Evie MacDonald as Hannah in Hulu’s First Day
I will start off by saying that this isn’t a review dipped in politics and being served as a critique. This is simply a review about a show that gives a family-friendly look into being a transgender teen, and how their peers, family, and community come together to help someone navigate a life lived a bit differently. First Day doesn’t give an overly positive picture of what being trans is; it deals very directly with real-life issues like bullies, being outed online, losing friends because they don’t agree or understand what trans means, and more. More specifically it follows Hannah, a trans teen starting at a new school hoping to make a fresh start after being tormented for years at her previous school by Isabella, who loved to do nothing more than to tease and bully Hannah about being trans. Fun times.
Once Hannah gets settled into the new school and makes a few friends, she finds out Isabella has been transferred to Hannah’s new school, which opens up a whole new nightmarish situation. Will Isabella out her to the new classmates? Or will she just hold it over Hannah’s head in an effort to take her previous bullying to the next level? Before things go too far, another student outs Hannah online, initially resulting in loads of online harassment, classmates not speaking to her, friends rejecting her, even some vandalism of school property for good measure. But with the support of her family and her close circle of friends (though thanks to the outing a bit smaller circle), Hannah slowly bounces back, and is even given an opportunity to answer some awkward questions from other students about what being trans is like. Showing a more human side of a controversial issue that opens up discussion is quite often is a good thing.
The mini-series is shot well with a solid cast and a storyline that flows fairly well, and while it may be difficult for some to relate to the topic of transgender the series does do a good job at addressing all sorts of feelings and opinions that come with going public.
First Day official trailer can be seen here or can be streamed on Hulu right here