Maybe you’re sick of the word “zombies”, or maybe you’e not interested in the series that revolves around supernatural creatures. Believe it or not, The CW’s “iZombie” is the most talked-about TV series of the month. It’s new, it’s interesting, and most importantly, it’s not your typical zombie show.
Before you decide to skip the show, it’s best to find out why this new zombie show is receiving rave reviews from viewers and critics.
iZOMBiE – (L) Rose McIver Liv Moore and (R) Rahul Kohli as Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti
For the past few decades, zombies are rarely depicted as attractive or sensible characters because they are supposed to be these scary reanimated human corpses with a hunger for human flesh. Both zombies and vampires are “undead” characters, but zombies don’t have the ability to heal themselves. Thus, humans are always drawn to the ridiculously good-looking vampires shown in today’s pop culture.
But, does that mean we are about to see tonnes of rotten beasts in “iZombie”? Well, not really.
Come to think of it, zombies can be quite attractive too. Nicholas Hoult portrayed one of the most attractive zombies in “Warm Bodies” while Aubrey Plaza played a cute yet slightly psychotic zombie girlfriend in “Life After Beth“. If people are attracted to the zombies from these zom-com-rom-drams, why can’t they watch a show that would feature some equally attractive zombies?
iZOMBiE – (L) David Anders as Blaine and (R) Rose McIver as Liv Moore
Of course, there are a lot of reasons for you to check out “iZombie” and we’re going to tell you exactly why it is going to be your new favourite show on TV:
1. It could be the best zombie show ever
We anticipated it, we watched it, and now we want to see more of it. The CW’s “iZombie” is officially one of our favourite TV series and we are excited to see how the story unfolds in its upcoming episodes. It is no wonder that the show is putting up some stiff competition for other networks as the pilot episode is getting some great reviews. The dialogues are witty yet intelligent and we are already seeing a bit of the character development in the pilot episode.
Rose McIver, who starred in ABC’s “Once Upon A Time” as Tinker Bell, is playing Olivia “Liv” Moore, the central character of the series. Her character is a 25-year-old overachieving medical resident that becomes part zombie after attending a party that shockingly turned into a “zombie feeding frenzy”. Though she will be eating brains in just about every episode, the show doesn’t focus too much on the gruesome parts because she is in control of her humanity. While unveiling the mysteries behind the zombie outbreak, showrunner Rob Thomas approached the series by focusing more on the human side of Liv, which is why viewers can be rest assured that it’s not too disgusting to watch.
2. Rose McIver’s character is not the hero we deserved, but the hero we needed
The series boasts a star-studded cast and Rose McIver was perfectly cast as Liv, which is based on a character named Gwen from DC Comics’s Vertigo’s cult comic hit “iZombie”. She may not be wearing a mask or donning a superhero costume like the rest of the superheroes from the DC universe, but she is definitely a heroic character.
In the series, Liv works in a police morgue for the accessibility to the brains of the deceased. However, there are side effects from eating the brains. Liv would experience flashes of the deceased’s memories every time she eats a brain. The memories give clues as to how they were killed, which ultimately allow her to work with a homicide detective, Clive Babineaux, to help solve these murders. In addition, she would possess a new skill from the brains she consumed too. Viewers can expect to see more of her “special” power every time she eats a brain.
So, with her newly found psychic power, isn’t she the hero the city needs?
3. The new “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “Veronica Mars”?
The show bears a striking resemblance to many other shows we’ve watched on TV, including “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Veronica Mars“, “Dead Like Me”, and heck, even Bryan Fuller’s “Pushing Daisies”. It almost feels like “iZombie” grabbed all of the good parts of these shows and threw them into a mix.
Of course, we wouldn’t be surprised if this reminds you of “Veronica Mars” because it is, after all, created by “Veronica Mars” showrunner Rob Thomas. Liv Moore is similar with Veronica in many ways, from their cynical personalities to the way she feels about other people, to her crime-solving abilities.
During an interview with THR, Thomas revealed that various “Veronica Mars” actors would be featured in the show including Percy Daggs (Wallace), Ryan Hansen (Dick), and Daran Norris (Cliff).
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” fans may also find themselves attached to the show because this is like #TeamSpike and #TeamAngel all over again. We haven’t seen much from the series, but in terms of looks and personalities, Liv’s ex-fiance Major (played by Robert Buckley) and Blaine (played by David Anders), the evil zombie and the main antagonist of the series, sort of resemble Angel and Spike.
4. An elevation of police procedural genre with an overarching mystery
Rob Thomas’ “iZombie” may revolve around zombie mythology, but it is mostly a police procedural with an overaching mystery. When Liv works at a police morgue, she depends on the memories extracted from the brains of the deceased to assist in solving the murder cases. She develops some special skills along the way, which will ultimately help her to solve the mysteries behind the zombie outbreak.
In the pilot episode of the series, Liv found out that she was not the only zombie in town after experiencing a vision from a brain she consumed. This allowed her to seek other zombies and helped her boss, the brilliant but eccentric conspiracy theorist Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, to find a cure for her condition.
Every epsiode will offer a hint or a clue for what could be a great season-long of mystery instead of just being a killer-of-the-week drama. Can her boss cure her condition? That’s for us to find out if we keep up with the show.
5. It’s loosely based on the original comic and there’s no multi-monster universe
If you’re planning to familiarise yourself with the series by reading the original “iZombie” comics, we’d suggest you stop.
The show is going to be different from the comics because it is loosely based on the DC comic of the same name created by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred. Though Liv has a couple of werewolves and mummies friends in the comics, the show is strictly about zombies because Thomas told THR that he didn’t want it to be the next multi-monster show. He prefers the zombies in the series to be “caused by a virus than coming from a mummy’s curse.”
Thus, instead of getting her daily source of brains from the book’s grave-digger character, she works at a morgue and eats the brains of the deceased (in moderate amounts of course) instead.
6. It can create a whole new zombie obsession
Forget vampires, zombies could the next “it” monsters in town because well, a crime-solving zombie is a total badass. I mean, it’s not always that we get to see zombies do good things for humans because the zombies portrayed in the films or TV series are absolutely terrifying. Have you seen the zombies from 2013’s “World War Z“? Exactly. We don’t want to run into those zombies at all.
“iZombie” takes a fresh approach to the myth by introducing a zombie who can live among us like a normal human being. Just like the zombies in “Warm Bodies”, the show will play a part in changing our perception towards zombies. They are no longer just the mindless rotten beasts because they can be in control of their own humanity and can do what we do. Without Liv, detective Clive Babineaux may not be able to solve crimes at ease either.
Excited? Don’t forget to tune into Warner TV HD (HyppTV Channel 613 and the HyppTV Everywhere mobile app) on 22nd March (Sunday) at 9pm to catch the exclusive Malaysian premiere of “iZombie”.
New episodes will air every Sunday at 9pm with repeats on Thursdays at 10pm.
(Source: TV Junkies, THR)