I Rewatched Kindred: The Embraced So You Don’t Have To
Good afterevenmorn!
On the 15th of this month, or thereabouts, a book of mine celebrated a publishing anniversary. I don’t really keep track of these things, though I should, so I’m very grateful to Renaissance Press (who published it) for the reminder. Human celebrates a birthday this month.
It is, in case the title/theme of this post thus far has not made it clear (and I don’t blame you. The show I’m going to discuss is ancient by entertainment standards), Human is a vampire tale. Don’t come for me. I didn’t want to write it, but my brain is a jerk and wouldn’t let me write anything else until the thing was done. I’m not mad. I think it turned out to be a decent book, even though I was completely against writing the thing.
The anniversary announcement really got me thinking, though. You see, I’m not a vampire girly, despite my early goth days. I don’t really seek out or read the literature. I’ve not watched a single episode of True Blood, or any other vampire show, really. I mean, I did watch Buffy: The Vampire Slayer television series back in the day, but there were more than vampires in that show. I did watch the British series Being Human, but, again, there were more than vampires in that one (also, from memory, I highly recommend it. The British one, not the American one). I watched the first Underworld in the cinema, but haven’t really followed that series. Perhaps most importantly, I’ve read all on one Anne Rice novel; and it was the one that wasn’t about vampires (I vaguely recall Slenderman-type beings, but not vampires. I might be wrong about that, but that’s what my brain is saying). I’ve consumed no other vampire literature.
Not even the classics.
So… where the hell did my jerk of a brain come up with the idea for a whole vampire novel? It took me quite a while to realise that there was one vampire story I was obsessed with in my formative tween years. I’ve not thought about it for years and years and years. Almost quite literally. The show is 28 years old, after all. I am, of course, talking about Kindred: The Embraced.
This show first aired in 1996 and was an immediate hit in my family. My parents, I realise only after being in the world a while, were pretty chill with the media we consumed. In any case, I made the realisation recently that I much of Human owes its provenance directly to this show. I didn’t even realise while writing it. Sure, certain scenes and the general mood was largely inspired by The Crow, but so much was also pulled from this show.
The vampires in Human cry tears of blood if the emotional pain is great enough. In the novel, it’s only Aleksander Svetoslav who is ever hurt this badly. This is something I’m fairly certain I picked up from Kindred: The Embraced. This realisation meant that I absolutely had so watch the show again, just to find out what else my tween brain had filed away to use in my novel.
So I did.
A quick review… It’s not great.
As of the writing of this, I have watched the pilot and the first proper episode. The pilot is… So bad. So, so bad. So bad, in fact, that I am greatly concerned about the tastes of my tween self. I’m putting it down to the fact that my prefrontal cortex was nowhere near developed yet. That’s why I loved it. That and the 80s cartoon Transformers.
Putting aside how incredibly dated the show is. I mean, it is almost 30 years old, so that’s forgivable. It’s so old that the only version of it I could find was formatted for square television screens. It’s square screen years old. Still, I giggled like a maniac at the opening music, which is very clearly that early synth choir sound from terrible keyboards. It’s not the datedness of the show that makes it bad. Plenty of shows are dated, but still are incredibly watchable.
The really problem was the writing. The dialogue was incredibly silly and clunky, filled with awful exposition dumps. There were moments of acting that felt incredibly… 90s, for lack of a better descriptor, but again, even the best actors can only do so much with bad writing. And of course, the cops happen to speak with a broad, working class New York accent, despite the show being set in San Francisco. Because apparently this is the 40s and all cops sound like they’re all out here fighting the good fight, see?
It’s so bad, folks. So bad.
Not all of it was terrible, of course. Immediately, there are some standouts in the actors. The extraordinarily stunning Stacy Haiduk shines in her role as the prince’s current lover; jealous, power-hungry and ruthless, she is clearly someone to fear. I also get the impression that she’s far better at the political game than the prince.
Of course, Patrick Bauchau is perfect at the former prince, and mentor to the current prince, Archon Raine.
And of course, Julian Luna, played by Mark Frankel (may he rest in peace), was good. I’m mostly saying this as someone who was desperately in love with him as a tween. To be perfectly honest, he’s not great in the pilot. I think he was still feeling out the character. His accent was wonky (he was British playing an American), and in his defence, he had some terrible writing to try and improve. He is much, much better in the first proper episode.
Look, the acting wasn’t fantastic, and I’ve already made the note about the writing being terrible. There is only so much really good actors can do with terrible writing, so I don’t blame the actors at all for how… not great the pilot is. But, I will say that the underlying story is really, really good. A few tweaks to the script and that pilot could’ve been genuinely brilliant.
And it was great at the time. It must have been, because so much of it stayed with me and unconsciously informed so much of my own entry into the long list of vampire media. Some of the rules of vampirism, the need to hide in plain sight, and some of their characteristics made their way into Human. It must have been this show, because I cannot think of any other vampire media that could have. The character of Julian Luna in particular informed much about Aleksandar Svetoslav, Prince of House Svetoslav; His attachment to his human family, his sympathetic nature, and the fact that he falls in love with a human woman.
That’s as far as it goes. Kindred: The Embraced only got eight episodes (I think). It wasn’t like Firefly, in which the studio screwed the show over and then cancelled it before its time. Still angry at you, Fox. The actor portraying the main character, Mark Frankel, was killed in a motorcycle accident, if memory serves, before the full season was filmed. And that was it. The show was over before it had a chance to properly get started.
Given how precious I am about The Crow, it surprises even me that this is one show from my childhood that I wouldn’t mind seeing an updated version of. Especially since I know I loved this show when I was younger, and I do think that Mark Frankel is Julian Luna. Despite this, I do think that with a good writer, this series could make a brilliant return.
If the pilot was the only episode I watched, I wouldn’t recommend the series for modern viewers. The first proper episode did save it though. It still wasn’t great, with the silly New York accents for the police force, but there was a marked improvement in the writing and the acting, so I do think that the rest of the series will be decent. Not as good as I remember, but definitely watchable.
Are you familiar with Kindred: The Embraced? Did you like it? Were there any shows from your youth that, upon rewatch, simply do not stack up to your memories of how much you loved it? Are you as concerned about the tastes of your young self as I am about mine? Let me know in the comments!
When S.M. Carrière isn’t brutally killing your favorite characters, she spends her time teaching martial arts, live streaming video games, and cuddling her cat. In other words, she spends her time teaching others to kill, streaming her digital kills, and a cuddling furry murderer. Her most recent titles include Daughters of Britain, Skylark and Human. Her serial The New Haven Incident is free and goes up every Friday on her blog.
I only vaguely remember the show. I’m surprised you don’t mention its ties to the ttrpg Vampire the Masquerade. I never played the game but my oldest daughter really enjoyed the pc game, subtitled ‘Bloodlines’.
That’s right! I was based on Vampire the Masquerade. But not being a vampire girly, I’ve never played it. In fact, I didn’t even know it existed (and that Kindred: The Embraced was based so heavily in it) until just a few years ago.
Was only familiar with “Kindred: The Embraced” from a college roommate lamenting the star’s accident mid-filming. Nice to know what it was about, now. ^_^ Enjoy the rest of your re-watch.
I’m fortunate that most of my youth’s programs have held up to scrutiny, with the sole exception of “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda,” which occasionally suffered from awkward exposition dump. What gets me, though, is the stuff I watch when I’m unwell. Usually an odd mixture of Chinese action-adventures and animal documentaries. They’re never quite how I remember on rewatch. “What do you mean, ‘Kangaroo: Faces in the Mob’ isn’t three hours long? And where’s the police chase-style race across the bush on the tail of a kangaroo that I so vividly remember?” More than one medicine packet has been scrutinized for extra “active ingredients” because I don’t know what I was thinking.
Tween me was devastated by the loss.
I remember liking Andromeda well enough, but also thinking it didn’t really hold a candle to Stargate: SG1 (which I still adore even though it, too, has some pretty awkward moments).
OMG! That’s hilarious! Now I’m wondering how many of my memories are actually fever/medication dreams! (I also watch bizarre stuff when I’m unwell; and some really bad action movies as well. Doom is a favourite when I’m under the weather. It’s not a great movie, but it sure is fun.)
Stargate, as an entire phenomenon–including SG1, Atlantis, Continuum, Universe, and the other spin-offs– is completely beyond compare. Amazing stuff. (Whenever I see a Trek-Wars battle, I show up to wave the flag as a Gater, and everything halts with a record scratch.) The TV series did the Stargate R-novels wrong, though, relegating such excellent universe-building to the trash-heap of the ret-con. Sha’uri turned out to be such an incredible person in the R-novels, too. (Deep sigh.)
“Doom” does get recommended as a good fever-watch. I’ve been told it’s kind of up there with “Demolition Man.” True or false, in your opinion?
I am a terrible Stargate fan. How did I not know there were novels?! Well, going on a hunt now!
Yeah. I would put Doom with Demolition Man, actually.
!!!! There are LOTS of SG-1 novels. But before the TV series, there were Bill McCay’s five Stargate R-novels: Rebellion; Retalliation; Retribution Reconnaissance; Resistance. Whether you’ll like them as an SG-1 fan is hit-or-miss, because they’re a different storyline. But if you’re interested, AbeBooks has them all, and in very limited quantities.
Happy reading, whatever you choose!
Thank you!
C’mon – be bold and read Dracula! Even now, it’s one of the best horror novels you’ll ever sink your teeth into.
(See what I did there?)
It’s on my list, promise.
Funny, I was reading this article between patients at work, and one of them caught sight of the Kindred: The Embraced box art. He was a real grouch to work with up to that point, but seeing that immediately changed his entire attitude. He stated that he had been a playtester for the V:TM game way back in the day and began regaling me with stories of his Malkavian character who spoke exclusively in Ye Olde English and botched Shakespearean quotes. Said it remains his favorite character he’s ever portrayed. A fun little bit of serendipity which brightened both of our days. Thanks for your post!
What a delightful thing to read! Thanks for sharing!
Please tell your coworker I said hello.
My memories of this show are somewhat scattered. A woman I was dating at the time was watching it as a guilty pleasure. Aaron Spelling was listed as a producer. More than one TV critic (remember those?) mocked the clumsy title.
Beyond that I recall it as one of Fox’s numerous attempts to create another genre hit in the wake of “The X Files” and I always thought it was an attempt to channel Anne Rice for the mainstream right about the time her career peaked and promptly went off the rails. I also remember it struggled with dismally low ratings which is why it was cancelled and not because the male lead had died.
I’m likewise not much of a vampire fan with the exception of some of the early Hammer films (I love vintage Hammer) and I was a “Dark Shadows” kid so I have to confess to having a soft spot for the show. Oh, and “The Night Stalker” was a terrific telefilm for its era even if the vampire is a hissing cliche. For the most part though vampires bore me almost as much as zombies although nothing is as boring as zombies (Val Lewton aside).