Santa Clarita diet is one of those shows people either love or hate, at least that is what it looks like so far. Audience reaction, ten minutes in they quit (and in my opinion miss out on a great thing) or they gobble it up in one sitting.
I was in the second camp and am so glad. I adore this show in all ways. The writing, the acting, the scenery, the humor, everything about it.
Admittedly, the first episode was a little unsteady (to some people) – the actors trying to find the right voice and mannerisms for their characters, get comfortable with their co-workers – but by episode 2 they are fully into them and the result is a weird combination of gore, splatter, zombies, love, and total and complete fun.
I totally buy Sheila and Joel as suburbanites who lost track of when their lives became dull. The love they have toward their daughter. Their total and complete averageness that gets stripped away from them in a day and forces them to live for once.
Sheila, Drew Barrymore’s character, is not the traditional zombie. Think iZombie but without the weird psychic stuff that happens. One day she wakes up and after a few hours her life changes for the better. She goes from a woman who is quiet, content to go unnoticed, to a woman who has an id to satisfy, right now.
Now, I am not going to spoil the show for you – but I will say this, Joel and Sheila have such a fun relationship. Joel won’t give up on his wife despite the fact she needs to kill then eat people, and Sheila is still looking out for their daughter who is having a hard time adjusting to their new family dynamic.
Joel and Sheila are my new relationship goals – not the zombie element – but the total devotion, the well-timed barbs to one another that come with two decades of knowing someone, and their commitment to F*&^ things up together from now on. Does it get much better than that? Probably, but I never said I had healthy relationship ideals 🙂
If you are looking for a fun little pick up me, a show that will make you smile, even laugh at times (some of the lines are just crazy) then you might want to give this a shot.
With appearances from Nathan Fillion, Patton Oswalt, and Portia De Rossi there is something for just about everyone…
It is campy, horror, fun – give it a chance –
Suzanne Robb 