A lot of things happened at the end of iZombie season two, but perhaps one of the biggest and most show-changing was that Liv (Rose McIver) let Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) in on her secret.
Now, instead of thinking she's just a kooky psychic, Clive now knows that his partner is a zombie who eats the brains of murder victims to not only survive but to also gain access to their memories, which also gives her aspects of their personalities.
It's a big change for the show, and for the crime-solving partnership of Liv and Clive, who can now take even better advantage of Liv's brain-eating.
We haven't yet seen them interact much (when there were no lives in danger) since Liv revealed her secret, but the exclusive clip above, from tonight's premiere, gives a glimpse at their new, more open friendship as Clive takes care of his drunk friend who was just forced to shoot her zombie boyfriend in the head.
Goodwin and McIver have been working together as partners since episode one, but after two seasons, they now get to have a whole new relationship on screen. Back in January, E! News chatted with the pair about what that new dynamic is going to look like.
E! News: So Clive knows about zombies now. How does that change his dynamic with Liv?
Malcolm Goodwin: I've always said I think Liv's transparency allows Clive to be more transparent. There's no secrets. It's the first time of their coexisting and having a relationship with no secrets, and everything being put on the table. So it does present great opportunities for the play off of roles and brain personalities. It's just not being confused all the time or saying what the hell is going on.
Rose McIver: Now it's like Babineaux thinks he understands how it all works, so he'll suggest things, and they're wrong.
MG: And I can use it to my advantage, and we can have conversations, just enjoying it more, and using it more. Whatever it takes to solve the case.
RM: I was scared too. Everybody loved that dynamic so much of him not knowing because of the humor that sets up, but it's actually opened up a whole different kind of world.
How quickly does Clive adjust? Does he accept it right away?
MG: No, I don't think so. I think it's a per episode thing. We pick up a couple of minutes after the season finale of season two, but it's a per episode thing, as he learns more. He does need time to digest, but life still has to move on, and there's actually a bigger goal outside of his personal feelings.
RM: He bounces back pretty spectacularly considering he's learned one of his best friends is a zombie, he's nearly been killed by zombies, he had to kill zombies. He took it on the chin! He bounces back.
What does he have the hardest time adjusting to?
MG: I think at first, one of the things is that he watches her eat brains, and he sees it, and he's completely grossed out by it.
RM: He's so judgmental. It's kind of a nice dynamic.
MG: And he's a chef too! He's very, very critical about it, but he accepts it.
RM: Sometimes there's the interesting new dynamic because he knows and he hast to tolerate the fact that it's because of this that she's behaving in this strange way. There is definitely frustration with that too, where you know somebody's limitations in any friendship, and you're trying to understand that because it's caused by where they're from or whatever, but you still are like, man, you need to just not do that at this point, this is really compromising my case, or our friendship, or whatever.
MG: And Clive, you know, he sacrificed his career in a sense in terms of it moving forward, and his relationship, but Liv also killed her boyfriend, and so he's also sensitive to her loss and what she sacrificed as well, so the adjustment period, I feel like it kind of happens very organically.
RM: It's that thing this season where because all of us are interacting a lot more, there's like a very ensemble dynamic that heightens a lot of conflict. It's like when you go on a family holiday and you're all stuck in one room, and things come up that wouldn't necessarily otherwise. So that happens a bit, but it also means that ultimately when they get through some of these various dynamics, they're able to empathize with each other a lot more, and know where each other are coming from and kind of help each other out in a way that they hadn't been able to in season prior.
How long does it take Liv to recover from what she had to do in the finale, shooting Drake in the head?
RM: We pick up in season three with her still on the same brain, which is militaristic, so she's actually able to kind of delay her grief for a bit, which is helpful story-wise, but ultimately it does very much hit her and Clive's able to be a really good friend to her through that, but that's the handy device of the brains is they're able to kind of stall things story-wise to work with us, so it happens, and it happens late.
iZombie premieres tonight at 8 p.m. on the CW.