Every zombie mythos follows different transformation and outbreak rules. What does iZombie do to set itself apart from other zombie series?
Newer concepts
Liv has a heartbeat
As Dr. Ravi observed in the pilot, Liv’s heart currently beats at 10 BPM. While she’s stated that she can’t have sex (and who’d want to have sex with a zombie in the first place?), she can sleep. However, unlike normal humans, it is possible for her to not sleep for months. Also, while Liv can still eat normal food, she’s only truly satiated by brains.
Liv is completely sentient
As far as we can tell, Liv is the first sentient zombie in modern pop culture. She can speak, run, think, and do all things that a normal human can. However, if she doesn’t eat brains for a while, she becomes slower, dumber, and more animalistic.
Liv isn’t rotted
At least as she outwardly appears, Liv is not rotting. Perhaps this has something to do with her heart still beating? We think it’s likely that she is still rotting internally, and will eventually start to outwardly appear more dead. In the mean time, it’s very convenient for her to be able to hide amongst all the other humans, albeit as, per Clive’s diagnosis, “emo or goth or somethin’.”
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Liv can turn on a superpowered zombie mode with adrenaline
Liv seems to become faster, stronger, and more resilient when adrenaline is triggered in her body. Her eyes turn darker, her face shows dark veins, and she’s less sentient.
Concepts similar to other modern zombie series
Liv was transformed by a scratch, ala ‘The Walking Dead’
A scratch may be the only way to trigger a transformation, as there haven’t been any other zombies from the boat party that have showed up yet. This concept is common in many zombie mythos, and is seen often in The Walking Dead. Lastly, Liv seems to have died before becoming a zombie, unless she was able to live mid-transformation in the water overnight.
Liv gets the memories from the person’s brain she eats, ala ‘Warm Bodies’
This concept is the greatest likeness iZombie has specifically to another series. The crux of the weekly plot of iZombie will focus on the new murder victim she eats the brain of in order to discover how the deceased was killed.
Liv doesn’t take notable damage from gunshots to the chest, ala ‘The Walking Dead’
The zombies in The Walking Dead don’t seem to care if they are shot anywhere in their chest, nor does Liv. A noted difference between the two series is that Liv’s heart is still beating. However, being shot in the heart didn’t seem to affect Liv for more than a few seconds of down time.
Related: iZombie premiere recap: Eating brains and kicking ass
Liv may potentially be cured, ala ‘Warm Bodies’
While this is only a hope in many zombie mythos, it’s likely that Liv will eventually have the choice between being cured or not as a result of Dr. Ravi’s experiments. While love jumpstarted the hearts of the zombies in Warm Bodies, Liv’s heart is already beating. The cure for Liv will likely be something of an antidote as opposed to the emotional solution seen in Warm Bodies.
iZombie season 1, episode 2, “Brother, Can You Spare a Brain?” airs on The CW Tuesday at 9pm.
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