Review: iZombie brought to life by Kiwi actor Rose McIver

Audiences like zombies. Gore aficionados delight in the gaping head wounds, the mildew green flesh tones and the exposed, bleeding, dangling internal organs. Pop culture academics, meanwhile,appreciate the zombie not only as a rotten reminder of how death is constantly shambling towards us, but also a symbol that forces us to question whether our reason can stand against an overwhelming desire to consume. The undead protagonist of TVNZ’s newest comedy-drama, iZombie, will have audiences liking her for reasons other than gruesome or symbolic.

Her name is Olivia ‘Liv’ Moore (Rose McIver) and life as a medical student changes for her when she attends a party that becomes a gut-flung massacre when party-goers turn rabid. Liv is infected, dies, then resurrects with skin and hair more pale than a marble tombstone. She also has a newfound hankering to eat human brains.

Liv takes a job as an assistant at the morgue, where she can secretly satisfy her hunger. The ghoulish meals give her the unexpected ability to experience visions from the life of whomever she’s eaten. When Liv picks the brains of the morgue’s murder victims, the visions she has help her to track down their killers.

While iZombie’s fresh take on the “quirky TV detective” draws viewers in, it is Liv they’ll stick around for. She is vulnerable. Even as a pre-zombie med student at the beginning of episode one, she is insecure. Her transformation makes it easier for Liv to alienate herself from friends, family and her devoted fiancé. This alienation makes Liv compelling. What makes her likeable is Kiwi actor Rose McIver’s performance.

McIver achieves balance between alienation and pluckiness in her performance. She sensitively plays someone burdened by self-imposed isolation during quieter scenes, while convincingly transitioning to a more spirited Liv when the energy ramps up during a case. Not only does McIver deliver quips with sharp timing, but her expressive range is wide, enabling her to craft a connection with viewers that doesn’t feel forced or trite.

It is not easy to get an audience behind a zombie in a meaningful way – not simply to fulfil desires for splatter, or to indulge in semiotic readings. It is particularly hard if that audience is sick of seeing yet another walking corpse on their screens, or has rigid expectations of the genre. On paper, the premise for iZombie is intriguing. But there is a risk the show could fall over when it moves from supernatural crime comedy, to character study and relationship drama. It is McIver who grounds these narrative shifts so they feel authentic.

iZombie is showing first on TVNZ On Demand, with new episodes uploading Fridays at 6pm.