Kiss Me First review: a slow Netflix series about virtual reality

During the Ready Player One hype, Netflix announced that it was going to broadcast a series about virtual reality called Kiss Me First. Having been disappointed by the movie Ready Player One (but don’t tell Mister President, he’s a great fan of it!), I had high hopes for this series, that from the trailer appeared very interesting. Well, my hopes have not been fulfilled.

Me and my partner Max, being VR enthusiasts, were really hyped about this Netflix series, that could help virtual reality in becoming more popular. We had not much information on it, apart from the fact that it was a thriller somewhat regarding virtual reality. The magazines reported the plot as being something like “A girl that has an addiction for virtual reality has a (female) good virtual friend with whom she plays in a virtual world. But at a certain point in her life, a complicated girl enters her life and takes her to a secret location in the virtual world, where soon bad things start to happen”. This was enough to make us interested in the product.

We managed to find the time to watch all the episodes during the lunch break and in the end we were super-disappointed. But really really disappointed. I’ll tell you why, but be careful that this post will contain some little mild spoilers.

First of all, I have to warn you that the plot is absolutely not the one depicted above: I don’t know who has written it, maybe someone that has watched the first five minutes of the show. The main character, Leila, in my opinion, is not addicted at all to virtual reality. She loves it, spends a lot of time in it because her real life is problematic, but the word “addiction” has a completely different meaning. You are addicted to something if, when that thing gets removed from your life, you become insane. You can’t live without it. During the whole episodes, Leila spends some time in VR and some time in the real world, but when she is in the real world she doesn’t feel the pain of not being in VR, she doesn’t crave VR. So, in my opinion, she’s just passionate about social VR, not addicted. Or maybe that person writing the summary knows her in person and so he/she knows that Leila is actually addicted to VR, who knows.

Then there is no good virtual friend of her. I mean, actually there is, but for what concerns the story, she is completely irrelevant: you can see her for something like 5 minutes across all the episodes, so who cares of her (that maybe is addicted to VR, too… it is trendy saying that people are addicted to VR). The other part of the summary is instead true: inside the virtual world called Azana, where Leila loves spending her time, Leila meets Tess, a girl that guides her to a secret place of the virtual world that is inaccessible to others. This secret place is a little paradise: there is always the sun, there is green grass, there are awesome waterfalls, etc… The few people that inhabit that place feels very peaceful there. All these people are guys/girls that have very complicated lives (and even mental issues) and that find relief in being in that virtual paradise. Even Tess, the new friend of Leila, is a very complicated girl, that has a long story of promiscuous sex and drugs addiction. Leila is the emblem of the good and introvert girl, while Tess is a complicated girl that loves to have fun. Notwithstanding their differences, they become friends. But the virtual paradise soon will reveal to be worse than the expected… At this point, I won’t tell you more to not spoil you the whole plot.

Virtual Reality is all over the telefilm and Kiss Me First is good in showcasing the potentialities of the technology: virtual reality can offer us a place where we can be happy, where we can be whoever we want and live whatever adventure we want with whatever person we want. Leila can fly in VR, can fight against monsters or warriors, but can also simply relax inside the virtual paradise. She makes new friends inside the virtual world and this shows the power of social VR (even if there are still some people saying that VR is an isolating technology).

Regarding the technology used in the fiction, as a VR enthusiast I really laugh at the devices that are showcased there, because there are a lot of things that are wrong on so many levels (for instance a wireless headset is depicted as a headset with 4 big antennas on it, that seem like the antennas of my router… seriously, WTF) But seeing the series with the eyes of someone that is not an expert in the matter, I can surely say that they are plausible and also convey the idea of the technology that is available today. At a certain point, you can also see a special collar that is able to connect with the nervous system to offer the characters a more realistic virtual sensation: this is not available today, but devices like Neurable show how the research on Brain-Computer Interface is very active in these years.

Regarding these two points, Kiss Me First is very similar to Ready Player One and exactly as Spielberg’s movie, it is able to increase the awareness of people towards the technology. The problem, exactly as in Ready Player One, is all the rest.

First of all, the series is terribly short: it is composed by only 6 episodes and in my opinion, this is not enough to create a compelling story with a beginning and an end. You don’t have time to fall in love with the characters. Honestly, I have to say that since I have not liked it, the fact that it was short in the end was a good point and not a disadvantage 😀 😀 😀

Then, virtual reality is not the main topic of the story. Kiss Me First is all drenched with VR, but the main topic is not VR, but the strange things that start happening to people that live in the virtual paradise. So, don’t expect something all about virtual reality: the series would have had perfect sense even if people were just inside a 3D game on a 2D screen. So, it is pleasant to see VR everywhere, but VR is not at the center of the attention. And, at the contrary of RPO, Kiss Me First doesn’t give any judgment about the technology: it doesn’t say that it is good or bad, and it doesn’t even hint at that.

Exactly as in RPO, one of the reasons why I haven’t liked Kiss Me First is the main character. Leila is not a person I would be interested in hanging out with: she is sad, complicated and boring. She is not a person I would be interested in following the adventures. I love that she is stubborn and that she grows during the development of the plot, but she keeps in remaining a non-interesting person to me. I have to add that I appreciate the fact that the main character is a woman that uses VR because this may help more girls in feeling represented by her and so in entering VR. And I am happy because it doesn’t seem a forced choice at all: she fits in her role, she is credible, so that’s great.

The plot has some holes and things I haven’t completely grasped, so I haven’t liked it as well. There are some WTF moments. But the most terrible things of all is the rhythm: Kiss Me First is damn slow. It is full of people just talking without doing anything, it is full of boring dialogues. Characters are all complicated people with complicated lives, so the atmosphere is very sad and tormented. The result is something that feels terribly heavy and boring. During lunch breaks, we usually want to recover from the fatigues of our jobs, not watching the slow lives of complicated people. That’s why when we had to watch the last three episodes, Max protested every time and didn’t want to watch them at all. It was like I was going to torture him to death. And then while watching at them, he fell asleep all the times. I guess he is eager to see a second season 😀

In my opinion, Kiss Me First is not worth watching. The plot is not compelling, the characters are not that interesting, it doesn’t convey strong emotions, the actors are not famous, the rhythm is very slow and the even the ending will leave you disappointed. I am not saying that is the worst thing that I have ever watched in my life (actors are not bad at all, the photography is good, so there are good sides in it), but probably if it wasn’t about VR and if I didn’t want to review it for you, I would have stopped watching it after the second episode and I would have dedicated myself to Rick&Morty or Futurama. Watch it only if you like dramas and slow psychological stories, otherwise spend your time doing something better (like subscribing to my newsletter).

(Header image by Netflix)