Summary
“First Fight” sees two squabbling families prepare to face off, leading to a big cliffhanger.
This recap of First Kill season 1, episode 3, “First Fight”, contains spoilers.
“First Fight” opens with a dream sequence in which Cal imagines herself and Juliette in the Garden of Eden, leaves protecting their modesty and forbidden fruit tempting them into a deeper connection than their respective family dynasties should allow. It’s rudely interrupted by a snake, and Cal snaps awake, but there’s a sense that the nightmare was more than just the sleeping thoughts of a lusty teenager.
First Kill season 1, episode 3 recap
A snake crops up in conversation almost immediately afterward, when Juliette’s grandmother arrives and explains how the longstanding Atwood family – now Atwood Fairmont, it seems, courtesy of Juliette’s atypically compassionate father – are the custodians of the Emerald Malkia, the queen mother serpent from which all Legacies draw strength. This serpent forms an essential part of the consecration ceremony that Juliette is due to experience, but according to Elinor, who has figured out that Juliette didn’t really perform her first kill, it’ll reject her if she presents herself to it without having killed someone.
This obviously creates a kind of ticking clock device. Juliette’s symptoms are out of control, and she needs to kill someone before the ceremony so as to not bring great shame upon her family and create a power struggle for guardianship of the Emerald Malkia. Yikes.
Meanwhile, Cal’s family, including her uncle Mike and aunt Sarah, have been tasked by the Guild with killing all the Legacies in Savannah. They’re excited about the responsibility, and what it represents for Cal and the rest of the family. But, of course, Cal isn’t entirely sold on the idea of offing Juliette, which is the responsibility she has been entrusted with. She shares some of her reservations with Tess, who immediately rats her out to Mike, leading to her being taken off the hunt. The accusation is that the venom from Juliette’s bite has started to warp her mind. She’s left behind to be babysat by Clayton Cook. Everyone else heads out to confront the Legacies at Juliette’s consecration.
Speaking of the consecration, Juliette goes to Margot to insist it be called off, and Margot shares something that illuminates us a little on why her husband was so pointed about using the Fairmont name earlier. She ran away from her own family to marry him, her “human plaything”, which probably explains why he’s much more compassionate than the other Legacies have a reputation for being. Margot’s side of the family despise her being the Keeper-in-Waiting for the Emerald Malkia, but her mother is the most revered Legacy, so there’s a lot of drama going on here, including the return of Oliver.
But Oliver’s motives are a little mysterious. Right as the ceremony is taking place, Elinor takes Juliette into the woods where she has Calliope tied up (she earlier escaped from Cook’s babysitting when he got all weird with her.) Elinor is adamant that Juliette drains Cal and takes part in the ceremony because she doesn’t want her own Legacy tarnished because Juliette and Margot don’t care about theirs, but Oliver intervenes and claims he has come to take Juliette away from all this.
And of course, in the midst of all this, Cal’s family makes their move.
You can stream First Kill season 1, episode 3, “First Fight”, exclusively on Netflix.
