iZombie Is Another Entertaining Win For The CW

By Tim Murr

Throughout its first season, The CW’s iZombie has managed to be more entertaining than the last three seasons of The Walking Dead, which devolved from a must-see gory character drama to boring misery porn that suffers from hideous pacing. (And yes, I haven’t missed an episode and yes, some episodes were very good.)

iZombie, on the other hand, has moved along at nice pace, with a likable cast and cool story. It’s virtually gore free (save for some brain eating) and light on horror, but what sets iZombie apart from the other zombie shows/movies is that it has an original story concept.

Liv was an uptight good girl who wound up at a party where a mysterious new drug started turning everyone into zombies. Rather than dumb, slow moving, rotting corpses, though, these zombies just get pale and have a craving for brains. There is a devolved stage, where they can go full zombie which is pretty reminiscent of 28 Days Later’s rage virus. While everyone was thought to have died at the party, Liv “survived” and her whole world went sideways as she adjusted to life as a member of the living dead.

Liv derails her medical career and takes a job with the city morgue—with its endless supply of fresh brains—and discovers something: the brains she eats gives her a bit of that person’s personality and memories, which makes her essential to helping her new homicide detective pal solve crimes involving the bodies she receives. Meanwhile, a zombie takeover is quietly happening under the radar.

iZombie is a bit of a police procedural mixed with some light horror and laughs, but there is also a bigger, darker story building. Plus, the cast is great, especially Rose McIver as Liv, in a bit of casting genius.

Honestly though, as much as I like iZombie, there’s only one reason I ever watched it: Michael Allred. The show is based on his incredibly cool pop art Vertigo series. Allred is probably best known for his amazing Madman series, but also some really notable comics for Marvel and DC, particularly X-Statix, which gave us Doop (look him up). If nothing else, I hope this TV show makes Allred filthy, disgustingly rich.

For those who still turn their nose up at anything on CW, sorry you’re missing out. The channel has been kicking ass with Arrow and The Flash, plus the latest season finale for the long-running Supernatural was pretty cool. iZombie may lack The Walking Dead’s blood and guts, but it’s not boring.