First Kill review: a queer vampire romance worth sinking your teeth into

My years of experience watching TV for young adults taught me that young love should be intense, passionate, full of heartbreak, longing and secret sessions. It’s also much better when it’s forbidden, and when there are vampires involved, it’s just all the more intense (and hot). First Kill, Netflix’s new supernatural YA drama about two teenage girls who fall in love despite their status as mortal enemies, more than lives up to these high expectations. Just don’t expect the story to really make sense.

Based on V.E. Schwab’s short story Schwab, First KillJuliette Fairmont is Sarah Catherine Hook’s legacy vampire, living plain-sight with her Savannah, Georgia vampire family. (In First Kill, being a legacy vamp means you’re born, not made, though how exactly this happens is unclear.) At 16, the blood pills she’s lived off of her entire life are losing their efficacy, and it’s time for her to make her first kill. Juliette is one of a very rare breed. A legacy vamp who has a conscience but is driven to prevent her from killing, Juliette is not your average girl. Enter Calliope Burns (Imani Lewis), the new girl in school who Juliette can’t stop thinking about. Juliette receives a hit to the gut when Juliette goes to take her shot. Calliope also isn’t just a regular teenage girl; she’s a monster hunter raised by a family of monster hunters. How’s that for forbidden love?

Every vampire movie and show in recent decades has featured some sort of this. Romeo and Juliet storyline — The Vampire Diaries’ Stefan and Elena or Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Angel and Buffy — and First Kill doesn’t shy away from these pop culture comparisons. The opening credits feature an extremely catchy song, which actually names drops Twilight’s Bella and Edward. But forbidden love alone is not enough to carry a show; it’s the chemistry between the leads that has to sustain the story, and relative newcomers Hook and Lewis are more than up for the challenge. Their chemistry is electric, and the longing glances exchanged when they can’t be making out with each other in private are guaranteed to inspire hundreds of fanfiction stories. It’s no secret that they have a lot of fun together. a lot. From the first scene onwards, First Kill makes a point of highlighting the physical aspect of Juliette and Calliope’s relationship — perhaps a response to the overly sanitized portrayal of same-sex relationships previously seen on television.

Netflix Photo

Photo: Brian Douglas/Netflix

Hook’s portrayal of Juliette is particularly intriguing. Hook is a mix between teenage shyness and sexual frustration. She’s somehow able to make being a teenage vampire awkward and uncomfortable. Lewis has less. Calliope, a more confident character than Juliette and with fewer emotions, is more grounded. Lewis, however, tries to give Calliope more depth. Lewis shines in fight scenes. Calliope is most comfortable fighting monsters and training, and Lewis’ physicality reflects that.

However First KillCertain takes cues. Buffy TwilightIt also modifies the format of the vampire series to make it more fun for families. The threat to Juliette and Calliope doesn’t come from a monster of the week or an anonymous big bad, it comes from their parents. Both girls have strong ties to their families, which allows for fun supporting characters — like Juliette’s dangerous but loving older sister, Elinor (Gracie Dzienny), and Calliope’s sweet older brother, Theo (Phillip Mullings Jr.) — to have more presence than just a clueless parent (like Bella’s dad in TwilightAs in many vampire stories, this is the same as the aforementioned. The real story-setters are Margot (Elizabeth Mitchell), who plays the patriarch of the family’s legacy vampire bloodline. Talia (Aubin WIse) is Talia, the monster hunter and tough-as nails mother torn between protecting her child and allowing her to grow. Mitchell and Wise go head to head throughout the season in a delightful parallel to Juliette and Calliope’s growing relationship.

They are the mothers First KillThey are far more terrifying than actual monsters. The fight scenes have been well choreographed to make it difficult for you not to be distracted by the blandness of the monsters. The Burnses are able to fight shapeshifting monsters and ghouls with their vamps off the screen. BuffyIn 1999. And the special effects used to enhance these mystical creatures are uneven — some are completely CGI, others are very clearly just actors in heavy makeup — and this imbalance only makes them look more out of place.

It doesn’t help that the mythology surrounding these monsters is never explained. It’s established early on that Savannah has a history of being overrun by monsters, but the extent of that history, or what it might mean for the human characters on the show, is murky at best. It feels incomplete even the mythology of vampires. The fact that Juliette is a “legacy” vampire is mentioned constantly, but the audience is never really told what that means in practice. What will her life expectancy be? She has lived a life of normality her entire adulthood. What special abilities do legacy vampires possess? What is the best way to kill or die? These questions remain unanswered.

Netflix Photo

Photo: Brian Douglas/Netflix

On the one hand, the lack of rules lowers the stakes because the audience doesn’t quite know when the vampire characters are risking their lives. It also adds intrigue to future episodes. Mythology-heavy shows sometimes get caught up in the trap of too many explanations, which can lead to excessive exposition that cuts out potential storylines. By leaving so many questions unanswered, First Kill Ends the season with endless options. This could lead to a second great season.

Overall, First KillThe inability of identifying its audience is what makes it difficult to watch. The monsters feel like they’re made for children, but the love story is a clear teenage romance, and this conflict could cause some viewers to lose interest. Production-wise, it looks more like a show one might find on the Disney Channel, and narratively, there probably isn’t enough mythology to really interest viewers looking for the next Umbrella Academy. For romantics, young romances are the best. First KillThis show has something very few others have, a hot and sweet love story at the center.

A show that is not of high prestige can easily be dismissed in an era where television has become a prestigious medium. First Kill. Shows about supernatural teenagers rarely get the respect they deserve, especially if they don’t have the budget of Stranger Things. They can also be very educational for teens who watch them. Television shows can foster a sense of community among viewers that is not available at home. It doesn’t matter what aspects of a show are. First KillWith an incredible love story at the center, it can give young audiences, especially those who are LGBTQIA+, validation. There’s no downside to that.

First KillSeason 1 of Netflix’s Original Series is available now.