Santa Clarita Diet - Attention to Detail

I think by the time most viewers reach or have reached “Attention to Detail” in the first season of Santa Clarita Diet, they are dying to see Joel crack that dick, Dan, who works for the LA Sheriff’s Department and has proved to be a douchebag nuisance who spies on his neighbors, insults them, intrudes upon their lives as if he’s entitled, and even blackmails when he feels like it, over the head with a shovel. If any guy had it coming, it is Dan. Joel, who was already have a rough go of it as of late, just didn’t need Dan’s shit any longer. Dan knows that his wife is having an affair with an oncologist, presenting Joel with another kill in order to keep him and Sheila out of jail for Gary’s death, her lover. We also are made aware when Abby discovers a hidden crawlspace in the wall of the garage along with Eric that Dan is a dirty cop with a cache of money, drugs, and guns! Dan is one bad dude! 

The disastrous lone trip to Loki’s apartment (Loki, turned zombie in the previous episode, left behind a disheveled, ransacked abode), leaves Joel having to contend with associates of his that are from his world of drug-dealing and crime. Joel gets punched out, but locates a specific pen that would have tied Joel and Sheila to Loki and the apartment so, despite losing his clothes (???), phone, and wallet, all in all, could have been even worse. Narrowly missing a green, very long snake, up on Loki’s couch, the hoods drop by and one among them speaks about her lack of nuptials, not being taken seriously, and caressing Joel’s hair for comfort(!) as her man arrives to decide what to do with him. 

Meanwhile, Sheila nearly kills the oncologist, not realizing he’s in the affair with Lisa and isn’t a sex-trafficker as Dan claims! The pink poncho Sheila dresses in is hilarious. Sheila and Joel, through their bad experiences, realize that doing things separately isn’t going to work…they are such a better team when it comes to killing people, selection of those who die to feed her, the coverup, and eventual storage of victims for longer term food use. 

What I personally enjoyed a lot was Abby and Eric’s time together as she encourages him to ditch Dan’s backyard BBQ (where Dan tells Joel, his “new best friend”, he’s got to kill again or else…), steal a smoke bomb from the garage, visit the local comic book store, purchase Kevin Bacon’s hat from “Tremors” (1990) with money taken from the secret cache, and talk a bit about the awkward pullback of an attempted kiss (Abby wants to be friends while Eric sort of feels lousy about the attempt in retrospect, considering it creates unfortunate tensions). Abby could use a friend (the whole parents killing folks for her zombie mom to eat, not to mention, school grades issues) while Eric has grown fond of her as well (his stepdad bullying him and mocking him often leaves him feeling quite frustrated and anxious). This is one of those developments that a series can produce even as the central plot focuses on zombie comedy and visceral chop suey. 3/5