Kiss Me First

For a while, it smacks of an admittedly less optimistic version of Mirror‘s “San Junipero,” these two repressed young women finding a much-needed release in one another that’s terabytes more intoxicating that anything Azana could render. But somewhere around the fourth hour of its 6-episode first season, the show becomes something markedly different and far less interesting: a tech-thriller overflowing with bugs it can’t patch.

The show’s adherence to tired storytelling tropes hamstrings it from becoming more profound, exciting, or original. Instead, it somehow manages to be both sleepy and bleak, which only drives viewers to seek out a different reality elsewhere.

Kiss Me First has no time for pesky matters like subtext as it takes an enticing-but-familiar premise and builds for five occasionally entertaining hours before a finale that's equal parts exasperating and hacky. ... The finale left me feeling like major character and narrative steps had been skipped and like the hook for future seasons was completely unearned. That's a hollow, sour feeling.