I didn’t know what I was expecting when I came across this show … I hadn’t ever read the comic book, although I’d seen it on the shelves, so while I knew the main character was a female, that’s about all I knew about it … well that and the fact that it was on the CW network. Now while that isn’t a bad thing – it generally has a certain type of show and I guess I was expecting camp Zombie chick, adolescent angst drama whereas I got something quite a bit different. There are some of the chick flick elements – boyfriend problems, problems with mum etc… – but on the flip side the characters are well written, the storyline is funny and it feels very witty and engaging.
I guess the main question was – do we need another Zombie show on TV? It seems to be literally crawling (pun intended) with them right now – I mean The Walking Dead while never calling them zombies (which is stupid) is in its Fifth season at this point and shows no signs of slowing down. However iZombie isn’t like those other shows is it? It’s more of a cop show, or is it a buddy comedy, or is it a teen angst romantic drama? Hmmm … OK while only one episode in, its pretty hard to classify, the one thing that is obvious is that this isn’t what you would have expected from another zombie show and maybe that’s why it will work!
While the whole “i” thing is obviously a take on current Apple fad – i.e. iPad, iPod, iPhone – its actually quite accurate in this instance as it truly tells the tale of a specific person (I) going through a transformation into a Zombie and while in this case the individual manages to maintain their mind and rationale (in contrast to our standard understanding of the living dead) they are only able to do so through a continuous ingestion of human (yuck!) brains.
This isn’t a story about surviving a brutal zombie apocalypse, or a story about a zombie apocalypse at all; it’s the story of one girl whose life is completely turned upside down when one night, she goes to a party as a career-driven human and comes home the next day as a brains-eating zombie. A.V.Club
When Liv Moore (pun intended) becomes a brain eating zombie … she has two options, either quit and become what she’s been cursed with or fight back and help save the night and realize her true potential as a defender. Fortunately in her new colleague she’s found an unexpected ally who is searching for a cure for her affliction and perhaps there is hope that Liv will get her perfect life back. Also fortunately her brain eating habit gives her a gift that is somewhat unexpected … namely memories/visions from the mind of her victims (?) and with this gift she is able to help the police solve their murders.
While this is a bit of a stretch (we are talking about zombies so I’m hoping you’re not expecting too much in the way of realism!) it makes for good TV and her interactions with the detective are quite good (although a bit stilted so I hope this sorts itself out in future episodes). With her new purpose in life (helping people find closure after their death) Liv is able to finally break out of the funk that she was in since her transformation and is now finally able to get on with her life … ummm, wait that doesn’t work – well you know what I mean!