Killing Eve (2018) Review: Cat, Mouse and Couture

Is Killing Eve worth watching?

Yes. Killing Eve is a wickedly entertaining spy thriller, and its opening season in particular is one of the boldest, funniest pieces of genre television of the late 2010s. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer turn a cat-and-mouse chase into a strange, charged mutual obsession, and the show’s blend of violence, style and black comedy is unlike anything else in the genre. The reservation is that the later seasons never recapture that early spark, and the series becomes looser and less focused as it goes on.

What is Killing Eve about?

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) is an MI5 officer stuck behind a desk and quietly fascinated by female killers. Villanelle (Jodie Comer) is exactly the kind of killer she has imagined: a gifted, capricious assassin who carries out murders across Europe with theatrical flair. When Eve is recruited by Carolyn Martens (Fiona Shaw) to track her down, hunter and hunted become fixated on each other, and the chase turns into something much stranger than a manhunt.

Kim Bodnia plays Konstantin, Villanelle’s weary handler, and Camille Cottin joins in later seasons.

Killing Eve is a British series in English, developed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge from Luke Jennings’s Villanelle novels. It was made for BBC America and shown in the UK by the BBC. This review covers the complete show: four seasons and 32 episodes between 2018 and 2022. The series has ended.

Two stars in perfect opposition

The show’s engine is its central pairing, and both performances are remarkable. Jodie Comer won an Emmy for Villanelle, and it is easy to see why: she makes the character funny, childish, terrifying and oddly vulnerable, switching accents and identities with gleeful precision. Sandra Oh, who won a Golden Globe for the role, is the perfect counterweight, playing Eve as clever, awkward and increasingly unsettled by what her obsession reveals about her.

Fiona Shaw is a quiet delight as Carolyn, a spymaster whose dry understatement often gets the best lines. Kim Bodnia’s gruff Konstantin gives the show some of its warmest and funniest moments.

Waller-Bridge’s first season sets the tone

The first season, written under Phoebe Waller-Bridge, is a small masterpiece of tone. It treats murder as both horror and comedy, lets the dialogue crackle, and frames the chase as a twisted flirtation without ever quite saying so. Each subsequent season was steered by a different lead writer, which keeps the voice fresh in places but also contributes to the drift.

Visually, the show is a treat. It hops between European cities, and Villanelle’s extravagant wardrobe became a phenomenon in its own right, turning costume design into a form of characterisation.

Where the chase loses direction

The central problem of the later seasons is structural. A cat-and-mouse story depends on tension, and once Eve and Villanelle’s relationship has been established, the show struggles to find fresh ways to keep them apart or bring them together. The conspiracy plots grow more convoluted and less interesting, supporting characters come and go, and some episodes feel like they are marking time. The final season in particular divided viewers.

Who should watch Killing Eve?

It is a strong pick for fans of spy thrillers who like humour with their violence, for admirers of the two leads, and for anyone who enjoys stylish, character-driven television. Four seasons of roughly 45-minute episodes make it a manageable binge, though many viewers will find the first two seasons the most rewarding. Expect frequent and sometimes gruesome violence, strong language and sexual content.

More from the British crime shelf:

• Bodyguard, another 2018 BBC thriller about a protection officer and the politician he guards, played straighter and with relentless tension.
• Inside No. 9 for British storytelling that mixes violence and black comedy just as fearlessly.

The verdict

Killing Eve begins as one of the most exhilarating thrillers on television, powered by two superb lead performances and a gleefully dark sense of humour. Its later seasons lose focus, but the best of it is so good that the whole series is still worth the ride.

Rating: 4/5