Summary
Things heat up in “First Severing”, as everyone begins to consider their options as Savannah as a community decides what to do about the sudden monster influx.
This recap of First Kill season 1, episode 6, “First Severing”, contains spoilers.
Following Noah’s death, there are problems in Savannah. Jules and Cal are prime suspects thanks to CCTV footage of them bolting through the school corridors, and so Talia and Margot are called in for a meeting, forcing another awkward exchange between the parents who can’t keep their children apart. The local populace, meanwhile, is panicking. With monsters presumably back in Savannah, the people are considering forming their own monster hunting groups, which will presumably be more effective than standing around with placards badgering the District Attorney (although they should be careful, given the DA’s new appetites, which we’re reminded of by Sebastian’s quip to Elinor about who he might eat next.)
First Kill season 1, episode 6 recap
Anyway, “First Severing” refers to a process that hunters undergo – usually sanctioned by the Guild, but not in this case, for obvious reasons – to hack through psychic connections they might have formed with vampires because of being bitten. As we know, Cal and Jules have such a connection, and both are aware of it, so Cal isn’t really keen on the idea of that being lost, especially since the two have been forbidden from seeing one another in person.
Talia and Jack also meet with Margot and Sebastian in the latter’s office to shake on a truce, contingent on a few factors, including Jules and Cal being kept away from one another and the CCTV footage, which has found its way into the DA’s hands, being loaned to the hunters so that it can be convincingly doctored. Nobody wants a sudden influx of monsters into Savannah, though nobody is exactly willing to let bygones be bygones between the two families either.
The Severing process involves Cal being linked intravenously to both a vat of liquid silver and her brother, Theo, who has antibodies from his previous severing (his mother was killed by a vampire, but nobody was sure if he was bitten, so he underwent the Severing process as a precaution). As Cal begins to drift out of consciousness, Theo sees the circumstances of his mother’s death. The memories bleed into nightmares, and it becomes difficult for him to separate the two.
Meanwhile, Cal sneaks into Jules’s bedroom through the window, and tries to break up with Jules, explaining how she has chosen her family over her and undergone a process to break their hold… only, she’s in Juliette’s dream, so the Severing obviously hasn’t worked.
You’ll notice that nobody has made mention of the offer that Oliver made to Juliette at the end of the previous episode, but “First Severing” does spare some time to put across the idea of why Jules might consider it. Elinor takes her out drinking – in a pair of snakeskin boots that were anonymously deposited outside of her room – and introduces her to a Legacy drinking game that involves passing some poor jock to and fro until he bleeds to death. Jules gets a nice hit off the ecstasy coursing through his veins but comes down quickly when she checks the guy’s pulse. She’s appalled by Elinor’s idea of feeding, especially when she sees the lockbox full of driving licenses she has taken from her many victims. She keeps those trophies in a storage container which I’m sure will be forced open by the needs of the plot in due course.
Jules does mention Oliver’s offer to Ben, who is grappling with some issues anyway since his mother, Bunny, is leading the local initiative against monsters, forming vigilante groups that Cal’s family is trying to suppress so the Guild doesn’t think they’re incapable of keeping Savannah safe. While Apollo infiltrates that group of housewives and mothers, Theo frets over the visions he saw during Cal’s Severing, and Juliette sneaks into Cal’s bedroom… and this time, it isn’t a dream.
But the episode ends with a flurry of developments and questions. For one thing, we don’t know who sent Jules the snakeskin boots or slipped an envelope into her bag while she was out. Phillipa’s dog, Tiffany, begins digging up Clayton Cook’s corpse during a remembrance for Noah (hilariously, all Phillipa’s stories about him revolve around all the times he has gone out of his way for Ben.) And Margot and Sebastian return home to discover graffiti accusing the DA of being a “monster lover” scrawled all over the garages.
Things are heating up.
You can stream First Kill season 1, episode 6, “First Severing”, exclusively on Netflix.
