“Friends Let Us Down” is episode four of season one of Kiss Me First.
In the previous episode, “Off the Rails”, Leila had tracked down Denier in real life, as she was sure that Adrian was going to get him killed as he had Calumny in “She Did Something”. Denier’s real life was not wonderful; he was in a children’s home and one of the carers, if he wasn’t abusing Denier, certainly looked like he was going to in the future. Denier did kill himself, using a bomb he had built with, by the sounds of it, Adrian’s instructions. Given that he took out the creepy carer at the same time, it seems likely that any abuse wasn’t in the future. Leila saw the news article regarding the deaths not long after she had seen Denier and she told Tess that she was coming for Adrian.
Leila is at home, wanting Tess to come back, when the latter’s mobile rings. Adrian is calling for Tess and, when Leila accuses him of killing people, he says that he doesn’t kill anyone. Adrian wants to bet on who will find Tess first; she has been gone for four days.
In Azana, Adrian is talking to Force, as he wants the latter’s help – Force apparently has some skills that will be useful. Force – real name Kyle – lives in Tennessee in the U.S. and Adrian has bought him a ticket to fly to London. Force wants to see Jocasta, but Adrian wants him to do something first. Force/Kyle’s skills that Adrian wants to make use of look as if they might be dangerous.
Leila goes looking for Tess at her family’s home. Tess’ sister, Olivia, does not have a very high opinion of her. Adrian is also speaking to Jonty still, on the phone, and is still misrepresenting his relationship with Leila, making out he’s her father. Adrian has also got Leila suspended from Azana and by the looks of it shopped her to the police, with CCTV footage of Leila talking to Denier shortly before he blew himself up, making her a person of interest in his death.
Leila’s former teacher, Mr. Adams, had told her that hacking Azana would require the source algorithms. He now tells Leila that she needs to change her tactics, so she heads to see Ruth Palmer, Azana’s creator. The latter is not very helpful – for now – but definitely seems to be connected in some way, even if she doesn’t realise it.
More is seen of people in real life, and this demonstrates that people may have a rather different online persona to how they actually are.