iZombie: The Complete First Season

Developed by Veronica Mars creator Rob Thomas from a comic book, iZombie is an amusing mystery series starring Rose McIver as Olivia, a Seattle medical student who awakens after a disastrous yacht party to find that she is now a zombie. Unable to relate to friends and family, but determined to hang on to whatever humanity she has left, Olivia drops out of school, breaks up with her fiancé, and takes a job as a coroner's assistant so that she can have access to the one thing that sustains her: human brains. But devouring brain matter has a side-effect: it gives her access to the memories of the dead, who include murder victims, and she uses her insights to help a young police detective (Malcolm Goodwin) solve crimes (he thinks she's psychic). Eating brains also results in Olivia channeling the victim's personality and emotional life for a few days, which gives her something of a schizophrenic quality that is mostly played for humor. The supernatural elements are essentially woven into real-world experiences and mystery conventions, making for a lighter tone and very different take on the zombie genre than is depicted in The Walking Dead and similar fare. In fact, one undead drug dealer character (David Anders) turns the whole zombie business into a money-making opportunity, selling brains like take-out to other zombies. iZombie features self-aware narration and a cheeky sensibility common to the youth-skewing CW network, where its mix of horror, mystery, young adult drama, and witty humor has found a welcome audience. Compiling all 13 episodes from the 2015 debut season, extras include a 2014 Comic-Con panel, and deleted scenes. Recommended. (S. Axmaker)