Tooth Pari: When Love Bites – Season 1 Episode 1 Recap & Review

Upar Neeche

Episode 1 of Tooth Pari begins with a doctor asking his patient how her teeth broke, to which he responds “by accident.” The doctor tells her not to worry because he’ll fix it, and he proceeds to cut his finger. As a drop of blood falls into her mouth, he looks set to fix her teeth.

Following that, the episode transports us back in time. Rumi, our protagonist, sips a drink at a shady hotel. She strikes up a conversation with a man and proceeds to his suite. She then seduces him and bites his neck, knocking him unconscious. A girl called Sreela enters the room and drinks the man’s blood.

Rumi curses packaged blood and tells her that drinking blood from a real person is far better. Sreela begins to feel guilty, and Rumi tells her he is a married man who wants to chill with her. She also assures her that he will be fine in no time. They then take 1 liter of his blood in bottles and take off.

In the cab, Rumi and Sreela discuss how Ora and AD, in the name of Cutmundus, have threatened them against exploring the upper, human world. Rumi continues by informing the girl that it has been 50 years since the Cutmundus. She claims they are humans and must be dead or dying because, unlike vampires, they cannot live forever. Rumi assures Sreela that she can now enter the upper world and hunt humans whenever she wants.

Rumi and Sreela pull over in front of a hospital, but take precautions to avoid being discovered by AD’s men. Shortly after, we are introduced to AD and Ora. We learn that AD has a rule that stops vampires from entering the upper, human world. AD rules over the vampires despite the fact that he is human.

In 1684, while the treasures of Kolkata were being plundered in the name of discovering Kolkata, British hunters attempted to kill the vampires’ supreme leader Ora at the request of Job Charnock. AD’s great great great great great great grandfather, Zamindar Raja Narayan Deb, gave young Ora and his vampire friends refuge in the underworld at that time. As the vampires’ custodian, we learn that AD fulfills all of their needs. They are given everything they require, including gadgets, clothing, books, instruments, and blood of various types.

Rumi and Sreela are seen walking down a staircase into the underworld. Chitrabhanu, the gatekeeper, initially refuses to let them in, but after they bribe him with fresh, warm human blood, he lets them in. If anyone asks where they came from, they plan to say they came from the library via the blood bank. Sreela also reminds Rumi to add the hunt mark in her pod.

When a vampire sees Rumi walk in, he threatens to tell Ora, who will then tell AD, and she will be decapitated as a consequence. Rumi dismisses his warnings and walks away.

Following that, we meet Meera. Rumi informs Meera that David is expecting her at the blood bank. Meera tells Rumi that speaking with David will cause her to cry a river yet again. Rumi tells Meera that she understands they drank each other’s blood when blood was scarce, but now that there is enough blood, she wonders why they continue to do so. Meera then goes on to talk about seduction, saying that is why they still do it.

Meera inquires about Sreela, and Rumi informs her that after assisting her a few more times, she will become skilled at hunting humans in a couple of nights. Meera warns her that there’s a rumor circulating that AD’s boys saw some of Baaghini’s girls out. She then informs her that AD sent a message to Ora, who is still hibernating. She then asks her to be careful starting the following day.

Rumi invites Meera to join her at the Tangra party the following night, but Meera turns it down. Meera advises her to take Sreela with her. She does, however, warn her to be cautious, not risk killing or converting any humans, as well as not telling any humans who they are.

Roy’s father orders him to meet his friend Adu’s daughter in the evening, and he has no say in the matter. When Roy informs him that he needs to go to his clinic, his father instructs him to keep it closed that day.

On his date with Adu’s daughter, she invites him to the Tangra party the following night. They decide to lie to their parents about going to Dover Lane, a classical music conference, and instead go to the party.

Whilst at the part, the girl abandons Roy in favor of spending time with her boyfriend. Now ditched, Roy spends time with the bartender instead. Rumi and Sreela are also at the party though. Rumi asks a man if they can go somewhere private, and then bites his neck. His neck actually happens to be a prosthetic, and her fang breaks and falls down, prompting her to run away.

Rumi travels to the underworld to notify Meera and David of her fang breaking. David assures them that he will take care of the situation.

The next morning, Roy’s father discovers Mithila’s picture in the newspaper with another guy. When he confronts Roy about it, Roy informs him that Mithila already has a boyfriend and that he never had a chance.

An elderly man tells children about vampires and how they never age. He tells them that the clock stops the moment they are converted, and they do not age after that. His son then takes him away and tells the old man to stop babbling. We later learn that he actually has Alzheimer’s disease.

Rumi’s previous victim is at the police station filing a complaint. When he tells the cops that the ghost girl kissed him, they dismiss him and refer the guy to Inspector Kartik, a man that specializes in supernatural cases.

David tells Rumi about Abdul and how Ora asked to decapitate him because he had fallen in love with an upper-world girl. Rumi visits Abdul in the Upper world and asks him to assist with her broken fang, but he says there is nothing he can do. He goes on to tell her that Luna Luka, the Cutmundus’ witch, punished him for falling in love with an upper-world girl.

AD is taking a head count in the underworld to see if any vampires are missing and wandering in the upper world. Rumi arrives just in time, and David and Meera step in to cover for her.

Rumi arrives at Roy’s clinic after the receptionist has left for the night. Roy appears to be smitten by Rumi. Roy accidentally cuts his finger while treating Rumi, and a drop of his blood falls into Rumi’s mouth. Roy, on the other hand, collapses when he sees blood. Rumi waits for Roy to regain consciousness. Thereafter, he tells her that he is sensitive to the sight of blood, requesting her to visit the clinic the following day and she leaves.

Rumi’s victim is being questioned by Inspector Kartik, and he recounts the night’s events to him. The inspector then offers him a drink, which he can’t keep down for long. Following that, the man informs the inspector that he has been unable to consume anything since the incident.

When the man bolts to the bathroom, the inspector discovers the broken fang at the party venue and recalls his father’s words about vampire fangs.

The Episode Review

The first episode of Tooth Pari is rather chaotic in terms of the information it tries to give viewers. It attempts to provide a lot of information in a short amount of time and in doing so, makes for a rather cluttered plot with little coherence.

The show’s ideas about what vampires can and cannot do are very similar to The Vampire Diaries and unfortunately, based on this episode alone, almost seems like a cheap knockoff.

Having said that though, the cinematography here is simply breathtaking. Your mind will be blown by the setting of Kolkata nights, including the lighting, the yellow taxis, and the dark feel to it all. Furthermore, Shantanu Maheshwari and Tanya Maniktala are fantastic in their respective roles so there’s definitely hope for this one yet!