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iZombie is an adaptation of the comic series by the same name. On January 30, 2014, a pilot was green lit by The CW. [1].

Veronica Mars creator and showrunner Rob Thomas was then announced to be an executive producer for the series. The series is a supernatural crime procedural that centers on a med student-turned-zombie named Liv who takes a job in the coroner’s office to gain access to the brains she must reluctantly eat to maintain her humanity. With each brain she consumes, she inherits the corpse’s memories. 

The first episode aired on March 17, 2015, and was a success worldwide.

Synopsis

Olivia "Liv" Moore was a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out...until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy. As one of the newly undead, Liv is doing her best to blend in and look as human as possible. Her appearance now passes for "Goth," with shockingly pale skin and nearly white hair, and her demeanor has gone from exuberant to exhausted. The change in Liv is baffling to her mother, her former fiancé, Major, and her best friend and roommate, Peyton, who still has the high-energy, Type-A personality that Liv has completely abandoned.

Despite her post-traumatic ennui, Liv has devised a way to resist her baser urges to devour fresh human brains – she's taken a job in the Seattle coroner's office. In this appropriately dead-end job, Liv can secretly snack on the brains of the many Jane and John Doe corpses that make a final stop in the morgue. Despite carefully covering her tracks, Liv's boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, discovers her secret and is surprisingly excited about the scientific possibilities. Even with her boss' enthusiasm, Liv remains resigned to an eternity without hope or purpose, until she realizes that with every brain she consumes, she retains a portion of that person's memories. Liv begins to experience visions from the point of view of the murder victims.

Much to the surprise of Dr. Ravi and homicide detective Clive Babineaux, Liv often has detailed knowledge of crime scenes and motives that she can't easily explain. Posing as a psychic, she works with Detective Babineaux to investigate these crimes and discover who is responsible. It's not the same as being alive again, but at least Liv can find purpose in her undead existence by helping Clive solve the murders of those who are indeed fully dead.

Cast

Starring

Credited as starring

Supporting Cast

Presence in more than four episodes

Guest Cast

Minor presence in four episodes or less

Reception:

The first season received positive reviews.[2] Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the series a 92% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.7/10 based on 49 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "An amusing variation on the zombie trend, iZombie is refreshingly different, if perhaps too youth-oriented to resonate with adult audiences."[3] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on reviews from 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [4].

Amy Ratcliffe of IGN rated the pilot episode 8.4/10, praising the show's "casual take on zombies" and Rose McIver's performance as Liv.[5] LaToya Ferguson of The Onion's The A.V. Club graded the series a A- and stated the show is better for diverging from its comic book origins. She praised the show for having same quick-witted banter as Veronica Mars and observed it measures up well against Pushing Daisies, noting: "Television can only be better for having the voices of Thomas and Ruggiero-Wright back on a weekly basis".[6] Inkoo Kang of the Dallas Observer called the show, "dazzlingly, tirelessly witty" with an "acute attention to human relationships", and praised it as "the summer's most underrated series".[7]

Storylines

Olivia Moore

After dying and discovering that she was a zombie after the events of a boat party, Liv spends five months stressing over what happened to her. After breaking up with Major, she starts to eat brains of murder victims in order to see how they died. Ravi notices this instantly and is amazed. He promises her that he will try to find a cure. Blaine shows up at the lab and Liv recognises him as the zombie that got her. After some cases where she comes to trust Clive and Ravi, she meets Lowell, another zombie. They start going out, but their chemistry is difficult at times, particularly when she "is a pregnant mother" and he "is gay". Upon discovering that Blaine killed Major's friend Jerome, by eating a brain at Lowell's apartment, Liv decides that she wants to kill Blaine. She finds herself unable to, but Lowell won't let it end that way and he stabs Blaine who then shoots Lowell in the head.

Clive Babineaux

Under the impression that Liv is a psychic, he lets her help him solve various crimes. When he has to do a case alone though, she gets suspicious and thinks he is a criminal when he was actually working undercover. Major approaches him with the news of his friends dissappearing on the streets. Clive looks into this but is told not to when his boss finds out. He tries to help in secret, however the newspaper finds out.

Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti

When Ravi discovers that Liv is a zombie he is very shocked and amazed. He promises to help find the cure. Alongside Liv he finds another zombie, who attacks them, but Liv kills her. Ravi tests various combinations of Max Rager and Utopium on rats in his lab and one of them escape and eats the brains of the other rats. Ravi puts it in a special cage but it manages to bite him through steel gloves. He also develops a crush on Liv's friend Peyton. Despite wishing to live by himself he lives with Major.

Blaine DeBeers

Blaine takes Jerome and Eddie from the streets, pretending to be really punk. He then sells their brains to zombie customers, including Lowell. Liv discovers that he killed Jerome, so she plans to assassinate him. However she holds back. Lowell decides to stab Blaine, which ends up getting Lowell killed by the antagonistic zombie.

Major Lilywhite

Originally engaged to Liv, she breaks up with him. He starts seeing other girls. When his friend Eddie goes missing he reports it to the police with Jerome. Jerome tries to look for Eddie at the skate park, however, Jerome goes missing too. Major goes to the skate park and is beaten up by the candy man. Later Major tracks down the candy man's car to a sauna where he breaks in and finds a human brain. The police arrest him, however Peyton gets him out of jail. Upon seeing that he is looking at pictures of brains, his girlfriend dumps him. Next he buys a gun and goes to the gym to see if he can have brains. The candyman soon hears his desires.

Notes

  • On April 20th it was revealed via Rahul Kohli's twitter that both seasons one and two will be available in Blue Ray on July 12th, 2016. [8]

Episodes

Image Title Original air date Season # Episode #
101Promo25
"Pilot" March 17, 2015 1 1
Olivia "Liv" Moore was a disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out... until she is turned into a zombie. Now stuck somewhere between half-alive and undead, Liv loses her drive and ambition. She breaks off her engagement with charming soul mate Major, fearful of infecting him with her condition. Liv transfers her medical residency to the city morgue in order to access the only form of sustenance left available to her - the only thing that allows her to maintain her humanity - brains. There are side effects to Liv's new diet: With each brain Liv consumes, she experiences "visions" - flashes of the corpse's memories - which often provide clues as to how they were killed. Her boss, the brilliant but eccentric Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, encourages her to embrace this gift and to work with unproven homicide detective, Clive Babineaux, to help solve these murders. In doing so, Liv finds a measure of peace, and a new sense of purpose in what her "life" has now become. David Anders also stars.
102Promo3
"Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?" March 24, 2015 1 2
Liv, Ravi and Clive work together to solve the mysterious death of a well-known painter. Liv finds herself consumed with passion after eating his brain, and can't resist trying to seduce Major. Meanwhile, Blaine makes a surprise visit to the morgue.
103Promo9
"The Exterminator" March 31, 2015 1 3
As Liv and Detective Babineaux investigate a hit and run case, they discover the victim was a sociopathic hit man responsible for the murder of a tech entrepreneur, a case that Peyton is prosecuting. Liv and Ravi dig deeper into a supposed zombie sighting that was posted on line which leads Liv to make a surprising discovery about someone from her past. Major moves on with his life and Peyton is shocked by Liv's reaction.
104Promo9
"Liv and Let Clive" April 7, 2015 1 4
When Clive identifies a John Doe in the morgue as one of his former criminal contacts from his days on the vice squad, Liv is surprised that Clive is so quick to refuse her help in solving the murder. Liv and Ravi investigate on their own which puts them in a precarious situation. Liv’s problems continue to mount when Major begins searching for a roommate and she believes he’s considering a cute co-ed.
105Promo3
"Flight of the Living Dead" April 14, 2015 1 5
Liv reluctantly eats the brains of her recently murdered sorority sister Holly to help gain insight into her murder. This case takes Liv and Clive into Holly’s world of extreme sporting where they meet professional snowboarder Carson McComb, a murder suspect who appears to be hiding a secret. Meanwhile, Liv has a strange connection with one of the other murder suspects who is revealed to be a zombie, while Major voices his concern to Clive over a young boy’s disappearance. Rahul Kohli and David Anders also star.
106Promo1
"Virtual Reality Bites" April 21, 2015 1 6
Liv, Clive and Ravi work together to investigate the murder of a computer-hacker. Liv inherits intense agoraphobia after consuming his brains along with mad skills at computer gaming. This delights Ravi, who urges her to play and offers to help her from inside the game, as they continue to search for the killer. Meanwhile, Blaine becomes acquainted with someone close to Liv. Robert Buckley also stars.
107Promo7
"Maternity Liv" April 28, 2015 1 7
A group of teens get a scare when a disheveled young pregnant woman approaches them muttering for help. Unfortunately, the woman doesn't survive but her baby does. Liv and Clive begin questioning suspects in her murder, and after consuming the victim’s brain, a fierce maternal instinct kicks in for Liv. Meanwhile, Major makes a shocking discovery. Rahul Kohli and David Anders also star.
108Promo2
"Dead Air" May 5, 2015 1 8
Liv and Clive work together to solve the murder of a morning radio talk show host who specialized in relationship straight talk. Liv becomes filled to the brim with insight after consuming the brains, making Clive extremely uncomfortable when Liv starts getting personal. Meanwhile, Peyton steps in to help Major, and Blaine issues a warning. Lastly, Ravi's unexpected romantic connection has the potential to make things awkward for Liv.
109Promo3
"Patriot Brains" May 12, 2015 1 9
Liv and Clive work together to solve the murder of a morning radio talk show host who specialized in relationship straight talk. Liv becomes filled to the brim with insight after consuming the brains, making Clive extremely uncomfortable when Liv starts getting personal. Meanwhile, Peyton steps in to help Major, and Blaine issues a warning. Lastly, Ravi's unexpected romantic connection has the potential to make things awkward for Liv.
110Promo6
"Mr. Berserk" May 19, 2015 1 10
Liv and Clive investigate the murder of a journalist working on a story linking psychotic episodes in a small number of consumers to the energy drink Max Rager. Liv goes straight to the top at Max Rager HQ and questions the man in charge, Vaughn Du Clark. Meanwhile, Ravi tries to help Major who continues to believe he's going crazy. Blaine DeBeers also stars.
111Promo1
"Astroburger" May 26, 2015 1 11
When someone close to Major dies of an apparent suicide, Liv consumes the brains resulting in a mix of reality and paranoia. Clive questions Major and learns of a secret computer file that may contain important details in the investigation - and finding the killer. Blaine DeBeers and Ravi Chakrabarti also star.
112Promo7
"Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat" June 2, 2015 1 12
A group of drunken teenagers take a late night joyride with disasters consequences. As they cover up the accident, the man mysteriously comes back to life and attacks one of the girls. After Liv consumes the girl's brain, she is taken back to high school as she and Clive investigate the case. A surprise death of one of the victim's friends raises some serious questions about the case. Major believes Blaine's deli is not all it seems to be. Rahul Kohli also stars.
113Promo1
"Blaine's World" June 9, 2015 1 13
After discovering new evidence in the Max Rager case, Liv and Clive pay a visit to Vaughn Du Clark at Max Rager HQ. Ravi continues his search for a cure. Meanwhile, Blaine makes Liv an offer she can't refuse. Lastly, Major finds himself in an unbelievable situation.

Media

Videos

Official Images

Behind the Scenes

References

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