The Black Dagger Brotherhood TV pilot and premiere episode aired on June 5, 2025 on Passionflix! Fans of the book series by J.R. Ward have been imagining these characters for 20+ years and we were all incredibly anxious to see the translation from page to screen. So how was it? Did the Black Dagger Brotherhood TV show live up to expectations? Is the Black Dagger Brotherhood pilot episode worth watching? Let’s dive in!
Black Dagger Brotherhood S1E1 Review
First, some background details. I was very hesitant about the BDB books being turned into a TV series. Super excited, for sure, but also really concerned that it wouldn’t live up to expectations. I was both relieved and worried when I saw each actor dressed up as their character. From one perspective, they’re perfect. They fit the descriptions, they have the exact right attitudes and personas, and you can clearly tell who is who at first glance.
But they all seemed very…clean. Polished. Too smooth around the edges. I imagine these characters as gritty, a little dirty, a bit rough and tumble. Some, like Phury and Butch, are known for being very well dressed and cleaned up. But others just seem like they should have some lesser blood on their hands, some dirt on their pants and maybe some scrapes and bruises (albeit, scrapes and bruises that heal incredibly fast).
So when I saw the first shots of the actors, I couldn’t imagine them embodying the characters and doing them justice. But, J.R. Ward was completely bowled over when she met each one in full character. Seriously, check out the Warden’s Instagram to see clips of her meeting most of the original Brothers, it is delightful. She seemed genuinely shocked and astonished by Wrath, and her emotional reaction to Z made me tear up. Anyway, as a writer, I obviously put a lot of stock into what an author decides about their characters. If she felt like they fit the bill, I was willing to trust her. And I’m glad I did!
The first point to make in regards to a BDB pilot episode review is that it is an absolute faithful adaptation of Dark Lover from book to live action. I would estimate that 99% of the lines were pulled directly from book quotes, and avid fans like myself will recognize tons of visuals that perfectly align with descriptions of scenes in the first Black Dagger Brotherhood book. The nightclub, the house, the streets, and of course the characters – perfection.
Speaking of the characters. While I still feel like everyone was a bit too clean cut, the attitudes were perfect. Wrath is imposing, sparse with his words, and absolutely conveys a King with a head heavy from wearing the crown. Beth is smart, independent, takes no shit and gorgeous. Butch – with the perfect Boston accent, of course – is ballsy and brash and aggressive, but you can tell he has a heart of gold. Darius is refined, mature, wise in the eyes and measured in his words. Tohr is calm, personable, the peacemaker and the voice of logic.
We don’t get to interact much with V, Z, Phury or Rhage in this episode, but their presence is noticeable. Rhage comes across as cocky and self assured, with a swagger and a bit of a devil-may-care attitude. Phury is a calming presence that feels like a balm amidst all the intensity. V looks pissed off and disgruntled in just the right way, and Z is clearly at the end of his rope, trying to maintain but not able to fully keep himself together. Oh, and Marissa! Beautiful, ethereal, reserved and hesitant but with innate grace and dignity. Amazing.
And the smaller characters! Chef’s kiss! We have Jose with just the right amount of protectiveness and banter with Beth. Dick is, well, a dick. Mr. X is beyond creepy in an overly cheery, toothpaste ad fake kind of way. Billy Riddle is the epitome of the asshole rich kid who is used to taking what he wants and suffering no accountability. Even the smallest characters, like Cherry Pie, made perfect sense in their portrayals. And Fritz…oh, Fritz. I’m pretty sure every BDB fan adores Fritz, but it was hard to imagine him come to life. Somehow we have just the right mix of gentle subservience, devotion and desperate desire to please. I adore him.
One key factor to consider in this BDB premiere episode review are the spicy scenes. I was not familiar with Passionflix prior to hearing about this show last year, and I had my doubts about the network in general. It very much felt like a soft-core porn site that might cheapen or degrade the plot and emotion of these beloved stories. I have nothing against cheap soft-core porn, it’s just not what I hoped for with regards to this series. So with zero background information, I planned to take the sex scenes with a grain of salt.
It was good! We only got one spicy sequence in this episode, but it closed the hour out with a bang. There was nudity, although not as much as I expected, or maybe even hoped. Topless Beth, butt shots of Wrath and some extended time tangled together made it feel very honest and fairly realistic. I think the book did a better job of the sex scene, only in that it’s easier to understand Beth’s point of view with her thoughts all written out. I’m hoping the next episode delves into her conflicting opinions on sleeping with Wrath so quickly and without any reservation. It felt a little abrupt here, but again, the majority of viewers are likely fans who are extremely familiar with this couple and their story as a whole.
Another somewhat random point to consider – I was disappointed when I realized that Passionflix is head up by Tosca Musk. I didn’t have anything against her in particular, but I haven’t found any other members of the Musk family to seem like great people. I didn’t even know Elon was her brother until a few months ago, and it did give me a bit of a pause. But, I believe in judging people on their own actions, and not those of their family. Plus, J.R. Ward is clearly on board with her, so I figured I could do the same. So far I do not regret this decision!
So, overall review of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Season 1, Episode 1 premiere pilot episode: two daggers up! Ten daggers out of ten! I will come up with a better rating system soon, but for now just know that I do wholeheartedly recommend it to old fans and anyone looking to get to know these supernatural romance characters.
Black Dagger Brotherhood S1E1 Recap
As I noted before, the first episode aligns very closely with the beginning of the Dark Lover book. I probably won’t do such detailed recaps for future episodes, but I feel like the pilot always sets the tone, and I wanted to be sure that anyone without access could know exactly what happened, every step of the way.
We begin with Tohr and Darius talking in the club, discussing the viability of asking Wrath to help with Beth’s transition. We cut to Beth eating at her desk, dealing with the grossness and misogyny that is Dick. Then back to the club, where Darius points out that Wellsie will murder both Tohr and himself if he tries to help Beth through her transition.
Wrath arrives, the humans in the background are clearly a bit intimidated, and Tohr makes his exit. Darius and Wrath have nearly word for word the exact conversation from the book intro, with Wrath declining D’s request. Then we’re back to Beth, leaving the newsroom and ordering her Chinese food as she walks home.
Fans know how this is going to play out, but it’s still disturbing to see the appearance of Billy Riddle and his friend. Many women have had some similar experience of having to choose between a ride from a creepy guy they know, or walking alone in a potentially unsafe place. That feeling of a man following you, taunting you, is truly terrifying.
We return to Wrath exiting the club. He has a brief encounter with a lesser that he handles with ease before stabbing him back to the Omega and leaving nothing but a pile of dust. It’s a nice quick scene that shows Wrath’s power of perception and reflexes, and neatly captures the essence of the battle between vampires and lessers.
The opening sequence has show images interspersed with what look like hand-drawn, penciled in pictures of the Old Language, the scar, etc. The haunting music is a good fit for the overall tone of the show.
Then we’re back to Billy assaulting Beth, which is again so realistic that it’s quite disturbing. You can see Beth’s thought process as she switches from fighting back to calming down, calculating her next move. You can see the disgust on her face as she reaches for Billy’s pants, and the furious victory of her grabbing his crotch painfully and making her escape. Her run home, grasping her torn shirt across her chest, is poignant and upsetting.
Next we see Cherry Pie approaching Butch in his car, but they are interrupted by a call on the police radio. I was hoping to hear the line from the book where Butch says “let’s hear it for the boys of summer”, but I understand not every bit could be included. That line isn’t even particularly important, I just happen to like it.
Anyway, we move to Darius entering his car, hitting the ignition, and having a moment of realizing something is terribly wrong. He thinks of Beth, says her name, and then boom, the car explodes. Obviously I knew this was coming, but it’s still a disappointment to see a good guy gone so soon. I truly hope the show lasts long enough to bring him back. John Matthew is my absolute favorite character, so I definitely want to see him represented on screen.
Next Beth is in her bathroom, trying to recover from her recent trauma. It’s a mostly silent scene, with no dialogue, but you can easily empathize and understand exactly what she’s going through internally.
Then we meet Fritz! Wrath goes to D’s mansion and is greeted by Fritz before he heads down to his room and meets up with Marissa. Marissa appears in the room, looking like an absolute angel, with the hesitation and concern of being a burden clear in her tone and face. There’s a lot of back and forth scenes between Beth and Wrath, showing how their lives are playing out prior to their fateful meeting.
There are several scenes of Beth in her apartment, interacting with Boo, that are exact lines from the book. She also takes a call from Jose, who I have already mentioned has just the right combination of curiosity and concern. I feel like the actress handled the role well in terms of her mustering her strength and deciding not to stay locked up inside like a victim.
Seeing Fritz tell Wrath about Darius was rough. It’s another brief scene that hits hard, with the emotion from both of them so clearly obvious. Fritz is distraught, voice shaking, unsure of what to do next. Wrath is furious and immediately full of vengeance and sorrow.
Next we get to see Beth and Butch’s first interaction on screen, which played out very well in terms of tone and attitude. Butch is all about taking charge and getting answers his way, regardless of whether Beth wants to talk or not. But Beth pushes back and stands her ground, establishing the dynamic between the two of them. Neither is willing to let the other play alpha, and I personally love how this manifests in their friendship throughout the books.
Finally, the moment we’ve been waiting for – the Brothers arrive! One by one, they materialize into the study, and this is that part where the tiniest of interactions paints a full picture of who they are. Everything from their tone of voice to body language shows that these actors have studied their characters and know how to personify them. V stands rigid and arrogant, for example, while Rhage is seemingly relaxed in a chair, signature Tootsie Pop firmly held in his mouth.
Wrath dispatches the Brothers to rain hellfire on the lessers, and has Fritz read the letter from Darius that gives him Beth’s name and address. Then we’re back with Beth, and Butch pounding on her apartment door. Wrath is outside, observing from a distance, but you see him get a whiff of Beth when she opens the back door to let Boo out. She describes the attack to Butch, and both Butch and the audience approve of the level of detail she includes. Then Butch leaves with purpose, and finds Billy in the hospital. The scene is violent and the noises are particularly gruesome, but it’s rewarding for the audience after seeing what Billy did.
Next we’re back with Beth and Boo, who is meowing so much that my actual cat Tonks was fairly disturbed by the audio. Here is when Beth gets her first glimpse of Wrath, and is understandably terrified by his presence. She wakes up and thinks it was all a bad dream, but the physical evidence tells otherwise. Yet another sequence played out just like it was in the book!
Our next scene is Wrath paying homage to Darius by worshipping the Scribe Virgin, complete with his nude body kneeling on rough cut diamonds. We see his arms tattooed with his lineage, and hear him speaking the Old Language. This is also the first time we see the signature BDB scar on his chest, which looks both how I imagined and not. The books were a little confusing in the description of the scar – first it was noted as being star-shaped, and then circular. In the show it’s a bit more curlicue than I expected, but it makes sense to me. Here’s an image from Facebook showing the same scar on Rhage’s character:
Our next scene is where we meet Mr. X and the rest of the lessers, as X describes his successful murder of one of the Black Dagger Brotherhood vampires. He gives some essential background information about the vampires strength and the race as a whole, but my main takeaway here was how…lame these guys looked. I guess in the books I imagined them to be a group of really strong, hardcore guys, and most of these men looked sort of sad and pathetic. But it makes sense – these are essentially incels, men who feel cheated by life and have the necessary rage and insecurity to be converted by the Omega. So I think this casting decision was well done, even though it caught me off guard at first. Mr. X is, as mentioned before, creepy as fuck. He plays that role to perfection, taking so much glee in his acts of violence and power.
The next scene is Butch and Beth at the station, and this is the only one I found to be a bit lacking. I wanted to see all the cops flocking around her to make sure she was okay, because that shows how connected she is with everyone in the department, and how everyone cares about her. I also thought it was a little odd that they showed Butch asking Beth if she had eaten yet, and inviting her to a restaurant, but they don’t actually go to the restaurant then. He tempts her with information about the case, and then immediately tells her the details when she seems to agree. I thought that, in the book, this was how they ended up on their date, but I might have that a little off. I’m just now starting my bazillionth re-read, so I will report back.
We have a brief scene of Mr. X and Billy in the karate class, which shows an interesting juxtaposition where Billy is in a position of subservience. As soon as Mr. X grants him a little authority, though, he snaps right back to being his usual self.
Back at the mansion, we see Wrath and Fritz interacting again as Wrath requests some red smoke. Poor Fritz is desperate to serve Wrath, offering food and clothing while shying away from Wrath. There’s a nice moment where Wrath initially refuses, realizes that Fritz needs some kind of gentle response from him, and instead acquiesces, much to Fritz’s relief. It will be interesting to see if a future episode includes the moment where Wrath tells Fritz this his home and job are secure regardless of what happens. I always thought that was a nice conversation that showed Wrath is capable of more empathy and kindness than he probably even gives himself credit for. Anyway, then Wrath dematerializes outside of Beth’s apartment, and we all know it’s about to go down!
(Once again, my cats were very distressed by Boo’s meows. This may be an issue throughout the season). Finally, we have Beth and Wrath face to face! He blows smoke in her face, and clarifies that the red smoke only calms her mind, but doesn’t enslave it. This wasn’t the exact line from the book. In writing, Wrath thinks about how the red smoke is specifically not an aphrodisiac, so he can’t hold it responsible for Beth’s attraction to him. I think they could have made this a little more clear in the show dialogue, just because we go from Beth’s fear of Wrath to her being ready to climb him like a tree in a very brief period of time.
Wrath does tell Beth he’s not going to hurt her, and that he’s here to protect her. In the book, Beth thinks that Wrath is a friend of Butch’s, sent to keep an eye on her. This provides some more context for why she is willing to be so vulnerable with him so quickly. I’m hoping it is better explained later on that with her transition coming, and their scents being so appealing to one another, it was almost an animalistic urge. Even so, it is clear that Beth is the aggressor here, and she isn’t being taken advantage of. She leads the charge, encouraging Wrath to kiss her and touch her even when he says that’s not why he’s there.
Beth pulls Wrath down to the futon with her, and insists that he touch her. This is where I started wondering just how explicit it was all going to get, and how emotional versus physical it would be. I think I can write about this with some objectivity, because Wrath just does not personally do it for me in terms of attraction. I don’t like long hair on guys and having all of that black mane touching me would gross me out. So I was presumably able to be a bit more detached than I might be for a sex scene with, oh, any other member of the Brotherhood.
The kissing and touching is done very slow, almost reverently, with dreamy music that sets a powerful mood. You can see that Beth is very into what is happening, touching herself in the rare moments when Wrath doesn’t have his hands on her. After Wrath fully undresses her, he takes off his sunglasses, allowing more his more vulnerable side to be exposed.
There isn’t a ton of foreplay here, but that’s not how the scene was originally written. Wrath goes down on Beth for a bit, leading her quickly to orgasm. She announces that she’s coming (something that is rarely verbalized in anything besides porn, interestingly enough) and wants all of him. She takes off his pants and says she wants to feel him inside of her. Wrath still seems a bit baffled and overwhelmed, but also like he completely worships every inch of her. They fall back together, and there’s a good amount of thrusting and moaning that doesn’t show a whole lot of skin. It’s nothing more than I’ve seen on other HBO and Showtime shows, and I’m overall relieved that sex wasn’t the main focus of the entire episode.
It was a hell of a way to close out the pilot, though, and it was done very romantically. Lots of kissing and stroking hands and clutching at one another, ending with them tangled together as Beth sleeps peacefully in Wrath’s arms. This is a changed man, a complete 180 from the stoic, detached king we saw in the opening scenes.
The trouble with book to TV/movie adaptations is that it can be hard to discern how much is effectively portrayed, and how much is prior knowledge that the viewer is bringing to the table. Did every actor and actress convey as much as I thought, or is this just me painting them with the brushstrokes that I know apply to their characters? Is the chemistry really there (both romantic chemistry and the chemistry between the Brothers) or am I inserting it because I know it’s supposed to be there? I’d love to hear takes from new viewers, both fans of the books and not, to see what others are thinking.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments about the episode or show in general, otherwise I’ll be back next week with a review and recap of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, season 1 episode 2!
Black Dagger Brotherhood Reading Order
Dark Lover (Wrath & Beth) 2005
Lover Eternal (Rhage & Mary) 2006
Lover Awakened (Zsadist & Bella) 2006
Lover Revealed (Butch & Marissa) 2007
Lover Unbound (Vishous & Jane) 2007
Lover Enshrined (Phury & Cormia) 2008
Father Mine (Zsadist & Bella) 2008
The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider’s Guide 2008
The Story of Son (The Black Dagger Brotherhood World) (Claire & Michael) (Note – originally published in the romance anthology Dead After Dark in 2008)
Lover Avenged (Rehv & Ehlena) 2009
Lover Mine (John Matthew & Xhex) 2010
Lover Unleashed (Payne & Manny) 2011
Lover Reborn (Tohr & Autumn) 2012
Lover at Last (Blay & Qhuinn) 2013
The King (Wrath & Beth) 2014
The Shadows (Trez & Selena, iAm & maichen) 2015
Blood Kiss (Black Dagger Legacy) (Paradise & Craeg) 2015
The Beast (Rhage & Mary) 2017
Blood Vow (Black Dagger Legacy) (Axe & Elise) (Rhage & Mary) 2016
The Chosen (Layla & Xcor, Blay & Qhuinn) 2017
Blood Fury (Black Dagger Legacy) (Peyton & Novo, Saxton & Ruhn) 2018
Dearest Ivie (The Black Dagger Brotherhood World) (Ivie & Silas) 2018
The Thief (Assail & Sola) 2018
Prisoner of Night (The Black Dagger Brotherhood World) (Ahmare & Duran) 2019
The Savior (Murhder & Sarah) 2019
Blood Truth (Black Dagger Legacy) (Boone & Helaine) 2019
Where Winter Finds You (A Caldwell Christmas) (Trez & Therese) 2019
The Sinner (Syn & Jo) 2020
The Jackal (The Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp) (Jackal & Nyx) 2020
A Warm Heart in Winter (A Caldwell Christmas) (Blay & Qhuinn) 2020
Lover Unveiled (Sahvage & Mae) 2021
Claimed (The Lair of the Wolven Book 1) (Lydia & Daniel) 2021
The Wolf (The Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp) (Lucan & Rio) 2022
Darius: A Black Dagger Brotherhood Love Story (Darius & Anne) 2022
The Viper (The Black Dagger Brotherhood Prison Camp) (Kane & Nadya) 2022
Forever (The Lair of the Wolven Book 2) (Lydia & Daniel) 2023
Lassiter (Lassiter & Rahvyn) 2023
Mine (The Lair of the Wolven Book 3) (Lydia & Daniel) 2024
A Bloom in Winter (A Black Dagger Brotherhood Holiday Book) (Apex & Callum) 2024
The Beloved (Nalla & Nate) 2025
Lover Forbidden (Lyric & Devlin) 2025