Review: Santa Clarita Diet, season 3

Santa Clarita Diet hit its Sophomore Slump in season 3. It lost its spark, it got stale. There weren’t enough surprises, turns, or new ideas.

I enjoyed seasons 1 and 2. They were clever and unique and well-done. I gave them enthusiastic reviews. But even the Nazi killing metaphor didn’t keep working in season 3.

Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant continued with their whole-hearted performances as Joel and his undead wife Sheila. All the actors did their best, actually, as they had in the previous two seasons. But I was disappointed with the material they were given.

Liv Hewson as Joel and Sheila’s daughter had her own plotline based on how she and the boy next door, Eric (Skyler Gisondo), blew up a fracking operation.

The moldering, headless Nathan Fillion turned into an even more moldering, headless Alan Tudyk in season 3. Zombie magic there.

Natalie Morales was back as the neighborhood cop. She thought undead Sheila was a gift from God. Mary Elizabeth Ellis returned as Eric’s mother.

The guest stars in Santa Clarita Diet were numerous: Linda Lavin, Adam Arkin, Jonathan Slavin, Goran Visnjic, and Dominic Burgess came on board with specific bits. My longtime favorite Linda Lavin was the best of the lot, but she’s always been adept at scene stealing.

Honestly, I kept having to restart episodes from the beginning to get through season 3. I kept falling asleep in the middle of an episode. All I could think about was, Netflix paid to keep this stale joke alive while letting the popping goodness of One Day at a Time die?

I watched it all, out of loyalty to the first two seasons and because Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant are still extremely cute together. But if there is a season 4 of Santa Clarita Diet, they need an interesting new twist.