Liv Moore (*rimshot*) was an overachiever headed straight for a prestigious career as a heart surgeon and a wonderful life as the wife of perfect, sweet heart throb Major Lilywhite. (Yup, enjoy the puns, folks.) And then, after being encouraged to loosen up, Liv attends a party that ends in a zombie mini-pocalypse. Liv is infected, and like many who suddenly have to face a chronic health condition, she struggles to salvage her life. And to find a reason to salvage it.
While she has a decent support network (some more than others) being supportive of a medical condition is a little different when you have to eat brains to survive. So Liv gets a job as a medical examiner in a morgue. Eating brains gives her visions, memories from the people whose brains she’s consuming, as well as behavior patterns from those people. Part addiction, part basic survival need, and part annoying side effect.
Partnering with her boss and a detective on the police force, Liv finds new life through her “victims”. Their lives, and deaths affect her so she in return tries to give them justice and their family’s closure.
I really enjoyed the first season. While there is lots of camp, Liv, and most of the characters actually, are smart and capable. The plots remain engaging and while they could go for sensational, often the sensational bits (like the open relationship in the first few episodes) are just the tip of the iceberg. It does include sexual aspect as she recovers that part of her relationships with humans, and some really dark material (predatory behaviors on humans, gore, morality) but it makes a lot of the gore into dark humor instead and ultimately viewers are left with a positive outlook.
No for young children, but teens and adults should find a lot to really like in this show.