When my sister and I watched the second season finale of “iZombie” we both walked away disappointed and upset. After a long discussion we agreed that we would give the show one more episode in the upcoming season before deciding whether or not we should give up on watching it. The new season has arrived with a lot of questions and a whole new angle for the show.
I’ve never liked zombie shows. There are more than enough out there in the world with almost religious followings such as “The Walking Dead” and to be perfectly honest they’re disgusting. The idea of a human being with rotting flesh falling off its body like a paper mache project gone wrong ripping into someone else’s skull and eating their brains has always been disgusting to me. And yet, “iZombie” changed that disgusting image. The main character, Olivia Moore, better known as “Liv,” is a zombie but she looks like a regular person – as do almost all the other zombies in the show – and she uses the consumption of brains to help solve crimes under the guise of a psychic. The idea of the zombie apocalypse always made me cringe, so the fact that they didn’t bring it up for two seasons was fine by me. But suddenly, not only was the zombie apocalypse in the immediate future, but it was already beginning.
As every main character now knows about the incognito zombie apocalypse, one villain was caught by the cops, and another lost his memory at the end of season two, everything seemed to be resolved.
There was only one thing to do: Start fresh. Season three begins by introducing new villains, new characters, new mysteries and new murders, all while still managing to keep the integrity of the show.
The first episode of season three answered a lot of questions about the zombie apocalypse and what it meant for our favorite characters but they were not the right answers. The appeal of the show has always been the crime fighting zombie with mood swings that would leave my belly aching for days. After watching just one episode, they’re replacing that with an intense show where an undead girl tries to find justice for the trail of dead bodies she’s leaving in her wake. She solves these murders with her friendly neighborhood detective whose next door neighbors are murdered in cold blood. “iZombie” has began the descent down a very slippery slope and once they get to the bottom, there will be nowhere else to go. Once you go apocalypse, you can’t go back.
Luckily Ravi the show’s comic relief and Liv’s quirky sidekick is still alive. If the show were realistic, the beautiful, British doctor would have been dead halfway through the first season, but they need to keep him around. If Ravi were killed, Liv would spend the rest of the show crying in a hole somewhere and everybody would stop watching because after all, Ravi is the best part of the show. So far in this season, he still maintains his sassy, brutally honest form of comedy and most importantly his hopefulness. Ravi is the only character physically incapable of giving up hope on Liv and her fellow zombies and this helps the audience to stay optimistic as well.
Although there is now a constant shadow over everyone’s faces and a feeling of impending doom circling around like a vulture over a dead body, the show still seems pretty similar to what it has been in past seasons, and that is what makes it so loveable. Crazy Liv, sarcastic Ravi, confused but loyal Babineaux, and the constant disappointment that is Major Lilywhite all continue to make us all want to bang our heads against a wall.
The characters are not only diverse and complex, but hilariously entertaining. The plotline continues to make my heart throb for the poor innocent zombies and I will definitely not stop watching the show with this new season. It takes a lot for a zombie show to pull in someone who despises zombies but “iZombie” managed to do it in one episode and still keeps that original charm alive.
Yes, change is coming, and it is difficult to tell only from the first episode what exactly is going to happen. But as long as Liv continues to solve crimes with Babineaux then the show should be able to continue down the successful path it has paved since it began over two years ago.