Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021) Ep. 1

Disclaimer: Brand New Cherry Flavor review was originally posted August 30, 2021 and was updated June 20, 2025.

The Netflix miniseries, Brand New Cherry Flavor, premiered August 14, 2021 to buzz around the avant style and deadpan delivery of the lead. Similarly to other horror titles Brand New Cherry Flavor is based on the novel of the same title by Todd Grimson. Straight from the trailer it’s clear that a mysterious, albeit naive wannabe artist is on her way to LA and gives an air of desperation that would be easy to take advantage of in a city with LA's reputation. Although a lot is given away in the trailer Rosa Salazar’s performance as the lead, Lisa Nova, makes up for these spoilers and is engaging enough to hold interest.

Lisa is revealed to be an aspiring filmmaker making the sacred pilgrimmage to LA with tapes of her short film but the leg up of a meeting set up with a producer named Lou Burke, played by Eric Lange. Lou is clearly semi washed up with all the markings of a sleazy Hollywood user that warning tales are shared about. After their meeting Lou decides to invest in Lisa’s movie and the pair become a team in the endeavor to get the movie made. They get ready to pitch the movie with her as the director but things take a predictably dark turn.

In preparation to pitch the movie we get scenes of Lou teaching Lisa how to pitch herself but he persistently interjects with stories about his own inspirations and aspirations. Lou's ultimate goal is making a movie for his child self and in return it's revealed that Lisa’s own driving force is making a movie her mother, who left her as a baby, would see. Following this while at a party they plan to pitch to some rich big wig who is a mysterious woman, Boro, played by Catherine Keener. The second they start to speak, the world around them silences and the air fills with intensity; during this moment of stillness between the 2 she warns Lisa that an important conversation is taking place without her.

It's clear that she is warning Lisa about the movie being made without her. Fast forward to what is seemingly a revenge plot gone awry what is a slow burn transitions into hyper drive when Lou violently attacks Lisa in his driveway after she confronts him about stealing her movie. Tears streaming down her face and in total shock Lisa gets in her car and drives to Boro, the address still on her arm from the earlier party. After some dialogue and back and forth they agree to the small price of puked up kittens from deep within Lisa for Boro to exact revenge on Lou for her. Once this is complete and set in stone it becomes clear that the fallout and upcoming action resulting from this rash decision will be the driving force of the season.

The first episode is somewhat what is to be expected based on the trailer with much of the trailer scenes occurring within that limited space. I always feel like this is a good omen that there was so much good stuff to choose from that they just chose from the 1st episode and there's still so much more to see. Granted that could also mean the exact opposite that all the good shit is out of the way by the end of the first hour.

With all of the set up out of the way and the main characters mostly accounted for the season can move forward to the unpredictability that lies ahead at neck breaking speed. It is a housekeeping episode worth the energy to take the roller coaster ride of the season that follows. There are enough unanswered questions at the end of episode one to pique the audiences interest to keep watching like, "Why is she puking kittens?," or, " Why does Boro want the puked-up kittens?," in addition to, "What the hell happens in her film's short that no on can who's screened it can figure out that gets them so fascinated by her?"

Although the audience is led to believe that things are set in Boro and Lisa's arrangement nothing is over until it is over and the characters each seem less than trustworthy on the surface. Each of the main characters seems willing to sacrafice anything or anyone to fulfill their dreams no matter the collateral damage which sets up a scenario where anything can happen and is believable. In particular it seems Boro has Ursula intentions for Lisa, taking advantage of her blind ambition and rage coupled with her old wounds reopened by the fresh betrayal. Boro's intentions are likely more sinister but the kittens throw things into a stratopshere of "what the fuck" untraveled territory. If this is only episode one what do the rest of the 7 episodes in the mini series contain?!