ZOMBIES FOR A NEW GENERATION

ZOMBIES FOR A NEW GENERATION

As far as television and movies are concerned, the living dead is the new fad. Zombies are everywhere, from horror movies to video games. After the huge success of The Walking Dead, one would think that it would be hard to pull off another great zombie show, but creators Diane Ruggiero and Rob Thomas managed to have pulled one out of thin air-or rather, out of a comic book.
“iZombie” is the story of Liv Moore, a medical student who joins her friends on a yacht for a much needed night out, with disastrous consequences. During the party, the guests get attacked by a small zombie outbreak, one of the victims being Liv. She gets scratched, and an hour later she wakes up in a body bag with white skin, blue lips, and a hunger for human brains. Liv goes from promising medical student to a reclusive mortician living off of brains and hot sauce. Instead of just simple brain eating to survive, other things happen to Liv when she feeds. She takes on the traits and personality of the person, which also causes visions of how they died. This lends her an interesting job as a “psychic” for the local police, particularly as the sidekick to detective Clive Babineaux. Liv loses a fiance, but gains an unexpected ally in her boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, who thinks he can cure her. “iZombie” was originally a comic book by Chris Roberson and Michael Allred, published by DC Comics.
Something else that makes this show interesting is that the cast is made up of almost all up and coming actors who do not have many credit under their name. Rose McIver plays Liv, who is mostly known as Tinkerbell on the hit show “Once Upon A Time”. Clive is played by Malcolm Goodwin, known for a few high ranking movies such as “Leatherheads” and “American Gangster”, and various television show appearances, including “Law & Order” and the newest show currently filming, “Wayward Pines”. Rahul Kohli has the least acting credits of the group, only having appeared in a few short films over the last few years. Other actors include Aly Michalka as Liv’s roommate Peyton, Robert Buckley as Major, Liv’s former fiance, and David Anders, who plays Liv’s rival and creator, Blaine DeBeers.
Critics are also taking off with this show, including EW.com, which says, “…something of a Lady Frankenstein built from our best female-hero pop, iZombie nonetheless injects fresh life into the increasingly staid genre of supernatural TV.” Websites like IGN and Variety likens it to “Veronica Mars”, with a strong female lead and dry, sarcastic humor supplied by our heroin. The only thing curious about the plot is that it seems like no one in her immediate circle-her best friend and rommate, ex fiance, and her mother-all seem oblivious to her zombie traits, even though her hair went from brown to blond, her body went from sun kissed to the color of milk, and her lively, driven personality seemed to go flat for a while. One would wonder when someone would catch on to Liv’s little secret. Aside from that small plot hole, iZombie promises to be a witty, funny addition to nighttime television, and it lacks something that most shows rely on for views and interest-a love story or triangle. Liv, in the few episodes that have aired, only shows a little interest in her lost lover, but overall the show focuses more on Liv’s case solving and personal zombie crisis, which is refreshing considering most feminine leads seem to require some kind of male involved plot to go over well.
“iZombie” has only three episodes so far, and new episodes air every Tuesday at 9/8 central. If you can’t catch it on television. you can watch new episodes on the CW website, cwtv.com, or on other streaming sites such as CouchTuner.com.