Everything That Goes Down on Santa Clarita Diet Season 1

Netflix's new horror-comedy show, Santa Clarita Diet, is Desperate Housewives meets Dexter, with a little bit of The Walking Dead sprinkled in. The 10-episode season follows Sheila and Joel Hammond (Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant) — high school sweethearts who have gotten married, moved to the suburbs, started a family, and became residential realtors. Their domestic bliss comes to a screeching halt when Sheila suddenly starts craving human flesh. The Hammonds, their 16-year-old daughter, Abby (Liv Hewson), and teenage neighbor, Eric (Skyler Gisondo), go into overdrive trying to understand the new and improved, undead Sheila.

Their primary concern is determining Sheila's diet, which, unfortunately, coincides with the arrival of new realtor, Gary West (played by Nathan Fillion). Gary has an immediate attraction toward Sheila, who insists that she will remain faithful to her husband of over 20 years. Gary refuses to take no for an answer and purses her aggressively. Sheila has no choice but to put an end to his attempts, once and for all. She eats Gary, and the family buries what's left of him in the desert.

The Hammonds do their best to put the event behind them, but now, having tasted human flesh, Sheila's diet can consist of only one thing: people. Joel and Sheila decide to kill people so that she can eat — but only the people who deserve it. In a somewhat hilarious fashion, they hunt for their first victim. They choose a drug dealer, who falls easily into their trap. However, Joel bonds with him, and Sheila is forced to kill someone else impulsively. They manage to get away scot-free and vow to be more prepared next time. They purchase a freezer, weapons, and special outfits to wear on their next mission. The only thing they don't have is another victim.

Their neighbor, Sheriff Deputy Dan Palmer (played by Desperate Housewives alum Ricardo Chavira), is a dirty cop who discovers one of Gary's fingers in the Hammonds' backyard. He assumes that Joel murdered Gary for having an affair with Sheila and uses this knowledge to blackmail him into killing a criminal who's eluded his grasp. Only wanting to kill criminals, Sheila thinks working as assassins for Dan would give her the perfect victim pool.

Joel and Sheila go to kill Loki, a known murderer, but things go awry and he gets away. To make matters worse, Sheila nips Loki in the scuffle, and he turns into a member of the undead, just like Sheila. When they find him again, he isn't the problem that they think he's going to be . . . he's worse. Since he and Sheila are the only two of their kind, he's convinced that they should be together. He tries to kill Joel, but the Hammonds take him down instead.

Meanwhile, Sheriff Dan tells Joel to kill someone else — only this time the victim isn't a criminal; he's the man having an affair with Dan's wife. When Joel finds out about the trick, he confronts Dan and kills him in anger (he doesn't eat him, just hits him over the head with a shovel). When Dan's absence is noticed, his cop colleagues become determined to find him, putting an unwelcome scrutiny on the Hammond residence. Sheila eats the evidence, putting them in the clear.

As things settle down again, Joel continues his search for a cure and connects with Dr. Cora Wolf (Portia de Rossi), a scientist who is familiar with the virus. She visits the Hammonds and tells them that while there is no way to revert Sheila back to her old self, there is a "cure" that will keep her from deteriorating and going feral — which has already begun to happen (Sheila's toe has fallen off and her eye continues to pop out of its socket).

Unfortunately, the cure requires pure Serbian bile (gross!), an ingredient that isn't easy to come by. Joel and Sheila visit the grandmother of their daughter's vice principal, who had first helped them translate the Serbian drawings. They get her drunk in hopes of her vomiting, but the police arrive, impeding their plan. Sheila escapes home, while Joel takes the fall for their trespassing and attempted assault.

As the series ends, Joel is unwillingly placed in a psychiatric hold. Sheila, now more feral and dangerous than ever, is chained in the basement hoping to escape. With both adults out of the picture, Abby and Eric must do whatever it takes to keep the family's secret and find a cure. However, their success is undetermined. We'll have to wait and see what happens in season two!