Summary
The potential is there in the plot, but it becomes too shallow for its own good.
This review of Netflix’s Kitz season 1 does not contain spoilers.
What I’ve always found strange about teen drama series is that there’s always a core objective in the story, but then it unfolds many other subplots to adhere to the genre. I often wonder how stories would play out if the writers did not tempt themselves into the dramatic lives of teenagers and kept to the issue at hand.
Netflix’s Kitz has plenty of potential — the German TV drama follows a waitress called Lisi, who is set on seeking revenge on a girl she blames for her brother’s death. To do so, she infiltrates a group of wealthy Munich teens.
Kitz loses itself from the premise in its six episodes, only to resurface in the final two chapters to bring the story full circle. While keeping the revenge plot at bay, the Netflix series taps into the hormonal nature of highly-fuelled teenagers; the kind you’d expect living a lavish life, completely unaware of the real world. Lisi wants to exact revenge on Vanessa, a rich girl desperately trying to be an influencer and many other things, grinding on the gears of the lead character.
Kitz does attempt to keep the objective as a primary motive, and while it does, it flimsily fills up minutes with less interesting moments. Rather than zeroing in on Lisi’s progress, it devours the story with too much emptiness. The potential is there in the plot, but it becomes too shallow for its own good.
Kitz was also released at an interesting time. Soon after Christmas but a day before New Year’s Eve when the popular Cobra Kai returned. It’s almost like Netflix did not trust the drama series to make ground, which is strange, especially with YA stories and other young drama series taking shape for Netflix in the last couple of years. It could be that Kitz was squeezed in, but I’m doubtful this will be spoken about it in crowds.
I suppose the positive is that the lead character is uniquely interesting in her own right, which is the only certain compliment I can give to the actress. Everything else was underserved.
What did you think of Netflix’s Kitz season 1? Comment below.
