TV Review: Santa Clarita Diet Season 3
Updated: May 27, 2019
Santa Clarita Diet Season 3: The Mercy Cancellation
The Concept:
The 3rd installment of the ever popular series continues on with new twists and turns. This season they add in the Knight of Serbia, a crazed general trying to weaponize the zombie virus and Sheila begins to form a god complex by offering to turn people into zombies. Oh and let’s not forget Mr. Ball Legs.
As of this writing the Tomatometer had it at 89%, Metacritic was at 66% and IMDB was at 7.9/10.
The Cast:
Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond, Joel's wife and Abby's mother
Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond, Sheila's husband and Abby's father
Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond, Sheila and Joel's daughter
Skyler Gisondo as Eric Bemis, the Hammonds' neighbor, Lisa's son and Dan's stepson
NO NATHAN FILLION WTF?! as Gary. But Alan Tudyk is a good replacement.
The Recap:
Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant star in this Netflix-original series as married realtors, Sheila and Joel, who are living a quiet life, raising their teenage daughter in Santa Clarita, Calif. Their world unexpectedly changes when Sheila goes through a dramatic transformation that sends her down a road of death and destruction -- but leaves her looking and feeling better than ever. Barrymore and Olyphant also serve as executive producers, alongside showrunner and creator Victor Fresco
Season 3 takes place well after everyone has accepted how Sheila is an undead person who only eats bad people. However, she comes across a few new extra issues. People begun to form a cult around her existence as a savior of sorts which leads to her forming a god complex. During all of this, the Knights of Serbia are tracking her down while she is also being tracked down by a Serbian General wanting to weaponize her blood as a virus.
Huge spoiler but a lot of people get turned into undead zombies. Sigh.
The good:
The show continues to have a fresh storyline and keeps you laughing all the way through.
Can't get Nathan Fillion? Well Alan Tudyk is always a good replacement, especially for Gary, the talking head
Abby and Eric continue to form a more intense relationship and you easily get invested in the outcome.
The bad:
I feel that that the show is running its course. Maybe it is because of the whole zombie genre fatigue. But I feel very soon that the zombie genre will go the way of the westerns.
It is borderline unbelievable how lucky the Hammond’s are at eluding capture and/or extinction in every episode. That is one hell of a lucky horseshoe they must have.
If this is not wrapped up in Season 4, I will stop watching. There really isn't anywhere to go.
Things that stood out:
They shifted gears and worked on the story of Mr. Ball Legs which they really neglected for 2 seasons. You knew of it but didn’t really know what it was. This storyline arc could really explain how things came to be but also be interesting.
Why we should watch or not watch it:
I am not against the 3rd season, but at the end of the season(without spoiling it) I feel they left it on that cliffhanger because they had no other story left to tell and they are just extending the inevitable. I stand by my assessment that it has the life of 1 more season left in it. Otherwise, it would have end up like Dexter post season 4.
1/5 Stars