Photo: Saeed Adyani (Netflix)
After the slam-bang season two premiere where the Santa Clarita Diet-ers had to solve some serious problems, it’s back to business as usual for the Hammonds. But a couple new wrinkles are teased that should provide plenty of wacky hijinks and fun storylines for the season.
For Joel and Sheila, they have their eyes on a new housing development that would be a serious get for our resident real-a-tors (solidarity with Sheila, even if it’s incorrect). Their boss (the always-delightful Andy Richter) says that development is on hold since Gary’s disappearance, but if the Hammonds can land a fancy-pants listing for the firm, he’ll let them move forward with the development.
The wealthy seller in question is ... well, it doesn’t really matter what her character name is because I shouted “Markie Post!” as soon as she came on screen and I shall continue to do so for the duration of this review. Big Night Court fan over here. Anyway, Markie Post! is one of those rich, kinda lonely people who is way too into her dog. Joel and Sheila are making inroads with her when who should arrive but their apparent real estate nemeses, Chris and Christa. This is another terrific bit of casting because Joel McHale is highly skilled at playing a d-bag and Maggie Lawson is quite the Gal Friday for him, it turns out. I mostly know her from Psych and she was great on that. This is a bit of a departure from Jules, but Lawson can definitely handle the sugar-won’t-melt-in-my-mouth two-face that is Christa.
Chris and Christa make their own play for Markie Post!, sucking up to her apparent love for Johnny Depp by getting her a visit to his latest movie set (I’ll get to that particular bit in a moment). But Joel knows the way to Markie Post!’s heart, so he lets her dog outside in order for Sheila to rescue it. You see, Sheila has a lot of pent-up zombie aggression, which she works out by chasing rabbits in the desert. So she’s more than ready to chase down Markie Post!’s little fuzz ball, which earns them the listing. It did seem a couple times there that instead of rescuing little Rachel, the poor pup was going to run into traffic and get smushed, so I’m glad the show didn’t go that way. I don’t mind the crazy gore when Sheila is eating people, but let’s not be smashing any puppies, OK?
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Everything’s coming up roses for the Hammonds work-wise, except—ruh roh. The development is where they buried Gary’s body, so they now have to dig him up to move his remains. But it turns out Gary isn’t totally dead! He’s completely dismembered, but his head is definitely an undead zombie. Nathan Fillion’s head in a jar, anyone? That would make a nice addition to the Hammond mantle.
Meanwhile, Abby and Eric realize they have to get rid of the e-paper trail linking Goran’s email to their ad for bile, so they chisel his thumb out of ice at the storage unit, use it to unlock his computer and delete the emails. Um, why wouldn’t they just take his computer when they got there and realized they needed a fingerprint to unlock it? Because then it looks like he was robbed and that helps explain his disappearance. I expect a little better from Abby and Eric, honestly, so that was a little sloppy on the writers’ part.
Anyway, as our teen criminals are leaving after having successfully covered their tracks, they encounter two strangers coming into Goran’s apartment who are also wearing blue rubber gloves. Everyone lies to each other, but after Abby and Eric leave, the two newbies talk about “the bile.” So, are other people advertising for bile in order to concoct the zombie serum? Do these guys have anything to do with Ramona? Guess we’ll see.
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Photo: Saeed Adyani (Netflix)
It’s not the most exciting episode of the show, though it certainly had plenty of funny moments. It’s nice to see the Hammonds remember they have jobs and do things that are more mundane since at its heart this show is a family comedy. Not that the Hammonds haven’t had a ton of things to do lately, but it can’t all be zombie paramours (Loki) and threatening neighbors (Dan) 24/7. Speaking of neighbors, Lisa and Anne are still going strong in the wake of Dan’s disappearance, which is a lot of fun. Sheila wants to be friends with them, though Joel is quite nervous about opening that particular can of worms—and I’m with Joel. Lisa may be an unobservant ditz, but Anne most definitely is not.
Stray observations
Sheila: “I took the container with Serbian guy back to the storage unit, then I destroyed his phone and then buried his clothes in the desert. Look at me, I’m becoming a morning person!”
“I took the container with Serbian guy back to the storage unit, then I destroyed his phone and then buried his clothes in the desert. Look at me, I’m becoming a morning person!” Gotta get me a hammerknife. That seems like quite the multi-functional tool.
The way Joel snickered when Richter said Gary could “sell farts to an elephant” was great. It almost felt like it was Olyphant laughing. Same goes for Barrymore’s delivery on the “whoa” in response to Lawson’s threat.
Sheila: “Listen, b*tch. You keep talking sh*t about us and I swear to God I will drop you.”
Christa: “Try it and I will kick your tw*t so far up your throat you’ll get pregnant giving blowjobs.”
Sheila: “....whoa!”
“Listen, b*tch. You keep talking sh*t about us and I swear to God I will drop you.” “Try it and I will kick your tw*t so far up your throat you’ll get pregnant giving blowjobs.” “....whoa!” I’m not sure how I feel about the way the show is handling the Abby-Eric-Ramona thing. Abby seems supportive and it would be nice if that were genuine and not her doing the thing where she’s jealous, so to compensate she acts supportive and pushes Eric toward Ramona. That’s such a trope and I like it when a show surprises me, so I hope that isn’t the way they’re going here. I’ll give the Santa Clarita Diet writers the benefit of the doubt that they’re going somewhere more interesting with this.
I’m also going to choose to believe the show’s writers picked Johnny Depp for the Markie Post! gag because they’re making a commentary about the kind of people who are still super into Depp and not that they’re just that tone-deaf to the current media landscape.
Release Year: 2017
They're ordinary husband and wife realtors until she undergoes a dramatic change that sends them down a road of death and destruction. In a good way.
1. So Then a Bat or a Monkey 30m Joel and Sheila's marriage gets a jumpstart when Sheila debuts a truly killer new personality and an anything-goes menu. And they used to be so normal.
2. We Can't Kill People! 29m The Hammonds try to live their new truth, Abby comes to a hard realization while browsing comics, and Joel treats Sheila to a very expensive meal.
3. We Can Kill People 26m Sheila's tummy is growling and Joel needs to find her someone tasty ASAP. Meanwhile, Abby embraces her inner badass and helps out a friend in need.
4. The Farting Sex Tourist 27m Sheila inspires her friends and insults the principal. Joel bonds with Abby, and Dan makes a damning discovery while spraying for ants.
5. Man Eat Man 29m Abby discovers that parents can't be trusted (especially hers). Joel learns there might be a cure for Sheila, and Dan puts his cards on the table.
6. Attention to Detail 28m Joel and Sheila try dividing up the tasks, Eric and Abby stumble onto something big, and Dan learns that a realtor can only be pushed so far.
7. Strange or Just Inconsiderate? 29m With the cops looking for Dan, Sheila dines on the evidence. But that's a lot of evidence. Meanwhile, Joel stops to smell the coffee.
8. How Much Vomit? 28m A new-look Loki takes Joel and Sheila by surprise while Abby and Eric learn the fine art of leaving well enough alone.
9. The Book! 28m Joel and Eric seek out the mysterious Anton at a paranormal convention while Sheila and Abby bond over their shared love of bad behavior.
Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant's Netflix zom-com spends a lot of time treading water with old jokes, but it finds some magic in the end.
To say “Santa Clarita Diet” is a weird show is an understatement, but it’s also not entirely accurate. Not only does the Netflix comedy focus on a suburban real estate agent who turns into a zombie and — while killing and eating people on the side — still wants a normal life, but creator Victor Fresco’s peculiar sense of humor makes his series stand out all the more. That makes it fundamentally weird, and Season 1 illustrated the barriers some may face because of it. The combo of story and tone might be too much (or too mismatched) for the masses, but for those who’ve taken to the zombie-comedy like Sheila (Drew Barrymore) takes to a heart (or liver, or neck, or any human body part other than thumbs), Season 2 should serve as amiable, if less shocking, entertainment.
There’s just one thing it really needs, especially if Season 3 earns a green light. “Santa Clarita Diet” needs to get weird. Not superficially weird; not tonally weird; the zom-com could really take off if it stops relying on simple gross-out gags and fully embraces the batshit crazy world it’s building.
Season 1 subsisted on the shock value of Sheila’s transformation — the reveal of Sheila’s condition via intense, prolonged vomiting surely held everyone’s attention — but Season 2 takes too long to find fresh flesh to chew on. Little pieces are put into place without being properly explored (we’ll get into these in the spoiler section below), and Fresco introduces an intriguing mythology that’s discovered via the Hammond family’s fun and frequent mini-missions. Yet it’s not until the literal last line of the season that it becomes clear what “Santa Clarita Diet” has been missing all along: a sharp right turn into Weirdville.
[Editor’s Note: The following section of the review contains spoilers for “Santa Clarita Diet Season 2, including the ending.]
Before we get to that last line, here’s a basic, need-to-know summary of Season 2: The cliffhangers left in Season 1 are pretty quickly dispensed with in the opening episode, as Joel (Timothy Olyphant) gets out of the insane asylum, Abby (Liv Hewson) finds the bile she needs to keep her mom’s disease from spreading, and the family agrees to let Sheila live outside the basement — even though she violently murdered someone in their kitchen — because they just can’t live without her.
So the Hammond family tries to get back to normal — or as normal as can be when mom’s eating leftover eyelids off the ceiling fan. Joel and Sheila go after a big listing at work, while Abby and Eric (Skyler Gisondo) go back to school. From there, the kids get sucked into a friendly, quickly evolving game of relationship tag — he’s got a girlfriend, then she’s got a boyfriend, then they kind of like each other, but no one makes a move — while the adults deal with the severed head of Gary (Nathan Fillion), who wants a favor, and a lingering police investigation from next-door-neighbor Anne (Natalie Morales).
Abby is still the highlight here. Not only is Hewson natural and engaging, but she’s given the chance to cut through the bullshit and hold her parents accountable. That means she gets real moments of sincerity, instead of fake sincerity played (by the characters and actors) for jokes. When she starts engaging in environmental activism, it’s believable because we’ve seen her take things seriously. She feels like an actual human being while most of the other characters do not.
The real March madness is how much binging you'll be doing with everything new coming to Netflix. The streaming service is going all out with its March additions, including a ton of new originals, along with more movies, TV shows, and specials.
While there are over 50 originals being added to the streamer in March, there are two you need to pay very special attention to. Firstly, the new season of Marvel's Jessica Jones. Krysten Ritter is back as the whiskey-drinking hero, along with co-stars Rachael Taylor (Trish) and Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth). Notably, David Tennant will also reprise his role as the evil Killgrave in a guest appearance. The new season of Jessica Jones arrived on March 8--International Women's Day.
The other major original to keep an eye out for is the return of Santa Clarita Diet--the horror comedy zombie series starring Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant. The first photos from the new season were released recently, showing new characters moving into the neighborhood and more undead insanity. New episodes of Santa Clarita Diet arrived on March 23.
As for movies, the Cruel Intentions trilogy--yes, it's actually a trilogy--will begin streaming in March. Other new titles include Adventureland, Jackass: Number Two, Wet Hot American Summer, and Let Me In.
It's not all good news, though. With the arrivals come the departures. March will see all four Jaws films leave Netflix, as well as three seasons of Brickleberry and the Santa Clause trilogy.
Take a look at everything coming and going on Netflix in March below--and what you might have missed in February. After that, check out what the new month will bring to Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.
Arriving on Netflix in March
March 1
300
21 Thunder: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
2307: Winter's Dream
Adel Karam: Live from Beirut (Netflix Original)
Adventureland
Algo Muy Gordo
Alpha and Omega
Battle Drone
Beerfest
Casino
Cruel Intentions
Cruel Intentions 2
Cruel Intentions 3
Deathgrip
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters 2
Gridiron Gang
Guess Who
Hostage
I Am Number Four
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
Jackass: Number Two
Land Gold Women
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: The Eighteenth Year
Martian Child
Moon
People Like Us
Revolutionary Road
Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild
The Brothers Grimm
The Bucket List
The Descent
The Descent: Part 2
The Experiment
The Fifth Estate
The Gift
The Lazarus Project
True to the Game
Untraceable
Up in the Air
Wet Hot American Summer
Women at War 1939-1945
March 2
B: The Beginning: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Flint Town: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Girls Incarcerated: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Les Affamés (Netflix Original)
Malena Pichot: Estupidez compleja (Netflix Original)
Natalia Valdebenito: El Especial (Netflix Original)
Voltron: Legendary Defender: Season 5 (Netflix Original)
March 4
The Joel McHale Show with Joel McHale (Netflix Original)
March 5
F The Prom
The World's Most Extraordinary Homes: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
March 6
Benji
Borderliner: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
For the Love of Benji
Gad Elmaleh: American Dream (Netflix Original)
March 7
Aftershock
March 8
Bad Guys: Vile City: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Ladies First (Netflix Original)
Marvel's Jessica Jones: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
March 9
A.I.C.O. Incarnation: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Collateral: Limited Series (Netflix Original)
Love: Season 3 (Netflix Original)
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction With David Letterman: Malala Yousafzai (Netflix Original)
Nailed It: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
The Outsider (Netflix Original)
Trolls: The Beat Goes On!: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
March 10
Septiembre, un Llanto en Silencio
March 12
Kygo: Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Troy: The Odyssey
March 13
Children of the Whales: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Ricky Gervais: Humanity (Netflix Original)
Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout (Netflix Original)
Terrace House: Opening New Doors: Part 1 (Netflix Original)
March 15
Jackass 3.5: The Unrated Movie
Power Rangers Ninja Steel: Season 1
Tabula Rasa: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
The Hollywood Masters: Season 2
March 16
Benji (Netflix Original)
Edha: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
On My Block: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Spirit Riding Free: Season 4 (Netflix Original)
Take Your Pills (Netflix Original)
The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (Netflix Original)
Wild Wild Country: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
March 19
In Search of Fellini
March 20
100 Years: One Woman's Fight for Justice
The Standups: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
March 21
Conor McGregor: Notorious
March 23
Alexa & Katie: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Dinotrux Supercharged: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
Game Over, Man! (Netflix Original)
Layla M. (Netflix Original)
Requiem: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Roxanne Roxanne (Netflix Original)
Santa Clarita Diet: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
SWORDGAI The Animation: Part 1 (Netflix Original)
The Mechanism: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
March 24
Red Trees
March 27
Men on a Mission: 2018
March 28
50 First Dates
Little Women
Never Back Down 2: The Beatdown
The Art of War
March 30
A Series of Unfortunate Events: Season 2 (Netflix Original)
First Match (Netflix Original)
Happy Anniversary (Netflix Original)
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir Season 2 Part 1
Rapture: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Reboot: The Guardian Code: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
Sofía Niño de Rivera: Selección natural (Netflix Original)
The Titan (Netflix Original)
Trailer Park Boys: Season 12 (Netflix Original)
Trump: An American Dream: Season 1 (Netflix Original)
March 31
Let Me In
Leaving Netflix in March
March 1
A Gang Story
Anastasia
Baby's Day Out
Eyewitness
FernGully: The Last Rainforest
First Response
Forget and Forgive
Hitch
Jaws
Jaws 2
Jaws 3
Jaws: The Revenge
Less Than Zero
Memento
Slums of Beverly Hills
The Chase
The Craft
The Panic in Needle Park
Trigger Point
Two Wrongs
xXx
March 4
Chloe
Safe Haven
March 6
The Finest Hours
March 8
Victoria
March 11
Believe
Glitch
March 12
Standby
Disney's The Santa Clause
Disney's The Santa Clause 2
Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
March 13
Breakout Kings: Season 1
City of God: 10 Years Later
London Has Fallen
The Killing: Seasons 1-2
March 14
Archer: Seasons 1-7
March 19
V/H/S: Viral
March 20
Zootopia
March 22
Steve Jobs: One Last Thing
March 24
Voltron 84: Season 1
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
March 26
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
March 29
The Gates: Season 1
March 30
Life in Pieces: Season 1
March 31
