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enzombie · 2 years

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Ranking the commanders of FG properly:

⁽ⁿᵒ ʳᵉᵃˡˡʸ ᵗʰᵃᵗ ʳᵉᵈᵈᶦᵗ ᵖᵒˢᵗ ᵈᶦᵈⁿ'ᵗ ᵘᵖˢᵉᵗ ᵐᵉ ᵒʳ ᵃⁿʸᵗʰᶦⁿᵍ⁾

Disclaimer I am ranking them as fictional characters because that's what they are, obviously real-life would rank wildly different. Audience likeability comes into it. The biggest crime a fictional character can commit is irritate the audience, and the murders didn't actually happen. Anyway,

Vivian - the perfect commander to introduce FG actually. she was cool, she was charming, everyone loved her. she made good decisions and dealt with shit well I think. good commander all round. what more do you need. ALTHOUGH my issues with zombie island do impact her ranking because she was a believer in it and I have so many issues with zombie island so overall 8/10 because she was epic and a good leader but her long-term plan was extremely shaky

Chase - I liked Chase. he had to deal with a lot more than he bargained for honestly and that's Carey's fault. also I've said this before but Major didn't help. Major complicated a lot for Chase and he's also the one that gave him the advice that made him go ahead with the OG Renegade execution that made him a villain. honestly I don't have any big issues with Chase. I think he tried his best. I think the circumstances got to him a bit but I don't think he did significantly worse than anyone else would've. I'm giving him a 7/10 because he did the best he could and I can't hold that against him

Major - listen. as a character, I like Major. when he's interacting with Liv and Ravi I'm like 'this guy :D' the moment he's at FG tho. brother. this guy not cut out to be a commander. you cannot lead a military government just because you're the most popular with the bros. Hobbs did a misjudge on that. Major doesn't DO anything. there are actual hatecrimes happening and he's like "we cant do anything about it or it'll look bad :/" like DUDE. like CMON. some of his men were killed in action because of his lax policies and he's like "I can give you their backstories. no justice only backstory." sir I know you're in over your head but a little effort. also I think FG just brought out the worst in Major even before he was commander. not even talking about the child soldiers, just his general character. like go home and play video games with Ravi man you're scaring me :( but yeah that's why we're here at 2/10 because he was too worried about being as uncontroversial as possible to actually do he job

Enzo - READ MY USERNAME AND WEEP. THIS MAN CAN DO NO WRONG AS FAR AS IM CONCERNED. IF HE WANTS TO DO A LITTLE KILLING SOBEIT. HES EARNED IT. but in seriousness I'm not fully convinced he knew what he was doing. props to him for wanting to stick up for zombies and put an end to the hategroups tho. but his way of going about things was.... perhaps terrible? but like he tried to get anyone else to do it. finally decided "be the change you want to see in the world new seattle" and then proceeded to stumble and fall on his face. the effort was there. the civil war didn't help his public image either. in terms of leadership, solid 4/10 because his heart was in the right place, he had potential, but he definitely could've done a lot better (sorry bro)

#local FG fangirl has some thoughts #FG stands for fangirl.......#izombie #Fillmore Graves #Vivian stoll #chase graves #major lilywhite #enzo lambert

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mysilverylining · 7 years

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The Case for Vivian Stoll Being the Big Bad...

*Disclaimer: I’m a forever Jason Dohring stan, who’s afraid if he goes back up in those fruit trees we’ll never coax him back down again. So when it comes to Chase Graves? There’s a bit of confirmation bias here. I’m pulling for him to survive the next episode, preferably outside of a cell or a freezer. I can’t believe I spent almost 3 days rewatching and writing this up. I like to tell myself I’m being Veronica Mars, but I’m probably closer to Bo John.

Personally, I LOVE Vivian Stoll. There aren’t enough ruthless female villains in fiction, by far. I was really looking forward to what lying liar, RT was planning to do with her this season, and was really disappointed when she was “killed” off.

Her motive?: Zombie Island won’t be ready for another 1.5 years, and she is beyond ready for D-Day. For somebody who could rattle-off the time span between the July 4th retreat and Wally’s murder (21 months and 21 days), I can’t see her sitting around waiting for disaster. She peddles worst-case scenarios, and would want to take the fight to the humans before they had the opportunity to gather in numbers or call in the National Guard. As a secondary motive, I think she was staging a coup with Fillmore Graves, a company she married into.

Point-by-point analysis under the cut.

Helicopter Crash:

We never see Vivian get on the helicopter. Was her body recovered? Burned beyond recognition? Scattered in tiny pieces over the countryside? We’ll never know, because Liv conveniently mutes the television during the news report.

Harrison Graves

Vivian’s beloved “deceased” husband. First scratched and extorted (by Blaine?). He wanted to selflessly leave her so that she wouldn’t have to be celibate, but while he slept, she scratched herself and became a zombie. He found his own source of brains, and a week later, he never returned home again -- implication, killed by Blaine. Vivian vows revenge.

Some Possibilities:

Harrison died at the hands of Blaine or another party. Vivian died in helicopter crash.

Unsatisfying story-telling. You shouldn’t tease a vendetta and then kill off the injured party before they can get answers or revenge.

Harrison died at the hands of Vivian.

Infinitely more interesting. Did Harrison learn of Vivian’s plans to escalate a zombie/human war? Did he have to be silenced? Did he inform his thoroughly-ripped, but absent brother of his suspicions?

Who would make a better scapegoat than a formerly criminally-opportunistic amnesiac? He can’t even defend himself.

Harrison is alive and being held prisoner somewhere.

Vivian’s prisoner?

On Zombie Island?

Harrison is alive and pulling the strings from behind the scenes

My #2 theory, if Vivian turns out to be dead after all. The lack of closure on his death really stands out for me.

Additionally, why does she volunteer the information that Harrison was going to leave her. “He didn’t want her to lead a sexless life” is valid reasoning, but a bit TMI for complete strangers. Had Harrison drawn up divorce papers at some point? Was she trying to get out in front of it in case those papers surfaced?

Contracting Zombie-ism:

We only have Vivian’s word for how it went down. A General in Equitorial Kundu (ha!) turned biological weapons on his own people and a dozen Fillmore Graves employees. Two weeks later, later at the annual 4th of July retreat, every single Fillmore Graves employee contracts the virus. Vivian, motherly saint that she is, cures them all with a scratch.

Where else do we hear about biological weapons? Oh yeah, Ravi tells us in ‘Looking for Mr. Goodbrain’ that ‘Aleutian Flu’ is code for biological weapon. And Katty Cake is doing the investigation.

Did things go down at the retreat like Vivian said? Or did she turn a biological weapon on her own employees as an experiment in creating super soldiers? A pre-Max Rager Super-Max? She owns the formula for that, by the way.

Another theory - does she hope to infect Seattle’s humans with the bio-weapon to force a join-us-or-die situation?

Vivian and Chase

Vivian volunteers plenty about her husband and her employees. Just one great, big, happy family, she says. But she never mentions Chase even once.

Right after the news report of the helicopter crash, Major tells us that Chase is taking the reins, and is flying back from Tripoli (via Paris, perhaps?).

Our first glimpse of Chase is at Vivian’s wake, where he has a bit of a temper tantrum, shutting off the music and berating everybody for their revelry.

Is Chase the enemy of fun? Does he have a stick up his existent and totally adorable ass? Only Liv knows the answer to that, but a few episodes later, we see him at Finnegan’s and Coons’ wake, laughing and smiling in the background while Major sings with his crew. What makes this wake different? #NotVivian.

When first introduced to Liv, he sharply cuts her off when she’s attempting to express her condolences for Vivian. But relaxes enough to give her the Dohring-smolder, once she lets the Vivian subject drop. While Vivian seems to have a “Bring it on/Come at me” attitude towards D-Day/Chase seems much more cautious and disciplined about about discovery, doing everything possible to maintain zombie secrecy. He worries exposure will lead to extinction (is he lacking confidence in his army?)

He immediately quizzes Liv on the Tuttle-Reed murders. His language is specific. He wants hard evidence to have the culprits “put away”.

In a later scene, he worries about the safety of the Chaos Killer victims, but he never says a peep about catching Vivian’s killer. Which, I suppose, could be an argument that he’s her killer (revenge for killing his brother?)

Some possibilities

Before his death, did Harrison Graves confide in Chase about concerns with Vivian?

Does Chase suspect Vivian of less-than-pure motives for zombifying the Fillmore Graves employees?

Assuming Vivian is the Big Bad, is Chase the fall guy? Once he’s killed/arrested/neutralized, will she come out of hiding with a sob story about how she tried to stop him from starting a zombie/human war, but he overpowered and imprisoned her?

Tuttle-Reed Murders

We start the season immediately after the Max Rager massacre. Vivian learns that Clive Babineaux, a human with connections, knows about zombies. She has three choices.

Do nothing - Pray that Clive keeps his mouth shut, and doesn’t ruin everything. Walk on eggshells, hoping not to make him suspicious.

Kill him. Make it look like an accident - Too risky when she doesn’t have anybody inside the ME’s office. If caught, she could make some powerful enemies.

Turn him into an ally

We know that Vivian went with option number three. First, she gave Clive/Liv/Major a tour of the campus. Humanized the experience with warm stories of her love for her husband, her employees, her family. She’s caring, nurturing, and has all the PowerPoint slides to put a mind at ease. However, Clive isn’t so easily convinced. After the tour, while still on campus property, he expressed his uneasiness with the secrecy of a private army, “armed to the gills”. He needed an incentive. How sweet was it, the way he peeked through the classroom window to make sure little Wally was getting a proper education.

Of all the zombie families in all the gin joints, it just happens to be the family Clive shares an emotional connection with that wound up dead.

A visibly sad Vivian hears the news about the Tuttle-Reed murders, but was she sad about the murders themselves, or in the necessity of sacrificing Wally and his fam? Liv visits, and in dialogue-less montage, allies Team Z to Fillmore Graves.

Vivian fans the flames in the aftermath, selling the “humans want us dead” tale to her employees.

Zombie Truthers

Where are they getting all of their information?

Assuming Vivian wants this war to begin sooner rather than later, are the Truthers her unwitting ace in the hole?

Did she post the Tuttle-Reed address on the zombie message board?

Did she anonymously give Harley a heads-up about the tracker in his vehicle?

Baracas

Is utterly crucial to Fillmore Graves in a post D-Day world. In 3x1, we learn that the Chaos Killer victims were whisked away from Max Rager to Fillmore Graves, where they’re debriefed and sold a cover story.

Vivian hand-picks Baracas as her mayoral pawn, and will do anything to get him elected.

While Chase Graves is understandably invested in helping Baracas win the mayoral race, the writers go to the trouble to show us they have no past association.

Chase: “Carey, I should probably meet this candidate we’re bankrolling”.

Baracas: (when told Chase wants to meet him: “Who?” Carey Gold: “Only the most important zombie on this planet. Endeavor to impress.”

Did Chase arrange the shooting of Baracas? Possibly. It definitely helped win the election, but I don’t get that impression. The best response for the mastermind would be to let the shooter get away, but Chase fires WAY too many bullets up into that balcony. He’s not trying to miss.

I’m with Peyton when it comes to Roxanne’s murder. Baracas doesn’t want his predilections getting out, but he doesn’t seem to be complicit.

Weckler

We know Vivian put security details on the Chaos Killer’s victims, including her pet politician Baracas. Presumably, security reported back to her about Baracas’ visits to Roxanne the Dominatrix, and the peeping tom who witnessed everything.

It’s two birds with one stone - turn Weckler’s daughter into a zombie, and then blackmail him with her safety. “Keep your mouth shut about Baracas, and while you’re at it, we’re going to need you to steal the memory card evidence.” Oops. You weren’t supposed to murder her.

I’m guessing that the second lawyer’s whispered comment to Weckler had been for him to confess and halt the investigation in exchange for Tatum’s safety.

The prison guard is almost incidental. Anybody could have paid him to kill Weckler, and anybody could have paid the second killer who killed the guard.

Stolen Cure

Why did Vivian learn that Major was human again? She didn’t do anything with the information. In fact, she was dead ten minutes later? So why did the writers go to the trouble of showing us that scene?

Major, right before the crash: “She wants to talk to Ravi about how I was cured when she gets back.”

***Sidenote. Ravi doesn’t share a single scene with Vivian or Chase. I’m predicting this is on purpose, and he’ll do something undercover in the finale.

Assuming Vivian wants to start a human/zombie war, a cure for zombie-ism is her worst nightmare. She can’t have her fighters being captured and cured.

Chase, on the other hand, doesn’t ask about a cure. He seems to assume Major was human all along, and just really fucking lucky.

Aleutian Flu

So Aleutian Flu is code for a bio-weapon, and this particular strain has been traced a specific Paris - Seattle flight. At the time of Katty’s killing, all passengers have been interviewed, with the exception of four first-class passengers.

Old racist woman, who knows nothing.

Sikh father with a baby, who heard a barking dog nearby

Miserable husband, whose wife ended up in coach due to a mixup. To appease her, he traded seats with 17D, Patrice Gold.

???

Between the barking dog and the napkin with Katty’s name written on it, my boy Chase is looking awfully suspicious here.

On the other hand, (1) Liv and Clive have a list of the four passengers, and would both recognize his name if he used it. (2) is he stupid enough to leave evidence connecting him to a murder on his nightstand? (3) is he even more stupid to bring the woman investigating the murder back to his bed, knowing the napkin was there?

Possibilities

If Chase was on the flight, did he also switch seats with another coach passenger?

Or had Katty already interviewed him and cleared him from suspicion.

Is that why he had the napkin with her name on it?

He clearly did not have sex with her. His scene with Major earlier makes it clear that he knows Zombie/Human sex is off limits.

And Catty wasn’t a zombie at her time of death.

But SHE wouldn’t know the danger of sleeping with him, and there was nothing stopping her from shoving a napkin at him with her room number.

I mean, I WOULD!!!

Or is the napkin there for another reason? He jotted the info down while listening to a voice mail? He thinks their luggage got switched? Vivian manipulated it somehow?

Assuming Vivian is the Big Bad, she would know the date of her “death” in advance, and would have time to send Patrice to Paris to await further instructions.

Like “Chase will be on flight xyz at this time. Make sure you’re on the same flight, and release the toxin then.”

Vivian Stoll vs. Chase Graves

Most of this analysis rests on the assumption that Chase remained in Tripolli prior to Vivian’s death. It’s completely possible that he came back to Seattle weeks or months earlier in order to wreck mayhem everywhere.

Where Vivian edges Chase out, is that we’ve been shown her connection to the different entities: the Tuttle-Reed family, Harley John and the tracker in his car, Baracas and the other Chaos Killer victims, the cure, and her admission of infecting all of the FG employees. If Chase shares any of those connections, we haven’t been shown on screen.

Where Chase edges Vivian out, is we’ve been shown a connection to Katty and the Aleutian Flu through the napkin and White Fang. If Vivian shares this connection, we haven’t been shown on screen. And if Chase was in fact on this flight, that negates the idea of him being in Seattle all along.

Potential Accomplices:

Zack Stoll: Share’s a last name with Vivian, but seems genuinely decent. Also, caught in the blast, though it looks as if his upper half makes it out.

Carey Gold: Maybe? A little TOO convenient, especially with Clive learning she’s Patrice’s mother. Has constant access to Chase. Capable of slipping Katty’s napkin in his pockets while he’s naked tanning (thank you Rob Thomas!). At least mildly involved, as Tatum is living in her home, and her daughter was on the flight from Paris. Still, I don’t think she’s the main accomplice. She seems surprised too often, and only owns one everyday dress. Pay your employees better, Chase.

Patrice Gold: Probably capable of conspiring without her mother’s knowledge. Her seat number was written down on Katty’s napkin, and she was obviously the passenger Katty was killed to keep from interviewing. Also, Tatum seems more frightened of Patrice.

Justin: My choice for most likely suspect.

Becomes Major’s Insta-BFF at a time when he needs one the most.

Convinces Major that he’s a great guy, then targets Liv for romance with Major’s blessing.

The cans of Super Max. Liv initiated that request, but from Chase’s reaction to the theft, I’m guessing they were under lock and key.

Not saying Chase wasn’t an asshole to shoot him, just that I feel like there’s something more to the Super Max angle.

Who found the guns in Harley John’s truck? Oh yeah. This guy.

Who worked the Baracas party where a shooter fired the same guns? You guessed it. Justin.

In Conspiracy Weary, Justin lies and tells Liv that Harley John’s compound wasn’t worth checking out. It hadn’t been used in months.

Liv questions this statement aloud once she gets a look at it.

Harley’s been building his underground bunker for all this time.

And the machinery was so loud, even the neighbors could hear it.

Justin conveniently pulls Major out of the party mere moments before the explosion.

Too. Good. To. Be. True. Nobody’s that sweet and pleasant.

#izombie #izombie speculation #izombie spoilers #vivian stoll #chase graves #silvery's playing with the stringboard #instead of doing important things #like eating lunch and dinner #or writing fanfiction

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