iZombie: Season 1, Episode 1 "Pilot"

iZombie Season 1, Episode 1 "Pilot"

March 17, 2015


If you believe that iZombie is the next Walking Dead, guess again! The show is basically a police procedural with the spiciness of zombies….and I am all here for it. The series was created by Diane Ruggiero-Wright and Rob Thomas whom created the very popular Veronica Mars. The show has a nice blend of humor, action, and drama. I really enjoy the dialogue. It seems like the head of the morgue department, Ravi will be given some juicy lines over the course of the show. The pilot episode, although it packs a lot of information, is a blast ands the proper introduction of this CW series. Zombies in the media was a mania, so I am not exactly sure if it was needed. Well, I changed my tune based on this wonderful, fun episode.

 

Olivia Moore (Rose McIver) had the perfect life. She was a driven doctor-to-be with the perfect boyfriend, Major Lilywhite (yes, real name and played by Robert Buckley). Everything was sailing smoothly…until she was bitten by a zombie at a boat party. Her life was changed. She dumped Major (who stays in her life) and quit her job to become a morgue assistant where she has access to brains. Her boss, Ravi (Rahul Kohli) walks in to see her eating a brain. Instead of horror, he is absolutely delighted. He is inquisitive and promises to find a cure. After eating a brain, she has these visions from the person whose brain she ate, and she also receives that person’s personality.

 

And that brings us into the show’s premise. Upon receiving her first vision, rookie detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin) runs into her and believes that she is a psychic. Together, they partner up to solve cases. This week’s case involves a Romanian escort who was a kleptomaniac. So that means Liv is able to speak Romanian and cannot help but steal things. Standard case, but good enough to introduce our characters to us.

 

The acting is really good for the most part. Rose McIver is an absolute delight. With her character displaying new personalities on a weekly basis, her acting range will be tested. Rahul Kohli will be given some killer lines and he plays off McIver very well. I am on the fence about Robert Buckley. Is his character just going to be one of those hunky guys with nothing to do? I am very interested in David Anders who plays a zombie named Blaine. He is going to be a big part of this show. Aly Michalka plays her nagging roommate, Peyton.

 

Overall, I really liked what I saw. The zombie situation was explained well. The zombies even have “full-on zombie mode.” The case of week sounds like the perfect way to tell this story. I am not fully immersed into Liv’s family and ex-finance plotlines yet, but this is a well-done pilot.

 

My Grade: A-

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