iZombie Season 1 Discussion and Spoilers

[Greg Cox]

Xander being blinded in one eye was done purely to 'surprise' the audience, and is the worst creative decision Joss Whedon ever made, so I stand by my opinion.

The iZombie writers were on a roll last night, only to go and shoot themselves in the foot with a completely unnecessary 'twist' that did way more harm than good.

I'm so dissatisfied with what went down that I may never watch this episode again.

But . . . but . . . it had talking cartoon devils and astronaut-brain sushi. What's not to love?

And I've got to ask: What was so awful about Xander losing an eye? Not that I have strong feelings on the subject, but I wasn't aware that that was considered a big mistake or even all that controversial, let alone the worst thing Whedon had ever done. I see much more people arguing about the Spike/Buffy relationship or complaining about the "Bad Beer" episode.

Personally, I thought ruining Xander's and Anya's wedding was a mistake. The eye thing . . . not so much. (Especially since the series was almost over at that point anyway, so it's not like Nicholas Brendon was going to have to wear an eyepatch for another three years or so.)

 

[DigificWriter]

The Johnny Frost thing worked; the Major thing didn't. It's that simple.

 

[Greg Cox]

The Johnny Frost thing worked; the Major thing didn't. It's that simple.

To each their own. I think the Major thing worked because it gave Liv hope, than yanked the rug out from under her in a nicely sneaky way.

But, to be fair, she really does need to come clean with Major soon . . . for real next time.

 

[DigificWriter]

What was so awful about Xander losing an eye? Not that I have strong feelings on the subject, but I wasn't aware that that was considered a big mistake or even all that controversial, let alone the worst thing Whedon had ever done. I see much more people arguing about the Spike/Buffy relationship or complaining about the "Bad Beer" episode.

Personally, I thought ruining Xander's and Anya's wedding was a mistake. The eye thing . . . not so much.

Myself and another poster here - Caligula - were definitely a minority as far as hating the decision to blind Xander is/was concerned, but our reasons for hating it basically boil down to it being done purely for shock value, which it was.

 

[Christopher]

Is it really shock value to show that facing danger has consequences, or is it realism? It's like Whedon said about Age of Ultron -- he saw it as a war story, and he didn't think it was honest to tell a war story in which nobody suffered a loss. Buffy's characters were certainly in a war againt evil, especially in the final season, so it makes sense that he'd want there to be honest consequences there too. And not every loss in war is a death. Lots of people come back missing body parts. That's shocking, yes, but it reflects reality. It's honest. I can't understand why you think it's wrong to portray something so real.

Besides, there are a lot of people with disabilities in the world. How is it wrong to include them in fiction, to acknowledge their existence? The thing about physical disabilities is that they could happen to any of us at any time. So why shouldn't it happen to a series regular? Why shouldn't it be acknowledged as a part of life?

 

[CorporalCaptain]

I thought this was an excellent episode. I really liked the twists of the imaginary people.

I hope Liv remembered to wipe her prints out of the apartment she called the cops on, before she am-scrayed.

Major had some balls hiding in the trunk.

 

[Greg Cox]

What was so awful about Xander losing an eye? Not that I have strong feelings on the subject, but I wasn't aware that that was considered a big mistake or even all that controversial, let alone the worst thing Whedon had ever done. I see much more people arguing about the Spike/Buffy relationship or complaining about the "Bad Beer" episode.

Personally, I thought ruining Xander's and Anya's wedding was a mistake. The eye thing . . . not so much.

Myself and another poster here - Caligula - were definitely a minority as far as hating the decision to blind Xander is/was concerned, but our reasons for hating it basically boil down to it being done purely for shock value, which it was.

Well, it was a horror show, so shock value is part of the recipe. Kinda like including dance numbers in a musical. Sometimes they're just there for their own sake--and don't require any further justification.

 

[Christopher]

I've never really been able to think of Buffy as a horror show, despite its use of horror tropes and monsters. A horror story is generally one in which the viewpoint characters are afraid, helpless, and frequently doomed. Buffy was anything but helpless, which was the whole point of Whedon's subversion. Not only did she have the power to fight back, but thanks to Giles and Willow and the gang, she had the knowledge to make her enemies into comprehensible threats rather than unnerving, eldritch mysteries. So to me, it feels more like a superhero show than a horror show -- albeit a superhero show in a horror universe.

 

[Greg Cox]

I've never really been able to think of Buffy as a horror show, despite its use of horror tropes and monsters. A horror story is generally one in which the viewpoint characters are afraid, helpless, and frequently doomed. Buffy was anything but helpless, which was the whole point of Whedon's subversion. Not only did she have the power to fight back, but thanks to Giles and Willow and the gang, she had the knowledge to make her enemies into comprehensible threats rather than unnerving, eldritch mysteries. So to me, it feels more like a superhero show than a horror show -- albeit a superhero show in a horror universe.

I can see that. In publishing terms, there's a blurry line between "Horror" and "Urban Fantasy," and a lot of the difference is whether the protagonists take a matter-of-fact approach to dealing with eldritch horrors--or are overcome with terror, dread, despair, madness etc.

 

[Greg Cox]

Okay, that was an eventful ep last night. Watching Liv go from cheerleader to stone was fun. . . and then there was that final twist with Peyton. (I'm be vague here.) I'm curious to see how that plays out.

So next week is the season finale? Seems like there's an awful lot of balls in the air to wrap up in just one week. And I'm not sure what to think about the subplot involving Liv's little brother, which, sure, they foreshadowed earlier, but who has barely been presence in the show so far. Seems odd to kick that subplot into gear so close to the end of the season . . ..

FYI: I have no idea if "Doc Maynard High School" is a real place, but, as I recall, Doc Maynard was a key figure in the early days of frontier Seattle.

(How have they managed to NOT do an ep about the Underground City yet?)

 

[Mudd]

Xander being blinded in one eye was done purely to 'surprise' the audience, and is the worst creative decision Joss Whedon ever made, so I stand by my opinion.

So...the fact that you have an opinion about BTVS is support for having an opinion about iZombie? That's pretty circular.

Considering how frequently fans have second-guessed and trashed "fan favorite" Joss Whedon as a no-talent over the years, I'm impressed that someone can so confidently name a "worst decision."

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Series still improving, looking forward to season finale next week.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Losing an eye, hooking up with Dawn or cheating on Cordelia with a lesbian?

 

[Christopher]

Nice to see Bex Taylor-Klaus again. She doesn't change her look much from role to role, does she? I wonder what happened to her at the end there. Did the fourth band member get zombified by the hitman, or is there something else going on?

Amusing how the opening scene played right into the horror-movie cliches, complete with the sexy blonde being the first to die.

But I'm starting to get tired of the convenience of every one of Liv's visions giving her exactly the information she needs to advance the case. Why doesn't she get random visions of, say, the victim brushing their teeth or watching a movie or getting stuck in traffic? The later seasons of The Dead Zone had the same problem. Originally, in that show, the writers were very creative about how the psychic visions worked and how they were as often confusing or misleading as revealing. But later on, as the show became more strictly procedural, the visions became more mechanical, just "Here, have an important plot point at exactly the moment it's most useful." And that was a lot more boring.

I do love the FX treatment of the visions, though, the simulation of seeing through someone's eyes complete with eyelashes and blinks. I've always wanted to see a "playback" of someone's visual perception presented that way, rather than just the unblinking camera's-eye view we usually get.

Oh, and by the way -- Liv saying "Hope is dead" was a bit too on the nose? This from a character whose name is Liv Moore and wants to live more. And whose perfect ex-boyfriend is named Major Lilywhite. And whose zombie nemesis dealing in brains is named Blaine. And it just occurred to me that maybe Clive is called that because he's the one who's alive. Naming the rat Hope is nothing next to all of that.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Bex was "pretending" to be a male skin head on The Killing.

I don't think she ever recovered from that haircut.

Although, she looks smaller here, than she does on Arrow.

Which is probably because the Arrow cast is so much, much shorter and thinner than than the Izombie cast.

 

[Mudd]

Meh, Liv gets the most recent and vivid memories first. That's a lot simpler, more plausible and obvious explanation than anything emitted by Star Trek in about forty years.

 

[Guy Gardener]

So the Alan York memories have jack shit about giant steps are what you take, walking on the moon?

 

[Greg Cox]

Nobody's commented on the finale yet. I thought it was pretty eventful--and surprisingly grisly, considering the show's often whimsical tone. Who knew Major would eventually turn out to a kick-ass zombie slayer after all.

I'm curious to see what happens next season, when Blaine's brain delivery system breaks down and all the zombies who were "managing" their condition get hungry. And that was a nicely dramatic cliffhanger . ...

Shame we didn't find out what's up with Peyton, though. Next season, I guess.

 

[Christopher]

I think they could've made it clearer why Captain Suzuki chose to sacrifice himself to implicate Blaine. Yeah, they've hinted that he was uneasy at being under Blaine's thumb, so I guess this was supposed to be an act of redemption, but I didn't really see a clear throughline. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It would've been nice to at least give him and Liv a scene together where they spoke truth to each other and he passed the torch in some way, made it clear what he was sacrificing himself for and how it tied into the rest.

Or is he even dead? It seems to take brain trauma to kill this show's zombies, and he was in an explosion. Maybe he just faked his death.

Odd that they bring in Brian Markinson as a new character in the finale. I suppose he'll have a bigger presence next season (now that Continuum is ending), but normally a character like that would be introduced at the start of the next season. Although I guess they needed someone for Steven Weber to give exposition to about his evil plans. (Argh, I wish we only had one way to spell Steven/Stephen. I hate having to look it up every damn time.)

The bit about eating Theresa's brain didn't really go anywhere. Liv only got one not-very-helpful vision and was a little more snarky and confrontational than usual.

Oh, and Ravi, if you don't want your desperate-to-be-cured zombie assistant to take the sole remaining sample of the cure before it's tested, then don't show her where it's stored in order to make a point about how she shouldn't take it! Hide the darn thing!!! The moment he took that vial out of the fridge and waved it in her face, it was like the writers were putting up a big caption saying "SHE'S TOTALLY GONNA TAKE IT, FOLKS."

Also, Liv, if you're doing a hostage exchange, make sure you see the hostage's face, not just his t-shirt!

 

[Greg Cox]

I think they could've made it clearer why Captain Suzuki chose to sacrifice himself to implicate Blaine. Yeah, they've hinted that he was uneasy at being under Blaine's thumb, so I guess this was supposed to be an act of redemption, but I didn't really see a clear throughline. It seemed to come out of nowhere. It would've been nice to at least give him and Liv a scene together where they spoke truth to each other and he passed the torch in some way, made it clear what he was sacrificing himself for and how it tied into the rest.

I assumed that, when he saw Meat Cute in ruins, he realized that the jig was up, that everything had gone to hell, and that he couldn't count on regular brain deliveries anymore. Faced with the prospect of having to start feeding on people's brains on their own, he decided he'd had enough . . ..

Plus, the prospect of having to somehow cover up another massacre might have been too much for him as well.