What do you do when you know the system is starting to decay?
You can embrace the reality of the system coming apart and learn to enjoy it. There are all kinds of benefits to this type way of thinking. You don't have to care about other people and how the world might become worse the longer it goes on. Not only that but you can find ways in which to profit off the decay which is happening. Make as much money as possible so that when things do completely collapse and come apart, you have the money and power to live through it. To guard yourself against the worst of the destruction and horror that will result. In large part because it's almost impossible to prevent the collapse, or so you'd like to believe. Living this way is simple.
The other way is that you can find a way to try and fix the problem. Maybe work out how to get back some of what has been lost from the decay which is happening. After all, the system could still work if it finds a way to revive itself. Bodies do heal if given enough time and you make a real effort to stop the bleeding or whatever damage has been done. Leaving this too long can cause more damage and end up in a scenario where you can't actually save anyone or anything. Do something that will stop the decay from getting any worse and maybe it can be saved. Actually finding a way to do this is difficult.
Previously in this space, we looked at finding a way to come to terms with the fact that things have started to decay. When you thought things were going along well and the system was functioning properly. Only to find out that they don't always work the way you think for everyone in the system. Things fall apart and coming to terms with that isn't always good. But this isn't the end of the story by any means. Even if you do find a reason for hope and the ability to want things to get better, stopping the bleeding and reversing decay so that you can heal isn't an easy path. So how do you manage it? But more importantly, what happens if you don't get it done?
“Our lives are a collection of choices. Sonny chose to avenge his father. I chose to not to tell my fiance I'm a zombie. We make our own beds, it seems beneath our dignity to whine when we're forced to sleep in them. But Major held me, held me and told me that he wouldn't let anything happen to me. Maybe just this once there's a do-over.”
This is very much where we find Liv at the beginning of season 2. She's come to understand the rot and decay which is slowly destroying the system she lives within but also has corrupted her and the people around her to some extent. As much as she might want things to go back to normal, it's just as likely that this won't happen. She may never get back her life from before where she had a normal life with a normal fiancee and hopefully husband at some point. Instead she must find a way to function under the new conditions she's existed within. To try and keep things from getting too much worse, she's committed herself to trying to maintaining what is still functioning.
Liv's main action in this regard is what she did to Blaine at the end of season 1. She gave him the cure to her zombie condition and the condition of so many others. Mainly because he so very much enjoyed being what he was. Enough that he decided that the best thing he can do is to create more zombies who can give him money for brains. By giving Blaine the cure, Liv has stopped Blaine from exploiting people directly. At the very least, she's made it harder for him to do things. Which isn't to say he can't still benefit in many ways from his awareness that zombies exist and the customers he has. Only that the decay has stopped spreading quite as fast.
Society has developed all kinds of ways to try and stop the system from breaking down further than it is. They create programs like job training and educational opportunities for those who lose their job. Along with welfare and other financial things to keep people from becoming homeless and potentially give people a chance they wouldn't otherwise have. For a lot of people, these programs to do help and they find a way to bridge the gap between the hard times and what hopefully are positive times ahead where you can get back on your feet and begin building better opportunities.
“What shortcut are you taking this time? Always the same for you isn't it? Always looking for the easy way out. Least amount of talent required, least amount of effort.”
Where this becomes a problem though is they often become substitutes for actually doing real work to help people. Often it's just assumed that these programs work and will always work regardless of what changes in other aspects of society. Life can come apart for so many different people on so many levels and yet it's assumed that because these systems exist to try and hold people from fully falling down and exposing the rot in the way the world works. So long as these people have that, there's nothing more which needs to be done. We don't have to ask whether or not they're still functioning themselves because everything gets solved with them.
“Love is only a delay of death. Tragedy waiting in the wings.”
Liv is trying to find a way to come to terms with this because despite what she's done, there's still problems that need to be dealt with. Blaine might be a human but he might end up becoming a zombie again because the cure isn't necessarily a permanent solution in its current form. This means that they need to find a better solution. She can't simply sit back and expect the system to fix itself due to her one action at the very bottom of what's going wrong. This becomes even more important because not only Blaine has been given the cure but Major as well. He gave her hope and now she faces the possibility of losing him when she finds out that losing his memory is a possibility.
“You have to make a choice Liv. Cause we're gonna lose me one way or the other... and we both know one way is a lot worse. Please, Liv.”
Drake does allow Liv to at least consider other possibilities for hope and potential but it's far from certain. Especially given that she met him as a result of Blaine and the criminal activity he's involved in. Being with Drake is itself a kind of decay and corruption when you think of it. Given the fact that he has such a criminal past, offering to accept this as reasonable and honest despite what he's done is creating more decay. Not necessarily of society as a whole, but of yourself. There is a purity to keeping yourself from embracing our more terrible aspects of human beings. The tendency for us to enjoy this fact.
“If hope is indeed lost, then what's left for our zombies to live for?”
Keeping yourself pure requires a lot of effort though. Something very few people are willing to do given that they can't always handle the decay and destruction. It might just be easier to drink yourself to death or take drugs to make yourself feel better. Something that could dull the pain and allow a person to function in a society that is so clearly breaking down in fundamental ways. Otherwise you'd have to confront the fact that there isn't much you can do to fix what has fallen apart. If you're really lucky you might even completely forget the truth and not even know that the world has started to fall apart.
No one is immune from the potential downsides forever though, not even people in law enforcement or the legal system. They do so much to try and keep the bleeding from happening, only to have things bleed through and come apart. It can get to the point where you might feel like it's better to find ways to cut corners in order to get some of the worst killers and murderers and drug dealers off the street. While this seems like a good idea in the short term, it's ultimately going to end in more rot and decay spreading throughout the system.
“Zombies don't deserve our mercy so just... put that thought out of your head. How to explain? I love submarine movies, big fan. And there's always this moment. It's the moment where the sub is torpedoed and the compartment is flooding and the captain's gotta give the order to seal it up. Even though he knows that there are men, still alive in there. Cut to the sailor who receives that order, tears in his eyes, closing that hatch... on his comrades. The man that closes that hatch is a hero isn't he? But we are both doing what needs to be done, we are saving lives. There are zombies living among us and they are feasting on human brains. Where do they get these brains? Who knows. But don't you think it's a good idea to put an end to it?”
After all, law enforcement and other people like them are meant to try and keep the worst of it from overwhelming the system. If they can't be relied upon, you don't get to a good place. Hopefully if you're lucky, the local law enforcement has enough good people in it to bring the system back from total collapse. Once it gets too bad, you can appeal to a higher authority. This is the reason why you have different levels in the first place. So that you can find someone to take over should the worst happen. If the system becomes so corrupt that you need to appeal to a higher power. Although the local system might be breaking down, the bigger system might be functioning so much better.
“A massive zombie outbreak means never having to say you're sorry.”
We've seen the decay of this system to some extent previously. Through characters like Lieutenant Suzuki and the rich and powerful people Blaine has under his thumb because of his brain business. Unfortunately, it only goes from bad to worse over time. Blaine has not only got people in law enforcement but also in the legal system like the District Attorney Barracus. He's gotten into that level, as well as the media through people like the reporter he feeds stories to in order to gain power over someone as powerful as Mr Boss.
“You're monster Liv, act like one.”
A crime boss as powerful as Stacey Boss can't be taken on directly and so more underhanded tactics are required. But if you do it properly and create the conditions for it, you can take someone like that down. Use the system that is to some extent still functioning to gain a bigger foothold and potentially corrupt a more powerful opponent. Someone who could actually take you down. You have to get outside of his system of influence. This system has its own problems that you need to work within and they might not be as willing to allow the kind of decay and corruption you can bring to everything they have. You will have to function with this system while you do what you do. These people have a lot to lose. Being functional while you are decaying and so is the system you live in isn't the easiest thing to do.
“You ready for the new world order, Olivia Moore? Ready to do your part for your kind? Someday soon Seattle's gonna be the capital of the zombie homeland and a lot of people aren't going to want to see that happen. So are you with us or against us?”
But we'll get into that when we explore season 3.
iZombie is available on Netflix in some countries, Amazon and Apple TV in others.
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