“Killing Eve” was the biggest surprise of last year’s TV season and was one of the few shows that left us wanting more after its 8-episode run on BBC America. It’s back Sunday for Season 2.
Based on a series of novels by Luke Jennings, the series introduced Villanelle (Jodie Comer), a funny, multilingual Russian assassin whose appearance in a bubble-gum-pink organza dress by Molly Goddard inspired a Halloween costume copycat craze in Britain. In M16 agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh), it gave us a heroine who, in trying to catch the chic killer, became obsessed with her — an obsession that almost ruined her marriage to Niko (Owen McDonnell) but kept us on the edge of our seats.
The scripts by Phoebe Waller-Bridge were blissfully exempt of the ham-fisted exposition that makes US crime series about as exciting as assembling a vacuum cleaner; as Eve pursued Villanelle across half of Europe the pace was unrelenting.
In the Season 1 finale, the cat and the mouse were left with each other in Villanelle’s posh Parisian apartment. Eve was so enraged by her wealth that she lost her cool and stabbed her prey. Needless to say, Villanelle escaped.
Season 2 picks up “30 seconds later,” with each character processing what happened. Villanelle tries to get herself to a hospital. Heading to the Gare du Nord to catch the Eurostar, Eve tries to get back to London before anyone realizes what has happened. Both women succeed, but not without registering how their mutual obsession left them considerably weaker. The two episodes made available for review, while not as exciting as the first few episodes of Season 1, detail their recovery and inculcation back into previous modes.
Thinking her career with the M16 is over, Eve avoids meeting with her boss, Carolyn (Fiona Shaw), whose profile became more enigmatic and untrustworthy as Season 1 progressed. But the flinty Shaw tells her not-so-fast. “Whether you work for us or not, she’ll come for you,” she warns. Eve knows that, and the two agents receive grisly confirmation of Villanelle’s vicious handiwork after enjoying a relative breather.
“Grey’s Anatomy” alum Oh won a well-deserved Golden Globe for a career-changing part, but Comer — who has the more complex of the two lead roles — was given short shrift at awards time. That should change as Villanelle continues to pick up cues from her prey and changes her behavior (and outfits) accordingly. She can’t resist the impulse to strike when in the company of strangers; it’s not a matter of “if” but “when.” Oh hits several of the same beats she did last season — she’s nervous, confused, opaque — but she remains always watchable.
The series benefitted last time around by seldom having the two stars in the same episode, and new writer Emerald Fennell maintains that format. It allows for more surprise twists (there’s a big one in Episode 2) and makes us suspect that the next time Eve and Villanelle have a showdown, only one woman will be left standing.
