Killing Eve is still a wild ride in Season 2, but it’s not quite as gripping as it used to be
By: Simon Cocks
Tags: Review, TV Series, TV, TV Shows, Television

Killing Eve is still a wild ride in Season 2, but it’s not quite as gripping as it used to be

★★★★☆

Killing Eve topples the typical spy-action thriller as two fiercely intelligent women, equally obsessed with each other, go head to head in an epic game of cat and mouse. (BBC)

If you’re anything like me, you probably binge-watched all of Killing Eve Season 2 within mere days of it coming out. I know it’s going to continue airing week-by-week on BBC One, but is this really a show where you want to wait a whole week to see what’ll happen next? It feels designed to be consumed as quickly as possible, and that’s one thing that definitely hasn’t changed between the first and second season. One thing that has changed, though, is that original showrunner Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) has now departed the show. The series is still as exhilarating as ever, but there’s something missing when it comes to the writing. Sometimes, certain developments feel a little bit narratively convenient, and the show struggles to surprise the audience quite as much as it did in the debut season. These issues can probably be attributed to the loss of Waller-Bridge, unfortunately. Generally, though, this is a gripping season of television that still boasts loads of style and some incredible performances, particularly from Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer.

On the run…

The start of the season is most definitely where the show’s at its best. Eve (Oh) and Villanelle (Comer) are both reeling from Eve’s sudden decision to stab the assassin in the stomach at the end of the first season. The show masterfully details everything that happens in the aftermath of that moment, layering in intrigue, suspense, and shock in a way that works fantastically. We don’t know how either Eve or Villanelle will get out of this situation, and that keeps it really engaging. Much of the first part of the season is us watching Villanelle recover from her injuries and find her way back into Eve’s life. Whenever she’s playing games or in close pursuit of Eve, the show is at its most fascinating. And, of course, it’s getting harder for Eve to deny all of the things that keep her so mesmerised by Villanelle. She recognises she’s a psychopath, but also finds her beguiling and seems unable to do her job when it comes to tracking her down.

Does it feel like something’s missing?

Some of the criticism that Killing Eve has lost its spark does feel a little unfair. The show hasn’t completely changed, and much of what made fans fall in love with it is most definitely still there. As mentioned, when the season starts it is incredibly engrossing and makes you excited to watch the next episode to see what’ll happen next. As we get deeper into the season, though, some of the scenarios and circumstances feel a bit less exciting. There’s a central mystery that the show presents that has an obvious answer, and a new villain who is drab and boring. The show struggles to create quite as much tension as it clearly wants to, and the new characters it introduces aren’t quite as interesting as the ones we’ve been following since the first season of the show. Killing Eve is still a show that’s seriously stylish and exciting enough to feel very easily bingeable, but without the writing of Waller-Bridge it does feel a little like something’s missing!

The performances remain remarkable

The acting in this show is one of the reasons I’d most recommend Killing Eve to people who haven’t seen it before, and it hasn’t lost its touch in that regard. Sandra Oh is brilliant, having won a Golden Globe for her work on the show, and Jodie Comer won the leading actress Bafta for her performance. The pair of actors are terrific, consistently playing the delicate balance between fear, fascination, and sexual tension expertly. Sandra Oh makes for an excellent lead in Killing Eve, but there’s just so much to love about the performance of Villanelle from Comer. She’s such a strange character that it’s unlikely she’d work anything like as effectively as she does in the hands of another performer. Comer makes Villanelle weirdly likeable even as she does the most heinous stuff, and she’s always compelling, unusual, and funny as the psychopath at the heart of this drama. And I haven’t even mentioned the incredible range of different accents and disguises she pulls off, it’s constantly amazing to see what Comer is capable of doing on this show.

Verdict

Killing Eve remains a riveting and stylish drama with dark comedic moments. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer are fantastic, but the show has lost some of its edge and shock factor in Season 2.

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