dead-head of the week as someone more so irredeemable, someone even the audience can loathe. Haters gonna hate and trolls gonna troll, but this episode served as a reminder that even if you poke a cute and cuddly bunny enough, it’ll gnaw your fucking eyes out.

ewww...