BBC America’s series "Killing Eve" made a killer impact with audiences on Sunday, following up a strong first installment with another action-packed episode. The psychological thriller chronicles two women, in adversarial roles, who become obsessed with each other. Jodie Comer plays female assassin Villanelle with gusto; while Sandra Oh’s (formerly of "Grey’s Anatomy") depiction of MI5 operative Eve may garner the Canadian actress more Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Awards. At times, you wonder if Eve is trying to catch Villanelle to put her in jail, or if she only wants to have a conversation with her nemesis over dinner.
It seems "Killing Eve" will join the likes of "Orphan Black" and "Doctor Who" as break-out hits for the cable channel.
Not your typical casting
The producers could have gone with a curvaceous cookie-cutter blond lead as the brilliant but disaffected MI5 analyst Eve. A mistake that would have omitted the combination of irreverence and allure Sandrah Oh brings to the role with an infectious wit. There is also Oh’s Korean heritage, which is not a typical lead role given the English setting. A calculated risk, but one that works fantastically as Oh steals nearly every scene she is in.
A strong female antiheroine
The usual Hollywood trope of helpless females is visibly absent. Instead, a determined analyst chases an unrelenting assassin with the aid of another high ranking member in the MI5 agency working outside of her authority.
Villanelle is a deadly mix between Sharon Stone’s character in "Basic Instinct" and Jason Bourne. Jodie Comer said she purposely pushed the limit with her character.
Macabre fusion of humor and tension
In an early scene Eve frantically screams, enduring a nightmare from which she cannot awake, but when her husband wakes Eve the audience finds out she was only shrieking because she had slept on her arms and they became numb.
We have all been there. That scene preys on an audience's thought process which assumed the worst (that a traumatized Eve suffers from horrible nightmares). It is one small example of twists no one anticipates in this series. The opposing lives of a glamorous assassin and dull desk jockey are filmed appropriately, with the bright and dark lighting contrasting the differences visibly.
Dramatic mood shifts between laughter and lament can be found within one scene, and are daring counterpoints from the screenwriters.
Strong supporting characters
There are plenty of great choices. Owen McDonnell portrays the understanding husband and is the un-glamorous but essential straight man. Kirby Howell-Baptiste’s quirky depiction of an aspiring but similarly world-weary analyst with whom Eve shares cubicle life provides contrast. Fans will want more of long-time English character actor David Haig, who plays a supportive superior living vicariously through Eve’s ambitions. Fiona Shaw evokes Dame Judi Dench’s vibe as a behind the scenes fixer and suspicious informant. You can even call Europe a character, as the first two episodes travel the length and breadth (London, Berlin Vienna, Budapest, and Italian Tuscany region) of the continent with beautiful cinematography.
The combining of genres
What television category does this BBC America series falls into? It ticks the boxes for the spy plot, psychological thriller, murder mystery, character-driven drama, action film, or dark comedy. It is escapist to be sure, but you need to pay attention and think in order to keep up with the storyline. Whatever it is, there will be a second season. "Killing Eve" is in its second season in Great Britain, and has reportedly been given the green light for a third.
