iZOMBIE Transphobic Episode (Spoiler)

I was blindsided by iZombie transphobic Season 4 Episode 11. iZOMBIE seemed a safe watch, unlike NetFlix’s plethora of transphobic flicks. With the show’s premise, a vulnerable zombie dogooder, ME Liv Moore, and all of the cute double entendres AND with only a couple of episodes to go I had breathed a mental sigh of relief.

“The murder happened last night in the parking lot of sick puppies”. Detective Clyde Babineaux announces. Liv asks ‘sick puppies’?

Clyde explains “It’s a bar off of 5th that shares a building with a pet hospital.” Man, she’s got pretty big hair” Liv exclaims.

Dr. Chakrabarti (Ravi) lifts up her skirt and says dolefully “And a pretty big penis”.

“Meet Vince,” Clyde said “He was at an office retirement party for his boss when some of the workers did a little skit where he played the part of Shelia, the very real head of HR. Apparently, he got a lot of laughs”

“And enough blunt force trauma to tear his carotid arteries in half.’ Noted Ravi.

As the scene fades a morbidly curious albeit disgusted Rivy lifts her skirt up to look at her penis again.

Emphasized words reflect the actual emphasize placed on the words by the actors. Perhaps they were signaling that this wasn’t a transgender woman, as Den of Geek suggests, but a victim of happenstance (because cis men have wardrobes, wigs, and makeup and will often wear them in bars because they are cool with it) or maybe a Drag Queen as Pop Culture eloquently points out. If so they failed in two ways. This victim wasn’t offered a voice as to their reason for being in that bar dressed as a woman. And if the victim was a Cross-dressing man they belong under the transgender umbrella and their lives are of no less in value.

Part two of the transphobic show is worse yet. The three originally suspected her boss of killing her. But they found out through a vision by Ravi, who ate her brain, that she had encountered a romantically interested man at the party who left in anger after ‘discovering’ that she was biologically male.

it is egregious that iZOMBIE scripted and thereby validated Trans Panic, the murdering of a transgender person because a man ‘discovers’ one is trans.

And for the first time, Liv didn’t eat the victim’s brain for investigative purposes. Ravi ate it and became what only can be described as a straight man’s version of ‘that’s so gay’ further adding to the problematic man in a dress meme. And unlike all of the other victims, there was no empathy, no humanity in Ravi’s visions.

I loved iZOMBIE. In my own way, I could identify with the feeling of social ostracisation, so I watched the series to the end.

Well, Rob Thomas has announced CW has renewed so there will be a season 5 with our favorite friendazomies but I hope that they’ll end iZombie without pandering to the haters, again.

Kelli Busey Editor in Chief at Planet Transgender | Website Kelli Busey an outspoken gonzo style journalist has been writing since 2007. In 2008, she brought the Dallas Advocate on-line and has articles published by the Reconciling Ministries Network, The Transsexual Menace, The Daily Kos, Frock Magazine the TransAdvocate, the Dallas Voice and The Advocate. Kelli, an avid runner is editor in chief at Planet Transgender which she founded in 2007.

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