I need to get this out. Like as a film BA and a lesbian who grew up without seeing myself on tv. First Kill is not a "crappy" or "trashy" teen vampire show... It tells you what it's going to be and then fucking delivers on its premise. How often do shows do that anymore? A lot of the backlash and negative talk around it is so deeply rooted in racism, sexism and homophobia/lesbophobia. Reviewers complaining about elements like a rushed romance, over-dramatic dialogue, and juvenile plot points, are conveniently forgetting that First Kill is a modern, genre exploration of Romeo & Juliet??? First Kill even meta-references this through a school production of the play across several episodes.
Apparently a lot of reviewers don't remember their high school readings of Romeo & Juliet, because they've forgotten about the crucial themes of the play??? Rushed young love, dramatic rivalries, family pressure, cascading events, betrayal, and tragedy. First Kill does a fantastic job of exploring these themes through a modern setting!
Not only does First Kill bring people of colour and queerness to the front in its writing and casting around the themes of Romeo & Juliet, but it also goes a layer deeper by invoking the Supernatural genre. Genre fiction has long been a source of comfort/reflection for groups of people who have been outcast, shunned, slandered, omitted, and narratively erased by those in societal (publishing) power. Due to being able to see elements of themselves in stories about monsters and the unknown, minorities are uniquely able to reclaim those narratives for themselves in contemporary fiction.
First Kill is an example of this. First Kill uses Supernatural motifs such as vampirism and monster hunting to explore intense themes like prejudice, us vs them mentality, mob mentality, disowning/casting out, and persecution WITHOUT using racism and homophobia against its own characters to do it. This allows breathing room for the exploration of an interracial, queer re-telling of Romeo & Juliet to happen alongside a layered story of persecution & resistance. The pacing of these plot elements was excellent, which is what made the show so "binge-worthy". The story hooks and cliffhangers were very addictive as a viewer. The fact the writers of First Kill successfully pulled all of this off, with nuance and creativity, should be elevating it as an example of great, adaptive storytelling.
But, alas, we know that mainstream critics do not like it when African American, biracial and LGBTQIA+ characters aren't actively traumatised on-screen for those aspects of their identity. It's seen as unrealistic. Juvenile fantasy. Even. Despite the work being fiction! We also know mainstream critics and consumers have negative biases against anything marketed towards teen girls (historic examples include backlash against The Hunger Games books or the insidious network cancellation of Teen Titans). These are biases that have wrongly overshadowed the initial reception of First Kill.
The writing in First Kill displays complex intent throughout the whole fucking show. For example, the writers went to the effort of actually using the upperclass setting for a narrative purpose, not just an aesthetic. Everyone's affluence is ground-worked through use of the guild-sponsorship plot line for the monster hunter family and the legacy plot line for the vampire family. Harking back to the wealthy, powerful, dramatic families of the original Romeo & Juliet. This affluence and everyone's connections are then used as a plot device to prevent heavy police interaction in the early acts of the story. Which is clever, and also assists in maintaining the sense that this story of star-crossed lovers is happening in a world of its own, on a stage, alone, catastrophically, without breaking viewer immersion.
A final note on themes. First Kill uses Greek mythology in the Burns family to set up an even deeper contrast and conflict against the biblical mythology of the Atwood family. Examples include Calliope's (a Muse) class reading that entranced Juliette and began a cascade, Theo's unwanted attainment of (god-like) immortality, Talia's (a Muse) donning of the theatre mask to save her own son and shepherding him to safety, and the potential foreshadowing of Apollo's hunt of the Python. These share stage with Atwood references to eden, the snake, the fruit, Lilith, and actions such as Oliver's olive branch after disaster, Elinor's reveal as the true Cain, and Juliette's fall for what is forbidden. These two mythologies apply a subtle pressure of fate to both sides of the story, that feels like it haunts the characters, and asks the viewer to look a little deeper.
Moving on from themes and writing, First Kill has good production value imo. People are trashing it for no reason. The cinematography, something I always notice immediately, is fucking good. First Kill is shot, well, excitingly! Without loosing clarity during action moments. The cinematography reminds me of older shows like Buffy and the X-Files (this is a good thing). Because they fucking used proper staging in each scene. Production didn't shy away from choreography, either. Fighting styles in the show range from clean to scrappy depending on character, exhaustion, and/or injury. Actors and stunt doubles were clearly given enough time to learn sequences and deliver them believably on camera.
Also! The lighting in First Kill is fantastic. Coloured lighting and spot lighting is used unashamedly to add drama, suspense and emphasis - like it would be in a stage play! Also, throughout the show, black skin is lit and camera balanced to be rich in colour and full of depth. Never grey or flat, like in so many tv shows. This actually created a great visual contrast moment when Theo was turned and his skin became a pale, grey, vampiric colour - utterly contrasting with the rest of his family in all the scenes where they argued about his fate. Something that could have been executed very poorly, but in First Kill it was handled with purpose and attention. With a great result.
The casting is on point, too. Everyone brought strong characterisation to their dialogue and actions. Commentators complaining about flat writing or stiff delivery are letting their biases cloud their viewing experience. Which insults the cast when they delivered excellently in so many scenes. (Can you imagine if these reviewers tried to watch a show like Carmilla?) If you don't like the plot elements in genre television, then don't watch genre television.
Literally the only genuine negative I had about the show production was the poor sound balancing at times. I had to turn on the subtitles (which were TERRIBLY captioned, probably by shitty Netflix auto-generation) whenever dialogue got too quiet or mumbled together. Also ffs everyone, the CGI isn't bad considering the scale of the show and the very short screen time most monsters get. Sure, it probably would have looked better if all of the monsters had been suit prosthetics with CGI for particle effect flair. But we know Netflix doesn't like to give budget to suits and prosthetics, so what's in the show isn't awful for the few frames it takes up.
Anyway fuck all the racist, sexist, lesbophobic and homophobic backlash. First Kill is a fun watch, a well-made production, and has a lot of depth if you care to look. "I didn't like it" ≠ "bad writing". If you don't like it, then maybe it's not meant for you. It's fucking meant for the people who need it and deserve it. First Kill is "about two girls taking up space at the center of a genre story" (V.E. Schwab), and makes more space for future stories like it.
