Peacock’s Vampire Academy is finally here! The steamy vampire drama gives us everything we’ve never gotten from a vampire show before, an entirely Vampire world with very little human interaction. Episodes 1-4 were just released on the streaming platform and I’ll be breaking the basic plot points down for you!
Episode 1 “Pilot” (Written by Marguerite Macintyre and Julie Plec. Directed by Billie Woodruff) | The pilot episode was a great way to introduce the audience to this vampire world and its workings. The intro explains the different types of vampires: Moroi, Dhampir, and Strigoi, and their magic. In the beginning we see a fabulous looking party thrown by the Queen at St. Vladimir’s Academy. Lissa Dragomir (Daniela Nieves) is there with her royal family and her Dhampir BFF and future guardian, Rose Hathaway (Sisi Stringer). There is a tragic car accident and all of Lissa’s family lose their lives, but she and Rose survive. After a three month time jump Lissa is ready to return to St. Vladimir’s, but her new guardian Dimitri (Kieron Moore) keeps Rose from immediately greeting her best friend.
Lissa learns that since she is the only Dragomir left she must perform the Consecration Ceremony and take her seat on the Council. She has to speak Old Moroi for the ceremony, but she struggles with it until Christian Ozera (Andre Dae Kim) introduces himself and helps her. And boy do sparks fly between them! He opens up to her about his parents turning Strigoi. At the Consecration Ceremony no one wants to sit near Christian because of what his parents did. Lissa does great speaking the Old Moroi and with everything else. Later, Christian tracks Lissa down and offers to be her Old Moroi tutor. Victor (J. August Richards) knows Lissa is associating with Christian and warns her to stop.
In Guardian training class, it’s Challenge Day. Rose lost her #1 ranking for skipping class to see Lissa so she challenges Mason (Andrew Liner) for her spot back. It goes well until Rose sees Lissa in her minds eye having a panic attack and she falters, allowing for Mason to win.
Rose and Lissa sneak out during the daytime and go to a place they both loved. There they memorialized Lissa’s family with lanterns. Dusk is quickly approaching on their way back and Rose suddenly feels sick. They get attacked by a Strigoi and Lissa makes it safely inside the wards. Dimitri has to help Rose, and he’s PISSED at them for sneaking out. And he’s not the only one upset. The BFF’s are no longer to be roommates, and Rose gets an upsetting email from her mother informing her how disappointed and ashamed of her she is.
The Queen throws another party for St. Vladimir’s Feast Day and names her successor: Lissa Dragomir.
Episode “Earth Air Water Fire” (Written by Linda Ge. Directed by Luis Prieto) | Rose and Lissa’s connection is getting stronger, they’re now sharing dreams. And when Lissa kisses Christian later in the episode, Rose sees it and falls off of the bar she is dancing on.
Lissa has to undergo the Specialization Ceremony, but she’s nervous she won’t specialize like Sonya Karp (Jonetta Kaiser). She studies with Christian, and it seems to work at the ceremony when the Queen declares her a Fire user, but then we see that it was really Christian behind the scenes doing the magic for her.
Rose has to face a Tribunal to decide her fate at school. She has a history of getting into trouble, and also getting Lissa into trouble. Eventually we find out that she isn’t getting kicked out, just put on probation.
The episode ends with Jesse Zeklos returning to campus when a Strigoi attacks.
Episode 3 “Death Watch” (Written by Morenike Balogon-Koch. Directed by Luis Prieto) | Episode 3 kicks off with the St. Jude’s Massacre, which looks devastating. St. Jude’s just happens to be Christian’s old school, so he’s questioned in connection to the attack. His parents were behind it, looking for him. At the end of the episode they send him a message, the lower jaw of his friend from that school who died in the attack.
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Because of the attack, St. Vlad’s is holding a Death Watch. Initially only Royal Moroi are invited, but thanks to Lissa, everyone gets invited. Or so it seems, but that’s just a ploy by the Queen to look good. Christian and Lissa dance, and he tells her he’s figured out what she can do. She has a fifth element, Spirit. They can’t tell anyone, and they definitely need to do some more research into it. Later, Lissa and Victor meet with the Queen and learn that Lissa is no longer her successor to the throne thanks to a suuuuuuuper old rule that Tatiana (Anita-Joy Uwajeh) pointed out. Tatiana wants to be Queen, so of course she found a loophole to get Lissa removed from her position.
Rose’s mother, Janine, is on campus to help the Guardian Novices train for a Strigoi attack. Rose is less than thrilled and the two don’t really get along. Dimitri agrees to help train Rose so she can improve her fighting skills.
At the end of the episode Victor collapses and we are unsure if he is dead or not.
Episode 4 “Benchmark” (Written by Jason Coffey. Directed by Jesse Warn) | The Council has proposed they lower the Guardian age to 16, something that Victor (who is very much alive!) opposes. He proposes, instead, that they pull Guardians off of non-Royal Moroi, something that Tatiana surprisingly agrees with.
Victor tells Lissa he knows of a way to restore her voting power on the Council, she must marry. She meets with potential suitors including Zeklos, but has not made a decision yet.
It’s Benchmark time for the Guardian Novices, meaning it’s time for all novices to be tested in simulated situations for a 24 hour period. Rose does a great job protecting Zeklos even though he’s an idiot and doesn’t listen to her. Mason meets Rose and tells her something, Christian has received a message from his parents with coordinates to meet them. Rose uses this info and tells Dimitri, who is able to get a team together to help.
Christian does meet and speak with his mother. She stays in the shadows so he can’t see her face, but he knows it’s her. As he’s leaving a different Strigoi attacks, just as Dimitri’s team comes to the rescue. They subdue and catch the Strigoi to be used later in more Benchmarks.
New episodes of Vampire Academy drop Thursdays on Peacock.
