Vampiress TV review: First Kill

First Kill is a Netflix original series which debuted in 2022.  The story revolves around two teenage girls.  One a vampire named Julliette and one a monster slayer named Calliope.  Both are going through a kind of puberty for their kind in which getting their first kill will launch them into adulthood.  

By chance they end up targeting each other for that but botched it during a round of spin the bottle. 

In the throws of passion Julliette bites Calliope leaving herself open for Calliope to stake her but neither get the kill as Calliope runs away before confirming the kill. 

To make matters worse they fall for each other when Calliope begins questioning her clans blind hatred of vampires when Julliette goes out of her way to save her from the rest of the vampires.  This leads to a rift between the two girls and their families launching a supernatural Romeo & Juliette story. 

Julliette is one of those "vampires that really doesn't want to be one and just wants to be a normal girl" vamps.  She comes from a line of first generation vampires which is why she can walk in the daylight and wasn't killed when staked through the heart. She tries to hold back her vampire urges through taking blood pills but much like regular puberty she has issues keeping her fangs in in emotional situations. 

Thow everyone in her family are vampires with the family being described as a matriarch (vampire leadership being passed from mother to daughter)

 there is only one in the family that falls into vampire in the traditional sense (meaning she openly stalks and feeds during the series) and that's Juliettes older sister Elinor.

Elinor is the prototypical upper class debutont Barbie.  While she does come off very cold overall everything she does is in an effort to protect her little sister including seducing, biting then hypnotizing townspeople to cover up a murder she believedJulliette did. 

Then when she found out Juliette hadn't had her first kill doing everything in her power to help her sister kill while covering it up to the family that it hadn't happened. 
  

Though at the end of the day her motivations are all selfish as she's only truly thinking about how her sister being shunned would affect her standing in the family. 

Final Opinion:  I don't have too many complaints about season 1.  When I first heard the premise I thought it would be a bit corny and overwhelmingly teenage girl angsty ala Twilight or the web series Carmella but was pleasantly surprised to find a well balanced horror drama. I definitely recommend it. Unfortunately in August of 2022 even with a very loyal fanbase Netflix announced the show would be cancelled after only 1 season.