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iZombie
Jul 3, 2017 14:04:13 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Jul 3, 2017 14:04:13 GMT -8
Since you brought up secret identities earlier, I'll add that I've grown very weary of superhero stories in which a character discovers a hero's secret identity, then forgets it due to amnesia. This trope was used more times than I could count on Smallville, and was a staple of old comic books, back in the days before superheroes started revealing their secret IDs to everyone they knew.
I should say I don't generally mind secret identities as a storytelling conceit; it's just that after a few hundred stories of Lois Lane stumbling upon and then forgetting Superman's alter ego, it starts to get a bit monotonous.
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Quiara
Grade School
Posts: 775
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iZombie
Jul 3, 2017 16:25:48 GMT -8
Post by Quiara on Jul 3, 2017 16:25:48 GMT -8
(Also, I finally realized that "Blaine" sounds like "Brain," so I'm trying to figure out if his name is a pun or not. "Blaine De Beers?" Is there something I'm missing?) Well, my first and only association with De Beers is the diamond monopoly. And according to Wikipedia, he does start a business as an exclusive vendor of brains. A couple years ago I chanced upon a paper suggesting that the boom in zombie fiction of the 2000s was rooted in orientalist fears restoked by 9/11. So, um, maybe there's some kind of critique of imperialism there? Probably not. Actually, this is a pretty interesting show just in terms of where it fits into zombie fiction metaphorically.
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iZombie
Feb 27, 2018 9:10:30 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Feb 27, 2018 9:10:30 GMT -8
The good news is that I liked the Season Four premiere. It had everything that makes iZombie such a fun show, from the interactions to the dialogue to the case-of-the-week. The scene where Liv gets into a Seahawks vs. Niners debate with a murder suspect was particularly great.
The bad news is that I think we've reached a point where the show's mythology may finally be getting ahead of itself. iZombie has long done a good job of weaving complicated story arcs without letting the characters get tangled up in them, but given the current status quo (and the sheer amount of main characters who are by this point zombified), I don't know how much longer they can keep it up.
And the great news is that the iZombie Blog post I wrote last year got retweeted by the show's official writers' account! Always nice to see genius get recognized.
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iZombie
Apr 2, 2018 16:28:59 GMT -8
Post by Zarnium on Apr 2, 2018 16:28:59 GMT -8
Ok, as much as I continue to enjoy this show, I've never liked the whole Fillmore Graves plot development all that much, and Chase Graves' sheer stupidity is straining my suspension of disbelief. Let's recount all the dumb, self-defeating decisions he's made:
-Supposedly he wants humans and zombies to coexist in peace, but he only allows zombies into the militia and he only puts zombies into positions of power, which causes resentment among the humans, which in turn causes resentment among the zombies.
-He keeps thousands of humans trapped inside the walls as de facto hostages so that the government doesn't "nuke" Seattle, yet expects the rest of the country to play nice and voluntarily send him brains instead of regarding him as a threat. And, again, he expects the humans of Seattle to be fine with this and to not form zombie hate groups.
-He enacted the death penalty for people who create new zombies, but not only is that downright impossible to prevent when you keep infected people walled in with non-infected people, he's completely inconsistent in its application. Like, he allowed that cadet who scratched a human to stay on the force with only a slap on the wrist, but he publicly executed Mama Leoni for creating new zombies when she had much better reasons for doing so.
-Perhaps most damning, he's not developing a cure. We know it's possible to create a zombie cure; Ravi made significant progress by himself, with few resources. Chase Graves could surely replicate his success on a wide enough scale to eradicate the disease, but he's not even trying. If he actually wants to solve all the problems he claims to care about, the best way is to create a cure, not to wave guns in everybody's face.
I could buy all of this if he were some power-hungry villain whose ultimate goal was control instead of peace and safety, but all signs point to him genuinely wanting peace and being troubled that he's "forced" to do all of these morally gray things. Well, all of the problems facing Seattle are his own stupid fault, so I don't feel much sympathy for his inner struggles. He's just an idiot.
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iZombie
Apr 2, 2018 20:22:55 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Apr 2, 2018 20:22:55 GMT -8
Yeah, Chase Graves is hardly the show's best character. As someone who only partially follows the mythology of the show (it can be engrossing, but is entirely too convoluted for me to take seriously), I've come to accept that a lot of the series' moving parts aren't necessarily going to click with one another. This is particularly true of Chase, who the show has not fully pegged as a good or bad guy (having him be portrayed by a former Veronica Mars star adds to this confusion), and particularly true of the current season, which has been the show's most convoluted yet.
At this point, the show appears more successful on the smaller scale. I would never have guessed they'd be able to pull off two full episodes of Liv acting in-character as a lovesick Gossip Girl-type, but they actually did it. Stuff like that keeps me watching, even as other aspects threaten to collapse the show beneath its own weight.
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iZombie
Apr 9, 2018 18:26:27 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on Apr 9, 2018 18:26:27 GMT -8
Um, wow. They killed Rebecca Bunch.
I'd be truly terrified if not for the fact that CXGF has already been renewed.
But still... yikes, CW.
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iZombie
May 29, 2018 5:07:42 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on May 29, 2018 5:07:42 GMT -8
Season Four was probably a little too convoluted for me to ever fully buy into it. The Fillmore Graves arc never made a great deal of sense, and the Zombie Preacher story wobbled between grim and laughable. The standalone murder-of-the-week stories, too, have come to feel like afterthoughts, mostly just excuses for Rose McIver to adopt another goofy personality each week.
I still love watching these actors, and I continually enjoy the show's tongue-in-cheek humor, but this season felt like it could have used some extra breathing room.
It's already been announced that Season Five will be the show's last. This makes sense - there doesn't seem to be much else the show can do with its characters at this point. Hopefully, they get a better balance between drama and comedy, and between episodic stories and long-term arcs, in the final year.
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iZombie
May 30, 2018 13:49:04 GMT -8
Post by Zarnium on May 30, 2018 13:49:04 GMT -8
That's a pretty spot-on assessment. This certainly was not the show's strongest season, and may have been the weakest.
And what the heck happened to Liv's family? You'd think they'd be affected by the Fillmore Graves occupation and cause Liv some worries, but they're never mentioned. For the third season in a row.
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iZombie
May 30, 2018 15:09:13 GMT -8
Post by Jeremy on May 30, 2018 15:09:13 GMT -8
Yeah, that still makes no sense. Maybe they just escaped the Zombie Apocalypse by heading to Mandyville. I mean, we've already established that iZombie takes place in the same universe as The West Wing.
On another note, I wonder if the writers would have decided to let Angus survive the finale if not for the #MeToo allegations leveled against Robert Knepper, since the show doesn't kill off its regular characters that often. (It's probably for the best anyway, since the "Brother Love" arc was pushing the character into self-parody.)
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