First Kill season 1, episode 7 recap – “First Goodbye”

This recap of First Kill season 1, episode 7, “First Goodbye”, contains spoilers.

Things in Savannah are worsening rapidly after the discovery of Cook’s body, especially since the recent furor about monsters — exacerbated by Noah’s death and the Mothers Against All Monsters movement, fronted by Bunny – means that the police are specifically looking for a vampire as the culprit. Cal learns this after a local police officer tries to mansplain to her what exsanguinated means, and she thinks that her family might be able and willing to help Juliette, although Jules rightly thinks that’s a supremely risky idea.

First Kill season 1, episode 7 recap

And she’s right. When Cal takes Jules home, Talia and Jack point guns at her. The scene is largely played for comedy, especially once Jack tries to forbid Jules from entering and Cal has to reveal that she has already been invited inside, and when the girls head upstairs and close the bedroom door. But it pivots into seriousness when Cal explains to her parents that the discovered body belongs to Clayton Cook and that Juliette killed him to prevent him from taking Cal to the Guild. While Jack still isn’t keen on the idea of protecting vampires, Talia at least reassures Cal that the police won’t learn who or what Juliette is from them.

Unfortunately, though, JoJo and some Guild heavies arrive at the house while Jules is still there, and immediately accuse Jack and Talia of harboring “Cal’s vampire”. She’s right, technically, but Jack and Talia still take offense at the accusation, especially given the absence of any real evidence. Cal and Jules sneak out and steal Apollo’s car, and the only place they have to go for shelter is Oliver and Carmen’s.

Meanwhile, Theo has brought in a Spaniard named Paolo from the Guild Archives to help him research Legacies, specifically to determine which one killed his mother. This research isn’t sanctioned, though, so JoJo is fuming to discover them hacking into the Guild Archives.

Cal and Jules are thrown off-course by a police roadblock that is testing passing motorists by making them hold a pure silver coin. It naturally sears a circle in Juliette’s palm, but the cop doesn’t see; instead, she’s annoyed by Jules’s casual attitude and insists on escorting both of them back to the DA’s house, which is where they claimed they were going in the first place. Before long, word gets around, and M.A.A.M. have assembled outside, demanding that the monster be brought out. But as Ben learns from Bunny, it isn’t Juliette who is assumed to be the monster – it’s Calliope.

Okay, I’ve been putting this off all season, but now seems as good a time as any to point out the very obvious decision to have all of the vampires be white, blonde, upscale people of influence and all the hunters be Black. I didn’t mention it at first since the commentary seemed deliberately unsubtle but ultimately unimportant since race never really factored into the plot. But now we’re dealing with assumption without evidence, profiling, and the Black woman being accused because nobody can quite comprehend the well-to-do white girl being guilty of anything. Bunny might say that it’s the name Calliope that tipped her off, but we know what’s going on here.

In the obligatory penultimate episode Big Development™, Apollo hooks up with Elinor, clearly in part to pump her – sorry, bad choice of words – for information on the various Legacy family symbols, like the one she wears around her neck. But Theo interrupts them and assumes Apollo is just trying to get laid. Elinor thinks she has been set up and attacks both of the brothers, so the brothers try to kill her. And they almost manage it, but at the last moment, she dodges, causing Apollo to stake Theo, seemingly fatally. When Cal, still at the Fairmont household, calls Theo for advice, a devastated Apollo answers, Elinor’s powers having wiped his memory of the event.

You can stream First Kill season 1, episode 7, “First Goodbye”, exclusively on Netflix.