Sorry, what I meant is, "So liberals think that immigrants are zombies! So do we!"
My bad.
iZombie Season 5
- Thread starter Phoenix219
- Start date
Sorry, what I meant is, "So liberals think that immigrants are zombies! So do we!"
My bad.
Which is obviously a straw-man argument twisting the facts to fit the conservatives' rhetoric, and thus is not worth taking seriously as a criticism of the story. It is in no way a "rightful" criticism.
I think the show itself sometimes glosses over the fact that its "zombies" are not actually zombies. They're not supernaturally reanimated corpses like the racist food-truck lady claimed on the TV interview show. They're living people with a medical condition whose symptoms express in a fashion coincidentally resembling the "Romero zombie" of modern fiction (or rather, the Dan O'Bannon zombie, since it was Return of the Living Dead in 1985 that introduced the brain-eating trope to the mythos). So discrimination against them is analogous to, say, discrimination against people living with HIV. The show isn't saying they're subhuman monsters, it's saying they're people trying to cope with a condition that isn't their fault and don't deserve to be persecuted for it. (And the perceived threat of disease/infection has routinely been used as an excuse for racist arguments against immigration, so the metaphor works there too.)
Nonsense. The origins of the zombie myth are found in voodoo tradition, not in Romero's films, and are more complex and various than simply "reanimated dead people."
Just as a Google search, whilst still superficial, can yield somewhat deeper insight into a subject than does defaulting to Wikipedia.
Just as a Google search, whilst still superficial, can yield somewhat deeper insight into a subject than does defaulting to Wikipedia.
Zombies are very folklore accurate. It's just that the modern zombie is the antiquity vampire.
Yes, that's exactly the point of using "Romero zombie" to differentiate the modern pop-culture version from the almost completely different traditional concept of zombies from vodoun. It's not ignorant of the real lore, it's an acknowledgment of the real lore as something distinct from the modern "zombie" concept as seen in the show.
That's a nonsense statement.
There are not "actual zombies" that are "supernaturally reanimated corpses." That's merely one popular culture variant definition of "zombie."
As I already said, the zombie myth has its roots in voodoo practice and may refer, among other things, to stories of people drugged into slavery.
They tried to get back to basics this week with an episode that focused more on the murder-of-the-week and funny investigation than the bigger arc stuff, and it worked better than the usual brain-of-the-week stuff these days, since it was more like the old days where Liv's new personalities just informed and modulated her investigative work rather than taking her over to the point that it got in the way of the story and was just an annoying distraction. The whole "use the brain persona to go undercover" idea was a good way to achieve that balance.
The ending was weirdly inconclusive, though. Did that guy confess? Did he commit suicide? It seemed more like he poisoned himself by accident -- if he was actually the poisoner, which I guess is what we were supposed to take away from that. But it was hard to tell.
The ending was weirdly inconclusive, though. Did that guy confess? Did he commit suicide? It seemed more like he poisoned himself by accident -- if he was actually the poisoner, which I guess is what we were supposed to take away from that. But it was hard to tell.
I'll admit, I had issues last season when Clive just abruptly broke up with Michelle and immediately got back together with Dale, but I do like they're addressing that with added complications now.
The stuff with the zombie kids at school actually was an intriguing concept which I feel should have had more focus than the underused side plot in a pretty crowded episode.
The main plotline with Liv and Ravi undercover as dancers was enjoyable. But I'm unclear, wouldn't it have just been simpler to have both of them eat the brains of both victims, that way Ravi would know how to dance too. I mean, I know the deal is Ravi only has to eat brains every once and a while, but couldn't the writers have just decided that yes, this week is a week he needs a brain. It could have added a unique element to the episode of having both Liv and Ravi solve the murder by having them both get visions providing clues to the murderers identity. And we could be spared the Ravi learns to dance montage, which I felt went on way too long.
The stuff with the zombie kids at school actually was an intriguing concept which I feel should have had more focus than the underused side plot in a pretty crowded episode.
The main plotline with Liv and Ravi undercover as dancers was enjoyable. But I'm unclear, wouldn't it have just been simpler to have both of them eat the brains of both victims, that way Ravi would know how to dance too. I mean, I know the deal is Ravi only has to eat brains every once and a while, but couldn't the writers have just decided that yes, this week is a week he needs a brain. It could have added a unique element to the episode of having both Liv and Ravi solve the murder by having them both get visions providing clues to the murderers identity. And we could be spared the Ravi learns to dance montage, which I felt went on way too long.
But the comic core of the episode was Ravi's utter dread of dancing and the fact that he had to work to overcome it. If he'd been as gung-ho about dancing as Liv was, there would've been no contrast and the humor wouldn't have been there.
So did I miss something? Who was killing everyone with cyanide?
I think the guy who died at the end was the murderer, that he'd meant to poison the woman and hadn't intended the man to drink it too, and I guess he either committed suicide or somehow accidentally put the poisoned supplement in his own drink. It was very unclear and they should've explained it better.
Well, it was so blatantly predictable that the teacher who had all sorts of compromising pictures taken of him would not be the best person to entrust with the keys to Renegade's kingdom, that I really shouldn't be surprised that they didn't bother to drag it out for another week or three and decided to just have him be compromised halfway through this episode.
So it seems like we've got two major new antagonists set up tonight. One who wants to lead an army of zombies and one who wants to lead an army to wipe them out. Not sure which I should be more worried about.
Speaking of Major, I really hope that was a big hint they dropped tonight. Right after Peyton and Ravi rejected attempt #1 at pro-zombie publicity, they cut to Major doing what he did when we met him in season 1: interacting positively with troubled youth. I kind of hope that's a hint that before the end of the season, he'll be done with FG and will wind up being a positive inspiration for human/zombie relations going forward.
Similarly, tonight's episode also had a quick ending to the police investigation. Though it seemed fairly obvious that the Fixture Castle zombie-hating guy would be set free.
So it seems like we've got two major new antagonists set up tonight. One who wants to lead an army of zombies and one who wants to lead an army to wipe them out. Not sure which I should be more worried about.
Speaking of Major, I really hope that was a big hint they dropped tonight. Right after Peyton and Ravi rejected attempt #1 at pro-zombie publicity, they cut to Major doing what he did when we met him in season 1: interacting positively with troubled youth. I kind of hope that's a hint that before the end of the season, he'll be done with FG and will wind up being a positive inspiration for human/zombie relations going forward.
I thought it was pretty obvious the guy offed himself after being found out.
Similarly, tonight's episode also had a quick ending to the police investigation. Though it seemed fairly obvious that the Fixture Castle zombie-hating guy would be set free.
And they oddly resemble each other, both husky gray-haired white men with facial hair. Maybe they'll turn out to be brothers?
If so, the direction and acting in the scene didn't convey that. It looked more to me like he was surprised by his poisoning and was pleadingly looking at his drinking bottle as if to say "Help, I've been poisoned." That's what confused me.
I don't mind quick, as long as it's comprehensible. In fact, I found this ending confusingly ambiguous too. Did they arrest Stephanie Lemelin's character and let the genocide-planning guy go? Or did they choose to keep the truth under wraps to protect zombiekind? I think the former was implied, but it wasn't really made clear.
The ending was rather abrupt this week. Corporate Lady confesses, and that's it. I thought maybe the network cut it because of time, but usually when that happens they just jump into the next show immediately, but here we still got credits and a preview for next week.
But otherwise, I enjoyed it, even if it does seem to be a lot of set-up for where the arc is going. Much to no one's surprise I'm sure, the French Filmore-Graves Inspector is in fact a bad guy working in league with who I'm guessing is meant to be the seasons main villain. Last week I complained the storyline with the school and the zombie kids was under utilized, but it seems they're spreading that out as a continuing story over the season. Blaine using martial arts on the protestors while the Brazilians from across the street played music was a fun sequence.
But otherwise, I enjoyed it, even if it does seem to be a lot of set-up for where the arc is going. Much to no one's surprise I'm sure, the French Filmore-Graves Inspector is in fact a bad guy working in league with who I'm guessing is meant to be the seasons main villain. Last week I complained the storyline with the school and the zombie kids was under utilized, but it seems they're spreading that out as a continuing story over the season. Blaine using martial arts on the protestors while the Brazilians from across the street played music was a fun sequence.
When the show started, I absolutely hated Blaine. Now, he's my favorite character. I still hold a grudge over the astronaut brains, though.
This one felt more like a season-1 episode, refreshingly. Since Liv couldn't lean on Clive to do the detective work, she had to be written like she used to be, as a functional person who still had her own agenda as a crimesolver with the brain persona merely influencing her approach and providing information, rather than the usual approach lately where she becomes a complete caricature of the brain-of-the-week and is practically useless except as comic relief.
I don't understand why Steve the IT guy didn't get killed by the sniper bullet. He's called "Vampire Steve," but that's just a nickname because he's a goth. I don't think he's a zombie. Did the shot just miss anything vital?
It seems rather coincidental that the big story about Blaine's murderous past breaks on the same day as the big story about the diseased kids' brains holding the zombie cure.
I don't understand why Steve the IT guy didn't get killed by the sniper bullet. He's called "Vampire Steve," but that's just a nickname because he's a goth. I don't think he's a zombie. Did the shot just miss anything vital?
It seems rather coincidental that the big story about Blaine's murderous past breaks on the same day as the big story about the diseased kids' brains holding the zombie cure.
It was kind of neat the way they inverted the interrogation scenes with Liv being the (semi)serious one and Clive being the one providing comic relief. I assume Malcolm Goodwin needed time off when this episode was filmed and that's why Clive has such a decreased presence this week?
The Filmore-Graves storyline was also pretty good, and for once I actually found the French Inspector interesting instead of a silly stereotype. Though I don't get the whole thing about Alzheimer's brains giving the zombies who ate them Alzheimer's. But the anti-zombie lady said she was mulching the brains into brain tubes, and indeed both Major and the other FG soldier afflicted were said to have consumed them from brain tubes. Brain tubes aren't supposed to pass along the personality traits of the people the brains are from, Alzheimer's shouldn't have been communicable through brain tubes.
The Filmore-Graves storyline was also pretty good, and for once I actually found the French Inspector interesting instead of a silly stereotype. Though I don't get the whole thing about Alzheimer's brains giving the zombies who ate them Alzheimer's. But the anti-zombie lady said she was mulching the brains into brain tubes, and indeed both Major and the other FG soldier afflicted were said to have consumed them from brain tubes. Brain tubes aren't supposed to pass along the personality traits of the people the brains are from, Alzheimer's shouldn't have been communicable through brain tubes.
I thought he was a zombie? Wasn't there some mention of him turning zombie for love, or something in a previous episode?
Apparently he's directing next week's episode.
The reason brain tubes don't induce personality traits is that they're mixed together from so many different brains that (eww, I thought about what I was saying... I need a moment... ew) -- that there's not enough memory/personality from any single one to have an effect on the eater. Dolly had her guy on the inside bypass the mixing machinery and put the Alzheimer's brains straight into the tubes.
This week's was a really good episode, getting a day in the life of Blaine and Don E with Major mixed in. Blaine and Don E did a really great job carrying this episode I didn't even notice that Liv, Clive and Ravi were essentially cameos for this episode except for watching the scenes they were in. UFreightEeze (or however it's spelled) is one hella clever name too for a pretty obvious Amazon analogue.
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