First Kill: Lesbivamps and Lesbislayers, oh my!

When we heard that Netflix was making a sapphic vampire show for teens, we got goosebumps. Some of us in this house grew up on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and were just saying the other day that it’s been a long while since we’ve seen much decent lesbian content. First Kill is based on the popular YA novel of the same name by Victoria Schwab, and we think some of y’all are gonna just love this one. 

First Kill features two breakout actors that are simply perfect for their roles. Sarah Catherine Cook and Imani Lewis are positively fire in their roles of Juliette and Calliope. This is a Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lover kind of story where two girls from rival families, who definitely can’t be together, fall in love for all the wrong *ahem, right* reasons. 

Juliette (Sarah Catherine Cook) comes from a long line of Legacy Vamps – really old vampires who are pretty important and prestigious in the vamp community. Juliette is at that age where she is expected to take her first real bite and join the ranks of her family members doing what has been expected of them for generations. 

Calliope (Imani Lewis) is new in town, but it just so happens that she is also from a really prestigious and important family. Her family, though, well – they’re slayers and they’ve been sent to deal with all the unusual happenings in town. Calliope, coincidentally, is also waiting to make her first kill. So, we’ve got a coming-of-age vampire and a coming-of-age slayer and both are into girls. Nothing could go wrong, right? Right.

First Kill drops on Netflix today, June 10, 2022, and we’ve already watched it all, folks. Come with us as we walk you through the eagerly anticipated lesbian vampire story, First Kill.

First Kill plot overview

Since the show quite literally aired today, we’re going to try and give our thoughts without completely and totally spoiling everything, so folks can enjoy it at their own pace. When the show kicks off, Juliette is yet to make her first kill. Biologically though, time is ticking for her. Her body quite literally needs the blood and is beginning to shut down. 

Juliette doesn’t love the idea of eating people though and has taken to creative ways to try and give her body what she needs. For the time being, she has been taking blood capsules, and for a while, they were working. Unfortunately for Juliette, the effect they have on her is wearing thin and she knows that they’re not going to do what she needs them to for much longer. 

Meanwhile, there is a new girl in town. Juliette notices Calliope right away: gorgeous, fit, and extremely mysterious, Juliette can’t keep her eyes off of Calliope. Make no mistake, Calliope also has eyes for Juliette – but neither can really work out why. 

For reasons we’re not going to disclose here, they both end up at a party together. What do teenagers do at parties? They play all kinds of games that require kids to get partnered up and go into closets and fool around for a handful of minutes at a time. It’s in this closet that Juliette and Calliope essentially figure out the truth about each other and Juliette finally has her first real bite, and Calliope ventures into her firsts as well. 

Obviously, the girls are supposed to be rivals. While Juliette clearly isn’t a psycho killer herself, she definitely comes from a family of murderous folks who have worked out their existence enough that they’ve been able to fly under the radar and continue to do their thing. Calliope is dedicated to her legacy and is desperate to become the best slayer she can be. Despite what happens between them in the closet, Calliope knows what’s expected of her: she is going to have to kill Juliette. 

Except she can’t, because of course she can’t. Calliope likes Juliette – like a lot – but what does that mean for her? Embracing Juliette and her feelings for the girl mean turning her back on her family and her future as a slayer. And this is where we enter Romeo and Juliet, star-crossed lovers’ territory. 

Juliette’s family wants to kill Calliope’s family, and Calliope’s family definitely wants to kill Juliette’s family, so how on earth are they supposed to do this? You’re gonna have to tune in and watch for yourself to see how this debacle plays out. 

Thoughts and feelings

If you love a good vampire show, then you’re probably going to be into this one. It’s got all the typical markers of a traditional teen vamp show. Juliette’s family is loaded (which seems to be a thing for the majority of vamps in the fictional world). They’re all also exceptionally good-looking, which seems to come with the immortal territory, as well. 

Juliette’s hesitation to devour humans also seems to be a familiar constant favorite. We’re guessing writers keep placing vamp protagonists within these chokeholds to humanize them and allow viewers to relate to them in some way. We liked Juliette a lot, unlike the rest of her vile family members. This ain’t no Cullen family, fam – apart from Juliette, the rest of the vamps in this show are pretty horrible creatures. 

At first, we couldn’t quite work out if the connection between Calliope and Juliette was actually real, or the direct cause of some cosmic force pulling them together. By the end, though, we decided it didn’t really matter what it was that brought them together because as the show comes to a close it’s pretty clear that their bond is actually real – or at least they feel like it is,  anyway. 

Things move very quickly between these two girls. They’re inseparable almost immediately and they’re doing the dance with no pants right out of the gate. If you’re looking for realistic, coming-of-age lesbian exploration, then this show isn’t for you. We mean, come on – it’s a vampire show. Vamps in literature and on screen have historically been linked to all kinds of sexuality for as long as vampires have existed. 

There is also quite an absence of homophobia present within the show too, which is refreshing. In this world, it doesn’t really matter to anyone around these two girls that their preference runs along the lines of same-sex. The only thing that matters is that they chose each other (everyone obviously wishes they hadn’t). 

The whole thing feels very much like Vampire Diaries, except really, really sapphic. 

The lesbian rep

We’ve been watching all the conversations unfold online over the last few weeks about how the “representation” in this show is going to be accepted by both the queer community and the wider audience at large. First Kill was not written as realistic fiction. The main characters are supernatural creatures that are sworn enemies that just happen to live in a modern world. 

Their characters engage in exactly the kinds of hormonal things we would expect of any characters in a vampire television series. It’s so great to see two girls attempt to fall in love on screen, despite the odds stacked against them – so cut them some slack if it doesn’t come across as the most realistic thing ever. We’re absolutely positive you’ve wanted to stake your significant other at some point too.

It’s pride y’all. Not everything has to be serious all the time. Sometimes lesbians just want to kick back and watch other lesbians bite each other and chase each other with sticks, okay? Not every single queer production has to be worthy of being mentioned in a Ph.D. on queer studies. 

We think y’all are going to love this though, so grab some popcorn, cue up Netflix, and get binging. We’ve been sitting on this one for a while and we’re dying to talk about it, so drop us a comment when you’re ready to start the conversation!

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First Kill is available to stream on Netflix worldwide now. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all queer stuff!