#first severing

[girl4music]

So when Bunny mentioned Ben’s first love being killed by the monster and Ben responds with “He wasn’t my first love’, do you think he said that because Juliette was his first love? Like even though he is gay, he still considers her his first love and won’t give anyone else that honour. Because if so… that’s 🥺🥺🥺

Their relationship is so beautiful. So full of love and acceptance and forgiveness and platonic spooning.

[girl4music]

Jules to Cal: “The way you’re confident about who you are and what you’re supposed to be. I love that about you.”

Cal to Jules: “I just love the way you’re talking about your life. Like it’s your life. It just makes me feel like I’m supposed to be with you.”

Because being your own person and doing your own thing is sexy and freedom and acceptance is true love.

Probably my favourite episode yet.

The stakes are raised and I’m pretty sure they’re going to be driven into someone in these crazy ass families. Whether it be monster or monster hunter is the question. Yeah, I’m really into this show for reals. I couldn’t talk about it so much or so passionately if not

[girl4music]

First Kill - Narration/Presentation of Theme by Juliette and Calliope

I wanted to do a little write up on what I think are the main themes of ‘First Kill’. Every episode has a short piece of dialogue narrated by the main protagonists at the start and end of it that seems to present the main theme of each episode except for the first episode, ‘First Kiss’, as that is nearly all narration and it’s an introduction to the story, characters and world told from both point of views of the main protagonists. Which is why the first episode is structured like a novel and why the seven following episodes play more like extra chapters to that novel. Which makes a lot of sense because the creator of the TV show is a novelist and is the author of the short story the TV show is based on. But only the first episode is the short story,… the rest of the episodes are a continuation of an entire novel not written in book form which is why I say they are extra chapters to the short story that was. Using the narration by Juliette and Calliope as well as what happens in each episode, I will explain what I believe the main themes are for the seven following episodes after the first.

First Blood - Action and consequence

JULIETTE: “As explained by my physics teacher Mr. Myrick in excruciating detail... Newton's third law states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Once an action is taken... you must live with the consequences.”

CALLIOPE: “Actions always have an equal and opposite reaction. Newton's third law. Once an action is taken, you have to live with the consequences. I am a member of the Burns family, a Guild-trained house of monster hunters. Our hearts drive us. Duty and logic lead us. And we vowed to rid the world of all monsters.”

First Fight - Instinct

CALLIOPE: “My dad always says a hunter is only as good as her gut. Shouldn't this gut thing guide me? Give me confidence? Or is it supposed to weigh me down with guilt for doing what I know is right for me?”

JULIETTE: “Some decisions you have to mull over, consider, contemplate. But sometimes, you know in your gut the right thing to do.”

First Date - Choice

JULIETTE: “In Savannah, you know a bad storm's coming when the sky turns black. With every growl of thunder you ask yourself, ‘When will the heavens part and offer some relief?’”

CALLIOPE: “When you're in the middle of a storm, the kind where the sky turns black and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel, you have two choices. You can wait for the heavens to part, offer even a tiny bit of relief. Or you can run. And keep running until the growl of thunder disappears behind you.”

First Love - Destiny

CALLIOPE: “Hysteria, devastation, crazy uninhibited highs, the crashing lows of withdrawal. It's not pretty. Not like in the sonnets or pop songs. It was no match for the gods of Olympus. So why would I be immune to the insanity of first love?”

JULIETTE: “It is impossible to be immune to the insanity of first love. A union predestined, written in the stars. That's the only way I can wrap my head around it. But every tear, every skipped heartbeat, the passion, the pain, it's all worth it in the end.”

First Severing - Connection

JULIETTE: “Humankind is connected by a series of intimate experiences that knit us together. Nurture these connections and they become the ties that bind us, make us whole. But is it possible to honor these ties that bind and also be free from them?”

CALLIOPE: “Life is all about connections. If you nurture them, they get stronger. But sometimes, severing connections is the only way for you to get stronger. The only way to freedom.”

First Goodbye - Understanding

CALLIOPE: “What is a monster? The man who threatens to kidnap you, forces you to fight for your life, and ends up losing his? The bigoted neighbor who's so sure she's on the side of right, she defaced your property to prove your beliefs are wrong? Or is a monster anyone or anything you fear will harm you, and therefore you must harm it first? Keeping the victory to yourself, of course, so that you can live to fight another day.”

JULIETTE: "’Whoever fights monsters should see to it that he doesn't become a monster.’ Friedrich Nietzsche said that. In other words, if you're a monster hunter... it's possible that your actions make you a monster too.”

First Betrayal - Regret

JULIETTE: “‘The sweetest honey is loathsome in his own deliciousness, and in the taste confounds the appetite. Therefore, love moderately.’ Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene 6. Love moderately? Did Shakespeare really believe you could control how deeply you fall? Like your heart is something you can pour into a measuring cup and simply stop at the two-thirds line?”

CALLIOPE: “Act II, Scene 6, Friar Laurence advises Romeo that violent delights have violent endings. ‘Therefore, love moderately.’ It makes sense to me now. I fell too deeply. Had I never met Juliette Fairmont, maybe I could have loved moderately…”

JULIETTE: “Had I never met Calliope Burns, maybe I could have loved moderately…”

CALLIOPE AND JULIETTE: “… And I never would have been in this much pain.”

[girl4music]

‘First Severing’ is giving me huge ‘Gingerbread’ vibes with that whole MAAM initiative Bunny Wheeler has formed. It’s giving off total Joyce/Shiela MOO energy.