Distributor: Warner Home Video
Episodes: 13
Duration: 40 min (per episode)
iZombie: Season 1 (DVD) – Series Review
Whilst iZombie might sound like one of Apple’s latest contraptions where a zombie might do your chores, scare off annoying people or eat your brains (the latter already being one of Apple’s features), it’s actually a new superhero series that situates itself in the ever-expanding DC universe. Eating brains and scuffling around might sound like the only things a zombie can do, but what if being ‘dead’ actually meant you could have superpowers, be able to see visions (by eating brains), and take over a few nasty habits of the person you’ve eaten brains from while still living a relatively normal life.
Olivia Moore (Rose McIver) has her life pretty much figured out, as she’s blasting through her medical studies and is engaged to the most perfect man in the world, Major (Robert Buckley). Even though she is quite content in her safe bubble, she decides to accept the invitation of one of her classmates to join her to a party. Even though the party doesn’t seem like all that much at first, except for the fact she was offered a new designer drug called Utopium, things quickly get out of hand when all of a sudden all hell breaks loose, when fires erupt, people are fighting one another, and others are ripping humans apart and are eating them. Even though Olivia was presumed dead, she was still alive, or well, undead. Olivia was turned into a zombie after being scratched by another one, but unlike normal zombie scenarios, she is still very much herself, albeit with an extremely white complexion and hair that has turned the same white color. She decides to break it off with Major, out of fear of infecting him, and starts a new career as a medical examiner, which gives her access to tasty brains, as she will need those to remain herself. If she skips her new dietary requirements, she will turn into a classical zombie that just looks at every human being as a tasty refreshment.
It doesn’t really take that long before she is discovered by her boss, Ravi (Rahul Kohli), who isn’t afraid of her and actually wants to work with her on a cure. When soon after Clive (Malcolm Goodwin) barges in to request for more information about a body, Olivia gets one of her visions, which are a result from eating one’s brains. When eating a person’s brains, she gets a few of their personality traits, as well as their memories. Ravi comes up with the excuse that Olivia is a psychic, as she had blurted out some key information about the victim no one could have come up with by themselves, making Clive rather skeptical. Nonetheless, she decides to use her new abilities to help Clive crack cases, who is also slowly believing her psychic story and starts to confide in her more and more. Nonetheless, when Olivia finds out there are more like her, things become rather complicated, as not all of them have motives as good as her.
Cast wise iZombie has a few familiar faces, as well as some you might not have seen just yet, but it’s clear that most cast members have enough experience under their belts to pull off rather convincing acting performances in this not-so-common zombie scenario. Rose McIver steals the show in this series, and it seems she has a knack for playing an atypical zombie. She does a great job in not only playing an undead character who seeks nothing more than to lead a normal life, but also the many different personalities she has to portray due to the side effects of eating brains. The antagonist of this series, who is played by David Anders, is pretty much the perfect villain thanks to his appearance and the fact that he can play a natural douchebag. The latter has already been the case for several different series in the past, which we hope will not limit his acting roles in the future.
For a series that is based on a story from the DC universe, it’s quite sad this DVD release of iZombie comes with very bland special features. After plowing through the thirteen episodes of this first season you’ll have to make do with a Comic-Con panel dating back from 2014, and some deleted scenes, which will hardly add that much extra viewing pleasure to this otherwise successful first season.
Conclusion
iZombie: Season 1 might not share the same flair other DC series had in their first seasons, it still manages to put down its own, original, laid back yet exciting style, which proves to be a rather pleasant experience. Even though this season only counts thirteen episodes, it’s fun to see a series trying to wrap up a season in a shorter time, making sure no real story value is lost in the process by resorting to filler episodes. If you’re into detective stories and superhero tales, this series is already amusing, if you’re into zombies and are looking for something original to spice up said genre, than this one will certainly prove to be worth the watch.
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