iZombie [The CW] [** Spoilers **]

iguana

Yeah, I was surprised and delighted to see that Netflix had the new episodes available. Less delighted to watch it and see two episodes of what had been one of the smartest and funniest shows on tv turn into ridiculous Liv on brain caricatures, randomly have Ravi get in on that action, add in extra Liv and Major are together then split up again angst and largely show how little thought the writers have given to the ramifications of the zombie reveal. The third season had been disappointing but I'd hoped this series would get back on track but I'm not so optimistic now.

Monotype

Agreed. Looked forward to watching every episode of season 2. Season 3 was a real chore. This season is just feels like the writers don't know what to do with the characters; just write whatever that might get a laugh or two and keep the characters busy.

Wouldn't mind if it got axed at this stage.

Kirby

Part of the fun on shows like this is how the main character keeps their secret, blends in with the rest of society, etc. Having the whole world know about zombies is a detriment to the show in my opinion. I'm not a fan of that narrative choice and it hasn't paid off so far.

I'm still watching, it's still good, but I feel Rob Thomas can do better than this tbh.

flazio

I might be remembering this wrong but in the early days weren't the personality changes a bit more subtle. As in Liv might do something unusual every now and then but still remained Liv. Season 3 and so far this season once Liv goes on a brain we lose Liv entirely.
It's still a fun stupid series but it's trying too hard to be so.

pixelburp

flazio wrote: »

I might be remembering this wrong but in the early days weren't the personality changes a bit more subtle. As in Liv might do something unusual every now and then but still remained Liv. Season 3 and so far this season once Liv goes on a brain we lose Liv entirely.
It's still a fun stupid series but it's trying too hard to be so.

Not sure, tbh I remember being ready to drop the show in season 1 because of the comedy personality changes getting a bit tedious (it was all the other material that kept me going), so I think the exaggerated personas have always been there..

iguana

She was no where near as bad in season 1 and 2. She was heavily influenced by the personality but she was still Liv and she would generally either fight or embrace the changes and it would ultimately effect some growth in her as a person. The only time the personality really took over in the first season was when she was on an alcoholic brain right after Blaine killed Lowell and that was because she couldn't fight the urge to drink when she was consumed by guilt and grief. Last season they ramped up the brain take overs but then explained that was largely because of her desire to lean into it to escape her grief and guilt after she killed Drake. But in spite of that she's even more taken over now. It could maybe be explained by the idea that the longer you eat brains, the more and more the personalities exert themselves but Ravi had completely leaned into the nudist brain on what would only have been his third or fourth brain.

CastorTroy

And because of that it's very inconsistent. Like this week she seemed to have all the memories of the woman but still needed the other clue memory to be triggered

FreudianSlippers

After the "blue brains" plotline it seems those intense flashes and personality changes never went away.

Blazer

lads..don't over-analyse it...just sit back and enjoy the show and thank god that you're not watching the stinking pile of crud called The Walking Dead.

iguana

It's not over analysing a show to be annoyed by a significant drop in quality. If it had always been a silly zombie show no-one would be too bothered by it being that. But when it had been a smart, witty show filled with charming characters, a cohesive plot and more 'fridge brilliance' than any show I've ever watched, it turning into a silly zombie show is a massive disappointment.

Blazer

yeah maybe you're right. I think TWD has ruined me..a story about a bean can would keep me entertained at this stage compared to TWD.

Cian1989

iguana wrote: »

It's not over analysing a show to be annoyed by a significant drop in quality. If it had always been a silly zombie show no-one would be too bothered by it being that. But when it had been a smart, witty show filled with charming characters, a cohesive plot and more 'fridge brilliance' than any show I've ever watched, it turning into a silly zombie show is a massive disappointment.

I actually disagree. The series has lost a bit of consistency in terms of quality, but it’s still hitting those great character beats more often than not. What remains so outstanding about it is how it maintains a world with such vivid and fun characters, and still manages to craft such intricate plots that seem to tackle issues that most shows of its caliber would shy away from. Not to mention how easily it can shift tones without it being too jarring on the audience.

CastorTroy

And there was me telling people how fun and light hearted this show is.

Though it was a fun episode up til the end.

Maybe it was said and I can't remember, but why did they make all the zombies if they can't sustain them?

Blazer

It was Renegade who was making the zombies...she was curing people of diseases but obviously one more zombie hence the death penalty for anyone found guilty of making a zombie.

CastorTroy

But she alone wasn't the reason for the food shortages. It just seems to be due to a lack of foresight from Filmore Graves.

Blazer

CastorTroy wrote: »

But she alone wasn't the reason for the food shortages. It just seems to be due to a lack of foresight from Filmore Graves.

Someone is diverting a lot of the brains for themselves. About 2 episodes back Liv saw in a vision one of the FG soldiers who were involved. No doubt Blaine is involved somewhat.

flazio

Be advised, no new episode next week. Back the week after.

iguana

Filmore Graves have said that a lot less people were willing to donate brains than they expected. Which..... no duh. I'm super-pro organ donation but even I would feel incredibly uncomfortable at the thought of having my brain eaten after death. Though on the other hand, I could see the law in the US and Canada very quickly changing to mandate brain donation as 10s of 1000s of rampaging starving zombies won't necessarily be stopped by a wall.

Sudden Valley

why there is no action at all by the US government apart from building a wall confuses me. Zombies would be like a modern plague although they have it contained I hope they are planning something.

The humans do seem less scared then they should be. They are literally food but are going about their business relatively normally.

spektorfive

I started watching this show on RTE and got into you. Then Classic RTE buried it in some Midnight Grave slot (Some pun intended). Thankfully Netflix got it on and I got through the first two seasons.

I thought season 2 was a bit of a drag and most of come down to Blaine. He should have died at the end of season 1 or a least went away for a long spell. Instead, he became a supporting character. When they started the whole memory lost and Peyton/Blaine & Ravi storyline, I rolled my eyes.

The first half of season 3 was dealing with this. Having Blaine trying to conceive us he wasn't that guy anymore, to have it revealed that he was still that guy. Finally, the subplot with his Father is going somewhere but I feel we spend too much with Blaine and that we are supposed to care. Suppose we should just forget about him killing teenagers and turning for profit,
Everyone else has.

Since I'm watching this on Netflix in Ireland there was quite a gap. I believe Season 4 started when Season 3 landed Netflix Ireland. I totally forget about the Mr. Big subplot that went nowhere. When he popped up in season 3 I thought that it might be going somewhere...no it wasn't. What the hell was Mr. Big? all about?

Also, Liv/Major love storyline just seems so all over the place. In season 3 when the "cure" worked, Major & Liv decided to be together for good. When the cure is stolen, Liv seems just to start dating Major army pal straight away. Could they not least wait till the looked for it? The stolen "cure" sample finally mention again by...Blaine, please kill this guy.

I do agree that Liv being overtaken so much by her brains. Maybe it's is the blue brain thing, but the show not been clear on that. I also don't know what the story is with Ravi? If he does eat one brain a month he does not become a zombie? otherwise his normal? Hasn't amounted to much really.

I think clive is my fav. I was into his storyline last season trying to find the killers of the women he liked, even do it kinda fizzled out halfway through. His open relationship statues is something you don't see much in T.V. and be interesting to see how it plays out.

I'm here until the end of this how may that be this or next season but honestly, Season 6 would be too much.

CastorTroy

Liv the player was fun.

So conspire with Weevil and co in secret yet make up fake IDs in the same place you share with your lawyer flatmate? Not very smart.

Didn't realise Liv had never met Blaine's dad

CastorTroy

So big spoiler for this week

immunity exists it seems.

One again, not really a fan of these full character changes. I'm sure the personalities used to be more subtle. I'm sure Rose is having fun playing them though

CastorTroy

Enjoyed Ravi's casual questioning of strange girl found in morgue drawer.

This brain was more subtle than a lot lately, though the case was a side story this week.

CastorTroy

That was a weird episode with all the meta stuff.

Another Veronica Mars cast member

I know the real world reason but why did Liv decide to tan and dye?

JP Liz V1

Renewed

http://tvline.com/2018/05/11/izombie-renewed-season-5-the-cw/

CastorTroy

Probably be the last season going by this tweet

https://twitter.com/RobThomas/status/994219177362640902

'The 100' Renewed, 'iZombie' Fans Cross Fingers

True dat. We need 1 more season to get to the end of our story!

CastorTroy

Meant to say before but seems becoming a zombie also means getting very sharp finger nails. They cut people so easily

flazio

Well, surprisingly, it has been renewed for Season 5. However more episodes like what we got this week and it may still have some legs in it yet.

CastorTroy

So Netflix decided to use a spoiler as it's main image for this week's episode.
I know it was going to happen sometime, but should still not use an image from near the end of the episode.
I was still wanting her to wake up when being put in the drawer. Maybe the zombie virus kicks in when she dies.

flazio

CastorTroy wrote: »

So Netflix decided to use a spoiler as it's main image for this week's episode.
I know it was going to happen sometime, but should still not use an image from near the end of the episode.
I was still wanting her to wake up when being put in the drawer. Maybe the zombie virus kicks in when she dies.

I was kinda hopeful there was a cure of some sort on the way because this is a bit darker then we're used to on this show. Anyway the picture isn't that big a spoiler, without context it could be perceived as her goofing around again.
Presumably Liv is going onto teenage brain next week, I'm actually intrigued to see what happens.
As I eluded to, this was a (increasingly rare) good episode this week.