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creators may just have pulled off the best zombie finale cliffhanger ever — but you have admit, they cheated a little. Not all showrunners have a musician name twin, but if your name is Rob Thomas, you’re sure as hell going to get Matchbox 20’s Rob Thomas to perform on your show. And while you’re at it, you probably want to give a little wink wink at the end of the episode. So here we are, most defrosted zombies accounted for (we’ll get to that in a bit), and Liv goes to find Vivian, the owner of the private mercenary firm that just bought Max Rager, to get some answers.

Dead bodies are strewn everywhere. It’s a bloody massacre. Zoom in on a military dude strumming Matchbox 20’s “Unwell.”

I’m not crazy, I’m just a little unwell. I know right now you can’t tell, but stay awhile and then you’ll see a different side of me.

And there’s Vivian and crew, munching on the brains of musician Rob Thomas as she sets the scene for season 3. Because who else but showrunner Rob Thomas — and co-creator Diane Ruggiero-Wright, who has no name twin — knows what the next season brings? The metaphor is so delicious, it even makes the brain snack look palatable.

“Are you ready for the new world order, Olivia Moore?” asks Vivian. “Ready to do your part for your kind? Some day soon Seattle’s going to be the capital of the zombie homeland and a lot of people aren’t going to want to see that happen. So are you with us? Or are you against us?”

And just like that we get a clean slate, a new badass Big Bad, and a new struggle for Liv. We also get a zombie apocalypse rubric that’s been turned on its ass: Instead of being Team Alive, we’re nudged in the Team Undead direction — and it feels liberating and confusing. Which is probably how Babineaux felt when Liv told him that zombies exist and everything fell into place. Somewhere deep in the chambers of his mind that weren’t being blown, Babineaux was hearing the opening chimes of

, as if heaven’s gates had opened to reveal the truth. Of course, no one, especially someone practical and straight-laced like Babineaux wants to believe in creatures of the night. But when your dear friend sticks a knife in her chest, goes full zombie rage, then pulls it out and gives you puppy dog eyes — well, what’s a guy to do, really? (Plus, her visions solve your cases, so.)

That doesn’t mean it was easy. But as we’ve seen time and time again — when Major found out, then Peyton — Liv’s friends are willing to stand by her no matter what. And metaphor or not, this continues with Babineaux, who gave up two cases and his girlfriend to save Major. By the end of the episode, Babineaux has moved on from struggling to do what’s right to finding practical solutions, wondering how he’s going to call in the massacre.

“Super Max,” says Liv. “It created a violent chain reaction. Armed guards lost their heads and began firing on rampaging employees.” “You really think that’s going to fly?” he asks. She retorts: “You think zombie outbreak has a better chance?”

So many echoes of Buffy and gas leaks, PCP, gangs… Congratulations, Clive Babineaux, you’ve just learned that you’re living on a Hellmouth! As we go into next season, it’ll be amusing to see all of the scenarios the writers devise for Babineaux to explain his new life in

Ravi found out some disconcerting information, too, although it’s hard to rate anything as high up on the WTF scale as “Zombies are real. I am one.” I never realized he didn’t know about the

going on between Blaine and Peyton, but he was so sad when Blaine found him after Peyton had been kidnapped. Especially since he and Peyton had just, um, reconnected the day before. Peyton may

she doesn’t believe nice guys finish last, but damn, Ravi cannot catch a break. Even when he goes full on badass on Janko, he’s shakingly holding a cup of tea in the next scene.

But it’s Janko’s brain that turns Liv and Major into Mr. and Mrs. Robocop and ultimately saves the day. (This whole Liv and Major sharing brains shtick is downright adorable, and maybe foreshadowing for some more romance? “We were on a break!”) Major — discovered, arrested, freed, and wondering what happened to him zomb-sicles — gets the scoop from one of his clients that Vaughn is throwing a major Rager rager. So clearly he and Liv head over to kick ass and take names. Well, really just two names: Liv is looking for Drake, and Major is looking for Natalie.

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