"Kitz" on Netflix: Entertaining soap opera in the "Aspen of the Alps

Spoiler Alert: Warning, this article may foreshadow the plot of the 1st season of "Kitz".

"Kitz" tells a story about the tensions of social inequality in the middle of the beautiful Tyrolean Alps. We have Vanessa, her boyfriend Dominik, her best friend Pippa, and Kosh.

All of them are children of (anonymous) super-rich people who have wild parties in Kitzbühel every year. On the other hand, there are the locals, first and foremost 19-year-old Lisi. Her brother died in a car accident on New Year's Eve the previous year. Lisi blames Vanessa (called Nessa) - a model and influencer - for his death. Nessa had a fling with Lisi's brother Josef and asked him to come to her on the night of the accident. Reason enough for Lisi, together with her friend Hans, to plot revenge. She skillfully maneuvers herself into Vanessa's "inner circle" and infiltrates her already superficial relationships. But Lisi's act of revenge is not without consequences: Through a chain of unfortunate events, her plan increasingly goes off the rails and reaches a tragic climax at the end of the series.

Speaking of consequences: That's exactly what Lisi was after when she made her perfidious plan. "I wanted to show her that her actions also have consequences," she is heard saying in the trailer. The series uses the familiar narrative of the evil, rich elite. Vanessa and her friends are portrayed as wealth-addled rich kids devoid of morals. Where there is a lack of character, money is used to help. Naturally, the villains are contrasted with the heroes who stand up for justice. The good guys in this story are locals who live far from the jet-set lifestyle. Also richly clichéd and at times almost primitively portrayed. 

Towards the end of the plot, however - and this is to the series' credit - the tide begins to turn. Suddenly something terrible has happened and instead of admitting to herself that she has gone too far and that she stands by her misdeeds, Lisi herself acts immorally and tries to cover up what has happened by all means. The audacity with which she makes this turn and tries to save her own skin makes one's throat choke just watching it. In the course of this very turnaround, the rich are also suddenly no longer the bad guys, but just people with feelings like you and me. In addition, it is hinted that in the end, not everything is as it seems and that it was not Vanessa who lured Josef to her on New Year's Eve.

What remains from the end of this first season is ultimately the certainty that most people are closest to themselves. This less glorious quality is again completely detached from social class or bank balance. 

The fact that Lisi takes a chance away from her revenge plan and has a dress she designed presented by Dominik's influential mother in the course of a fashion show also testifies to a certain double standard. The rich may be hated, but when the opportunity presents itself, one wants to have a nibble.

Ultimately, "Kitz" is a series that deals with exciting topics such as social injustice, lack of morals and dealing with strokes of fate, but in its essence is more reminiscent of a soap opera with plenty of clichés. This "Revenge" of the Alps was supposed to be glamorous, sexy and young. But in the end, the deliberately staged high-gloss image is too deliberate and the viewer notices that too.

Nevertheless, "Kitz" is a thoroughly entertaining series worth watching, whose second season - if there is to be one - can be eagerly awaited.