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Season 1 – Kiss Me First

Play trailer 1:01 Poster for Season 1 – Kiss Me First Apr 2018 Mystery & Thriller Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
53% Tomatometer 19 Reviews 62% Popcornmeter 100+ Ratings
Moving between the real world and the virtual-reality world, "Kiss Me First" is a thriller starring Tallulah Haddon as Leila. She stumbles across a secret paradise, hidden on the edges of her favorite game, where she meets Tess. Tess is Leila's polar opposite, and is impulsive and hedonistic. When Tess shows up unexpectedly in Leila's real life, her world is changed forever. With a member of Red Pill disappearing mysteriously, Leila starts to realize it is not the digital paradise it initially seems, and her real journey begins.
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Kiss Me First — Season 1

Kiss Me First — Season 1

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Critics Consensus

Kiss Me First believably captures the behavior of modern youth with an engaging premise, but older viewers may have a tougher time maintaining interest in the online cyber-set narrative.

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Critics Reviews

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Isaac Feldberg Entertainment Weekly Apr 8, 2019
C+
As impressively as Azana's expanses are conceived and executed, none of Kiss Me First's digital escapism can match the more natural thrill of watching its two leads find in one another a safe haven that might be the real deal. Go to Full Review
Stephen Kelly Daily Telegraph (UK) Apr 8, 2019
3/5
A Skins for the social media age - but an altogether more melancholy and less endearing one. Go to Full Review
Hanh Nguyen IndieWire Jul 2, 2018
C+
It somehow manages to be both sleepy and bleak, which only drives viewers to seek out a different reality elsewhere. Go to Full Review
Sarah Hughes iNews.co.uk Apr 8, 2019
Smartly scripted, well-acted and shifting seamlessly between its two worlds, Kiss Me First feels a little like Black Mirror's savvy, sharp-tongued younger sibling. I can't wait to find out what happens next. Go to Full Review
Adam Starkey metro.co.uk Apr 8, 2019
While the CGI sequences are impressive for a TV show of this scale, there's a noticeable stilted slump within Azana due to the facial animation's clear limitations. Go to Full Review
Caroline Preece Den of Geek Apr 8, 2019
I can't think of a better show to premiere in this era of technological anxiety, nostalgia for non-existent worlds and questions of identity, and it's great to see such an unapologetically female-led and youth-targeted show come out of Channel 4. Go to Full Review
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Clare A @RT39862728 Jan 11, 2024 I feel like there wasn't enough depth to the characters. The show throws you into a character's world and before you know what's going on, it's over. It even fails to connect us with the main characters. The only thing we know is that Leila is fierce and determined and that's ultimately her undoing. The lack of character depth disconnects the audience from the plot of the movie. You finish it disoriented because it was good but you don't believe it was. See more @RT86191688 Jan 3, 2024 I liked it. Shame that they cut the episodes to 6, it was noticeable. Psychological scifi thriller. Could have had a few more twists and turns. Left the story with an open end....AI? Or A son?. I did like the Characters and story. Encore... See more Mar 3, 2022 It was horrible. Don't pay attention to those who says if you like teen shows or angst teen movies you will like it, the only good thing about the show is the firs episode and then it goes downhill. The plot is no sense, the characters are no sense, the world is no sense, nothing works and everything is full of plotholes. Trust me in this one See more inta k @intuciic Dec 10, 2021 quite interesting story See more whoknows w @RT92094318 Jun 30, 2021 Inconsistent and non-sensical. Jumping about here and there. The dialogues are trying so hard to be witty/deep but they turn out just cringeworthy. Somehow one person can "command" others with no explanation as to how. Some may think it's a great breakthrough with the cleverest of plots, but it really falls flat on it's back and it basically an ok-graphics, shame-about-the-game type of thing.. See more Jul 8, 2020 I believe that what made me enjoy this more than some others here is that I wasn't disappointed when the VR failed to offer a brave new world. The VR did exactly what I have found other virtual worlds to do: Offer a hidden place for the lonely and the damaged to congregate and have conversations that change their lives, and not always for the better. This is not the story of a game. This is the story of a cult. And season 1 does not wrap up that story. The cat-and-mouse relationship between Shadowfax and Adrian that develops breaks the theme leading up to it, which was to show how the virtual world offered an escape from real life - and how it utterly failed to. Nevertheless, I found it compelling, though not ultimately satisfying. I honestly don't know what people were confused about. A lot is left unsaid, but if you can read facial expressions and figure out situations, you can see the patterns of abuse in people's lives that lead them to Red Pill, and to the things they do there. Maybe you have to be familiar with abuse and cults to understand - I'm not sure. But when you're adding up the signs, I wouldn't say the pacing is slow at all. If you want action, this is not the show for you. It's not a show for fantasy, either - it's very real, which is why it comes across as so bleak. This is a story about abuse and manipulation. This is a story about how and why we touch one another, how we need to do so, and how that can all go terribly wrong - or just right enough for us to survive another day. See more Read all reviews
Kiss Me First — Season 1

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Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Apr 2, 2018 She Did Something Alone and adrift after her mother's death, Leila throws herself into the virtual world of Azana, where she discovers a secret realm run by outsiders. Details Episode 2 Aired Apr 9, 2018 Make It Stop As Leila navigates her new friendship with Tess and spends more time in Red Pill, she is haunted by troubling questions about Calumny. Details Episode 3 Aired Apr 16, 2018 Off the Rails Convinced that something terrible is about to happen, Leila tries to bring Tess to her senses and make contact with Denier. Details Episode 4 Aired Apr 23, 2018 Friends Let Us Down While Leila races to find Tess, Adrian lures Force to London for a mission, and Jonty grapples with his guilty conscience. Details Episode 5 Aired Apr 30, 2018 The Witch Is Coming Tess arrives at a mysterious mansion, where she meets another member of Red Pill; Leila's journey with Kyle takes an unsettling turn. Details Episode 6 Aired May 7, 2018 You Can Never Go Home As Adrian toys with his new captive, two friends team up for a rescue mission, and Azana execs scramble to contain the damage from the scandal. Details
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Season Info

Director
Misha Manson-Smith, Tom Green
Creator
Bryan Elsley
Executive Producer
Bryan Elsley, Melanie Stokes
Screenwriter
Bryan Elsley, Laura Deeley, Lauren Sequeira, Rachel Hirons, Jamie Brittain
Network
Channel 4
Rating
TV-MA
Genre
Mystery & Thriller, Sci-Fi
Original Language
British English
Release Date
Apr 2, 2018
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