Kindred: The Embraced (1996)
If the wait for release of Hunter: The Reckoning – Deathwish (planned release Q3 2027) feels long have you watched already Kindred series from 90s? It’s loosely based on The World of Darkness setting that was also introduced on cult-classic video game Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines.
Kindred: The Embraced is produced by John Leekley and Spelling Television.
Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2600/Vampire_The_Masquerade__Bloodlines/
Storyline
Series starts with San Francisco Police Detective Frank Kohanek (C. Thomas Howell) discovering vampires in the city while investigating Julian Luna (Mark Frankel) as a person of interest. Turns out that Julian is the Prince of the city, the ruler of five vampire groups that live in the area that have their own bloodline-related special features. These vampires are collectively called “the Kindred”. Julian’s role as a Prince is to maintain the uneasy truce of vampire tribes in the city. Vampires survive by disguising themselves as humans, taking part on the “The Masquerade”. Vampires that break rules of the Masquerade in are sentenced to the Final Death as a capital punishment.
Society clashes and romance
Setting for the series is delicious; the differences and struggles in a romance between human and vampire while trying to find a space to belong. The series introduce the vampire norms through those romances and relationships.
Maybe the identification and pull towards a certain vampire tribe characteristics from a World of Darkness comes from ways societies work in everyday life. Each people have their own “tribes” and social bubbles. It’s addicting to watch the bubbles burst and reform. The Kindred -series picked up some of the most apparent traits of the vampire clans in World of Darkness but took some liberties too. I understand if for some diehard fans this might be a turnoff.
The vibe
A huge part of the first Bloodlines video game was the atmosphere it created when the lights were off. In the TV –adaptation the mobster vibe got a little soap opera-ish. A gothic soap opera. Vampires let themselves be voluntarily vunerable and are willing to make sacrifices. They are not aiming for world domination or anything like that. Most of them seem to apprecciate human life and remember themselves being human too once.
I respect Thomas Howell performance on the series. The cop that got introduced some unimaginable scenarios gave the events a solid secondary voice. So that the whole city didn’t just dwell in ways vampires see justice. The performance might not please everyone but if a person actually goes through shocking events dramatic way to respond doesn’t seem too far-fetched for me.
End notes
The show ended up having 8 episodes so there’s no actual “filler” episodes. It’s a shame they didn’t continue airing it. Personally I enjoyed the series but I was still a little bit disappointed about the absence of the Malkavians. They are my favorites.
One thing is sure – I will be keeping an eye on the PC release of Hunter: The Reckoning. I’m still craving for more World of Darkness content!
