iZombie Season 1 Discussion and Spoilers
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^As I often say, many shows start out conforming to a conventional procedural model for the first few weeks to make themselves unthreatening to the network suits and the more cautious viewers, but then ease into the more original and distinctive stuff as the season progresses. Get too weird too soon and you'll alienate people, so there's an initial, tentative period of playing it safe to win the execs' and viewers' trust before you kick into high gear. Think about how Orphan Black, for instance, initially had its lead character impersonate a homicide cop, complete with your standard procedural trappings, but then blew that status quo out of the water and never looked back. So I'm not ready to assume the procedural elements here define the entire show. If it's still like this eight or ten weeks from now, then maybe. But I won't be surprised if this show follows the same pattern as lots of other shows and builds a deeper, richer mythology that will gradually come to predominate over the case-of-the-week elements.
And we saw hints of that here, with things like Liv and Ravi learning more about the long-term fate of unfed zombies and Blaine getting his hooks into the kid Major was working with (good lord, the character names on this show). As for the case-of-the-week elements, I like it that the cases are really just catalysts for personality-change-of-the-week stories. In a lot of ways, it's more a psychological drama (-slash-comedy) than a procedural. The story last week about absorbing the artist's talent and worldview was beautiful.
And we saw hints of that here, with things like Liv and Ravi learning more about the long-term fate of unfed zombies and Blaine getting his hooks into the kid Major was working with (good lord, the character names on this show). As for the case-of-the-week elements, I like it that the cases are really just catalysts for personality-change-of-the-week stories. In a lot of ways, it's more a psychological drama (-slash-comedy) than a procedural. The story last week about absorbing the artist's talent and worldview was beautiful.
Major, the ex, is a bore. I'd be more interest in Liv and Clive; there's some chemistry and she needs to recognize that her new half-life has moved her into a different world with different interests.
In terms of the cast's evolution, do you suppose they're swapping out the roommate for the brother?
In terms of the cast's evolution, do you suppose they're swapping out the roommate for the brother?
Boy, they were working the Seattle dialogue tonight:
"So, you went to U-Dub, too?"
"I'll bet you a cup of chowder at Ivar's that . . . "
A reference to legal pot, etc.
Whoever is in charge of getting the local color right is earning their paycheck. I figure a bikini barista episode is only a matter of time . . ..
"So, you went to U-Dub, too?"
"I'll bet you a cup of chowder at Ivar's that . . . "
A reference to legal pot, etc.
Whoever is in charge of getting the local color right is earning their paycheck. I figure a bikini barista episode is only a matter of time . . ..
I'm just going to say it: thanks to this show, I'm in love with a zombie.
Liv is quickly becoming one of the best new characters on TV; she's 1 part Buffy, 1 part Jordan Cavanaugh, 1 part Audrey Parker, and 1 part Ms. Fortune (from Skullgirls). I loved her reaction in tonight's episode when she discovered she'd learned kung-fu as a side-effect of her most recent brain consumption escapade.
Liv is quickly becoming one of the best new characters on TV; she's 1 part Buffy, 1 part Jordan Cavanaugh, 1 part Audrey Parker, and 1 part Ms. Fortune (from Skullgirls). I loved her reaction in tonight's episode when she discovered she'd learned kung-fu as a side-effect of her most recent brain consumption escapade.
So how does the damned Utopium figure into any of this? They mention it every week.
Who's "Patient Zero" here? Blaine is the obvious one, but when we first see him at the boat party he's just a normal run-of-the-mill sleazebag. So, sometime during the evening he just suddenly turns zombie and wreaks all that havoc all by his lonesome? Later, when he converts ZombieMilf she doesn't seem to even notice until sometime the next day. What'd I miss?
Who's "Patient Zero" here? Blaine is the obvious one, but when we first see him at the boat party he's just a normal run-of-the-mill sleazebag. So, sometime during the evening he just suddenly turns zombie and wreaks all that havoc all by his lonesome? Later, when he converts ZombieMilf she doesn't seem to even notice until sometime the next day. What'd I miss?
I'd say there's quite a bit of Veronica Mars in there, considering it's a Rob Thomas show.
That was great for me, because Rose McIver is a former Power Ranger (the RPM Yellow Ranger). I'm sure much of the fighting was stunt-doubled, but I like to think she got to use some of her old skills here.
I thought the zombie henchmen looking to strike out on their own were interesting characters. It's impressive that the show would put so much work into building characters who were doomed to be killed off.
^ I've never seen Veronica Mars, so I was comparing Liv to characters from stuff that I'm familiar with. 
^Well, Veronica got compared to Buffy a lot herself.
I'm really enjoying the show so far. The characters are pretty fun, well Liv, Clive and Ravi at least, the whole personality change things is also a lot of fun, and the cases have been fairly interesting.
As for the treatment of Zombies, I think some of it at least, does come from the comics.
As for the treatment of Zombies, I think some of it at least, does come from the comics.
From what I gather, it's about the only thing that does. The lead character doesn't even have the same name. (And really, who thought "Liv Moore" was a good name for a "dead" girl? That's just way too on-the-nose.)
It's interesting that they changed so much from the comic, yet had Mike Allred do the title sequence.
Remember Jasmine and Aladdin sang "it's brand new world!" in Aladdin?
That's pretty much how Veronica felt that when it was finally confirmed that her exboyfriend who drugged and dateraped her wasn't her biological half brother.
"REEEEEESULT! I wasn't raped by a family member!"
Yeah?
Isn't it amazing in comparrison how light all this Zombi stuff is?
That's pretty much how Veronica felt that when it was finally confirmed that her exboyfriend who drugged and dateraped her wasn't her biological half brother.
"REEEEEESULT! I wasn't raped by a family member!"
Yeah?
Isn't it amazing in comparrison how light all this Zombi stuff is?
She was a Power Ranger.
It's silly to ignore that she knows how to do that.
Although last week a willingness to turn people into meat, seemed a lot more effective than knowing how to fight that well.
It's silly to ignore that she knows how to do that.
Although last week a willingness to turn people into meat, seemed a lot more effective than knowing how to fight that well.
I felt Veronica had a lot of positivity to her (which she got from Keith, no doubt). She wasn't solely obsessed with her personal vendettas, but was in the business of helping other people with their problems. She was driven, but not bitter or cold.
Liv isn't that different, from what I've seen. She's also a character who went through a personal trauma in the recent past, has been trying to cope with its consequences, and has chosen to do so in part by solving crimes. Oh, and they're both big on first-person narration. Of course, there are differences too -- Liv doesn't have the world's best dad, Veronica didn't eat brains as a rule -- but they're not without their similarities.
There's no strong sense that anyone in iZombie wants anything desperately that they can't easily have - with the exception of Liv wanting Major, which is not interesting so far because he's not interesting and in their one brief "before" scene they weren't interesting together.
So far, things are going swimmingly for Blaine, Clive's solving homicides, Ravi's enjoying working with a zombie a little too much and Liv's got a table at the all-the-brains-you-can-eat buffet. She even expresses less ongoing curiosity about a "cure" than Ravi does.
So far iZombie is nothing more than this season's variation on the ever-persistent (if not ever-popular or ever-successful) "Good Cop/Weird Cop" subgenre.
So after watching this week's episode, I still like the show, but holy smokes, it feels like there are way too many zombies running around. The chief is a zombie, and he seemed to recognize that in her. Obviously he's a bad guy, covering up all the missing persons at the skate park. Musician boyfriend might turn out to be an okay guy, but we'll have to see. He's certainly a prime candidate to have made off with the energy drink lady that drugged and killed Holly. Perhaps his idea of justice, though he obviously got some food out of it.
There must be hundreds of zombies all over the Seattle area by now, so many that it seems hard to believe they can keep this outbreak a secret. Somebody is going to slip up sooner or later.
There was some suggestion that this show would only keep up the premise of a cop/investigation/procedural for the first few episodes, and then shift into something else. The ever-increasing zombie population may be a big part of where this show is going.
There must be hundreds of zombies all over the Seattle area by now, so many that it seems hard to believe they can keep this outbreak a secret. Somebody is going to slip up sooner or later.
There was some suggestion that this show would only keep up the premise of a cop/investigation/procedural for the first few episodes, and then shift into something else. The ever-increasing zombie population may be a big part of where this show is going.
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