Rose McIver Brings Heart — And Brains — To ‘iZombie’
iZombie, starring Rose McIver, has been on a steady rise in spite of some pretty stiff competition (pun intended). Even after iZombie followed a repeat episode of The Flash, it still rose to tenth in the market with its best showing since the iZombie premiere. In addition to scoring well with the 18-49 year-old demographic, iZombie hit a new high with adults 18-34 year-olds, bringing in a total of 1.98 million viewers. What do all of these numbers mean for iZombie? It means the show has secured a renewal after only five aired episodes.
iZombie sounds ridiculous at first and one has to take the concept of a crime-solving zombie with a grain of salt, but iZombie, and star Rose McIver, manages to pull the viewer in with as much emotion as drama. iZombie seems to be a metaphor for 21st century life with Ms. McIver using her zombie status to show us what is wrong with today’s society and what’s right with it.
Fans of iZombie know firsthand that each episode teaches a new emotional (and sometimes ethical) lesson. As Liv Moore (McIver) eats the latest murder victim’s brain, she experiences what it was to be that person, sometimes with surprising results. The primary exploration for iZombie‘s Liv is how to deal with friends and family that see the changes in her and question whether Liv is really as okay with life as she claims. Other than actually being undead, Rose McIver reminds us that her character’s situation on iZombie isn’t so different from real life.
“Some of your friends peak at different times, and people feel left behind or forgotten about. There is some of that shift between not being the same person as your best friend anymore, and Peyton learning to accept and love the new Liv, and encouraging her to embrace who she’s becoming rather than to try to stay the same person.”
iZombie has been steadily progressing with Rose’s character in a way that seems subtle at first. In the most recent episode, “Flight of the Living Dead,” a scene opens with a skydiver impaled on a tree branch and, in one of iZombie‘s more morbidly comedic moments, Liv (Rose McIver) and Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti (Rahul Kohli) compete for the best body-on-a-stick zinger. Shish kabob, Chicken satay, and cocktail wieners are just a few of the suggestions offered.
It seems, particularly in this scene, that the audience is witnessing the degrading of humanity in Rose’s character, allowing her to see the living as little more than a food source. In an ironic twist, McIver’s character re-engages with her humanity in every iZombie episode, as she eats the brains of the dead. Ms. McIver revealed in a recent interview that Liv’s emotions and outlook will be the key to how events unfold in iZombie‘s future.
“These ideas of how things are all going to pan out just don’t happen that way. So sometimes when I’m reading things that are particularly along those lines, in regards to her relationships and ideas of work, it can be really quite profound. Especially in some of the later stuff in the season, I think that there are going to be some very, very moving parts for the audience.”
As iZombie gives Rose McIver’s character a new love interest, first seen in this week’s “Flight of the Living Dead” episode, fans can expect to see more depth to Liv’s psychological state and perhaps romance will help McIver’s character cling to her humanity a bit longer. These are just a few of the problem’s facing iZombie‘s Liv Moore, as she searches for a cure and resists being drawn into the rising zombie apocalypse.
iZombie airs Tuesdays on the CW network.
[Featured image: Rose McIver courtesy of Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Entertainment]
