Heartless S01E01 "Episode 1" Recap

Brother and sister Sebastian and Sofie live a nomadic life. They are haunted by a cursed affliction that requires they feed on others by sucking energy through their mouths to survive. If they suck too much, the person will burst into flames and die. The anguish of living under these conditions proves too much to bear, so they decide to find answers about where they came from and what led to this.

They head to their old foster home from where they'd run away many years prior. They learn about how their mother dropped them off when they were small children and the caretaker gives them a drawing of a heart tattoo she had on her wrist as well as an old bag of some personal belongings. In the bag, they get a lead on an old boarding school called Ottmannsgaard. They enroll and meet the head prefect Ditlev and the co-prefects Frederick and Pieter, who is set to be Sebastian's roommate.

The girls and boys are set up in separate resident wings. Sofie meets her roommate Nadja and appears to be pondering whether or not she'll be a 'food' source but for the most part they get along. Pieter is a less friendly roommate to Sebastian, being strict in designating boundaries within their room of whose side is whose and expresses an affinity for weapons.

The students have an assembly at which headmaster Rector Just addresses the new students of the upcoming year. The headmaster has three daughters, two of which are enrolled in the school. Sebastian and Sofie must follow the lead "Gertrude" - a name of someone their mother was searching for. Ditlev tries to make a pass at Sofie but she pushes him off and leaves. Sebastian develops an attraction to a girl working in the school kitchen.

Sofie's hunger becomes overwhelming and she considers feeding from her roommate until Sebastian stops her. The pair sneak off campus but are spotted leaving by Ditlev. The twins arrive at a gas station where Sofie disables the surveillance cameras, heads inside and feeds from the cashier though she doesn't kill him. When she returns to the car, Sebastian forcibly feeds to get some of what she's just taken and the two argue.

When Sebastian and Sofie return to the school, they spot a heart design in one of the stain glass windows that matches the heart design that their mother had tattooed on her wrist. They try to head back to their rooms but are intercepted by the prefects who capture them and take them to an empty room to interrogate them as to where and what they've been up to. Sebastian is beaten by Pieter while Ditlev demands Sofie answer his questions. Sofie insults him and he strikes her as a result. Ditlev considers doing serious damage to Sebastian until Frederick speaks up, prompting Ditlev to release the twins and assault Frederick with a warning to never speak up against him again.

Sofie is determined to do something to retaliate against Ditlev but Sebastian tells her not to, believing that making moves against him will only be a detriment to their search for answers.

Heartless is available for streaming on Netflix.