Official Synopsis
iZOMBIE stars Rose McIver as Olivia “Liv” Moore, a medical resident on the fast track to a perfect life … until she’s turned into a zombie. Now stuck between half-alive and undead, Liv transfers to the city morgue to reluctantly access the only thing that allows her to maintain her humanity — human brains. But there are side effects to Liv’s new diet. With each brain she consumes, she experiences flashes of the corpse’s memories — including, at times, clues as to how they were killed. Her boss, a brilliant but eccentric conspiracy theorist, encourages her to embrace this gift and to work with an unproven homicide detective to help solve these murders … and quiet the voices in her head.
Every time I think a show has a really far-fetched idea, much like iZombie, which follows the brain-eating detective prowess of a half-zombie/half-human named Liv (Rose McIver), I have to remind myself that someone pitched Sharknado. Anyway, as strange as the set up is in iZombie, the payoff is surprisingly entertaining.
But it is ‘out there’.
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The show follows a budding surgeon, and bookworm, named Liv, who is convinced to go on a fateful boat party with a friend, only to get bitten by an infected, zombie-esque, person and turn into a zombie herself…sorta. Stuck between half-human/half-zombie state, Liv has to change her life, and her eating habits, to get by. The easiest way to do it? Drop her fiancé and become a coroner. Or at least a coroner’s assistant until she becomes a full-blown coroner. Anyway, this allows her access to the brains she needs to feed upon, so she doesn’t become a ravaging living dead, as well as help solve mysteries for hapless victims that end up in the morgue. I didn’t mention that part? Every brain she eats, she gets the memories of the victims. She knows how they died and has to help a new detective named Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) solve the cases.
I wasn’t sure about this show. It seemed really like a tacky stretch. I know the CW loves its wacky-ass vampire shows, its DC comic shows and other oddities, but this seemed really above and beyond those ideas. What’s even worse is that the show openly doesn’t apologize for the content and doesn’t spend a lot of origin time discussing how everything came to pass. It just wants to solve mysteries through Liv’s ingestion of human brains. As weird as it is, iZombie has good enough action, humor and great acting to keep the uncertainty of its premise out of sight/mind.
The creators of the show, Diane Ruggiero and Rob Thomas, treat the zombie portion of the premise as if it were a lovely add-on to a typical mystery show. Of course, if you helped to orchestrate and create the likes of Veronica Mars (both show and movie), then it would be easy to create a compelling set of mysteries all somehow related to the McGuffin of the show, which is Liv is a zombie. By the way, if you haven’t seen Veronica Mars, you’re only robbing yourself of a great show. In short, Ruggiero and Thomas do a great job of honing in their perfect abilities to deliver good detective content and mix it beautifully with a tinge of horror.
Most of the show has a variety of themes for Liv to follow. One show focuses on tracking down a hit man, another follows the murder of a sniper, while another looks hard at the murder of a journalist reporting on a shady energy drink. There is a variety of different twists and plot points for Liv and Clive to follow, so the entire show isn’t short of fresh entertainment. It sure as hell beats CSI: (name the state/city). Along the way, the show addresses and pieces together the missing parts of Liv’s former life before she turned and also bumps into that storyline, in a hardcore zombie gobbling scenario, when it calls for it. This show reminds me a lot of The Incredible Hulk with a hint of Pushing Daisies and topped with a heavy dose of Veronica Mars. You never know when Liv is going to go off (Hulk) and have to release the beast inside. You always get a hint of waking the dead (Pushing Daises) through Liv’s hunger. And the dichotomy of detective work and help that leads to resolution for a murder victim (Veronica Mars) makes the show a great hook.
So, is this show worth your time? Yes, absolutely. As weird and wacky as the premise might seem, the acting and writing really bring it all together. Rose McIver does a superb job as the lead character and she is enormously believable as a struggling soul just trying to find balance on life’s shaky, undead ground. Again, it might seem like a weird show, but it delivers big time in the solid content department. It’s certainly one of the more interesting and better shows that the CW offers up.
Special Features:
– iZombie Comic-Con Panel
– Deleted Scenes (selected episodes)
Not much here, but I’m sure the second season on DVD/Blu-ray will garnish some goods. Hopefully the show lasts that long. It had better. If the Originals can do it, iZombie can.
Onto the summary.