REVIEW #111 Killing Eve (2018-present)

Killing Eve is a BBC drama which follows an MI6 agent called Eve who is tasked to find an active assassin (Villanelle) working across Europe. Meanwhile Villanelle is ordered to kill Eve but instead the pair find themselves strangely drawn to one and other. 

CAST & THE ACTING 

Jodie Comer leads the cast as Villanelle and wow, I was so impressed by her performance! Not only does she play a complicated, emotional psychopath convincingly she also pulls off multiple different accents and every one is perfect, from Russian and English to American and French! It’s no surprise this series is what elevated her to starring in Hollywood films. Eve Polastri is played by Sandra Oh and she also does well, playing the sort of reverse to Villanelle. A stand up good person who finds her darkness creeping out as the seasons pass, she portrayed that transition really well. However one of my favourite characters is Carolyn Martens who is played by Fiona Shaw. She really comes into her element the deeper into the series you get, she’s both hilarious and ruthless and perhaps both of those traits feed into one and other. The last person I want to mention is Kim Bodnia who plays Konstantin, he also seemed a perfect fit for his character and his chemistry with pretty much ever other actor is fantastic. The acting and the cast was definitely one of the highlights of Killing Eve for me.

PLOT & THE STORYLINE 

I think the storyline is really interesting and although the main story arc is Eve and the MI6 trying to capture Villanelle and the cooperation she works for, I actually think the best part was the strong character development across the three seasons. We see Eve transition from a stand up citizen, a good person working for the MI6 into someone who begins to embrace her darkness the more she comes into contact with Villanelle. Whereas Villanelle we see as a psychopath who is ruthless and relatively care free, transition into someone with feelings towards Eve and have some sort of redemption arc in the third season. I liked how there was also a focus on the side characters such as Konstantin and Carolyn, they were really enjoyable characters who delivered both comedy and drama. There are moments where I felt like they took their creative freedom a little to far to the point it wasn’t realistic. It seemed like they had so many chances to capture Villanelle and for the sake of the story they just allowed her to walk around untouched. By the time we reached season three it felt like the MI6 were just a pointless organisation that didn’t have much need to be there. But overall it was a really engaging and addictive storyline that meant I watched it all in a couple of days!

CINEMATOGRAPHY & SPECIAL EFFECTS 

I wouldn’t say there was any aspects of Killing Eve that stand out in terms of cinematography but that’s not to say that it wasn’t good all round. I think everything was kept nice and subtle to maintain the realism and they certainly utilised the colour pallet in order to reflect the tone and mood of scenes. Specific camera position was something I also noticed, often used to scope the surroundings, whether that be in a city centre and a museum to being in a forest amongst nature. Everything seemed to blend in really naturally to the environment. There is a really good soundtrack for all three seasons, all the songs used matched the scenes and complimented them nicely. One thing that is rather insignificant but something I rather enjoy is the opening credits, I really liked the font and colouring and for some reason they stood out to me. 

OVERALL (8.5/10)

I was really late to watching Killing Eve but I am so glad I did because it really made me appreciate the ability of Jodie Comer even more! The entire cast does really well at portraying every character convincingly and that works at getting the audience hooked. Working alongside an engaging storyline, which had me binge watching the three seasons within a couple of days. Perhaps the cinematography and effects were the weakest out of the three categories but I liked how they kept it nice a subtle, using strong camera work and soundtracks to compliment their scenes. I can’t wait for season four and I would definitely recommend watching Killing Eve before the new season arrives!