I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t have high expectations for ‘Killing Eve’ when I lazily clicked into it on Hulu one night after entering the “show hole” yet again when I finished a different television series. There was just so much hype surrounding it and I don’t usually indulge in shows that EVERYONE likes, because shows like ‘The Bachelor’ and ‘Big Bang Theory’ are among the most popular on television and well… you know… they’re not the most quality programs you could be wasting your time on. So forgive me for being a little skeptical of a show I’ve heard nothing but good things about. All of this to say that I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if I’m not one to enjoy “espionage” or action shows- there was so much about this show that broke it out of the norm that it kept me watching (I finished the 10- episode first season in about three days).
The first thing I could go on and on about is the fact that the main cast of the show is almost entirely women. Just let that sink in. In a society where most forms of media are about men, this in and of itself was a reason the show intrigued me in the first place. And the show wasn’t in-your-face about it, and didn’t try too hard to make it a statement. The characters were just women, and that was that. No fanfare required, even if they were powerful, intelligent badasses that deserve the attention.
My boyfriend Jaden, who I easily convinced to join me in watching the show (he enjoys a good cat and mouse storyline) had a similar opinion.
” I’m not one who usually cares about the demographic breakdown of characters in media, and often find myself rolling my eyes at the so-often shoehorned female characters in action movies, but ‘Killing Eve’ actually does it right. This show does a great job of not being in your face about the fact that strong women make up most of the main cast, and actually treats them as regular characters in a thriller, only mentioning their sex when it would realistically be necessary,” he said.
Eve, played by a magnificent Sandra Oh, and Villanelle, an equally magnificent Jodie Comer, have such a great dynamic, that I was never bored with the plotline. Villanelle is a ruthless, psychopathic assassin obsessed with Eve, and Eve is a British intelligence officer equally obsessed with Villanelle, a relationship that culminates in an entirely surprising, yet strangely satisfying interaction in the season finale- one that leaves me eagerly awaiting the next installment.
A few other points that make the show so damn irresistible are that many of the characters are queer (Villanelle is openly bisexual), something we don’t see a lot of, and the action sequences are actually realistic (wait so there aren’t chase scenes where people easily scale buildings and blow up cars by merely shooting at them? Is it even an action show??).
“… the action is never over the top or unrealistic. The attention to realism in the action, as well as the development of the main characters, gives me hope for the future of female actors portraying more traditionally masculine roles,” Jaden remarked on the action in the show.
And the fashion, you guys. Villanelle is such a flamboyant dresser, and I enjoyed all of the looks she created. I could write an entire article about the outfits in this show and how they communicate the emotional state of the characters at the time, or even just a reflection on how good the wardrobe in this show really was, but this is something that has already been written about at length (like in this article, and this one). But the scene where she wears the oversized, bright pink Molly Goddard dress is definitely iconic and is going into my ever-growing pool of potential Halloween costume ideas.
Needless to say, I am highly anticipating the next season, and can’t wait to see where Eve and Villanelle’s life and death game of cat and mouse will take them next. In Jaden’s words:
” At the end of the day, ‘Killing Eve’ is an excellent show, and anyone with an affinity for spy/assassin thrillers with characters that are actually down to Earth and fun to watch should check it out. I’m eagerly awaiting season two.”
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