Buried under all of the DC shows and Supernatural, The CW had a gem of a show. A gem! iZombie may not have the best name and they know it. They’ve made fun of it before. The name, though; should not deter you from catching up with this series on Netflix now. iZombie was such an underrated show and while other series on The CW have last well beyond the seasons they should have, iZombie was canceled after five seasons. You’re probably saying, five seasons isn’t bad. No, it isn’t. Five seasons are solid. When there was so much story to say and the final season had so much stuffed into it to try to tie up everything, then we can say that five seasons weren’t enough.
We Needed More iZombie
It wasn’t even close to being enough. iZombie started out small. Rose McIver played Liv Moore. A promising M.D. who had it all – friends, family, and a handsome fiance. One day Liv went to a boat party, where she was scratched by a zombie. David Anders’ Blaine Debeers, who was one of the show’s best characters. From that moment on, Liv struggled to find meaning in her life. After the boat party, Liv breaks up with her fiance, and begins working at a morgue. This way, she has an endless supply of brains. Here we meet Rahul Kohli’s Ravi, who is a national treasure. Rather than being freaked out that his co-worker is a brain-eating zombie, he decides to become the best friend EVER and he never stopped looking for a cure.
The series grew after that. The show grew from only a handful of people knowing about zombies, to the whole city of Seattle (and the world) knowing. A lot of it was due to Blaine and his “get rich quick” schemes; which included killing people, scratching people to make customers, and selling those customers the brains of those he killed. He was great. Whereas Liv was once ashamed of being a zombie, she’s now thrown into a world where she must choose between zombies and humans. Which, is hard, because she still has her best friend Peyton (who’s a human) and Ravi. But, there is a power struggle. We have, at first; a megalomaniac energy drink company boss. Then, a paramilitary group full of zombies, ran by Jason Dohring’s Chase Graves (one of my favorites).
It Was the Characters That Made The Show Great
While so much is happening, we also have Liv using her brain-eating as a way to give back. First posing as a psychic, she uses the ability to access dead people’s memories [by eating their brains] to help Malcolm Goodwin’s, Detective Clive Babineaux. Eventually, Clive finds out the truth. While Liv had meaningful friendships with both Peyton and Ravi, it was also her partnership with Clive that really made this show special. Unraveling the sometimes hard to read Clive made for some of the best moments in this series.
While iZombie had a lot of comedic moments, it touched about some heartbreaking themes. Liv dealt with heartbreak from Robert Buckley’s Major Lilywhite (yes, that’s his name), the deaths of a few boyfriends, being shunned by her family, and so much more. iZombie used the zombie virus to make a point for people with viruses, such as HIV. iZombie also used its platform to talk about child abuse with Blaine, suicide, sexual assault, racism, and so much more.
Rating: 5/5
To say that iZombie was one of my favorite shows feels like an understatement. iZombie was a wonderful show that did not get the attention it deserved, for whatever reason. Both fans and the network itself. Even though, it was loosely based on a comic book by Vertigo (owned by DC). If you get a chance, watch it – because you are missing out if you don’t.
A girl with too many fandoms to count.
