First Kill – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap, Review & Ending Explained

First Betrayal

Does Theo die?

Episode 8 of First Kill Season 1 begins with Cal and Juliette discovering Theo in the bathroom of the bar, dead. Apollo doesn’t remember what happened.

Juliette tells them to get going, and she cleans up the crime scene. On her way out, she steps on a tube of lipstick she recognizes as belonging to Elinor.

Cal and Apollo return home to tell their parents what happened, but they find Theo at home. He’s speaking with Talia and Jack like nothing happened. Talia remarks to Cal that the Guild cleared her name.

Theo excuses himself from the table. He goes to his room and looks at himself in a mirror. A serpent appears behind him, as fangs develop in his mouth. He starts to remember what happened that night.

Does Juliette betray Elinor?

Juliette confronts Elinor about killing Theo. She calls her a “soulless murderer,” and cries that she’s finally done with her. 

Juliette then runs away to Oliver and Carmen. She brings them a key that unlocks Elinor’s storage, where she keeps evidence of her past kills. Then she returns home.

Meanwhile, a SWAT Team invades the Fairmont household to arrest Elinor. Juliette watches, smiling. Oliver carried out her plan to implicate her sister.

Oliver arrives at the police station to see Elinor. He rehashes several past events of bad things that he did under Elinor’s influence, claiming she made everyone believe he was evil, when it was always her. He leaves, telling her that their parents will let her burn before they ruin the reputation of the Keeper.

Does the Legacy find out about Davina’s death?

Margot assures Sebastian that Elinor won’t do anything rash like massacre the police department. She wants to be the Keeper too badly, and wouldn’t want to draw so much attention.

A Legacy Sentry shows up at the Fairmonts’ door and delivers a letter stating that the Legacy Council is challenging Davina as Keeper. Margot must appear to the court in two days. She doesn’t know what she’ll do.

Who turned Theo into a vampire?

Theo cries for help, bleeding from his mouth and eyes. The men tie him to a chair. Jack claims he’s no longer his son, but Talia won’t let Jack kill Theo.

He goes through an intense and painful transformation. Apollo suddenly realizes that Elinor is somehow involved in all this. Theo suddenly grasps onto Apollo’s neck, but then throws him away. He bursts out of his chains and runs from the house. He and Apollo fight, but Juliette shows up to stop them.

Juliette claims she can help him. She tells them it’s impossible for new vampires to think through their change until they feed from the one who made them. She extends her own arm to Theo, and he feeds.

Do Calliope and Juliette stay together?

Cal is angry that Juliette turned her brother, but Juliette says he asked for her help. When she was cleaning up in the bathroom, he woke up briefly and extended his wrist to her. That’s when she turned him.

She was trying to drain him and give him a painless death. She didn’t realize she had turned him instead.

Cal doesn’t accept her explanation or apology. She pushes Juliette away and says she’ll spend the rest of her life figuring out how to kill Juliette and her kind.

How does First Kill Season 1 End?

Talia runs away with Theo to prevent Jack and Apollo from killing him. She promises he will always be her son. She asks him not to kill, but only feed. Talia then delivers him over to Oliver, who welcomes him to his new family.

Oliver and Carmen take him out to their yard, where several monsters turn to stare at Theo. Oliver says he came back to Savannah “to ruin some lives.” And he brought company.

The Episode Review

Aubin Wise absolutely steals the show in this heart-wrenching episode as a distraught mother who would do anything to protect her son.

Juliette’s and Calliope’s parting doesn’t land with the same emotional fervor (the blatant Romeo and Juliet parallelism and “love moderately” message don’t help things at all). But the new divide between them sets the series up beautifully for a second season that promises to be rife with drama.

The season finale strongly drives home First Kill’s ultimate message. Some monsters hide in plain sight–whether or not they sport actual fangs. And some monsters aren’t really monsters at all.