He Blinded Me With Science opens with Ravi examining a burnt body. It is a woman. Ravi calls her Cinder-Ella. I laughed. I’m going to hell! Ravi’s not getting much off the body though. He hopes that Liv can get more from the brain.
Brain Stew
With some nice warm brains in her belly, Liv heads out with Clive to solve the murder. The good news is that these brains are the super smart kind. Liv is going to be very intellectual this episode!
He Blinded Me With Science had several great scenes. Watching Major find out Gilda is actually Vaughn Du Clark’s daughter. After accusing Du Clark of telling Gilda to seduce him. Not what a father wants to hear.
We also get to see Liv in human mode. It is so weird to see her with normal skin tones!
So what cost this episode some points? I didn’t like that Liv thought she was going to not get caught going to Max Rager. She looks different, but not that different.
Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind begins with some bad news. The Tainted Utopium in the stomachs of the bodies was destroyed by stomach acid. The good news, the drugs hidden in one of the corpes had the drugs in his, and I quote, “prison wallet”. Ravi has a way with words.
Dug U Fresh
Ravi is in a coffee shop when our murder happens. A happy and bubbly coffee shop owner who goes out to the sidewalk to get killed by a falling window air conditioner unit. Liv makes some Brain Breakfast Treats. Ravi, understandably doesn’t want any.
Brain Breakfast Treats
The victim’s brains are happy and bubbly. Liv is living high on positivity as her and Major start to track down the air conditioner killer.
Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind Scoring
Eternal Sunshine of the Caffeinated Mind tells the tale of two rival lovers turned coffee shop competitors. Stan, played by the amazing Oscar Nuñez of The Office (US Version) fame, was our victims lover, and coffee competition.
This episode scores a 69/100, making it a perfect episode for a Rainy Day. Why? While Liv plays happy and bubbly amazingly, its not quite as compelling as what happens when she’s on more troublesome brains.
The Whopper has Major and Ravi finding a body. They think it is going to give them the materials needed to perfect the Zombie Cure, but it finds out its just some other poor thug. At least until Liv makes a brains burger and the dead man’s memories lead them to the correct body. Eventually.
Brains Burger
There were a lot of great scenes in The Whopper. One of my favorites was the dead man’s last romantic conquests. Her reactions were just perfect.
D*ck Never Called Me Again
If you aren’t a regular fan of iZombie the premise is simple. Zombie are real, and Liv uses her position in the medical examiners office to kill two birds with one stone. She has to eat, or she will devolve into a raging, brain hungry beast. The second bird is her desire to go the right thing. Because she gets flashes of her meals memories, it gives her the ability to help the police solve what might otherwise be unsolvable cases.
The Whopper Scoring
The Whopper hit on so many fronts. There is an awesome sub story with Major, another with Blane, and as always Rose McIver plays Liv and her brain dependent emotional state to perfection. Which is why The Whopper is Worth Your Time and scores an 85/100.
Physician, Heal Thy Selfie has a nice twist right from the start. The basic premise of the show is that Liv will eat the brains of murder victims, which results in her seeing flashes of the victims life. She partners with Clive, a police detective, and pretends that she is a psychic. Because Clive can’t handle Zombies. What happens if there is a crime but the heads aren’t on the bodies? It kind of limits how effective Liv can be.
Brain Trust
On top of that, she is still seeing her Zombie Bouncer hook up. I’m not going to call the dude her boyfriend. He has skeletons in his closet, and he works for Blain. Sure, he is being coerced with brains, but I still don’t like the guy.
With no heads, and thus no brains, but still needing to eat, Liv gets stuck eating a pathological liars brains. She made some lovely sushi out of it.
Brain Sushi
Worse, Liv’s new personality also can’t stay off her phone!
Physician, Heal Thy Selfie Scoring
Physician, Heal Thy Selfie had some highs and progresses the story along decently. My favorite scenes in the episode were actually the start of what I think is a love story between Ravi and Peyton? Still, I felt like this episode was just missing something. It scores a 70/100, making it Worth Your Time, but just barely.
Fifty Shades of Grey Matter starts with a librarian kicking a young man out of the library. According to the older librarian she’s kicking him out because he likes to watch snuff films on the library computers. Good reason to kick him out.
If Books Could Kill
This introduces us to the episodes victim. A mousy blonde librarian isn’t feeling so hot. Before she can go home sick though she ends up coughing up some blood and dying suddenly.
Once in the medical examiners office Liv makes herself a snack. I’m not sure what to call it.
Librarian Brains
One of my favorite parts of the episode is when we hear Kristin Bell’s voice. It made me smile. I am assuming that Kristin is a fan of the show. Unfortunately for Liv, she is now on erotic author, librarian brains. Her victim loved to write erotica, and was sadly a victim of a marriage that wasn’t able to satisfy her own erotic needs. Let’s just say that Liv is on some brains that make her desperate for a specific type of attention.
While Liv is dealing with urges she struggles to contain, Major is dealing with his own troubles. His activities as a Zombie Assassin are threatening to catch up to him.
Fifty Shades of Grey Matter Scoring
Fifty Shades of Grey Matter was one of those great episodes. Liv, played by Rose McIver, is an amazing actress. She plays each “brain” so well. She also does naughty and sultry really well. Which is why this episode is scoring an 85/100, making this episode Worth Your Time.
Cape Town isn’t about a city in South Africa. It is about would be caped crusaders who are turning up dead for Liv and team to find. While dealing with the mystery of who is killing the vigilantes, Liv is also forced to deal with her issues with Major.
I love how Liv makes a new meal from each victim before taking a bite. I’m not sure what that says about me. I’m sure its not bad right?
Hero Sammy
Liv lives out the would be super hero brains, putting on an eye mask to go full vigilante. While Liv is doing her best to ride out her new dose of brains, Major is dealing with his latest Zombie target. Not every Zombie wants to live the horrible life they have been forced into.
Cape Town Scoring
Cape Town is another great episode in the series. It has a few nice twists, and the chemistry between the main group is something other shows just hope to capture. How can you not love Live, Major, Ravi, and Clive? It is an awesome cast that works really well together. That chemistry was on great display during this episode and earned it a an 88/100.
Zombieverse has been dubbed for the English Language market and released (as of August 2023) on Netflix. The show is from Korea, which seems to be on fire when it comes to Zombie content lately.
A group of unwitting contestants gather to take part in a reality dating show, but things take a terrifying turn when they find themselves in the middle of Seoul overrun by zombies. Together, they must escape the city and outrun the walking dead, or risk becoming zombies themselves.
-Netflix
Zombieverse
The plot is fairly straightforward. A group of survivors does their best to handle multiple different survival scenarios. Of course they are all centered around Zombies! The English dubbing is okay, but the translation often seems out of place to the situation on screen. There is laughing when people should be scared and vice versa. It makes it a little hard to get into the show. Why are people giggling when they are being terrorized by the undead?
Why is the driver just relaxing as he gets gas? There are Zombies everywhere! These are the types of scenes that just drive me crazy and make it hard to enjoy the series.
Zombies? Where?
Zombieverse Scoring
Zombieverse tries really hard to hit a lot of different genres. Unfortunately it just doesn’t do a great job of hitting the mark consistently. There is also a bit of a disconnect around what it is. Is it a Zombie Gameshow and the survivors are playing a game? Or is it an actual Zombie Apocalypse and they are just dealing with different scenarios? It feels like it was supposed to be a game show but the English translation tried to make it more of a survival show?
Zombieverse scores a 40/100 for the first season. There are just too many slow spots and bits of the plot that didn’t make sense to me. That puts this series at the lower and of the Rainy Day Scale.
The series felt like vignettes loosely stitched together. The major item which cost this series points was a lack of something that gripped me. I didn’t fall in love with any of the characters. Parts of it just didn’t make sense to me. Someone please explain this ending scene to me?
Time to Rock Out?
If you are looking for a fun and action packed Zombie Series I highly recommend Z Nation! If you are looking for something that is just fun on the other hand, I’d recommend iZombie.
Episode Scoring
Yes, the episode names are just episode and number!
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead is based off the book series by the same name. The movie was originally shot in Japan and then dubbed to English. There is also an anime series. Don’t judge the anime by the live action version.
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead
The movie is a very thinly veiled commentary on the Japanese Salaryman Culture. The working class are slaves who are expected to give everything to their corporate masters. Zombies to their jobs if you please.
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead Scoring
Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead scores scores 60/100, putting if firmly in Rainy Day Movie territory. It attempts to be a fun Zombie survival movie like Zombieland but the characters in Zom 100 can’t hold up to the Zombieland crew. The dialogue is flat – just didn’t translate well. The same for the acting. A lot of it seems over the top when dubbed to English – which is why I wonder if the native Japanese version makes more sense?
Spoilers Below
It was fun, and had some good action scenes here and there. One of my favorites is the Zombie Bowling:
Zombie Motorcycle Bowling
The problem is that these scenes were great, they just were consistent. There are lots of slow spots between the good parts. I do have to give them props for working a Zombie Shark/Hybrid into the story though.
The real problem is the storyline. When dubbed to English it just feels like the writers are hammering something into my skull I already know. Corporate America will take everything and will never care about you as a worker. All they care about is about and cash. I agree.
My problem with the message is that I watch Zombie Movies to escape from that reality – not to wallow in it.
The other problem with the movie is that the men are all caricatures of some not so great mail traits. The woman aren’t well rounded characters either.
Save it for a Rainy Day and have a few drinks while enjoying it.
Stranded in the aftermath of a deadly outbreak, a brother fights to protect his sister while he desperately searches to find refuge and avoid an infected population with a thirst for blood.
Rob Worsey, Screen Writer
Among The Living
Per the internet, Rob Worsey shot the film around Leeds and Whitby. I believe Among the Living is a self funded passion project. I can’t find a production company listing associated to the movie.
Even if it is a low budget film, it is also really well done. The acting is nuanced and believable. The dialogue works well. I especially liked how they show instead of telling you how the Undead work in their universe. Instead of having one survivor explain it verbally, the rules are exposed through the telling of the story.
This is where things fall off just a bit. The plot and story flow well. The plot just falls into the same patterns as other Zombie Movies. Other survivors become the biggest threat, instead of the Zombies. Even the little twist at the end is about the survivors. I won’t ruin it here – but its not a huge twist.
Among The Living Scoring
Among the Living is a great movie to watch on a Rainy Day. It won’t blow your mind, but it won’t leave your Zombie Fix completely unsatisfied either. If you are looking for hordes of undead – this isn’t your film. But if you are looking for a well done, more suspense driven offering – this will hit the spot.
Joel is wounded and bleeding. Not to mention in a ton of pain. He urges Ellie to go to Tom. Ellie covers up Joe’s shivering body before walking upstairs and going through the door. Is she leaving? We won’t know for a little bit because when Ellie leaves she steps into an epic Flashback.
Fedra Camp (Flashback)
Ellie is running lap before a bully decides to pick on her. Ellie says she doesn’t want to fight but her bully just says “her” friend is gone and her friend was the fighter. After the brawl Ellie’s camp commander tells her she is smart and she could be leader – but not if she keeps acting like a grunt.
Later, after Ellie goes to bed we see someone sneak into her room. It turns out it is her best friend, Riley Abel, who has been on the run for three weeks. Ellie demands to know where her friend went. Her friend went to join the Fireflies. The two of them head out into the night as they chat about when to fight, and when not to.
The two young ladies climb the stairs of an abandoned building only to find a corpse. It looks like the dead guy overdosed and drank himself to death. The Last of Us is a tough world.
Pills & Booze
The Mall (Flashback)
Riley has taken Ellie to the old mall. Which takes us back to Episode 1, When You’re Lost in the Darkness. The mall was referenced when Ellie was talking about how she got bit.
After Riley leads Ellie into the mall, Riley turns on the lights. Riley is going to shoe Ellie “The Four Wonders of the Mall”. Ellie is amazed at how the escalator works, and ends up almost taking Riley down. I thought it was going to lead to them coming face to face. Maybe for a kiss or something. But it didn’t happen. Yet. There have been hints that Ellie might be gay. You be you Ellie. Love who you want to love.
Riley makes Ellie close her eyes before taking her hand. Riley walks her to the Ferris Wheel. The two share a touching moment as Ellie looks at her friend, clearly in love.
This is when the Ferris Wheel stops.
Photo Booth (Flashback)
Ellie and Riley go into the photobooth after the Ferris Wheel freezes. The girls pull the drape closed and proceed to make funny faces as the booth takes pictures. The two exit the photo booth to head to the Fourth Wonder of the Mall, the Arcade.
They head into the Arcade as the beeps and sound effects of the games fill the air. The two find a Mortal Kombat II game and can’t contain their excitement.
The camera slowly pans away from the girls and into the darkness. They aren’t alone. One of the infected is in the mall and all the noise is wakening it up.
Macho Nacho (Flashback)
Riley’s next stop takes the girls to where Riley has been sleeping. It is also where she’s been making explosives for the Fireflies. After Ellie confront her, Riley admits she came back to see Ellie because it is her last night in Boston. The two share a touching moment as Riley tells Ellie she wanted to say goodbye.
Ellie stomps off as Riley watches. Ellie gets as far as the main entrance before guilt or anger makes her go back. The lights are off and we can hear screaming – but it was just Riley in the Halloween store.
This leads Riley & Ellie to having a very cute dance scene that culminates in a kiss. Of course everything is ruined by the infected.
That Post Kiss Smile
The way they both smiled afterwards says it all. Love is love.
Enter the Infected (Flashback)
Riley tells Ellie to run just before the lone infected attacks. Riley is knocked out almost immediately, leaving Ellie to go toe to toe with the Zombie with her blade. Just when it looks like Ellie might be in trouble Riley get up and distracts the infected with her baseball bad. Giving Ellie the moment she needs to stab the creature in the head with her knife.
Ellie’s First Kill
Ellie momentarily celebrates her victory in combat before lifting her arm to show her bite mark. Riley lifts her hand as Ellie cries out in denial and frustration. Riley has been bit too.
Ellie rages before she asks Riley what they are going to do. Riley lays out two options. She has the gun in her hand or they can just keep going.
We aren’t shown how Riley dies before jumping back to the current timeline.
Joel & Ellie (Current Timeline)
Ellie searches frantically for something. We don’t know what it is until she finds it. She was looking for a needle and thread.
Ellie uses a needle and string to sew up Joel. He’s in pain but the job has to be done. The episode ends with her sewing up Joe’s injury.
Am I the only one panicking because there are only two episodes of Season 1 left?
Left Behind Scoring
Left Behind scores 90/100 and is and is Worth Your Time. It is an amazing episode. Bella Ramsey and Storm Reid have electricity jumping between them! My only wish is that there were more Zombies!
Things I loved about this episode:
The way that the episode portrays Ellie’s affection for Riley. So much was said with so few words.
The Halloween Store dance and emotional movement when Ellie kisses Riley. There is just a moment where we aren’t sure how Riley will react to being kissed, but clearly she was just as much in love with Ellie as Ellie was with her.
Things I hated about this episode:
Have the young survivors not seen an infected? Is the mall in the Quarantine Zone? It seems like the survivors in the Quarantine Zone would maybe be more careful?
Sewing up the external wound on Joel isn’t going to do much if he’s bleeding internally.
