TV Show Review

TV Review: IZOMBIE: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot [The CW]

iZombie Pilot

The CW’s iZombie Pilot TV Show Review. iZombie: Season 1, Episode 1: Pilot introduces us to Olivia ‘Liv’ Moore (Rose McIver), an overachieving medical student who has her life planned out, until she was attacked by zombies at a party and turns into one herself. Living life as the undead, Liv now works at the coroner’s office eating brains in order to maintain her appearance and survive. The show gives viewers a different take on zombies with a mix of a police procedural. With the network tackling comic book adaptations lately, the premise of the show should be intriguing for viewers to get a taste.

The general concept of the comic still remains the same on the TV show as well as the tone. iZombie is narrated by Liv, who is described as a smart, feisty, and quirky at times as she learns how to live as the undead. Knowing that the show is told in first-person and is produced by Rob Thomas, it’s only natural that viewers may see some resemblances from Veronica Mars. Both Liv and Veronica have similar personalities and they both want to help people. They aren’t exactly similar but one can’t help see the comparisons. You get the same vibe as Veronica, but you can also see the supernatural elements to it. The show certainly gives a fresh take on the zombie genre.

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The pilot starts with a flashback to Liv’s normal life as an A-plus medical student. Liv attends a party with her friends, but her life takes a drastic turn when the party becomes a zombie feeding frenzy. Liv gets attacked and gets killed. She awakens from death and realizes she has become a zombie, so she hides the truth from her family and friends. Everyone close to her sees the difference in her appearance and plan an intervention to see what the matter is with her. Liv pretty much blows everyone off, even her mother Eva (Molly Hagan), her best friend Peyton (Aly Michalka), and her ex-fiance Major (Robert Buckley). There’s not much we can go on as far as Liv’s personal life goes, but hopefully this progresses throughout the season.

After leaving her job at the hospital, Liv finds work at the coroner’s office, where she can devour brains from dead people in order to survive. Liv also experiences some side effects from eating a dead person’s brains like gaining their memories and personality. She works alongside with co-worker Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli), who also knows about Liv’s condition. Fascinated by her, Ravi tries to help her find a cure in order to learn more about her physiology.

The main dynamic here seems to be between Liv and Detective Clive Babineaux (Malcolm Goodwin). He’s the police department’s new detective working with Liv at the morgue. He seems to be an old-school cop who is open-minded when it comes to his investigations. Liv’s visions from eating brains help Clive in his case of a dead call girl. Keeping the zombie story a secret, Ravi tells Clive that Liv is psychic, which explains her knowledge of the victims. Clive accepts the cover story and naturally comes to trusting her. The only thought that comes to mind though is how long can Liv keep this secret from Clive. As long as this doesn’t go on too long, this should keep viewers invested for a while.

The season premiere will leave some questions, which hopefully get answered as the season progresses. So far, we don’t know how the zombie attacked happened and if there are any other zombies out there besides Liv. Our only clue is the mysterious drug Ravi mentioned called Utopium and a mysterious man (David Anders) from the party, whom we will get to see in the second episode.

Despite being a show about zombies, iZombie doesn’t become too gory or bloody like other shows. The zombies here are handled like it’s normal, which is actually the case for Liv. It’s obvious to see the normalcy, especially the way Liv chows down on brains. This fairly strange approach to a zombie show works and McIver’s Liv certainly brings some charm and makes the story relatable. This should leave viewers curious for a second course.

Leave your thoughts on this review and this episode of iZombie in the comments section below. For more iZombie photos, videos, and news, visit our iZombie Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+ or “like” us on Facebook.

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Mufsin Mahbub

**Fired from FilmBook for Plagiarism** Mufsin is a freelance writer from New York who has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism at Long Island University. He has written for publications like HollywoodLife, Clubplanet, and Heavy. He is an avid lover for everything related to TV and film. He has gone to dozens of film screenings, press events, and loves to attend New York Comic Con every year. He gives an honest opinion on every TV show or film that people are going to be talking about.
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