You’ve probably heard about Netflix’s new TV series Santa Clarita Diet in some form of capacity by now. And if you haven’t watched it yet it’s safe to say you’re missing out. Why? Because it’s the show has been the talk of the town recently so you should probably watch it pretty soon. You wouldn’t want to be left out now would you?
That said, a quick poll amongst friends who have actually watched the series tells me that watching every episode doesn’t necessarily equal a full understanding of what actually went down because let’s face it, quite a lot went down in Santa Clarita.
So to prepare you for your mammoth catch up (or revisiting) of the series this weekend, we’ve attempted to answer the questions you probably have about the whole thing. And yes, spoilers ahead, but we’ve done our best to keep it all to a minimum because we’re good to you like that.
What is Santa Clarita Diet about?
I like to think of Santa Clarita as a nice little (fictional) American no man’s land where the genres of horror, comedy and ‘erm wtf?’ all meet to play. It’s a new TV series about a woman who somehow becomes a flesh-hungry zombie (that's where the Diet bit comes in) and has to secretly kill people with her husband while still maintaining her unassuming suburban family lifestyle. It’s all a bit confusing on paper but somehow it works.
When is* Santa Clarita Diet* on UK Netflix?
It came to Netflix on 3 February 2017 so is available to watch right now. As in all of it. Right there, for your viewing pleasure. Go, go, go.
Can I watch Santa Clarita Diet trailer first?
Whether you’re new to the series or have watched it all and are simply coming back for more, you can watch the official trailer right here.
So, is Santa Clarita Diet like Dexter?
Okay, no. It’s not very much like Dexter at all. If my memory serves correctly, Dexter doesn’t actually eat his victims. Drew Barrymore’s character on the other hand kills them, pops them in the freezer and then whips them into a breakfast smoothie.
I’d describe it as a big bowl of gory rom-com silliness. In the best possible way. It doesn’t quite reach audible, literal laugh out loud levels of funny. But as long as you can stomach lots of fake blood, don’t mind a few seemingly nonsensical plot twists and are already a fan of Drew Barrymore, you’re pretty set.
But is* Santa Clarita Diet* about cannibalism though?
It’s the question that was on everyone’s lips but to be honest with you kids, if you look a little deeper, the shows about a lot more than just eating other humans. Honest.
In an interview with Vulture magazine, Drew Barrymore explained that she liked show creator Victor Fresco’s idea that ‘it’s a show about people trying to love each other’, which might not have been your first thought when watching the trailer, but we can see it.
You’re probably thinking, ‘but really, what about the whole zombie thing, though?’. And okay yes, that is a crucial part of the premise of the show and okay, when the flesh eating happens it’s all rather graphic. Well, Victor spoke about the metaphor of zombies as ‘the ultimate narcissists and consumers who consume without thinking’. He said: ‘That’s kind of culturally where we are. We’ll eat ourselves out of the planet if we’re not careful’. That’s right, there’s some societal commentary somewhere in the mix.
Who’s in the cast of Santa Clarita Diet?
So, up front and centre you’ve got Drew Barrymore, who plays Sheila Hammond the zombie mom. Then you’ve got Timothy Olyphant who you might recognise from Deadwood, who plays her husband Joel Hammond.
Liv Hewson plays their daughter Abby and we know we’re not meant to have favourites, but she’s definitely one of ours. Then there’s Skyler Gisondo who plays next door neighbour Eric (and according to his IMDb page has appeared in Amazing Spider-Man one and two and we kind of want to go back and watch them to try and spot him).
Oh, and if you were wondering why there’s such a distinguishable air of Desperate Housewives about the show, the fact that Ricardo Chavira aka Carlos from Desperate Housewives stars in it as Eric’s dickhead step dad, might have something to do with it.
How many episodes of Santa Clarita Diet are there in season 1?
There are ten episodes to get through. They’re only about 30 minutes each which is pretty much a walk in the park if you fancy doing a full season binge in just one sitting. We don’t judge here.
Do we know anything about a Santa Clarita Diet season 2 yet?
Sadly not I’m afraid. But we can definitely see it happening. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about that final episode Victor, the show’s creator, seemed to hint at a second series for the show. He said: ‘We wanted to keep ratcheting things up and we knew we wanted to end on a fun cliff hanger to get us into a second season.
So, who knows. The show hasn’t been officially renewed for a second season or anything yet, but it would be nice to know what happens to Sheila and whether she stays chained up in her basement forever, wouldn’t it?
What does reddit think about Santa Clarita Diet?
Because how else would one measure the success of a TV show? Well there are mixed feelings. There are lots of threads about how great the show is and a whole lots of praise for Timothy Olyphant floating around. In the ‘Santa Clarita Diet is simple, yet hilarious’ thread one person said: ‘Olyphant stole she show for me, he appears more and more stressed out throughout, its hilarous’, while over in the ‘has anyone else really disliked Santa Clarita Diet’ thread (awkward), one person said ‘I don’t think is amazing, but I find myself enjoying it. And I’ll like anything a little at the very least if it has Timothy Olyphant’ and another redditer said ‘I think Olyphant kills it on the show’. And kill it he does.
Then again, in the same thread someone else went so far to say ‘This show has exactly one joke, but it’s a good joke’. Food for thought.
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Follow Jazmin on Instagram @JazKopotsha
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.