iZombie Season 1 Discussion and Spoilers

[shivkala]

The undead girls name is Liv(e)?

Second name is Moore.

Moore (or less a)liv(e)?

Go #### yourself Rob Thomas.

Are you trying to psychologically condition us with subliminal messages?

####

Or, simply, she died, but she gets to Liv(e) Moore.

I'm confused as to how this version of zombification works. She is clearly spitting up water and breathing heavy when she escapes from the body bag. She must be able to process food. She has brain functions and no rotting of her skin or organs (even if it wasn't visible, no one is remarking about her smelling different). She seems to still sleep. It seems this is more the "mostly dead" category of zombies.

Granted, I don't necessarily need answers to these questions, but genre shows either go one of two ways, lately, they either put their stuff out there and have you accept it or not, or they over-explain everything. The Walking Dead is an example of the first, while later seasons of Lost veered towards the latter (though still keeping some things unexplained). Honestly, the explanations tend to cause problems, so it might be best to say, "Liv is what happens when certain people are bitten/scratched by those affected by the drug, and that's that."

Along with that, are we supposed to suspend disbelief that a friend/family member is found dead, then declared not dead, has gone completely white, broken up with her fiancee, switched jobs, etc. and no one is worried? She hasn't had a doctor's appointment? No questions asked?

Dr. Chakrabarti reminds me a lot of Felix from Orphan Black, but with a focus on science, rather than Felix's interests. I think he was my favorite character, so far.

I definitely enjoyed it, despite the questions, and look forward to next week's episode.

 

[Mudd]

Yeah, since zombie stuff has never interested me before I'm not having problems with this version. But then, BTVS made up their own version of the mythology as they went along too.

 

[Guy Gardener]

No rotting. Just slowed metabolism. 10 heartbeats per minute they said.

Semistasis?

 

[Christopher]

I thought it was trying too hard with the snark at times, but it's okay. I find zombies rather disgusting, which made me wary of this, but I gave it a try due to the combination of Rob Thomas and Rose McIver (one of my favorite Power Rangers, and the third Power Rangers RPM cast member to star or recur in a CW show after Reign's Adelaide Kane and The Originals' Eka Darville). I fear the procedural thing gives it a certain sameness to things we've seen before, but a lot of shows these days seem to start out emphasizing the procedural or case-of-the-week side to sate the network suits and the viewers with more conventional tastes, and then branch out in other directions as they mature -- cf. Dollhouse, Orphan Black, or Constantine. So this show may well follow suit. I saw an interview with Thomas where he basically admitted that the brain-eating visions were an excuse to spend less time on the mystery-solving and leave more room for the "zombie mythology."

I do like it, though, that the lead character is dealing with her zombification by mainlining zombie movies. It's kind of metatextually poking fun at the premise, which makes it more palatable. It also brings back fond memories of The Middleman's Wendy Watson and her love of zombie movies.

Along with that, are we supposed to suspend disbelief that a friend/family member is found dead, then declared not dead, has gone completely white, broken up with her fiancee, switched jobs, etc. and no one is worried? She hasn't had a doctor's appointment? No questions asked?

The very first thing we saw them do was stage an intervention and try to convince her to get professional help. Clearly they're worried, but they assume she's just suffering PTSD and adopted her albino look as some kind of lifestyle thing.

And didn't Liv say that the coroner guy at the beach was so embarrassed about bagging a "live" person that he didn't report it? If so, then they don't know that she was "found dead," they just think she was slightly injured and emotionally traumatized.

 

[Saga]

I gave it a try due to the combination of Rob Thomas and Rose McIver (one of my favorite Power Rangers, and the third Power Rangers RPM cast member to star or recur in a CW show after Reign's Adelaide Kane and The Originals' Eka Darville).

i didn't even realize she was RMP Yellow till you posted that.

 

[shivkala]

Along with that, are we supposed to suspend disbelief that a friend/family member is found dead, then declared not dead, has gone completely white, broken up with her fiancee, switched jobs, etc. and no one is worried? She hasn't had a doctor's appointment? No questions asked?

The very first thing we saw them do was stage an intervention and try to convince her to get professional help. Clearly they're worried, but they assume she's just suffering PTSD and adopted her albino look as some kind of lifestyle thing.

And didn't Liv say that the coroner guy at the beach was so embarrassed about bagging a "live" person that he didn't report it? If so, then they don't know that she was "found dead," they just think she was slightly injured and emotionally traumatized.

I get that they are worried about her, but, especially with her being a doctor, you'd think they'd want her to get a physical.

And I get that the medical examiner on the beach was freaked, but so much so, they let someone they considered dead just a few minutes before, who clearly had wounds just walk away without checking her out? Sort of, "Oh, you're actually alive, but injured. That's fine, sorry we bagged you, since you're not gushing blood, everything must be fine, continue on your way."

 

[Christopher]

^Well, I might be misremembering the specifics. But the thing to remember is that it's been several months since her zombification. Presumably she found some way to convince her family that she was medically healthy, but we didn't get to see that part because we're jumping on at a later point in the story.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I think her zombification was probably progressive, too. For example, Liv's hair just had a "streak of death" in it to start with; it wasn't totally bleached out at first. Her heartbeat and all her vital signs were probably in the normal range to start with, so she could pass all her physicals and get released. If her heartbeat had been seven beats per minute right away, no way would she have gotten released. Having appeared normal at first would help her stay under the radar.

 

[Guy Gardener]

She needed an immediate source of brains, and the knowledge that she needed an immediate source of brains before she got too stupid to work out that she needed brains. Although her claim to survive on a minimalistic diet suggests maybe a week or two between feedings and not days or hours.

How many people died before she found an ethical recourse?

 

[Velocity]

I like this show and its take on zombies. She's smart and a good character in an interesting situation.

 

[JD]

This was a lot of fun. Definitely sticking with it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Her parents must think that she's dying her hair white.

That's what the super stuckup Goths do to distinguish themselves as alphagoths.

Is she backing up this lifestyle change by pretending to adopt other practices of counter culture?

I feel like I've been grooming the flatemate/friend.

A long time ago she was an adorable Disney childstar Princess.

More recently she was the lesbian who didn't know what a shirt was on Two and a Half Men.

 

[theenglish]

There was this surreal point during season one where Veronica tried to explain to the baddies that they were not above the law and that she was going to get them.



Well worth binging over a couple weekends.

This wasn't her Frozen audition?

 

[propita]

Dvr’d it. Will watch it later.

Is it kinda Tru Calling with zombies?

 

[Greg Cox]

Dvr’d it. Will watch it later.

Is it kinda Tru Calling with zombies?

In concept, maybe. In terms of tone, it's more like Buffy or Veronica Mars. Think offbeat and quirky.

Another fun ep last night. I particularly enjoyed the banter between the two zombies (now there's a phrase I never thought I'd type) and the way the artist's brain made Liv more passionate and artistic. ("Bad cop/horny cop" . . . hah!)

So, is there really a dog-friendly internet cafe in the Queen Anne district in Seattle?

 

[Mudd]

So, was /S/p/i/k/e Blaine at all honest in trying to "reform?" The dialogue he was having with the two toughs in the car when Liv happened along and apparently misunderstood left a little daylight there, at least until the end.

Enjoying the cast and moments enough to give this one a few more weeks.

 

[Greg Cox]

So, was /S/p/i/k/e Blaine at all honest in trying to "reform?" The dialogue he was having with the two toughs in the car when Liv happened along and apparently misunderstood left a little daylight there, at least until the end.

Enjoying the cast and moments enough to give this one a few more weeks.

Oh, I think he's definitely a bad guy. The business with the two toughs was ambiguous, but what he did to that woman he picked up in the bar was not. He's bad news.

 

[Mudd]

Did the pick-up precede the bit with the bad guys? I'd like to see the script for this one.

 

[Greg Cox]

Did the pick-up precede the bit with the bad guys? I'd like to see the script for this one.

If I'm remembering right, I think the initial pickup came first, but the nasty punchline came after.

 

[Mudd]

It's vaguely possible that he injured ZombieMILF by accident. While he's hanging out processing that and waiting for Liv, his old confederates come looking for him, he rages out and kills them both in what he thinks of as self-defense; at some point he gets that Liv ain't bringing home the brains and he just goes WTF, might as well put his professional experience as a dealer to use to support his new lifestyle. Just the bad day to end bad days.