This week, Tessa and Princess are overjoyed to dive into the lesbian love that is sweeping the geekdom: First Kill. Calliette 4 EVER!! You’ll get to hear all about Princess and Tessa’s firsts, along with their season 1 hot takes.
This week, Tessa and Princess are overjoyed to dive into the lesbian love that is sweeping the geekdom: First Kill. Calliette 4 EVER!! You’ll get to hear all about Princess and Tessa’s firsts, along with their season 1 hot takes.
Also, Tessa and Princess sit down with leading ladies Sarah Catherine Hook (Juliette) and Imani Lewis (Calliope) to gab about their on-screen love, what has them geeked, and who they would take with them to the vampire afterlife.
PRINCESS: Hello, geeks, I am Princess Weekes.
TESSA: And I am Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And you are listening to The Geeked Podcast, Your Weekly Energy Boost of the Worlds, Fandoms, and stories you love.
TESSA: Each week we're going to skim the surface of what's popular in geek culture and deep dive into the lore of Netflix worlds bigger than our own.
PRINCESS: Today's world is one of my favorite worlds to live in. Vampires. Monster hunters. Sapphic desire. Romance. Love it. More specifically, the brand new Netflix original First Kill. Yes.
TESSA: I am so excited to talk about First Kill. My gay vampire dreams have finally come to life.
PRINCESS: We shouldn't have had to wait this long, but.
TESSA: Right.
PRINCESS: You know, Carmilla couldn't do it by itself, guys, so I'm glad First Kill is here to add to the canon. All of it.
TESSA: Yes, all the content. Give me more. Give me more.
PRINCESS: And we have a special treat for y'all. We got to interview Sarah Catherine Hook and Imani Lewis, who play our lovely leads, Juliet and Calliope. They were so fun and fantastic. I cannot wait for you to hear it.
TESSA: But First Princess, what's got you geeked this week?
PRINCESS: All right so what’s got me geeked this week? So as a Jane Austen nerd, the trailer for the new Persuasion movie has me totally geeked. Like I love Dakota Johnson, she’s she’s been like even elevated Fifty Shades, like even that she was like, I’m gonna make it, I’m gonna make Anastasia have a personality. And so I’m excited to see her like do this character. And like, the “well actually” nerd in me is like, well this is not clearly gonna be a straight adaptation because one of the things that’s really funny about Persuasion is that it’s Jane Austen’s least funny novel. But uh with this one it seems very comedical, very comical, very much winking and nodding at the camera. Which I think is fun. I think like adaptations of books don’t have to be perfect, they just have to get the vibe right. And I think the vibe—
TESSA: Yeah
PRINCESS: of Persuasion is just these two people like each other but people couldn’t mind their business, and now they’re meeting up after eight years and it’s gonna be awkward and hot and I think that’s great. My only note, is that you don’t hire Henry Goulding and not make him the love interest, okay? Have we learned nothing from Crazy Rich—
TESSA: Is he not?
PRINCESS: No! It- eh I don’t wanna spoil it but he’s not the main love interest, he’s not the endgame.
TESSA: No!
PRINCESS: And I’m like, you don’t hire him to be in a Jane Austen movie and not have him be the one that wins at the end.
TESSA: I’m insulted
PRINCESS: Blasphemy, cannot abide
TESSA: Yeah
PRINCESS: But that’s what, that is what’s making me geeked out, what’s geeking you out this week Tessa?
TESSA: Oh man, well I’m also very excited for that, that looks cool and and I like that it’s like a Fleabag sorta meets um Lizzie Bennet Diaries, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen that—
PRINCESS: Oh I love Lizzie Bennet Diaries!
TESSA: Yesss
PRINCESS: So good, that was my obsession
TESSA: So it made my heart very happy that they were bringing all those things together, two things that I loved and creating this. And also just, you know, Dakota is a icon, like the way that she spoke to Ellen. Forever iconic.
PRINCESS: Legendary, legendary. You will not gaslight me, like Ellen that’s not true. I was like, ah!
TESSA: So I can’t wait for her to say that to, just as, in historical garb. But the thing that’s got me geeked the most this week is the Matilda musical movie that is happening! Oh my goodness, I did not know that this was happening—
PRINCESS: Me either
TESSA: I just, like at all. I just saw it on Twitter and I’m like whaaaat?! And for those of you who don’t know, it’s, they are not like remaking Matilda or doing a new Matilda movie, they are literally taking the musical adaptation and turning the musical into a musical movie.
PRINCESS: That’s so fun
TESSA: So it’s different. So don’t compare this to the original, like Matilda. This is it’s own thing. But I love the Matilda musical, so I, this is, I’m dying.
PRINCESS: I’ve never seen the Matilda musical, but I loved the book and the movie Matilda. That is like a formative experience, and my, my wife Emma Thompson is gonna be in it, and I love her. Uh, she is forever iconic, just, Oscar winner, tour de force, so I’m really excited for this. I’m—-
TESSA: (singing) We all revolting children, living in revolting times! — I know the whole thing, I love it.
PRINCESS: I’m so excited, you’re gonna have to give me the breakdown, but I feel like if we can have multiple Annies, we can have multiple Matlidas.
TESSA: Right! Oh yes, I mean in the show they had multiple Matildas, it was very much like Billy Elliot, actually the same choreographer that did Billy Elliot did Matilda, so it’s like a lot of the same teams worked on, on those musicals, so—
PRINCESS: And Tessa, how do you know so much about Billy Elliot?
TESSA: Oh God, I — are we getting into it? I guess people don’t know— uh so I was on Broadway, I was in Billy Elliot. We need to do a musical episode!
PRINCESS: We do!
TESSA: We need to talk about musicals.
PRINCESS: Yeah, it’s like you have the background training, I have the nerdiness and uh, I date theater girls so, it’ll be great.
TESSA: Oh perfect
PRINCESS: We’ll have a great discussion.
TESSA: We must, cannot wait!
PRINCESS: Yeah between all of that like geeked week was so good. We got so much food, like Castlevania Nocturne, I was just like, YES! My gay babies are back—
TESSA: Wednesdaaaay
PRINCESS: Wednesday, uh so good.
TESSA: Sandman
PRINCESS: The Masters of the Universe, Sandman, I, I am living for all of this and I cannot wait. It’s gonna be so good. And then like, it’s also just been fun seeing all the reaction to First Kill. Because I feel like we’ve been wait— because like we saw it so early like I feel like we’ve been sitting on it.
TESSA: Right
PRINCESS: And we got to go to the premiere. And just seeing it with an audience was just such a surreal experience, and like, I love that.
TESSA: I loved that
PRINCESS: And I’ve been rewatching it since it’s aired and like, my girlfriend loves it. And I am totally digging it and I am so glad to see like so many people love Cal—
TESSA: Yeah!
PRINCESS: Because we talked about this, you don’t usually see that in a fandom. Like, a dark skinned queer lesbian girl being the lead and being loved and supported by the fandom. Like, I have never seen that happen before, so I am super excited about it. And like, this is everything I wanted. I hope she doesn’t get Sleepy Hollowed, that’s basically my big thing yeah
TESSA: Oh God, no! I love this show, I love the people that are loving it as well. Like they get it, like if you get it, you get it. If you understand it, if you understand the campy-ness and understand like this is, this is what we want—Like I, I just, the people that understand it are loving it, and those are the people that matter.
PRINCESS: But remember, like remember when shows used to have a messy first season? When the first season was just laying the foundation?
TESSA: Hello look at Riverdale!! Riverdale, hellooo
PRINCESS: Hello Buffy, I mean like so many of these shows—
TESSA: Right, Supernatural
PRINCESS: They didn’t really get to take off until later because we used to actually let shows have more than one season. Like especially a supernatural show like this. The first seasons are always clunky, like I’ve been rewatching Lost Girl—
TESSA: But the characters are so good!
PRINCESS: That’s what I’m saying, the characters, the bonding, the familial stuff. Like those are the things that really to me matter. And I think like, you would be really doing yourself a disservice to pretend that we get queer lady content like this every single day. Like that’s just so, to quote your husband, “that’s absurd!” And I —
TESSA: I agree
PRINCESS: And like I think it’s possible to like have good faith criticism of the show while acknowledging that this is something really important for a lot of people because we don’t get this very often. And we want to be able to enjoy it, so just you know, tag your stuff, tag your hate, so we don’t have to see it, and uh, that’s all I gotta say about that. All right, so that’s what got us geeked this week and I am so excited to get into the rest of the episode, we have a fun game that you put together for us and then we’re gonna get into all of the regular goodness that you expect from The Geeked Podcast.
PRINCESS: All right. Our special segment up this week is First because every episode in First Kill starts with first something. So Tessa and I are going to go back and forth and talk about our first blanks and...
TESSA: Can't Wait.
PRINCESS: And I guess we will start with our First Kill. Wait, no, wait. This can be is in a court of law. So we're going to go to our first kiss instead.
TESSA: I was like, Dang. Okay. I didn't want to reveal I was a vampire yet, but I have to tell everybody.
PRINCESS: Out people on the podcast.
TESSA: Oh, my God. So my first kiss, I'm going to, like, talk about the first kiss that actually meant something to me. Because, you know, when you're like, you're a small child and you have, like, a kiss, so, like preschool, like, I don't even know. I'm sure that happens. I can't remember exactly. You know, what was going on there. But the first kiss that actually meant something to me was the first kiss from my high school boyfriend. And I remember I was so nervous. So we were doing our homework together and it was like a classic situation where he was, like, helping me study, and he just kept looking at me and I started freaking out because I kind of like felt that it was coming. So I just kept talking and I wouldn't let him, like, say anything or come in. And I just kept talking faster and faster and faster. And then finally he was like, Tessa, Tessa, Tessaa. I was like, whata? And he's like, just stop talking for a second. I want to kiss you. And then he did. And it was amazing, but I was just so nervous. So it was cute.
PRINCESS: I love that, like, gay deflection off. Like, this guy wants to kiss me, I want it. But also, I don't know that it's like I can relate. Well, since we can't do the first poster that we kissed because that would honestly be more memorable. Lord Sesshomaru. I think the first kiss that meant something to me was definitely my first girlfriend in college. It was like the most intimate kiss I ever had. It's like when I think about it, it's like burned in my brain. So it's like. It's like just how you can go back to that moment of, like, I couldn't stop talking to that. When I think about the first time I kissed her, I thought about like, how nervous I was to just touch her because she felt so special. And I was just like, Oh, what if this isn't? Like, what if it ruins everything? But I really want to. So it was. It was very much...
TESSA: The Panic.
PRINCESS: It was so gay panic. It was like, it's my first time. And I just it was epic in all the ways. And that's still a very iconic kiss in my life.
TESSA: Oh, so cute. I love it. Okay, next. First we're going to do is our first relationship. So, Princess...
PRINCESS: I feel like this is so hard. Like we grew up in the Internet age. You could have like seven relationships on MySpace at once. Again, I'm going to say that I had some entanglements that, you know, again, I think I think we're going to remix the first. Your first can also be the first one that made you feel something special. And I would say again, my first girlfriend was like the first time I was in a relationship and I got to do all the relationship things like go on Valentine's Day, wear cute outfits for each other. Like we were also both closeted at the time. So there was a lot of like haha yeah, we're like best friends, giggle, giggle, giggle. I remember one time I stayed over at her house and her dad came up and we were just hanging out, watching like Merlin or something.
TESSA: Oh my Gosh.
PRINCESS: And he was like, I love it when you two are together. It's like, you guys are so close, you're like sisters. And as soon As he left, as soon as he left, I just burst into laughter. I just burst into laughter, like. And like we were both nerds, so we were just like, never were this much devoted Sisters.
TESSA: I was gonna say, Hey, mister, she's my sister.
PRINCESS: She's my sister. Exactly. It was it was very that energy and that relationship was very special to me. What about you, Tessa?
TESSA: So I just. I don't want to talk about my high school boyfriend again because I feel like this is too much. Especially since he's, like, having a child now and has, like, a whole life. So I don't want to just, like, talk about him. And I have a whole ass husband. So I want to talk about just when I met my husband for the first time, which was like ten years ago, which was crazy. And it was one of those things where he asked me to meet him at to go like karaoke-ing with his friends. But then before that we like met up at a Starbucks because we wanted it to be like a neutral, I wanted it to be like a neutral location in case he was a weirdo. Like, we need to be like in a public setting just in case. And I just remember so clearly like meeting him and I can still remember it. Like beating him for the first time. And he just gave me the best hug of my entire life. And he told me that when he first saw me, he just thought of like an elf. He just thought I was an elf. And I was like, oh, like a Lord of the Rings elf. He was like, more like a Christmas elf, but in, like, a good way. So it was love at first sight. Soulmates meant to be, like, just obsessed.
PRINCESS: That is so cute. Honestly, if you ever met your partner and you're like, look how much this person loves this person. Look at Joe Moses's Instagram because he loves his wife. It's adorable. I get, I get endorphins when I look at your guys Instagram, it's very it's very endearing and sweet.
TESSA: Oh, my gosh, Princess. That's amazing. Love you. Love you, Joe. Amazing. Best husband ever. Okay, Princess, what was your first fandom? This is probably the most important question so far sorry, boys and girls that we've loved.
PRINCESS: Like, relationships and kisses? Garbage.
TESSA: Exactly.
PRINCESS: Like was in the fandom definitely have to say it was definitely Avatar The Last Airbender I'm like I was tangentialy evolved in Harry Potter, but it was mostly reading fanfiction. I really wasn't in the discourse boards. But when it came to Avatar, I was waving my Zutara flag loudly, proudly. Amazing was going to read every fanfiction. And still to this day I celebrate Zutara week because the art still hits so definite.
TESSA: Art is incredible.
PRINCESS: Zutara in Avatar, The Last Airbender. That was my first fandom. What about you? I can guess what that.
TESSA: What do you think? Wht do you think it is?
PRINCESS: Does it involve a boy that lives in a cupboard and he has a certain birthmark on his actually, not a birthmark because they will scar on his forehead.
TESSA: That's it. It's. It's it's the boy. The the boy. The ultimate boy. Harry freakin Potter himself. Yeah. Harry Potter was my first I like to call it my gateway fandom into just the rest of the Internet. Every single person, every relationship in my life that has meant something to me, almost all of them are because of Harry Potter. So thank you, Harry. I'm thanking Harry. And so.
PRINCESS: All right. And that has been our first blanks. Thank you so much. And coming up next, we have an interview with the amazing leading ladies of First Kill. It was a great interview and let's get into it.
TESSA: Guys, we are so excited to be here with the two leads, these two incredible women from First Kill. We have Sarah Catherine Hook, who plays Juliet and Imani Lewis who plays Cal. Guys, we watched First Kill the whole first season. It was a wild, wild ride. So first off, we would love to know just a little bit more about both of you. Since this is the Geeked podcast, we want to know what is the thing that each of you like geek out about the most? Like, what are you a fan of? And it could be like a fandom, a video game, band, sport, book, anything. Anything that you love. We want to hear it.
SARAH: You want it? You want to go?
IMANI: Sure. I like secretly geek out about any kind of like anything on HGTV is like my speech, any kind of interior design. I want to see the swatches. I want to see the different earth tones on the walls, accent, colors, all of that. Picking couches, picking plants, picking decor. Any kind of interior design is like right up my alley. I just love it.
PRINCESS: I love that.
SARAH: For me. I don't know if you guys know what Lore Olympus is?
PRINCESS: Yes. I love Lore Olympus because I'm friends with the author. It's so good.
SARAH: You're friends with Rachel? Oh. My God. Well, I recently came into Lore Olympus, the Lore Olympus world, I guess, back in September, October. And I'm not kidding. I binged 180 episodes in two days, and it was like the best. And like, I did feel sick, I will admit, because I was just staring at my phone for two days nonstop. But I am I'm a full Lore Olympian now. I love it so much and I'm so thankful that it's back because as you both know, I'm sure, Rachel was on hiatus for a while there, so. She conveniently came back this past weekend, right, right after my birthday. So I was like, what a little gift. Thank you. And Imani just had her birthday, too. We are both April babies.
PRINCESS: I'm an April baby too.
SARAH: Oh, look at that.
TESSA: We did it. Guys.
SARAH: Yeah.
TESSA: That's incredible.
PRINCESS: Oh, my. So, what's everyones sign? So you're both a Tauruses then?
IMANI: Aries.
PRINCESS: Aries! Yes.
SARAH: Yes, I. Both of you are Aries. I'm Taurus.
PRINCESS: Virgo.
TESSA: Virgo.
SARAH: Virgo.
TESSA: All right, the corner. It's five.
PRINCESS: Oh, gosh. You guys were so electric on camera and together. So I want to know, what was it like working together and like, was there a chemistry test? Because you two were very magnetic on screen. I was like, Oh, they're really digging each other. So I'm just like, oh, what the the the friendship.
SARAH: Oh, that's so sweet. Well, I mean, I'd say there is definitely chemistry right from the get go. We did do a chemistry test. Yeah. And that for me, that was so, so fun. Honestly, I and Imani has heard the story many times, and she's going to kill me one of these days for this. But, like, I, I, when Imani came on the screen and we did the little we did the scene as one of our scenes together for the best. And she looks down the lens and I had butterflies everywhere. And I exited the scene and put my hand, my head in my hand, like I was like freaking out, blushing like crazy. And I was like, That's Calliope, so cool. Yeah, that was the story.
IMANI: Yeah. The chemistry read was awesome. I think from there I was like, Oh yeah, I have to be Calliope because this is definitely Juliette, but even working together, it was just such an amazing process. And I always say, we always say that we wouldn't have wanted to go through this process with anyone else. And it just felt like even from our first face time before we even met each other, we were on the phone for like 4 hours.
SARAH: Oh, it was insane, crazy and had so many weird connections and it was just very meant to be.
IMANI: Absolutely.
SARAH: In every way possible.
IMANI: 100%.
PRINCESS: Just like me and Tessa.
TESSA: Oh, my gosh. You guys! We're all friends. Friends for life. That is so cute. I love it so much. You guys like it was meant it really was meant to be that you guys, like, were having this whole experience together and going through it. Now, I'm going to ask you a really weird question. If you were bitten by a vampire and you could turn one other person to be a vampire with you, who would you choose and why? And Sarah, I'm starting with you this time.
SARAH: Sure. I think I'm probably my best friend. Who? So I. My name is Sarah Catherine, and she's. Her name is Sara Ross. We're like double name people. Anyway, she's she's like my ride or die. And I just think she'd be really good fun being a vampire with. I don't think I could do it without her.
TESSA: Vampire besties, love.
IMANI: That's so funny. That's my answer. It's my best friend. Her and I are just so similar. We just have all the same, like, quirks. And, like, I'll bring a perfume to her and she'll already have it like fun. I meant to tell you about it, so I feel like it'd just be another thing that we bond over. I don't know if she'd love it because she's pescatarian, so I don't know if the feeding process would be too fun for her, but I think it'd be fun for us both. It's just another thing that we both enjoy.
SARAH: She'd adapt.
TESSA: Right? And you can help each other like having your friend there. It's great. It's needed for sure.
PRINCESS: And if you're legacy vampires. And you can still, you know, maneuver around that, as we know from the lore. Now, I know that representation questions can be really trite and people always ask them. But Imani, like for me as someone who's been watching supernatural content forever, like seeing you and this lovely melanated black hunter family, seeing you be a co-lead and playing an openly queer character, which is something that we don't really see a lot of like. Did you have any sense of that when you were coming into it? Because I feel like, you know, it was like as soon as I saw you with your nose piercing and your skin, and I was like, look, she's so cute. She's she like, you look like all the black girls I grew up with. And I'm like, and now they get to have Cal. And I like that was so fun for me.
IMANI: Thank you so much. No, I definitely knew that coming in. And I think that was one of the driving reasons why I fell in love with Calliope. I just I love that she's, of course, attached to this strong, like, equipped, loving, like a close knit family. And I just I'd love so much of the representation of not only of her being just a young black teenage girl, but being openly queer and that not being the driving point of her story. That's not like her battle. Her battle is so much bigger than that. And even that battle is like minute compared to the real battle with self that she ends up facing. But I think she's just a complex, calculated, strong character and it just it meant so much to me to be able to represent her and to see that representation in film and television. It's such a awesome thing and I can't wait to see so many more doors open because of characters and shows like First Kill. And it makes me feel so good to know that other black girls all over the world that know me or will see me and see a little bit of themselves. And even if they don't see themselves in Calliope, they'll be able to see that I'm an actual person. And then I actually do this and this is actually my career and then feel that much more motivated to go out there and chase their dreams. That's what I do it for. So awesome.
PRINCESS: And like, I'm not even an actress, but I felt that like, I like from the moment you appeared, I was like, I'm rooting for her. No matter what you do, she going to a villain arc. I'm in it.
TESSA: Also just like the most beautiful family. But both of the families, they everyone was hot. It was very distracting. So it was wild.
PRINCESS: Now, you guys are going to be on the show that's joining the ranks of all this big vampire media. So what are some of your favorite vampire shows or just vampires in general in pop culture?
IMANI: Favorite vampires in pop culture. I don't know if this classifies as pop culture, but I grew up watching Blade.
PRINCESS: Oh yes. That count.
IMANI: So many times. Wesley Snipes in a long black trench. And then when like Trinity came, I just thought it was the coolest thing ever. Because he doesn't always start off, he doesn't always start off as a vampire. I think he take turns and he just turns up a level. And I thought it was my grandparents at their house. They had a DVR. It was ridiculously unhealthy how many times I've watched Blade like verbatim. I love Blade. It's so good. It's so, so good. So I think Blade.
PRINCESS: That's perfect. He is the daywalker, right?
IMANI: Oh, yeah. Daywalker.
SARAH: He is a day walker. I, I grew up or not grew up, but like in high school, I was really into Vampire Diaries. Um, I just the whole cast. So I guess some are similarly to the First kKill. I mean, they're so like, so.
PRINCESS: So Mikaelsons.
SARAH: It's kind of ridiculously hot how, insane those people are. But yeah, I loved Vampire Diaries. One of my favorite movies, though, is What We Do in the Shadows.
PRINCESS: Yeah.
SARAH: Okay. That's kind of my main vampire like source right there. Yeah, well, I like Taika Waititi cannot go wrong.
TESSA: Oh, werewolves. Not swear wolves. Forever.
SARAH: Right? Yeah, I love it. I love it. And the show, What We Do in the Shadows, too.
PRINCESS: Oh, right. Yeah. Fantastic. Now, technically, Sarah, you could be on that show because you're a vampire now.
SARAH: Oh, my God. I would die. I would die. I don't know. I think I'd be too nervous. I'd be like, You guys are way too cool for me.
TESSA: You're like, I'm like a legacy vampire. So.
SARAH: I'm a legacy though.
TESSA: Let me on. Okay. What is one thing that you two would want the audience to take away from your characters? Like after watching the show? Like, what is one, one scene that, like, you want to stick with them or one thing that like after watching, they're like, You know what? That really stuck out to me.
SARAH: Honestly, like for Juliette, you know, because she's introverted and she's she's not really one who, like, cares to stand out. Like, I would just say just be true to yourself. I feel like she while she does just come into herself more like with standing up for herself and kind of finding her own voice. I do think that she's always staying true to her morals and I really respect that from her. So that's that's what I would say for for what I would want people to take away, at least from Juliette.
IMANI: I love that. I think, like I said, Calliope is a very complex character in a lot of ways, but I feel like she comes into the show with a sureness of self and a self-awareness to herself, where she knows who she is and she knows who she wants to be. But I think what I want everyone to take from Calliope is character is even when you're self-aware, you have to be open or you should be open to changes that you see with yourself. And I think we all grow, we all change, and we all evolve into people that I feel like it's us at our full potential. But I feel like if we fight change or if we fight those journeys with self, then we'll never reach the full potential of the version of ourselves that we're supposed to be. So even when you're sure, even if you know what you want to do, be open to things that pique your interest or that, you know, add a little glitter to your life. I think you should be open to those things.
TESSA: And that's why your characters work so well together. It was, You could really see that. It was very beautiful.
PRINCESS: Your guys's journey is so good.
TESSA: Well, guys, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. It is, it's been incredible. You guys are so thoughtful with your answers and we really, really enjoyed your performances. And we again, we loved it.
PRINCESS: We're your first big fans of the First kKill fandom. And like we we really thank you so much for your time. This was so fun.
SARAH: Thank thank you both. This was really fun.
IMANI: This was awesome.
TESSA: All right. It is time to talk about First Kill. Now. This show this show, guys, this show is like it's like Riverdale meets seventh heaven, but in the best way. It's very it's it's very campy and vampy. But then it has this, like, side of it that's really sweet, and it just, like, makes my heart really happy. Like, I don't know. This show is all my favorite things. Gays and monsters. Like, once the gays learn how to become vampires, it's over for you bitches. Period. So, yeah. Princess, what are your initial thoughts like overall thoughts after watching this show?
PRINCESS: I really liked it. I think that once I realized this was a YA series, because I think sometimes us older gays and by elder, I mean 20. Late twenties, early thirties. It can be like we still want the representation that we wanted when we were younger, but we still have like an adult sensibility. And First Kill is definitely like situated in that, like CW if it was queer like this was that it was very like campy, charming. I loved Calliope, Cal. I loved how queer it was. I loved that it wasn't afraid to have some drama. Yeah, I found, like, both sides of it, like, because in the show you have, like, Calliope family. They are vampire hunters.
CLIP: Were the best monster hunters to ever walk the earth.
PRINCESS: Then you have Juliette's family. Who are these legacy vampires? Very. The Originals.
CLIP: They're are humans trying to hunt and kill us. Your father has made it safe for us in Savannah as safe as he can.
PRINCESS: And both of these girls are going through this very transitional space when they meet each other and like, you know, have that super duper connection that we've seen so many heterosexual vampire shows have. And, you know, right now it's time for us to be that corny.
TESSA: Yay!
PRINCESS: We deserve it.
TESSA: We do. Really? We've waited too long. We've done our waiting. Now it's time to have fun. I loved the nods to Romeo and Juliet in it, I'm just such. I love Romeo and Juliet. I'm such a loser that I like, loved it so much like learning about it in school. And so I like I just it was so fun how they just kept hiding little things. And then when she showed up, like, and she was on the balcony, I was like, Forget it. Stop. This so cute. I was I was obsessed.
TESSA: I absolutely loved it. And I think like, I think whenever you watch a new show and you're kind of testing it out, there's always like a moment where you're like, sold on it. But the moment I was like, I'm sold is when they were like, in the first episode when they're having sort of like their first kiss moment. The song Slumber Party by Ash Nico starts playing and I was like, okay, they understand the culture because I was like, That is my partners and I jam like we.
TESSA: I love that song.
PRINCESS: Ridiculously like. And when the Spotify list came out like last year, like every queer girl I knew, it was like, Oh, somewhere was Ash Nico's Slumber Party. And I'm like, they understood the assignment. I really enjoy that. And I think like from then on in I was in. I was like, this is going to be like a fun camp show.
TESSA: Yeah, I, I'm trying to think my, my moment where I was like on board probably honestly, after seeing the parents, I just loved how hot the parents were. I was like really into it. And that like that's kind of how it was like giving Riverdale to me because it's like, why are these parents so hot? Every character was nuts. I loved it. I just loved how weird it was and how I. I thought that I knew what was coming, but then I was absolutely wrong. And I like I was not expecting the things that have happened in the show. I like thought I could predict but no was wrong went another direction. So I love when that happens because I like to be surprised. I like to scream, I like to have fun when I watch things. So I was having a blast.
PRINCESS: Absolutely. And I think for me, one of the things that really warmed me up to it and I know like we talk about this all the time, representation can sometimes be like one of those issues where like, oh, we had to bring it up again. But sometimes it really does still matter. And there are a lot of shows that will have diversity like peppered in, you know, the black best friend, the black love interest and or just a nonwhite love interest. But none of their like culture or like ethnic cues or cultural identity will be like embedded in that character. And what I love is whenever we were hanging out with Calliope and her family, they just had an unambiguously black vibe, you know, where it felt like it was written for them to be a black family and not just a family. We just wrote them as people and then they became black. But yeah, I just love how unambiguously black the family was. I loved the the sibling dynamic. I love how it contrasted to Juliette's family.
TESSA: Yes, same.
PRINCESS: And I just really felt like these are the things that keep me invested in a show. It's really the character stuff. And this show had a lot of really good character stuff that got me invested and how the mythology kept growing organically as the show progressed.
TESSA: Mm hmm. Definitely. One thing that I wish they would have done a little differently is I wish that in this first season, if hopefully there's going to be more, I wish that they would have focused just on the vampires. Like, I feel like they didn't have to add in the monsters right away because every time that they were like talking about monsters or bringing up monsters, like, I just I kept forgetting that they were also monsters. I'm like, Wait, but let's go back to the vampires. Like, let's go back to the drama between like the vampires and the hunters and then like the adding the monsters would be like an another layer for the next season. So I was like, You think this is resolved? Just kidding. There's more. So it's like the family drama was enough. I'm like, Give me more family drama. I want it all. But that's just me, my personal opinion.
PRINCESS: Well, I will say, like, I think that's interesting because one of the things I was I was wondering is that they establish like later on in the series that like monsters, like people know monsters exist in this world. But then I'm like why are Monster Hunters a secret? Like, how do people not know that you guys are vampires if y'all are out, like, if y'all are, like, ageless and living for a thousand people, you can't live in the same place for a thousand years. Like if they had said in the very beginning that there was already a world where like vampires, everything humans existed. But we are trying to grift and be... Like pass as humans. That would be one thing. I think once that. That like world building happened, I was like. But then why are you doing Blah, blah, blah? So since we mentioned the world building and lore, let's get into it a little bit. So in this world, vampires are descendant of Lilith, which, you know, hashtag feminism girlbossing from the beginning in the Garden of Eden. The.O.G.
TESSA: The O.G. Girlboss Lilith
PRINCESS: She's like gimme that apple. Love that for her, leaning in to the temptation not away always towards. So the the legacy vampires are a matriarchy and Juliette's grandmother is the current keeper of a very fancy word for Lilith's snake and Juliette is the youngest child of this family. She has an older sister named Eleanor who is pretty much just like Rebecca from the originals, like blonde Alpha Barb, very Barbie vamp. We respect it.
TESSA: Yes.
PRINCESS: And Eleanor has a twin brother named Oliver. He has some mental illness. That is.
TESSA: We don't talk about Oliver, no, no, no.
PRINCESS: Basically, he even comes in with this long, stringy hair looking like a Nirvana, like looking like nirvana. I'm like Kurt Cobain, you a vampire now? It was. Sir this is 2022.
CLIP: That was a crazy one.
PRINCESS: And so the legacy vampires, from what we gather, they do have fangs. They have like some speed and fighting abilities, although we don't see much of it. And some of them have certain powers, like Eleanor can like glamour people and make them lose their memories. But it's implied that not everybody has that. So they don't burn in the sun. They are very hard to kill. So if you stake them, they come back, which that leads to a.
TESSA: That was nuts to me.
PRINCESS: That was a great scene. I was like, Oh gosh.
TESSA: That was crazy.
PRINCESS: Because that episode happens and you're just like, Oh, this is really happening really fast. And you're like, Oh, wait, now. It was intense. Yeah, I loved it.
TESSA: It was intense. It was so good.
PRINCESS: And so besides legacy of vampires, there are also regular, degular vampires that come out at night, burning, staking, etc. Juliet's father was a human who was turned a vampire. So he's like not a full legacy vampire. And apparently legacy vampires can be born. So they go through the aging process just like we do. And in comparison, you have the monster hunters, which are part of a guild that sends out these families that are trained to hunt down all of these monsters.
CLIP: The Guild sent us to kill, so we kill.
PRINCESS: And they give them resources like weapons. They have like a Giles watcher type network and they help with relocation and funds and making sure that the characters don't get into any trouble. Which again, makes me ask the question if if they know monsters exist, then like, what's the problem? I have. I have questions.
TESSA: Yeah. Also, that wasn't very clear to me. It was like it was one of those things where I'm like, wait, is it like, is this known? Like, why? So, for example, when she told, like, her best friend or when he found out that she was a vampire, I'm like, why is he not, like, so freaked out? Like, why is he, like, kind of moving on and, like, accepting it? But I was like, Wait, does he do vampires? Is that like. So it took me a little bit to connect all that. And I also wish that they would have been really clear in the pilot episode about like, this is what like vampire-- like because they say like monsters haven't been in Savannah in decades like later on and they should have done that like at the beginning. Like we should have known, like monsters exist. Vampires exist, but they haven't been here in a long time. You know, it's because it would have been easier for me to understand, because otherwise it was a little, I was like, wait, what? Wait, what? Why isn't he freaking out? Why is is are these people do they know? Like, it was a little confusing for me until I pieced it together. And I just have to say, the freaking grandmother. Like when we were in her, like. Like this little mansion. Like they were all in mansions, by the way. They were all just, like, living in mansions. And so we go to the grandmas, and she's having, like, this little, like, cocktail party or some sort of thing. And she has these, like, blood servants where these people just, like, take a bite and then they keep go-- I was like what is going on? I was obsessed. I was, I was dying. I'm like, This is hilarious. I'm like, It's giving Hollywood blood boy. Like, it's great.
PRINCESS: And it was so funny. Like, I, I don't know, I the way that blonde and, like, power blonde vampires have a chokehold on me. Like, whatever. Whenever a character is like, Hello, I'm the bitch of this show. And I'm like, Hello, you're my favorite character.
TESSA: 100%. Always. Always. Yeah.
PRINCESS: Like the way she was, like, disrespecting, like, the father to his face. I was like, oh, we love to see it. Yes. I mean, I like the dad, but I was just like, but it's so good to just see her, just be like, what are you going to do? And then something happens that I'm just like, oh, no, that's a that's a twist.
TESSA: Yeah. Yeah. And Princess, let's round this out by you answering, would you be a legacy vampire or would you want to be a monster hunter?
PRINCESS: You know what? I want to be a vampire. I'm not trying to work for a living. You know, like being a monster hunter is still a job. And.
TESSA: It is.
PRINCESS: I don't dream of labor, so if I'm going to upgrade myself, I'm going to get me some generational power. And, wealth.
CLIP: You're a monster.
PRINCESS: And I am going to do absolutely nothing with it. But give it back to the community, of course, because, you know.
TESSA: Oh, my God, you're like you're like a vampire Robin Hood.
PRINCESS: Yeah, I like I'll take all of my generational wealth and endless streams of money. I will give back to the communities and be like, Hey, here you go. All I need is blood.
TESSA: I think that sounds great. That's the dream, honestly. I mean, I, I've always wanted to be and will forever be thinking about becoming a vampire. So, I'm down.
PRINCESS: I was going to, I'm like, Which one do you pick? Yeah.
TESSA: Oh, yeah. I don't want to fight.
PRINCESS: Yeah, I don't want anything. I don't want to kill monsters because I fundamentally do not believe that just because they're different, that doesn't mean they deserve to die. I disagree with that premise.
TESSA: I wouldn't want to kill the monsters. I'd want to, like, date them. So that wouldn't be. That'd be a big problem for me. I'd be like, Guys, don't kill this scary monster. Like, they're they're just like us like, he's nice. So, yeah, I definitely would not be a good hunter because we just I just want to Netflix and chill.
PRINCESS: Well, I am so glad that I got to spend yet another week looking at the lovely banged face of my lovely co-host. It has been a it is always a delight.
TESSA: The Geeked podcast is hosted. By me, Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And me, Princess Weekes.
TESSA: Find me on Instagram, YouTube. Tik Tok, all of the online things at Tessa Netting.
PRINCESS: And you can find me on YouTube as Princess Weekes and on Twitter as Weeks Princess. Okay, y'all next week we'll be discussing something I am just so friggin excited about. Umbrella Academy Season three. You gotta listen to it.
TESSA: Yes. Listen to us and watch it. And anyway, guys, this is the Netflix Geeked and Spoke Media production baby.
PRINCESS: Our executive producers are Keisha TK Dutes, Brigham Mosley, Alia Tavakolian and and Keith Reynolds.
TESSA: Kelly Kolff is our producer. Reyes Mendoza is our associate producer. DaLaura Patton is our coordinating producer and a special thanks to Carson McCain because they're the best.
PRINCESS: Sound design and engineering by Evan Arnett, who also composed and performed our original amazing theme song.
TESSA: To stay updated on all things Geeked. Be sure to follow Netflix Geeked on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.
PRINCESS: And if you aren't following the Geeked podcast, what are you waiting for? Whatcha waiting, whatcha waiting, what you waiting for? You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, if you absolutely love us, which I don't know what we've ever done wrong, make sure to leave us a five star review, please.
TESSA: Thank you so much for listening. Bye bye.