DVD Review – iZombie: The Complete First Season

Release Date: September 29, 2015
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 549 minutes

iZOMBIE stars Rose McIver as Olivia “Liv” Moore, a medical resident on the fast track to a perfect life … until she’s turned into a zombie. Now stuck between half-alive and undead, Liv transfers to the city morgue to reluctantly access the only thing that allows her to maintain her humanity — human brains. But there are side effects to Liv’s new diet. With each brain she consumes, she experiences flashes of the corpse’s memories — including, at times, clues as to how they were killed. Her boss, a brilliant but eccentric conspiracy theorist, encourages her to embrace this gift and to work with an unproven homicide detective to help solve these murders … and quiet the voices in her head.

From the moment the series premiered, I knew iZombie was going to be one of my favorite new dramas and I am so happy to say that it lived up to my expectations each and every week. I don’t remember the last time I had so much fun watching a one hour drama. This show is so entertaining! It’s hilarious. The cases of the week are wild and exciting, especially given Liv’s power to exhibit the personality and traits of the brains she eats aka the victims/suspects.

The zombie story line unfolds at a very satisfying pace, not giving us everything at once and really savoring each zombie moment, from beginning to end. I loved how the stakes continued to rise, especially as the season came to a close. I love the world building and I love that the show doesn’t take itself too seriously and is really just an hour full of imagination and zany fun even as Rose deals with being dead.

The chemistry amongst the entire cast is so strong which just makes the show all the more magical and so incredibly strong in each and every scene. It was also so great to see Aly Michalka (Hellcats) in a recurring role, a few faces from Veronica Mars pop up and an appearance from Erica Cerra (Eureka). I’m excited to see what familiar faces we’ll see in season two.

Overall, really tremendous first season. iZombie delivered everything I wanted, didn’t know I wanted, and then some. I have yet to read the comic and have heard that it’s very different but I’m excited to read it and appreciate it as its own art form and very excited to see what’s in store for season two… more of the same that made me fall in love with the show in the first place and hopefully, tons of exciting surprises!

Bonus Features:

iZombie 2014 Comic-Con Panel (Approx. 28 minutes) – In case you missed the iZombie panel at San Diego Comic Con 2014 or want to relive the memory, the entire panel is on the DVD for your viewing pleasure. The Q&A portion is edited so viewers read the question on screen rather than hearing the fans asking the questions, creating a smoother edit which is always great.

Appearing in this Feature:
Moderator, Alan Sepinwall of HitFix
Creators/Executive Producers, Rob Thomas & Diane Ruggiero-Wright
Cast Members, Rose McIver, Malcolm Goodwin, Rahul Kohli, Robert Buckley, David Anders

Deleted Scenes (Approx. 7 minutes) – There are multiple deleted scenes for the “Pilot” episode and season finale, “Blaine’s World” while there is one deleted scened each for the episodes, “Brother, Can You Spare A Brain?,” “Flight of the Living Dead,” “Patriot Brains,” and “Dead Rat, Live Rat, Brown Rat, White Rat.” In total, there are eight deleted scenes and unfortunately, there is no way to play the scenes by episode so if you want to watch one deleted scene on a disc, you have to play them all. Honestly, none of the deleted scenes were captivating so it’s very clear why all of these were cut. Not only was I hoping for better deleted scenes that maybe were just cut for lack of time, but I was expecting more special features, maybe a gag reel or especially a feature one dedicated to adapting this from a comic to TV but I guess that was anticipating to much. Still, hopefully this isn’t setting the standard for special features on future iZombie DVDs because this was disappointing.

Own iZombie: The Complete First Season on DVD & Digital HD September 29, 2015.

Watch the season two premiere of iZombie Tuesday, October 6, 2015 at 9/8c on The CW.