iZombie: Are You Ready for Some Zombies?

"All bulls' pizzles hit the road..."

Before I get started... fear not, iZombie is current. I'm still very much committed to finishing Buffy and Angel aside from current TV such as this, plus films. I still may do stuff that's currently on my Sky Plus in addition, and will probably slot in finishing a season of Game of Thrones between seasons of Buffy/Angel, but fear not!

Anyway... this opening episode isn't that good, is it? The wit doesn't sparkle like it usually does in spite of the funny scene with Shakespeare luvvie brain, the post-zombie apocalypse setting leads to a lot of exposition, and the trinity of Liv, Ravi and Clive don't even get much screen time what with how much of an ensemble cast this show has slowly developed.

Anyway, four months have passed. Seattle is all walled off, so MAGA and all that bollocks. Everyone knows about zombies, although there is much seething resentment, and "Z"'s painted on the doors of households known to hold zombies. There's a nice scene, though, as Ravi and Clive exchange a brief acknowledgement of the irony when Liv, the only white person present, has to deal with the social awkwardness of casual racism. Brains are rationed, but Chase Graves are more equal than others. Blaine is an informer to Chase Graves, and there's the spectre of a zombie guillotine. Oh, and there's a token murder and a token quirky brain, but the whodunit really doesn't feel very important here.

Ravi is getting zombie "periods" once a month, which will be interesting, and Major is now going back to his roots and counselling teen zombie delinquents, except it seems to be for the purpose of recruiting more soldiers. Worryingly, we seem to have two extra young members of an already-large cast at the end of the episode. Weirdly, Clive can now be open about the way Liv gets visions from eating the victim's brain.

But it's all rather over-complicated, with two many characters, too much exposition and too many plotlines. Here's hoping things improve.