The Show: The Santa Clarita Diet, Season 1, Episode 5 (Netflix)
The Moment: The selfishness question
“You seem a little manic, honey,” Sheila (Drew Barrymore) says to her husband, Joel (Timothy Olyphant), who’s typing away on a laptop.
They’re sprightly real estate agents in the bedroom community of Santa Clarita, Calif. Sheila is especially sprightly because a recent virus turned her into a powerful zombie.
“Well, I feel really manic,” Joel replies. “There could be a cure. Don’t you want to be cured?”
“Of course,” Sheila says. “Although I do like the way I feel. I have endless energy. I get so much done.”
“You eat people,” he says.
“I know,” she says. “But I’m so much more confident now. Our sex is incredible, and I can parallel park in one move.”
“But you do want to be cured, right?” he repeats.
“Totally,” she says. “Mostly.”
All zombie stories are parables about consumption. The metaphor in this one is pretty good: people who are consumed with themselves can excuse all manner of selfishness as long as it makes them “better.”
The see-saw bounce here from cutesy to gross-out is a bit obvious for me, but Barrymore and Olyphant are a charming comic team. I’ll stick around for the next five half-hours to see where we land.
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