Netflix’s Kiss Me First Is Ready Player One Without the Fun

The following is an advance review for the debut episode of Kiss Me First, which premieres its first season on Netflix U.S. this Friday, June 29th.

Season 1 already aired in its entirety in the U.K. this past spring.

In a modestly maudlin mix of genres, Kiss Me First – from Skins co-creator Bryan Elsley, and from the book by Lottie Moggach – offers up a very moody low-key slice of cyberspace. Part Black Mirror, Part Ready Player One, Part…well, you get the idea (the list of ingredients is long), Kiss Me First properly and subtly blends aspects of various sources and influences and aptly sets its own tone and atmosphere.

That being said, it’s also quite stagnant at times, offering up little more than silence and the aforementioned “mood” for us to absorb and process. Kiss Me First is definitely one of those shows that you learn more and more about as it goes on, as it starts with a barrel full of secrets and purposeful deception in order to give you that blankest entry point possible. The viewer is basically tasked with discovering what the story is, what “all of this is really about,” and the grinding aspect here is – well – time. It takes a while for the series to reveal itself, though those astute enough can certainly spot the twists coming.

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