This will be a review of the entire show, not an episode by episode breakdown because that would be wildly unnecessary. Although I would be willing to do that since I actually really liked this show. It’s a nice blend of witty, quirky, awkward and horrifically violent. It’s sort of like Dexter meets Arrested Development. If you haven’t seen either of those, you should check them out too while simultaneously binge-watching this show. Anyway, here is the Santa Clarita Diet Review.
The family features the classic American dream of a husband, wife and teenage girl living in a suburban home. The husband and wife work together as realtors and the daughter excels in school. They have a nice group of friends and are also close with their neighbours, they drive a luxury car and the wife is an undead zombie who feasts on human flesh. They don’t have any pets but they do get a hummingbird feeder for the backyard.
Despite their best efforts to maintain a normal life after a plethora of vomit is expelled including a small red ball, the fact of the matter is the wife, played by…(oh I started this sentence with such confidence too!) by…it’s not Uma Thurman…Drew Barrymore! That’s the one. The wife is Drew Barrymore. Anyway she has to keep up a rigorous lifestyle of consuming human flesh or she gets crazy. Well, as crazy as someone going through withdrawals of human meat and organs can get. So the husband (who is the handsome traveling salesman from The Office) and the daughter (not going to pretend like I know who she is) do what they can to make sure their familial cannibal is well fed.
The family does a great job of covering their tracks and keeping their secret hidden from the outside world. Even the people who get their throats bitten into, their arms gnawed on or their stomachs eviscerated don’t suspect a thing. But then drama! They might not be the only ones who are afflicted by this craving for flesh. Sort of spoiler alert…but they allude to it multiple times so it’s not that surprising. This ends up being a major plot focus while there are numerous side-plots to keep you entertained too. Teenage romance, tense real estate conversations and the (somewhat complete) return of a familiar face are just some of the story lines to follow.
The script is awesome and the delivery of certain lines is flawless. It’s one of those shows where you look at the cast and wonder if it could be played as well by anyone else. That sort of deadpan (pun intended? Undeadpan. Nailed it) delivery of these quick, sarcastic remarks that perfectly summarize what everyone is thinking. I would give you an example but that would be too easy so here we are. If you are easily squeamish, have a Fear of Zombies or don’t enjoy comedic gold, I have no idea why you would watch this show. If you are a normal person, open up Netflix and watch this show.
