EPISODES 1-10:
After seeing some positive reviews for the pilot, I decided to check it out. Not only did I end up liking it, but I ended up loving it. First of all, I was really impressed with how they used Liv's zombie powers for character development. The trailer made it seem like it would merely be used for comedy purposes, which it is partially, but it's used for so much more. In a sense, by eating the brains of other people, Liv gets to both obtain skills and traits of the brain's owner, and as a consequence gets to see life from someone else's perspective. For example, when she eats the brain of a sensual painter, she discovers a passion she never felt back when she was alive, studying hours on end, trying to be a good student. In a sort of ironic way, Liv discovers new ways to live (no pun intended, but it's unavoidable with that kind of name) after she died. This sort of self discovery that Liv continuously makes with each brain she consumes lends itself to a very optimistic and fun show, and it's one of the things I love about it. It also helps that the comedy elevates the mood of it all.
The other thing I adore about this show is its ability to make me instantly care for all its different characters and relationships. In only 11 episodes this show has given each of its characters at least some degree of depth and I have come to really enjoy characters I expected not to like. For example, Major, Liv's ex-fiance, I expected to despise. For the first few episodes, he was just the ex that wanted to get back with her and that she had to distance herself from. Couple episodes later, we learn that he's both a social worker and that he's trying to find some kids that have gone missing. This starts an ongoing conflict where he finds himself in jail and even loses his job, when all he wants to do is to bring justice to the kids that died. As a result, he becomes both very sympathetic and an integral part of the show's main plot involving Blaine's brain food business. I was also surprised that I found Major and Ravi becoming friends very believable, which I expected to come off as forced instead. Their friendship developed quickly, but naturally. I was even surprised to find that I enjoyed Liv's romantic relationship with Lowell. None of the drama surrounding them felt forced or cheap, and generally both parties were mostly reasonable in dealing with each conflict. It was actually made quite interesting with them being zombies; I was honestly torn up when Lowell kicked the bucket.
Now that I've given my general thoughts on the season so far, let's talk about the most recent episode.
EPISODE 11: "ASTROBURGER"
First off, what a weird title. I looked up if it meant anything special on Google, but all I could find was the name of a restaurant in Hollywood. Maybe I missed something about it in the episode. Anyway, this episode may just be my favorite episode of the season. Now, I have to admit that before I got to the ending, I only found this episode kind of enjoyable. It just really irked me how it seemed like they weren't utilizing the hallucinating brain that Liv had eaten nearly enough. All that we got was a talking devil, which was at least somewhat funny. However, once I got to the end, my mind was freaking blown. I couldn't believe that the entire episode Liv had been hallucinating and neither she or the audience knew. There's several reasons why I simply love the way that it was done.
First, I love the fact that if the audience paid enough attention, they could figure out that Liv was hallucinating. Throughout the entire episode, I thought it was sort of weird how Johnny Frost always seemed to be "in character." I figured it was just him being silly, but when you get to the end, it makes perfect sense. Liv's idea of Johnny Frost is the character that she sees on the news, not the real guy, so him acting in character would logically play out in her hallucinations. I also loved the way her hallucination with Major played out as well. I thought it was sort of weird how all of sudden, Major seemed very adamant about getting back with Liv. You'd figure he'd be too caught up with trying to learn more about the zombie thing, and of course that is exactly what is the case. I don't know how sure I am about it, but I'm guessing the hallucinations started when Major returned to Liv's place after first leaving that same night. Come to think of it, we never see Major and Liv together with anybody else around, after he leaves that night. So it would make perfect sense if that is when the hallucinations started. Furthermore, I think it's also awesome that Liv hallucinating about Major in this way fits her current state of mind. Not only does she want Major to be accepting of her being a zombie, but since she lost Lowell, she's yearning for someone to be by her side. Since she and Major are so close, it figures it'd be he who she hallucinates about.
Another thing that I enjoyed about this episode is how it takes advantage of one plot point to create another. It was creative to make the murder victim the person that Major met in the mental hospital. It surprisingly isn't contrived as his murder had nothing to do with zombies, which if it did, may have been pretty silly.
Overall, this was a fantastic episode, not only building towards the season finale, but also managing to continue the episodic structure of the previous episodes. I'm hyped for the next episode, and even more, the season finale.
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