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"And He Shall Be a Good Man" is the thirteenth and final episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series iZombie. It was released on The CW on May 28, 2018. The series stars Rose McIver and revolves around medical examiner Olivia Moore, who was turned into a zombie and must eat brains to sustain herself and solve crimes. The episode was written by Rob Thomas and directed by Dan Etheridge.

Plot

Chase prepares to execute Liv and Levon, while Ravi, Peyton and Clive all try to stop him. Major and Jordan work together to distract Fillmore-Graves, which leads them to move up the execution. Liv's associates release Levon's documentary video on her work, after the public view the documentary they prepare to prevent the execution, Chase sees the documentary and decides to move, the execution ceremony begins and Chase uses a guillotine to kill Levon. Moments later, Major breaks the door open and saves Liv's life, accidentally pushing Chase into the guillotine and killing him. Major becomes the new commander of Fillmore-Graves.

Ravi gives Liv the brain of Isobel's and tells her that it is the zombie cure, but Liv decides to give it to Dale after she and Clive get married. Angus leads 1,000 zombies outside the wall, but the US Army shoots them all down and kills them, including Angus. Earlier that day, the government had announced an end to shipping brains to New Seattle; so that humans either kill zombies in self-defense or all the humans die and New Seattle gets nuked to wipe out the zombie virus. Needing to prevent that, Major is forced to make a deal with Blaine, promising wealth and respectability in exchange for bringing brains into the city. As Liv prepares to retire, she walks into her apartment lobby, where a crowd of zombies and humans cheer her on, and she decides to stay on as Renegade.

Production

"And He Shall Be A Good Man" was written by series creator Rob Thomas, and directed by Dan Etheridge. The title of the episode is a lyric from the Elton John song "Levon", which foreshadows the death of Levon in the episode. The episode features a voice only cameo by Paul Rudd as himself narrating a pro-zombie documentary. Rudd voice over was described both in and out of universe as a "good get".

The episode stars Rose McIver as Olivia Moore, alongside principal cast members Robert Buckley as Major Lillywhite, Malcolm Goodwin as Clive Babineaux, Aly Michalka as Payton Charles, Robert Knepper as Angus McDonough, Rahul Kohli as Ravi Chakrabarti, and David Anders as Blaine DeBeers. This episode marks the finale appearance of Knepper in iZombie as he would not return for the fifth and final season. The CW confirmed the decision to remove the character was a creative choice and not related to the sexual allegation against Knepper. Jason Dohring and Daniel Bonjour guest star as Chase Graves and Levon Patch, respectively.

Release

"And He Shall Be A Good Man" released on The CW on May 28, 2018, to an audience of 780,000 live viewers.

Critical reception

The episode was met with positive reactions from critics. Many critics praised Paul Rudd's cameo feeling that while it was unexpected it still worked. Writing for Den of Geek, Kayti Burt gave the episode 3.5/5 stars. praised the romantic accepts of the episode, while criticizing the character arc of Major Lillywhite.

Writing for The A.V. Club Carrie Raisler rated the episode a B+. Raisler felt that episode was a "solid ending" to a "frustrating season". He stated that while the episode was good overall, various sections were underdeveloped, the most prominent of which being Angus' story arc. Raisler described the arc as both "underdeveloped" and anticlimactic. Raisler praised the episode for wrapping up the narrative, feeling optimistic for the next season.

References

1. ^ Anderson, Jenna (May 10, 2018). "'iZombie': Liv Needs Help in "And He Shall Be A Good Man" Season Finale Synopsis". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
2. ^ Raisler, Carrie (May 29, 2018). "iZombie wraps up an ambitious but frustrating season (mostly) in a bow". The A.V. Club. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
3. ^ Warner, Sam (May 29, 2018). "iZombie finale had Veronica Mars and Marvel crossover". Digital Spy. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
4. Burlingame, Russ (February 26, 2018). "Robert Knepper Added to 'iZombie' Opening Titles". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
5. Sandwell, Ian (February 15, 2018). "iZombie season 5: Everything you need to know". Digital Spy. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
6. Harris, Hunter (January 12, 2018). "Robert Knepper Won't Return for iZombie Season 5". Vulture. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
7. Topel, Fred (January 12, 2018). "Robert Knepper Will Not Return For 'iZombie' Season 5 [TCA 2018]". /Film. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
8. Blu, Jasmine (June 4, 2018). "iZombie Round Table: An Acceptable, Albeit Predictable Finale!". TV Fanatic. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
9. Anderson, Jenna (May 21, 2018). "'iZombie': Liv Is in Danger in Season 4 Finale Preview". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
10. Rejent, Joseph (August 2, 2019). "NFL Football adjusts up: Thursday final ratings". TV by the Numbers. Archived from the original on August 2, 2019. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
11. Burlingame, Russ (May 29, 2018). "'iZombie' Season 4 Finale Features a Cameo From 'Ant-Man' Star Paul Rudd". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
12. Burt, Kayti (May 29, 2018). "iZombie Season 4 Episode 13 Review: And He Shall Be a Good Man". Den of Geek. Retrieved March 30, 2024.

Further reading

• Anderson, Jenna (May 29, 2018). "'iZombie': 7 Questions Raised by the Season 4 Finale". ComicBook.com. Retrieved March 30, 2024.

• 2018 American television episodes
• Fiction about human–zombie romance
• Fictional portrayals of the Seattle Police Department
• IZombie episodes
• Television episodes about zombies
• Television episodes about weddings
• Television episodes written by Rob Thomas (writer)