Season two of The CW’s zombie action comedy/drama iZombie is heading toward its finale and at the 2016 WonderCon Rahul Kohli (‘Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti’) promised fans of the show will not be disappointed with what’s happening to his character. “His life’s about to get very dangerous. I was super excited about that. It’s something I’ve been waiting for,” said Kohli. “We’ve spent almost two years setting up this lovable puppy, I guess, in quite a dangerous place and for the most part he’s come away largely unscathed. And now we’re starting to put him in a lot of danger and the stakes are higher for him, particularly towards the last two episodes.”
Kohli said that his initial reaction to reading the season two finale script was to wonder if they could actually pull it off. “This is like so different from anything we’ve done. I was just talking to Rob [Thomas] about it. I think these last two episodes are the strongest we’ve ever done. I really do. I’m not just saying that so people tune in for the finale – I’ve got season three in the bag so it doesn’t matter what the ratings are,” joked Kohli. “But the finale really is some of the best TV we’ve ever done. When I read it I was shocked where we took it and I have no idea where we can go from there. It’s going to be quite the crowd-pleaser.”
Asked to elaborate on it being a crowd-pleaser, Kohli said, “There are a lot of payoffs. In fact there is a kind of conclusion or it pays lip-service to every kind of storyline we’ve had. Things are left in the air in a great way. It’s not just one of those cheap cliffhangers to just entice you that you have to come back. It’s not that at all. It’s more everything you’ve invested in, every relationship you’ve invested in gets dealt with to some degree. I think if you’re fans of any particular character – there’s six of us, really – so from Liv all the way to Peyton, we’re all heavily involved in it. There’s no procedural elements in the last two episodes. We do not have a case of the week.”
After I admitted Ravi’s my favorite character, Kohli said he’s been super spoiled playing the doctor who’s in on the zombie secret. “He’s becoming this Swiss Army knife – comedy, romance, drama. He’s got an arch-nemesis in Blaine [David Anders] now. And to think he just started off as the funny pathologist who knew Liv’s secret. I am so humbled. I could never have anticipated what he’s become and especially how the fans have reacted to him. It’s been insane. It’s overwhelming,” said Kohli.
And his favorite brain thus far? The positivity brain ranks number one. “It brought out an unlikely comedic aspect. The positivity brain just took me completely by surprise. We know what brain it is but you never really know what Rose [McIver] is going to bring to it or what direction she’s going to go with it. And I think the first day she did positivity brain we were in the morgue and it just kept making me and Malcolm [Goodwin] laugh. I thought it was the funniest she’s been. She was great with stoner brain, as well actually. But that one for season two really got me.”
Holding in the laughter is not one of Kohli’s strong points. “I’m the worst. I laugh the most. I can’t hold a straight face. It doesn’t take much for. I can hear like the sound guy’s stomach rumble and I’ll break. I’m not very committed or professional,” said Kohli, laughing.
But Kohli’s not the only one who can’t keep it together. “We had one [corpse] fall asleep. I was doing stitches on one and he was snoring for real. We did have one guy every time we pulled him out of the drawer he kept laughing and smiling. I don’t remember his name but we called him Chuckles. He couldn’t hold a straight face.”
